The impact of the comorbid seizure/epilepsy on the health related quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis: an international multicentric study.

Introduction: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people with (Pw) multiple sclerosis (MS) is usually deteriorated. It has been recently suggested that comorbidities may have the negative influence on the quality of life of the PwMS, but according to the best of our knowledge, only one study investigated, although in a very small cohort, the impact of individual comorbidity on the quality of life of PwMS. The aim of our investigation was to assess, in an international, multicentric study, the impact of comorbid seizure/epilepsy on the HRQoL in PwMS. Methods: We conducted cross-sectional study at numerous neurological centers in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska). For each patient, demographic and clinical data were collected, including Expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires were administered to all patients. Results: The study comprised 326 PwMS in total, 127 PwMS with seizure/epilepsy and 209 PwMS without. Both mean Physical health composite (PHC) and mental health composite (MHC) scores, were statistically significantly higher in PwMS without seizure/epilepsy, implicating worse quality of life in PwMS with comorbid seizure/epilepsy. Presence of seizure/epilepsy in pwMS was statistically significant independent predictor of both PHC and MHC, in multivariate linear regression model after adjustment for potential confounding variables. The hierarchical multivariate regression analysis was performed in order to establish the most important predictors of the PHC and MHC of the SF-36, in PwMS with seizure/epilepsy; older age, higher level of disability, as measured by EDSS, higher depression score, drug-resistant epilepsy and shorter time since last seizure were found to significantly predict worse MHC score in PwMS with seizure/epilepsy. Discussion: Our results point to the possible role of theinterventions related to the adequate control of epilepsy along with improvement of the mental health status to be important in order to reduce MS burden in the PwMS with comorbid seizure/epilepsy.

Communication of the Elderly During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Restrictive measures implemented by governments around the world to control the coronavirus have an impact on communication, especially the communication of the elderly. Objective: The aim for the article is to determine the attitudes of the elderly towards the ways of communication during the COVID 19 pandemic, and to present the challenges faced by the elderly when using digital ways of communication. The goal is also to point out the importance of providing adequate social support to the elderly. Methods: The sample consisted of 71 respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged over 60 years, divided into two groups. The questionnaire was used to gather information from respondents on their demographic characteristics as well as to examine participants' attitudes and confidence regarding the manner and risk of communication associated with COVID-19. Results and Discussion: The results of this research showed that the elderly are actively using digital technologies, but that they are largely dissatisfied with their skills in using digital technologies. Most of the information during the COVID 19 pandemic is given to elderly people via television and telephone (video) conversations with family members and friends. 57.7% of the elderly stated that they greatly lacked direct communication, and it turned out that people living in elderly homes were in a slightly more favorable position. As many as 4/5 of the respondents reported feelings of anxiety, fear, loneliness, and depression. Conclusion: The older part of the population (those over 60 years old), especially in developing countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, is facing the challenge of "digitization of communication". In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the elderly are "calling" for special support and the provision of training and access to technological resources in order to reduce negative psychological consequences and go one step further in creating an "elder-friendly" society.

Multicomponent Educational-Rehabilitation Approach in Rehabilitation of Patients After Stroke.

Rehabilitation must be based on the individual needs and specific goals of the person and must be adapted to his abilities. According to the recommendation of the World Stroke Organization, the team involved in conducting rehabilitation should be multidisciplinary. One of the treatments that are applied within the multidisciplinary approach to a neurological patient is educational-rehabilitation treatment, which is multicomponent in nature. Before starting educational-rehabilitation treatment, an educational-rehabilitation clinical assessment is necessary, which aims to detect difficulties caused by impairment; identify potentials and constraints in these areas; determine the specifics, course, and forecasts of difficulties; formulate clear treatment recommendations; form a watch list that will be available to all team members in the process of diagnosis, treatment, education, and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment; and continuously monitor the ability and adaptive behavior of the person. Educational-rehabilitation clinical treatment includes treatment of cognitive abilities, treatment of motor skills, relaxation, treatment of adaptive skills, as well as informing the person about the disease and counseling. This review focuses on some aspects of rehabilitation such as treatment of cognitive and motor disorders, treatment of adaptive skills, relaxation issues, and informing and counseling patients from the perspective of an educational rehabilitator with practical experiences in this area of rehabilitation.

