Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W F Byerley.
Three subjects afflicted with seasonal affective disorder (winter depression) were treated with 2-hour morning light exposures. Within 2 to 5 days, all responded, and remission of their symptoms was sustained during the 2-month treatment period.
The authors review evidence suggesting that some depressed patients have disturbances in serotonin metabolism. Research supporting the serotonin hypothesis includes: cerebrospinal fluid studies; postmortem examination of neurotransmitters, their metabolites, and their receptors; platelet studies; neuropharmacologic data; neuroendocrine perturbations; and reports that serotonin precursor compounds (tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan) may benefit some depressed patients. The authors conclude that better designed studies are needed to test whether serotonin precursor compounds have antidepressant properties.
Significant advances in linkage studies have occurred the past decade based on the use of polymorphic DNA markers known as restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). This approach has led to the chromosomal localization of a number of important genetic diseases, and is being increasingly applied to schizophrenia. We discuss two strategies for performing linkage studies in schizophrenia, one based on methodical testing of the human genome, and the other based on selective use of markers. The selective approach uses data from the mode of transmission, previous linkage studies, cytogenetic studies, association studies, case reports, and candidate genes to identify markers that may have an increased likelihood for linkage.