Psychiatric genetics in South Africa: cutting a rough diamond

Psychiatric disorders place a considerable healthcare burden on South African society. Incorporating genetic technologies into future treatment plans offers a potential mechanism to reduce this burden. This review focuses on psychiatric genetic research that has been performed in South African populations with regards to obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Preliminary findings from these studies suggest that data obtained in developed countries cannot necessarily be extrapolated to South African population groups. Psychiatric genetic studies in South Africa seem to involve relatively low-cost methodologies and only a limited number of large national collaborative studies. Future research in South Africa should therefore aim to incorporate highthroughput technologies into large scale psychiatric studies through the development of collaborations. On a global level, the vast majority of psychiatric genetic studies have been performed in non-African populations. South Africa, as the leading contributor to scientific research in Africa, may provide a foundation for addressing this disparity and strengthening psychiatric genetic research on the continent. Although the elucidation of the genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders has proved challenging, examining the unique genetic profiles found in South African populations could provide valuable insight into the genetics of psychiatric disorders.Keywords: Bipolar disorder; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Pharmacogenetics; Psychiatric genetics; Schizophrenia; South African population

Next-generation sequencing of pharmacogenes: a critical analysis focusing on schizophrenia treatment

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Membrane-bound catechol-O-methyltransferase genetic polymorphisms: one of the pieces in the schizophrenia-susceptibility puzzle?

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Genetic variation of membrane-bound catechol-O-methyltransferase and susceptibility to schizophrenia and antipsychotic induced abnormal involuntary movements in an African population

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Association of <I>MB-COMT </I>polymorphisms with schizophrenia-Susceptibility and symptom severity in an African cohort

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Unravelling the origin of the basket stars and their allies (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea, Euryalida)

Euryalids, which include the spectacular basket stars, form a morphologically aberrant group of brittle stars. Surprisingly, the most recent molecular work found them to be sister to ophiurid brittle stars, thus challenging the traditional dichotomy between euryalids and non-euryalids, and leaving an enormous ghost lineage of more than 100 million years between the oldest unambiguous euryalid fossils and their predicted divergence from ophiurids during the Triassic. Here we examine both previously known and newly collected fossils to explore the evolutionary history of euryalids. A morphology-based phylogenetic estimate confirms the Triassic Aspiduriella as a basal member of the euryalid clade that superficially resembles members of the living ophiurid sister clades. Furthermore, we use lateral arm plates and vertebrae to identify two new Jurassic ophiuroids, Melusinaster alissawhitegluzae and Melusinaster arcusinimicus, as early euryalids that are morphologically intermediate between Aspiduriella and extant euryalids. Our phylogenetic analysis is the first to combine data from completely preserved skeletons and from microfossils in order to bridge morphological and stratigraphical gaps between the sampled taxa. It fills a major gap in the fossil record of euryalids and sets a robust phylogenetic framework to understand the morphological transition from ophiurid-like ancestors to the typical modern euryalids better.</p

Age and Gender Differences in Narcissism: A Comprehensive Study Across Eight Measures and Over 250,000 Participants

Age and gender differences in narcissism have been studied often. However, considering the rich history of narcissism research accompanied by its diverging conceptualizations, little is known about age and gender differences across various narcissism measures. The present study investigated age and gender differences and their interactions across eight widely used narcissism instruments (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, Dirty Dozen, Psychological Entitlement Scale, DSM-IV NPD, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire-Short Form, Single Item Narcissism Scale, and brief version of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory). The findings of Study 1 (N = 5,736) revealed heterogeneity in how strongly the measures correlated. Some instruments loaded clearly on one of three factors proposed by previous research (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, antagonism), while others cross- loaded across factors and in distinct ways. Cross-sectional analyses using each measure and meta-analytic results across all measures (Study 2) with a total sample of 270,029 participants suggest consistent linear age effects (random effects meta-analytic effect of r = -.104), with narcissism being highest in young adulthood. Consistent gender differences also emerged (random effects meta-analytic effect was -.079), such that men scored higher in narcissism than women. Quadratic age effects and age x gender effects were generally very small and inconsistent. We conclude that despite the various conceptualizations of narcissism, age and gender differences are generalizable across the eight measures used in the present study. However, their size varied based on the instrument used. We discuss the sources of this heterogeneity and the potential mechanisms for age and gender differences