Spastic Paraparesis After SARS-CoV-2 Infection Without Radiological Changes.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily a disease of the respiratory system but severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may cause several immune-related complications including different neurological disorders, such as myelopathy with paraparesis.In this atypical case a female patient with progressive spastic paraparesis after COVID-19 infection, brisk reflexes and positive Babinski sign, reduced vibratory sensation to the thoracic level, elevated immunoglobulin levels (IgG) in cerebrospinal fluid, but negative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and spine, is presented.  A 57-year-old woman with spastic paraparesis and inability to walk was admitted to our neurological department. About four months before hospitalization, she started feeling numbness and tingling in the feet and lumbar spine area. Gradually, numbness and tingling ascended to the thoracic spine level Th7/8, and she developed weakness mostly in her legs. In the neurological exam she had spastic paraparesis. MRI of the brain, cervical and thoracic spine did not reveal any signal abnormality. Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 was performed and results were highly positive IgG and IgM+IgA levels. The lumbar puncture finding confirmed the suspicion of immune-related complications after SARS-CoV-2 infection (intrathecal IgG synthesis).  This case draws attention to spastic paraparesis or progressive MRI-negative myelitis after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which obviously has immune-mediated pathogenesis that happen in response to the virus or its antibodies. Similarities in spastic paraparesis after human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV-1) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and SARS-CoV-2 infections were observed. The patient had a good response to corticosteroid therapy and had good recovery.

Association of polygenic risk scores, traumatic life events and coping strategies with war-related PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort.

OBJECTIVES: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by extremely stressful environmental events and characterized by high emotional distress, re-experiencing of trauma, avoidance and hypervigilance. The present study uses polygenic risk scores (PRS) derived from the UK Biobank (UKBB) mega-cohort analysis as part of the PGC PTSD GWAS effort to determine the heritable basis of PTSD in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort. We further analyzed the relation between PRS and additional disease-related variables, such as number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age at war on PTSD and CAPS as outcome variables. METHODS: Association of PRS, number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age on PTSD were calculated using logistic regression in a total of 321 subjects with current and remitted PTSD and 337 controls previously subjected to traumatic events but not having PTSD. In addition, PRS and other disease-related variables were tested for association with PTSD symptom severity, measured by the Clinician Administrated PTSD Scale (CAPS) by liner regression. To assess the relationship between the main outcomes PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity, each of the examined variables was adjusted for all other PTSD related variables. RESULTS: The categorical analysis showed significant polygenic risk in patients with remitted PTSD and the total sample, whereas no effects were found on symptom severity. Intensity of life events as well as the individual coping style were significantly associated with PTSD diagnosis in both current and remitted cases. The dimensional analyses showed as association of war-related frequency of trauma with symptom severity, whereas the intensity of trauma yielded significant results independently of trauma timing in current PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The present PRS application in the SEE-PTSD cohort confirms modest but significant polygenic risk for PTSD diagnosis. Environmental factors, mainly the intensity of traumatic life events and negative coping strategies, yielded associations with PTSD both categorically and dimensionally with more significant p-values. This suggests that, at least in the present cohort of war-related trauma, the association of environmental factors and current individual coping strategies with PTSD psychopathology was stronger than the polygenic risk.

Sensory Fibers in Martin-Gruber Anastomosis: An Electrophysiological Study.

INTRODUCTION: Anatomical variations in the innervation of intrinsic hand muscle are well known as Martin - Gruber anastomosis (MGA) that spread from the median to the ulnar nerves in the forearm. Although anatomical studies have shown that a crossover of sensory fibers is not rare in forearm MGA, it has been electrophysiologically described only in rare subjects. We hypothesized that the sensory fibers are not rare in MGA, and often follow the motor fibers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 59 of subjects with a total of 111 arms, with electrodiagnostically confirmed the presence of MGA on the forearm for motor fibers. In order to demonstrate the presence of sensory fibers in MGA, we stimulated the median nerve at the elbow and recorded the antidromic sensory potential from ulnar innervated digit (5th finger). RESULTS: Sensory MGA were present in 42 out of 111 arms (37.8%) with CI 95. There were 54 left hands with motor MGA, of which 18 (33.3%) had sensory fibers MGA, and 57 right hands with motor MGA, and 24 (42.1%) of which had sensory MGA. CONCLUSION: This electrophysiologically study demonstrated the high incidence of sensory fibers in MGA anastomosis. Presence of sensory fibers as a possible anatomical variation should be taken into consideration during electroneurography analysis, diagnosis and surgical therapy.

