Anders, bedroht und bedrohlich – Jugendbanden in Zentralamerika

Huhn S, Oettler A, Peetz P. Anders, bedroht und bedrohlich – Jugendbanden in Zentralamerika. In: Klimke D, ed. Exklusion in der Marktgesellschaft. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften; 2008: 159-171

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor concentrations change after alcohol withdrawal: preliminary data of a case-control comparison

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) are involved in neuroadaptation and foster survival of central and peripheral neurons. In this study, we addressed the question whether BDNF and NGF serum concentrations change during subacute alcohol withdrawal in patients with alcohol dependence compared to healthy controls.; Fifteen patients (age 48.6 ± 7 years) and 15 healthy age-matched controls (age 48.8 ± 7 years) participated consecutively in a 2-week withdrawal study.; Mean BDNF levels (7.8 ng/ml, IQR = 4.4-10.7 vs. 16.5 ng/ml, IQR = 13.9-25.6; Z = -3.8, p < 0.0001) and NGF levels (5.8 pg/ml, IQR = 3.8-13.0 vs. 18.4 pg/ml, IQR = 10.9-25.1; Z = -2.5, p = 0.012) were significantly decreased in alcohol-dependent subjects when compared to healthy matched controls. NGF concentrations decreased significantly from day 3 to day 14 (Z = -2.36; p = 0.019). Mean BDNF concentrations showed a tendency to increase after withdrawal from day 3 to day 14 (Z = 1.7; p = 0.078).; Decreased NGF and BDNF concentrations in patients suffering from alcohol dependence, which stabilize after physical withdrawal, are in line with withdrawal symptoms and neurological risk factors. In turn, increase of BDNF after acute withdrawal might be connected to neurobiological and behavioral stabilization

Genomewide Scan and Fine-Mapping Linkage Studies in Four European Samples with Bipolar Affective Disorder Suggest a New Susceptibility Locus on Chromosome 1p35-p36 and Provides Further Evidence of Loci on Chromosome 4q31 and 6q24

We present the findings of a large linkage study of bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) that involved genomewide analysis of 52 families (448 genotyped individuals) of Spanish, Romany, and Bulgarian descent and further fine mapping of the 1p34-p36, 4q28-q31, and 6q15-q24 regions. An additional sample of 56 German families (280 individuals) was included for this fine-mapping step. The highest nonparametric linkage scores obtained in the fine mapping were 5.49 for 4q31 and 4.87 for 6q24 in the Romany families and 3.97 for 1p35-p36 in the Spanish sample. MOD-score (LOD scores maximized over genetic model parameters) analysis provided significant evidence of linkage to 4q31 and at least borderline significance for the 1p and 6q regions. On the basis of these results and previous positive research findings, 4q31 and 6q24 should now be considered confirmed BPAD susceptibility loci, and 1p35-p36 is proposed as a new putative locus that requires confirmation in replication studies