Nature mental healthPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1038/s44220-025-00414-6
Finn Rabe, Lukasz Smigielski, Foivos Georgiadis, Nils Kallen, Wolfgang Omlor, Victoria Edkins, Matthias Kirschner, Flurin Cathomas, Edna Grünblatt, Steven Silverstein, Brittany Blose, Daniel Barthelmes, Karen Schaal, Jose Rubio, Todd Lencz, Philipp Homan
{"title":"Genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia through neuroinflammatory pathways associated with retinal thinness.","authors":"Finn Rabe, Lukasz Smigielski, Foivos Georgiadis, Nils Kallen, Wolfgang Omlor, Victoria Edkins, Matthias Kirschner, Flurin Cathomas, Edna Grünblatt, Steven Silverstein, Brittany Blose, Daniel Barthelmes, Karen Schaal, Jose Rubio, Todd Lencz, Philipp Homan","doi":"10.1038/s44220-025-00414-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-025-00414-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional changes in the central nervous system, including the most distal part of it, the retina. However, the question of whether retinal atrophy is present before individuals develop schizophrenia or is a secondary consequence of the disorder remains unanswered. Here we address this question by examining the association between polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia and retinal morphologies in individuals without a schizophrenia diagnosis. We used population data for 34,939 white British and Irish individuals from the UK Biobank. Our robust regression results show that higher polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia were associated with thinner overall maculae, while controlling for confounding factors (<i>b</i> = -0.17, <i>P</i> = 0.018). Similarly, we found that greater polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia specific to neuroinflammation gene sets were associated with thinner ganglion cell inner plexiform layers (<i>b</i> = -0.10, self-contained <i>P</i> = 0.014, competitive <i>P</i> = 0.02). These results provide new evidence for genetic factors that could predispose individuals to heightened neuroinflammatory responses. Over time, these responses could contribute to neurodegenerative processes such as retinal thinning.</p>","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"3 5","pages":"538-547"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12066354/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144043705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jingyi Luo, Nichol M. L. Wong, Ruibin Zhang, Jingsong Wu, Robin Shao, Chetwyn C. H. Chan, Tatia M. C. Lee
{"title":"A network analysis of rumination on loneliness and the relationship with depression","authors":"Jingyi Luo, Nichol M. L. Wong, Ruibin Zhang, Jingsong Wu, Robin Shao, Chetwyn C. H. Chan, Tatia M. C. Lee","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00350-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00350-x","url":null,"abstract":"Previous literature has suggested a significant association between loneliness and depression. Importantly, research has shown that rumination can modulate the loneliness–depression relationship. However, most studies only treated loneliness, rumination or depression as unitary constructs. Considering the heterogeneity of the three concepts, we examined the relationship between specific loneliness, rumination items and depressive symptoms using the network analysis approach. In a large community adult sample (N = 900), we constructed the loneliness–depression and loneliness–rumination–depression network using a cross-sectional design. The results suggested that loneliness has no robust association with depressive symptoms. Instead, a connection between a specific ruminative thought (‘think about how alone you are’) and a specific loneliness item (‘how often do you feel alone’) is essential in maintaining the loneliness–rumination–depression network (partial r = 0.307). Our findings indicate that ruminating on the feeling of loneliness is the key underlying factor modulating the loneliness–depression relationship. Interventions for depression should focus on ameliorating ruminative thoughts, especially on loneliness feelings. In a network analysis investigating associations among loneliness, rumination and depressive symptoms, the authors find that ruminating specifically on loneliness modulated the relationship between loneliness and depression.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"3 1","pages":"46-57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-024-00350-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142941358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shu Liu, Abdel Abdellaoui, Guido A. van Wingen, Karin J. H. Verweij
{"title":"Author Correction: The relation between cortical gene expression and the neural correlates of risky behavior","authors":"Shu Liu, Abdel Abdellaoui, Guido A. van Wingen, Karin J. H. Verweij","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00380-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00380-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"3 2","pages":"266-266"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-024-00380-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143381101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ahmed T. Makhlouf, William Drew, Jacob L. Stubbs, Joseph J. Taylor, Donato Liloia, Jordan Grafman, David Silbersweig, Michael D. Fox, Shan H. Siddiqi
{"title":"Heterogeneous patterns of brain atrophy in schizophrenia localize to a common brain network","authors":"Ahmed T. Makhlouf, William Drew, Jacob L. Stubbs, Joseph J. Taylor, Donato Liloia, Jordan Grafman, David Silbersweig, Michael D. Fox, Shan H. Siddiqi","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00348-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00348-5","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the neuroanatomy of schizophrenia remains elusive due to heterogeneous findings across neuroimaging studies. Here we investigated whether patterns of brain atrophy associated with schizophrenia would localize to a common brain network using a coordinate network mapping meta-analysis approach. Utilizing the human connectome as a wiring diagram, we identified a connectivity pattern, a schizophrenia network, uniting heterogeneous results from 90 published studies of atrophy in schizophrenia (total n > 8,000). This network was specific to schizophrenia, differentiating it from atrophy in individuals at high risk for psychosis (n = 3,038), normal aging (n = 4,195), neurodegenerative disorders (n = 3,707) and other psychiatric conditions (n = 3,432). The network was also stable with disease progression and across different clusters of schizophrenia symptoms. Patterns of brain atrophy in schizophrenia were negatively correlated with lesions linked to psychosis-related thought processes in an independent cohort (n = 181). Our results propose a unique, stable, and unified schizophrenia network, addressing a significant portion of the heterogeneity observed in previous atrophy studies. Utilizing heterogeneous results from the published studies on brain atrophy in schizophrenia, the authors identify a common brain network for schizophrenia that is stable with disease progression and across different clusters of schizophrenia symptoms.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"3 1","pages":"19-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142941316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jacob Michael Lurie, Harlan Linver Pietz, Claudia Hatef, Faten Taki, Annabel Lee, Sargun Virk, Tanzilya Oren, Catherine Gbekie, Andrew R. Milewski, Richard Boyer, Gunisha Kaur