Effects of Transcutaneous and Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation in Bosnian Female Patients with an Idiopathic Overactive Urinary Bladder.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of daily transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) versus weekly percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) on the quality of life of patients with idiopathic overactive bladder (OAB). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. The diagnosis of OAB was made on the basis of clinical symptoms, and urodynamic tests were performed to check whether uncontrolled contractions of the derusor during bladder filling were responsible for the OAB symptoms. The tests used to assess symptoms and quality of life were Overactive Bladder Questionnaires (OAB-q) SF. The patients were divided into 2 groups of 30 patients each. The first group was treated with TTNS every day for 3 months and the second group with PTNS once a week, also for 3 months. RESULTS: Stimulation with both TTNS and PTNS led to the reduction of all clinical symptoms of OAB and improved quality of life, with statistical significance (P<0.05) and with no side effects. When comparing these two groups, the improvement was statistically more significant in the group treated with PTNS. When the quality of life scores and symptoms were compared to the type of treatment, it was found that the improved quality of life parameters and the reduced OAB symptoms were more statistically significant in the treatment with PTNS than TTNS therapy (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of the study suggest good efficacy of both TTNS and PTNS in the treatment of OAB. Better effects are achieved with weekly PTNS, as it leads to a statistically significant reduction in symptoms as well as an improvement in quality of life, without side effects.

Prevalence of Accessory Deep Peroneal Nerve in Sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina Subjects: an Electrophysiological Study.

BACKGROUND: The accessory deep peroneal nerve (ADPN) is as an anomalous nerve derived from the superficial peroneal nerve or its branch and supplies motor innervations for extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) and sensory innervations for the lateral part of the ankle and foot regions. It is the most common anomalous innervation present in the lower limb. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ADPN electrophysiologically in a sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina subjects who referred to an electromyography lab. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 316 lower limbs from 171 subjects referred for electrodiagnostic studies to Electromyography Lab, Department of Neurology, University Clinical Center Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (102 females/60% and 69/40%) males). Motor nerve conduction studies for the peroneal nerve and ADPN were done. Compound muscle action potential (CMAP) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV) of deep peroneal nerve (DPN) were measured by using EMG machine by stimulating DPN at knee, ankle and lateral malleolus areas accordingly, with recording from extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) muscle. RESULTS: ADPN was found in 46 (14.5%) of 316 legs. ADPN was found in 18 (39.1%) right lower limbs and 28 (60.9%) left lower limbs. Ten subjects (5.8%) had bilateral ADPN. There was no statistically significant difference between the occurrence of ADPN in women versus men (p=0.757), as well as in right versus left legs (p=0.237). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that ADPN prevalence, in a sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina subjects who referred to an electromyography lab is 14.5%. Recognition of ADPN is very important for proper interpretation of lower limbs electrophysiological data.

LONG-TERM NEUROPSYCHIATRIC CONSEQUENCES OF SARS-COV INFECTIONS.

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread globally, with relistic hope that will be solved with adequate vacination, more and more evidences are collected about the presence of psychi-atric and neurological manifestations and symptoms associated with this diseas. Neurological manifestations, are part of the COVID-19 clinical picture, but questions remain regarding the frequency and severity of centra nervous system symptoms, the mechanism of action underlying neurological symptoms, and the relationship of symptoms with the course and severity of COVID-19. The review of the so far published papers shows that although more and more papers are reporting neuro-logical and psyhiatric manifestations associated with COVID-19, many items remain unclear. The long-term psychological implications of this infectious diseases should not be ignored. In this paper, we aim to present a some of psychological consequences and neurological disorders associat-ed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection, and to emphasize the need a global action that requires close coordination and open-data sharing between hospitals, academic and public health institutions and the fast establishment of harmonised research priorities to face acut and long-term the neurological and psychological consequences.

Neurogenic Stuttering: Etiology, Symptomatology, and Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Neurogenic stuttering is a subtype of acquired stuttering, and it is characterized by disfluencies associated with acquired brain damage. OBJECTIVE: To provide an insight into pathophysiology, symptomatology, differential diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of neurogenic stuttering through a critical review of the literature. METHODS: Studies published during the past and recent years were searched and analyzed on neurogenic stuttering. RESULTS: Neurogenic stuttering is a complex disorder. The pathophysiological mechanism of neurogenic stuttering is not yet fully understood. It appears with several neurological diseases and conditions, and the use of some drugs. Differential diagnosis of neurogenic and psychogenic stuttering is a challenge for clinicians. Treatment usually requires a joint effort from speech therapists and doctors, most often neurologists. CONCLUSION: Although research on neurogenic stuttering can be found in the literature, the complexity of this disorder still requires detailed monitoring and studying to provide the best treatment for patients.

Speech and Language Abilities of Persons with Frontotemporal Dementia.

