Bipolar Disorder And Genes: The Latest Research

By Chris Tepedino
Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic-depression, is believed to have a strong genetic component and now researchers have discovered five major areas or gene regions that are implicated in the development of bipolar disorder within patients.
The study, titled “Genome-wide association study reveals two new risk loci for bipolar disorder,” was published in Nature Communications on March 11, 2014 and is detailed in a recent article on PsychCentral.com.
The team of researchers analyzed genetic information from 2,266 patients with bipolar disorder and 5,028 comparable people with the disorder. They merged this information with existing information from other individuals in various databases to analyze in total the genetic information from 9,747 patients and 14,278 non-patients.
Their analysis revealed five areas that were connected to bipolar disorder. Three of these five areas were already suspected to be connected to bipolar disorder. The two new areas were concentrated on chromosomes five and six.
In their study, the authors write, “Our finding provides new insights into the biological mechanisms involved in the development of bipolar disorder.”
Co-author Professor Marcella Rietschel says, “The investigation of the genetic foundations of bipolar disorder on this scale is unique worldwide to date.”
One of the new areas, called “ADCY2,” was of particular interest to researchers. This section of DNA oversees the production of an enzyme used in the conduction of signals into nerve cells.
Dr. Markus Nothen said, “This fits very well with observations that the signal transfer in certain regions of the brain is impaired in patients with bipolar disorder. Only when we know the biological foundations of this disease can we also identify starting points for new therapies.”
Genetics expert John Vincent said, “We’re all working toward establishing the ultimate set of genes associated with bipolar disorder, and then we can look at how they are involved in the functioning of neurons in the brain. We need to pool results with other studies to confirm the true associations, and this requires many tens of thousands of people.”

( view the original article here )

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Batman TV Series ‘Gotham’ Is The Origin Story Of Bruce Wayne And Villains Before The Dark Knight

The new Batman TV series Gotham has everyone speculating which direction the show will take the Dark Knight. One thing is for certain. This will be the most detailed version of the Batman origin story we have ever seen; diving into both the mythos of the city and the young Bruce Wayne.
In a related report by The Inquisitr, the Batman TV series Gotham will be heading to Netflix according to reports.

“The move, experts say, is part of an aggressive, comprehensive plan by Netflix to amass an enormous library of movies and television shows to become and remain the world’s dominant streaming service. There’s no word on the fiscal intricacies of the deal between Netflix and the company behind Gotham, but insiders say it’s a risky move at any cost. Gotham hasn’t even premiered yet, so no one really knows hows audiences will react to the show and in what numbers.”

Bruce Wayne kneels in his murdered parents’ blood.

The premise of the Batman TV series has some questioning the direction of the show. Bruce Wayne is just a kid while the city of Gotham will be explored mostly through the eyes of a young James Gordon; the man who will eventually become Gotham City’s police commissioner, the go to guy for Batman and the father of the future Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon.
Bruno Heller, executive producer, for the Batman TV series, explains how the story might differ from the comics.

“It’s not a whole new mythology. Mythology in the true sense of the word is precisely when so many stories are created that none of them can be consonant with each other. You name any mythological hero, and there are contradictions in the story… (Y)ou’ve reached the level of a genuine myth (when) many stories can be told. What we won’t do is break the kind of canonical iron truths of the Batman story. But issues of chronology and who was there when and how, we will play with. In a fun way, not in a disrespectful way or a sort of iconoclastic way.”

Much of the focus of the story will be how Gotham became the city that needs a Dark Knight in the first place and how the various Batman villains came to be.
The first focus will be on how Oswald Cobblepott becomes the Penguin by starting his career as a grunt for a new villain called Fish Mooney, who is a crime boss in Gotham. Cobblepott uses a split in the underworld between the Maroni family and the Falcone family to play both sides against each other. Interestingly enough, it will be the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents that sets the foundation for Cobblepott becoming the Penguin in the long run.
Do you think the Batman TV series Gotham will be able to stand on its own without having the Dark Knight?
( view the original article here )

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This is the how the Xbox One is finally going to compete with the PS4

This is the how the Xbox One is finally going to compete with the PS4

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This is the how the Xbox One is finally going to compete with the PS4

In all the discussion regarding sales of the new game consoles from Sony and Microsoft, one important point is too often overlooked — the Xbox One is available in significantly fewer territories than the PlayStation 4. Sony had a huge jump on Microsoft in the international market, but by the end of September, the two consoles will finally be on a relatively level playing field.

Microsoft announced on the Xbox Wire on Tuesday that the Xbox One would be launching in 29 new territories before the end of the month. Here’s a complete list of dates:

9/2:  Chile and Colombia
9/4:  Japan
9/5:  Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
9/15:  Israel
9/23: Hong Kong, India, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan
9/23:  China
9/26:  Russia

For Xbox fans, the explanation for the console’s lack of runaway success always came down to one issue: availability. You simply couldn’t get the Xbox in some of the most important video game markets on the planet, most notably Japan, but that won’t be true in less than 30 days. It’s going to take time for Microsoft to make an impact in countries where the PS4 has already taken over the living room, but at least we’ve finally got a fair fight.

( view the original article here )

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