{"title":"Psychological stress, cardiovascular disease and somatic pain in asylum seekers: a retrospective cross-sectional study","authors":"Jacob Michael Lurie, Harlan Linver Pietz, Claudia Hatef, Faten Taki, Annabel Lee, Sargun Virk, Tanzilya Oren, Catherine Gbekie, Andrew R. Milewski, Richard Boyer, Gunisha Kaur","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00312-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00312-3","url":null,"abstract":"The refugee experience is a known risk factor for psychological stress, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and somatic pain. However, the prevalence and comorbidity of these health outcomes in asylum seekers is not elucidated. Here we performed a retrospective, cross-sectional study in which the forensic medical evaluations of 453 globally representative US asylum seekers were analyzed. Outcomes included the prevalence of symptoms of psychological stress, CVD, somatic pain and their comorbidity. Symptoms of psychological stress, CVD and somatic pain were documented in 94%, 47% and 50% of participants, respectively; 46% reported both CVD and stress symptoms, and 31% reported all three. Palpitations, presyncope/syncope, stroke symptoms and chest pain were reported in 33%, 25%, 20% and 16% of individuals with CVD symptoms, respectively. Furthermore, both stress symptoms and pain symptoms were each strongly predictive of comorbid CVD symptoms. These findings indicate that asylum seekers experience a high burden of comorbid and interrelated psychological stress, CVD and somatic pain. In this cross-sectional study of forensic medical evaluations in 453 people seeking asylum in the United States, the authors found that the majority of individuals reported psychological stress and nearly half reported cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stress symptoms, indicating a high disease burden of concurrent stress and CVD associated with migration.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"2 12","pages":"1442-1450"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Risks and resilience — rewriting childhood adversity","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00375-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00375-2","url":null,"abstract":"Childhood adversity is a powerful driver of negative physical and mental health outcomes. Although major strides have been made in improving awareness of the potential consequences of adverse childhood experiences, they remain a common and entrenched public health concern linked with other health issues. New research may help to elucidate some of the neurobiological mechanisms associated with the experience of childhood adversity.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"2 12","pages":"1429-1430"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-024-00375-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gaining control over voices","authors":"Natalia Gass","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00370-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00370-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"2 12","pages":"1431-1431"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Childhood adversity may cause epigenetic changes that increase or suppress depression risk","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00346-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00346-7","url":null,"abstract":"We showed, in multiple population-based birth cohorts, that blood-based DNA methylation partially explains the relationship between childhood adversity and adolescent depressive symptoms. DNA-methylation sites across the epigenome could explain an increased risk of depression but, unexpectedly, other sites also served as markers of resilience against the effects of childhood adversity on depression risk.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"2 12","pages":"1433-1434"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexandre A. Lussier, Brooke J. Smith, Jonah Fisher, Mannan Luo, Janine Cerutti, Lisa Schneper, Trey Smith, Charlotte A. M. Cecil, Janine F. Felix, Colter Mitchell, Daniel A. Notterman, Kerry J. Ressler, Daniel J. Schaid, Andrew J. Simpkin, Matthew J. Suderman, Esther Walton, Andrew D. A. C. Smith, Erin C. Dunn
{"title":"DNA methylation mediates the link between adversity and depressive symptoms","authors":"Alexandre A. Lussier, Brooke J. Smith, Jonah Fisher, Mannan Luo, Janine Cerutti, Lisa Schneper, Trey Smith, Charlotte A. M. Cecil, Janine F. Felix, Colter Mitchell, Daniel A. Notterman, Kerry J. Ressler, Daniel J. Schaid, Andrew J. Simpkin, Matthew J. Suderman, Esther Walton, Andrew D. A. C. Smith, Erin C. Dunn","doi":"10.1038/s44220-024-00345-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44220-024-00345-8","url":null,"abstract":"Experiences of childhood adversity can double the risk for depression. Although the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear, DNA methylation (DNAm) has emerged as a potential pathway to explain the link between adversity and depression. We thus investigated whether epigenome-wide DNAm statistically mediates the association between childhood adversity and adolescent depressive symptoms. Specifically, we performed epigenome-wide mediation analyses to investigate the role of blood-based DNAm (age 7 years) in linking seven types of adversity (ages 0–7 years) to depressive symptoms (age 10.6 years). Primary analyses were conducted in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and replicated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study and Generation R Study. We identified 70 cytosine–guanine dinucleotides (CpGs) that mediated 10–73% of the correlation between adversity and depressive symptoms, with DNAm differences at 39 of these CpGs showing protective effects. Our findings suggest DNAm reflects a biological pathway linking childhood adversity to depression and a potential mechanism towards resilience. Using epigenome-wide mediation analyses to investigate DNA methylation as a path between adversity and depression, the authors found 31 cytosine–guanine dinucleotides (CpGs) associated with risk and 39 CpGs associated with protective effects.","PeriodicalId":74247,"journal":{"name":"Nature mental health","volume":"2 12","pages":"1476-1485"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}