Psychometric properties of the Affective Lability Scale (54 and 18-item version) in patients with bipolar disorder, first-degree relatives, and healthy controls.
The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the original 54 item version (ALS-54) and the short 18 item version (ALS-18) of the Affective Lability Scale (ALS) in patients with bipolar disorders, their first-degree relatives and healthy controls. Internal Consistency and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed, comparing clinical and non-clinical group comparisons on ALS scores.
A total of 993 participants (patients with bipolar disorders [n=422], first-degree relatives [n=201] and controls [n=370]) were recruited from France and Norway. Diagnosis and clinical characteristics were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-I), or the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS). Affective lability was measured using the ALS-54 and ALS-18.
Both ALS-54 and ALS-18 showed high internal consistency, but the subdimensions of both versions were highly inter-correlated. From confirmatory factor analysis both versions revealed acceptable to good model fit. Patients had significantly higher ALS scores compared to controls, with affected first-degree relatives presenting intermediate scores.
Both the original ALS-54 version and the short ALS-18 version showed good psychometric properties. They also discriminated between patients with a bipolar disorder (high ALS), first degree relatives (intermediate ALS), and healthy controls (low ALS). A high correlation between ALS items for both versions was observed. Our study supports reducing the scale from 54 to 18 items.
ECEVE, UMRS 1123, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, INSERM, Paris, France; AP-HP, URC-Eco, DHU Pepsy, F-75004 Paris, France; Foundation FondaMental, French National Science Foundation, Créteil, France. Electronic address: jeanbaptiste.hazo@urc-eco.fr.
As part of the Roamer project, we aimed at revealing the share of health research budgets dedicated to mental health, as well as on the amounts allocated to such research for four European countries. Finland, France, Spain and the United Kingdom national public and non-profit funding allocated to mental health research in 2011 were investigated using, when possible, bottom-up approaches. Specifics of the data collection varied from country to country. The total amount of public and private not for profit mental health research funding for Finland, France, Spain and the UK was €10·2, €84·8, €16·8, and €127·6 million, respectively. Charities accounted for a quarter of the funding in the UK and less than six per cent elsewhere. The share of health research dedicated to mental health ranged from 4·0% in the UK to 9·7% in Finland. When compared to the DALY attributable to mental disorders, Spain, France, Finland, and the UK invested respectively €12·5, €31·2, €39·5, and €48·7 per DALY. Among these European countries, there is an important gap between the level of mental health research funding and the economic and epidemiologic burden of mental disorders.
Synaptogenesis, the formation of functional synapses, is a crucial step for the development of the central nervous system. Among the genes involved in this process are cell adhesion molecules, such as protocadherins and neuroligins, which are essential factors for the identification of the appropriate partner cell and the formation of synapses. In this work, we studied the expression and the genetic variability of two closely related members of the protocadherin family PCDH11X/Y, located on the X and the Y chromosome, respectively. PCDH11Y is one of the rare genes specific to the hominoid lineage, being absent in other primates. Expression analysis indicated that transcripts of the PCDH11X/Y genes are mainly detected in the cortex of the human brain. Mutation screening of 30 individuals with autism identified two PCDH11Y polymorphic amino acid changes, F885V and K980N. These variations are in complete association, appeared during human evolution approximately 40,000 years ago and represent informative polymorphisms to study Y chromosome variability in populations. We studied the frequency of these variants in males with autism spectrum disorders (n = 110), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 61), bipolar disorder (n = 61), obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 51), or schizophrenia (n = 61) and observed no significant differences when compared to ethnically-matched control populations. These findings do not support the role of PCDH11Y, or more generally of a frequent specific Y chromosome, in the susceptibility to these neuropsychiatric disorders.