The review outlines the importance of understanding speech and language difficulties that occur among the first symptoms of frontotemporal dementia, as well as the role of speech therapists in the management of people with frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia is one of the most common types of dementia in adults under the age of 65. The main variations of frontotemporal dementia are behavioral, progressive nonfluent aphasia, semantic dementia, and logopenic progressive aphasia. Speech and language difficulties are often among the first indicative signs of frontotemporal dementia, and their proper recognition and understanding play a significant role in the differential diagnosis. Speech and language therapists have to be involved both in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and its treatment to provide the highest quality services to people with dementia and their carers.

Caring for Child Psychotrauma: Lessons from Bosnia.

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) was an extremely hard traumatic event with different losses, separations of people, injuries, hard physical and psychical suffering of everyone. Children were especially in difficult conditions. One of the most remarkable things about children, as anyone who works with them soon finds out, is their resilience. While children are vulnerable to psychic damage and, if the damage is deep enough, to delays in emotional and even physical growth, they also have an astonishing capacity to bounce back. This is one of the most rewarding things about treating traumatized children. For many children, it takes very little, perhaps only some words of understanding, to help them tap into their own ability to heal. Taking care of child war psycho-trauma was a difficult task for me, as the war-time head of Department of psychiatry, without enough knowledge in child psycho-trauma and as person with a high responsibility, to organize together with other psychological caretakers of children, especially refugee children. This presentation will be some kind of my remembrance of period of 20-25 years ago when we, I think did good work of what we could and what we knew.

COVID-19 Pandemia: Neuropsychiatric Comorbidity and Consequences.

Infection with the new corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) was first registered in December 2019 in China, and then later spread rapidly to the rest of the world. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) informed the public for the first time about causes of pneumonnia of unknown origin, in the city of Wuhan (Hubei Province, China), in people who were epidemiologically linked to a seafood and wet animal whole sale local market in Wuhan. Coronavrus disease, called COVID-19 (Corona virus disease 2019), after China quickly spread to most countries in the wold, and the WHO on March 11, 2020 declared a pandmic with this virus. SARS-CoV-2, has a high level of sequential similarities to the SARS-CoV-1 and uses the same receptors when it enters the human body (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2/ACE2). COVID-19 is respiratry infection that is primarily transmitted via respiratry droplets. Typical symptoms of COVID-19 infection can be very moderate (infected can be even asymptomatic) to very severe, with severe respiratory symptoms (bilateral severe pneumonia), septic schock, and fatal outcome. Numeous unknows regarding the biological, epidemilogical adn clinical characteristics of COVID-19, still exist, and make it impossible to predict with certainty the further course of the current pandemic. COVID-19 is primarily a disease of the respiratory system, but SARS-CoV-2, in a number of patients also penetrates the CNS, and apparently could be responsible for fatal outcome in some cases. The entrry of the virus into the brain can lead to neurological and psychiatric manifestationss, which are not uncommon, including headache, paresthesia, myalgia, impaired consciousnessm, confusion or delirum and cerebrovascular diseases. SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals should be evaluated in a timely manner for neurological and psychiatic symptoms because tretament of infection-related neurological and psychiatric complications is an important factor in better prognosis of severe COVID-19 patients.From the current point of view, it seems that in COVID-19 survivors, in the coming years and decades, the inflammatory systemic process and/or the inflammatory process of the brain could trigger long-term mechanisms that generally lead to an increase of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. Psychosocial consequences as well as consequences for mental health are also significant, both for the general population and especially for health workers of all profiles. COVID-19 pandemia is associtaed with negative psychosocial consequences, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger and stress, sleep disorders, simpotms of posttrauamtic stres disorder, social isolation, loneliness and stigmatization.

Guidelines for Editing Biomedical Journals: Recommended by Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

BACKGROUND: Enormous number of medical journals published around the globe requires standardization of editing practice. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article was to enlist main principles of editing biomedical scientific journals adopted at annual meeting of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia & Herzegovina (AMSB&H). METHODS: The evidence for writing this Guideline was systematically searched for during September 2020 in the PUBMED and GOOGLE SCHOLAR databases. The inclusion criteria were: original studies, systematic reviews, invited expert opinions, guidelines and editorials. The exclusion criteria were narrative reviews and uninvited opinion articles. The retrieved evidence was analyzed by members of the AMSB&H, then discussed at 2020 annual meeting of the AMSB&H and adopted by nominal group technique. RESULTS: In total 14 recommendations were made, based on A to C class of evidence. The editors should educate potential authors and instruct them how to structure their manuscript, how to write every segment of the manuscript, and take care about correct use of statistical tests. Plagiarism detection softwares should be used regularly, and statistical and technical editing should be rigorous and thorough. International standards of reporting specific types of studies should be followed, and principles of ethical and responsible behavior of editors, reviewers and authors should be published on the journal's web site. The editors should insist on registration of clinical studies before submission, and check whether non-essential personal information is removed from the articles; when essential personal information has to be included, an article should not be published without signed informed consent by the patient to whom these information relate. CONCLUSIONS: Principles of editing biomedical scientific journals recommended in this guideline should serve as one of the means of improving medical journals' quality.

