Insights on psychiatric genetics

 This article highlights new findings of genetic analysis of psychiatric disorders. It covers a relatively new topic of precision psychiatry. Precision psychiatry is when an individual’s genome is used to assess their psychiatric disorder and allow clinical decisions to be made more accurately. There is new evidence that allows this article to conclude that psychiatric disorders are determined by genetic variants all working together. Within this evidence it was found that some of these variants are so common that everyone has a slight risk of all psychiatric disorders. This article explains how inflammation and metabolic dysregulation relates to certain depressive symptoms. 

The significance of this article is outlined in how this can be adapted in the future. Mental health has one of the highest mortality rates worldwide and therefore research and new evidence that is informative and helps refine clinical approaches is extremely important moving forward. While this area of genetics is relatively new and there is much more research to be done, this article and all of the previous ones are a great start.  

Links:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wps.21034

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4461039/#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%2014.3%25%20of,are%20attributable%20to%20mental%20disorders.

Genetics of migraine: where are we now?

This article examines how migraines are influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. It has been found that there are certain variants that contribute to networks of molecular differences. So far, there are 180 different variants of either neuronal or vascular that all account for a slight increase in migraine risk. Other factors like high blood pressure and depression also play a role in the risk of migraines. 

Having a migraine can be disabling to everyday tasks. It is a complex neurological disorder in which genes interact with the environment and themselves. More recent studies have concluded that there is a heritability of about 42%. There are different classes or “varieties” of migraines. Each of these varieties has a different genetic mutation in mitochondrial DNA that leads to an increase in susceptibility to migraine. Additionally, studies were done on the reactions between migraines and other diseases. 

As of the last 15 years, there has been a lot of progress made on migraines and its genetics. In my opinion, due to the debilitating nature of migraines this research is very important and has even lead to research on the interconnectedness of other diseases. The technology we have today opens up a lot of opportunity to do more research and find more answers. It is eyeopening to consider all of the possible new developments in this research. Much more studies must be done but it is promising based on the amount of research and knowledge already found. In the future further studies need to be completed on the loci where the susceptibility to migraines is found and specifically on mapping these loci. Additionally more research needs to be done on the relationship between migraines and other diseases. All of this information could lead to better ways to treat and even prevent a migraine.   

Articles:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s10194-023-01547-8 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/NDT.S282562