A team from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered a factor in NDST3 that is likely to lead to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The risk factor was isolated using DNA from scizophrenic individuals as well as healty adults. The variant changes only a single letter, but can lead to devastating psychiatric illness. Bipolar and schizophrenia have long been hypothetically linked, and this new discovery combined with others further strengthens that theory (see the second link below).
These articles resonate with me, since an isolated case of schizophrenia occured in my ancestry. While no one in my immediate family is known to have the disease, it's nice to know that we will eventually be able to test for these defects in our progeny. They are serious conditions, so any insight into their origins and methods is cetainly useful.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131119112815.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130811150815.htm
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