In the News

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share common genetic underpinnings, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered. The researchers combined high-resolution gene expression studies that show which genes are turned “on” or “off” with gene association data to reveal signaling pathways linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
 
 The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, implicate pathways involving lysosomes, which influence many cellular processes, and actin cytoskeleton remodeling in these psychiatric disorders.
 
  

Researchers at Vanderbilt have been able to alter mouse behavior by silencing gene expression in interneurons, distinct populations of nerve cells that are the main regulators of brain circuits.
 
 Interneurons can be thought of as the “building blocks” to impact behavior. Researchers found that changing the expression of a gene in one interneuron population had the exact opposite molecular and behavioral effect compared to changing the same gene in another.
 
  

Bowels, especially those that don’t function properly, are not a popular topic of conversation. Most of the 1.4 million Americans with inflammatory bowel disease — Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis — suffer in silence.
 
 But scientists are making exciting progress in understanding the causes of these conditions and in developing more effective therapies. And affected individuals have begun to speak up to let others know that they are not alone.

Recognizing the signs of a brewing anxiety disorder
 
 Sixteen-year-old Hannah is a picture-perfect Middle Tennessee teenager. A straight-A student, beautiful, active and musically talented, she starred in her high school’s spring musical.
 
 Hannah (not her real name) hid a brewing anxiety disorder so well that even her mother had no idea she was becoming incapacitated by it—until she came home from a movie with her boyfriend last spring and quietly said that she had thought about committing suicide that night.

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are a common source of distress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the relationship between GI symptoms and autism-related behavior is unclear. Clinical experience suggested to Brittany Peters, M.D., Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, M.D., and colleagues that rigid-compulsive behaviors are associated with severe constipation and co-occurring diarrhea or underwear staining in children with ASD.

Patients with chronic pain who are covered by the Vanderbilt Employee Health Care Plan or workers’ compensation system can now enroll in an innovative rehabilitation program that could dramatically change how chronic pain is treated.

A novel autism intervention program using theatre to teach reciprocal communication skills is improving social deficits in adolescents with the disorder that now affects an estimated one in 88 children, Vanderbilt University researchers released today in the journal Autism Research.

Chemically modified inhibitors of the COX-2 enzyme relieve anxiety behaviors in mice by activating natural “endocannabinoids” without gastrointestinal side effects, Vanderbilt University scientists will report next week.
 
 Endocannabinoids are natural signaling molecules that activate cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the same receptors turned on by the active ingredient in marijuana.
 
  

In the immediate aftermath of the December 2012 murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the public’s horror over the violence escalated into a contentious debate on school safety, bullying, parenting and gun laws. Little is known about why Adam Lanza killed his mother, six educators and 20 first-graders before killing himself. The media replayed the few details that were known, but the traumatic incident left many questions in its wake.