Choice of Diet

Anorexia nervosa, commonly known as anorexia, is an eating disorder that is associated with food litigation, fear of gaining weight, underweight, and a strong urge to continuously lose weight. On July 15th, 2019, The largest study for Anorexia Nervosa has taken place, examining around 17,000 patients that have been diagnosed with this disorder.  Findings suggest that chemical signals involving both the mentally and physically have confused the mind to behave in this manner, causing the individual to not choose a healthy diet.  Getting these results from one of the largest studies of anorexia yet, the disorder affects up to 2% of women and 0.3% of men. It has been a struggle trying to figure out how to dissect the disorder and treat it all in the same process.  Anorexia shares some of the same character traits as ODC, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia.
Anorexia, like any other mental disorder, should be as big of a priority as our physical and emotional health. That fact that this disorder shares "characteristic single-nucleotide polymorphisms" with other disorders that are affecting a huge percentage of mental health should be highlighted and brought to the attention of our children. Although psychiatrists have struggled to find solutions to 100% treat the people who have been diagnosed, I feel as though sharing what the issue is and helping others gain knowledge of how to treat the Patient in the real world should bring light to the fact that we want to help. I think by acknowledging people with this disorder as if they are the same as anybody else will help a little at least with the mental state.

Original Article: Roots of Anorexia

Four Brain Genes Help Explain Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Scientists have linked four main genes to obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD).  These genes all play a role in the brain and provide evidence that OCD may be genetic.  Individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder suffer from repetitive thoughts and extreme anxiety that leads to behavior beyond the norm.  Hyun Ji Noh and her colleagues at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard studied over 600 genes from 592 individuals who suffer from OCD and from 560 individuals who do not suffer from OCD.  From these genes, 222 of them were linked to “compulsive grooming in mice, and 196 had been linked to autism in people”.  Autism is a secondary condition that can result in repetitive behaviors, similar to OCD.  Also, this research team discovered 56 genes in dogs that lead to compulsive disorders as well.

Individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) may suffer from repetitive rituals such as flicking the light a certain number of times before entering or exiting a room.

The four genes linked to obsessive compulsive disorder link the striatum, thalamus, and cortex regions, all together forming a brain circuit.  The striatum is responsible for the learning aspects of an individual and relays that new information to the cortex (where decisions are made) via the thalamus.  The four genes linked to this disorder are said to inhibit or disrupt the brain circuit: striatum, thalamus, and cortex.  Disruptions to this circuit make it harder for the individual to distinguish between safe and risky situations.  One of these genes is thought to deregulate serotonin; which regulates anxiety, happiness, and mood.  The evidence of this is shown when patients suffering from this order take SSRI, a drug which regulates serotonin.  New findings indicate further a genetic component to OCD.  It states that if you have first-degree relative (parent, sibling, and or child) with this condition you are four times more likely to have the condition as well. 

There are some treatments out there for obsessive compulsive disorder.  One gene identified through analysis, the HTR2A gene, is observed to be responsible for serotonin signaling.  People with OCD may have problems with serotonin signaling due to a lack of or a mutation on this gene.  The findings in this article provide evidence to why individuals who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder take SSRI antidepressants that increase the amount of serotonin in the brain, helping to reverse the effects of this disorder.

OCD-like Behavior Linked to Gene Mutation in the Brain

Honor Whiteman, a writer for Medical News Today, states that "Researchers have provided further evidence of how gene mutations in a certain brain region might fuel behaviors associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder."

OCD is a disorder where the affected have uncontrollable thoughts, obsessions, and/or compulsions. These thoughts can trigger a persons anxiety which makes it difficult for the person to live their daily lives. The compulsions refer to physical urges that are used to respond to the obsessions, some examples of common OCD include excessive cleaning (hands, clothes, etc.), rearranging items in a particular way, or compulsive counting counting. One percent of adults are affected by this disorder, however within that one percent, 50 percent of individuals severely suffer from OCD. The main causes of this disease are unknown, however, previous studies have show that it may be caused by specific gene mutations in the brain. A new study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University found that certain gene mutations in the corticostriatal region of the brain led to OCD symptoms in mice. This region of the brain is responsible for the regulation in repeating behavior. KAR (kainate receptors) genes play a key role in how the corticostriatal region is developed, and when KAR genes were erased in mice they showed numerous OCD-like behaviors.

I believe that the research done on OCD will prove its worth and help the people suffering from the disease. With the discoveries made by the research team at Northwestern, these KAR genes may be a major cause of OCD. With further studies on these genes and the region of the brain that they are located, doctors and scientist could develop treatments or medications in the very near future.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316039.php
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2017/february/ocd-like-behavior-linked-to-genetic-mutation/

OCD Dogs Make for the Perfect Model of the same Disease in Humans

OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it is related to an anxiety disorder and performs rituals over and over again. I mean, everyone double checks things, whether it is making sure the stove is off or if you locked your car doors. It becomes a disorder when the actions or thoughts become very frequency and obsessive. Rather recently, researchers identified four genes that are linked to canine OCD and very similar to human OCD. How did they do this you may ask? The researchers performed a Genome Wide Association Study of Doberman pinschers, and then they sequenced bull terriers, shetland sheep dogs, and German shepherds. These dogs were sequenced because OCD in these canines is most prominent. Canine OCD includes continuously chasing the tail,needing excessive grooming, and sucking. From these dogs, they could figure out case only genetic variants, with mutation present in OCD dog and not in the healthy control dog. They then tested 69 more dogs from OCD susceptible breeds and 19 from insusceptible breeds. The researchers found that the four genes associated with OCD. These four genes associated with the OCD disorder are CDH2, PGCP, ATXN1, CTNNA2. Although, more tests need to be done to be sure that these genes are also the genes in humans, if these results remain consistent within humans, then this could advance treatment for people that suffer with this disorder. Personally, I think that this would be pretty cool if  the genes associated to OCD in canines are the same genes linked to Humans. I think it is possible that the two are closely related. I never even knew that OCD was even gene related, so to find this out, was interesting. I am curious to see what researchers find when they further this study in humans.