Balkan Clinical Research Registry: Established by Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

BACKGROUND: From 2013 the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki explicitly requires pre-registration of a study involving human subjects. The registration gives a chance for improvement of design and avoidance of bias. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article was to describe process of bearing decision to create regional registry of clinical studies for Balkan countries. METHODS: After finding relevant studies about research registries and designing the concept and structure of future regional registry an article was published in IJBH journal. The article was than used as basis for discussion at 2020 meeting of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMSBH), and final decision was made by the Academy to create the research registry. RESULTS: Regional registry of clinical studies will be under the auspices of AMSBH and web-based, with the option of online registration of new studies. The data required to be entered in the moment of registration relate to key elements of research plan: topic, variables, sample, type of the study and the study population. After applying for registration of a clinical study, the authors will soon receive the review made by the AMSBH expert committee. The application could be accepted, rejected or returned for major or minor revision. After an application is accepted, it will be deposited in the searchable database and given the registration number. CONCLUSION: The AMSBH's decision to create the regional registry of clinical studies will satisfy needs of researchers from Balkan countries in the first place, who share cultural and lingual similarities. It will also help with increasing standards of clinical research in the region.

Association Analysis of Maoa and Slc6a4 Gene Variation in South East European War Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to investigate the association of gene variations of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) and the serotonin transporter solute carrier family 6 member 4 (SLC6A4) gene with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and coping strategies in patients with war related PTSD. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 747 individuals who had experienced war trauma in the South Eastern Europe conflicts between 1991 and 1999. Genotyping of the MAOA VNTR and SLC6A4 tandem repeat polymorphism in combination with rs25531 was done in 719 participants: 232 females and 487 males. Among them, 369 have had current or lifetime PTSD and 350 have had no PTSD symptoms. For psychometric approach we used the Clinician Administrated PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the adapted Hoffman-Lazarus Coping scale and a basic socio-demographic data questionnaire. RESULTS: There were no significant intergroup (PTSD versus non PTSD) differences in the genotype distribution of MAOA and SLC6A4 gene polymorphisms. The primary finding of our study was that the MAOA short allele (MAOA-S) was nominally significantly associated with the severity of PTSD symptoms in the total subgroup of participants with lifetime PTSD; males for symptoms of hyperarrousal and females with symptoms of re-experience and hyperarousal. In our research the male subsample with current PTSD and MAOA-S genotype had nominally significantly higher scores for some positive coping strategies compared to those carrying the long allele genotype (MAOA-L). There was no significant association between the severity of PTSD symptoms, BSI phenotype, coping scores and the SLC6A4 genotype. CONCLUSION: The present results support the notion that MAOA VNTR gene variation modulates development and recovery of posttraumatic stress disorder in a war traumatised population, but did not support a connection between SLC6A4 gene variations and war related PTSD.

Genetic Susceptibility to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Analyses of the Oxytocin Receptor, Retinoic Acid Receptor-Related Orphan Receptor A and Cannabinoid Receptor 1 Genes.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to life-threatening events is common and everyone will most likely experience this type of trauma during their lifetime. Reactions to these events are highly heterogeneous and seems to be influenced by genes as well. Some individuals will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while others will not. In this study, our aim was to analyze the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene (rs53576 and rs2254298), the RAR-related orphan receptor A (RORA) gene (rs8042149) and the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) gene (rs1049353) and PTSD. All candidate genes have been previously associated with stress related disorders and the reaction to traumatic events. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Participants (N=719) have been exposed to war-related trauma during the war in South-Eastern Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo). We correlated the presence and absence of current and lifetime PTSD as well as PTSD severity (Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS)) and current psychopathology (Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) score) with the mentioned SNPs. DNA was isolated from whole blood and genotyped for OXTR rs2254298 and rs53576 following previously published protocols, for RORA rs8042149 via PCR-RFLP and CNR1 rs1049353 via KASP. RESULTS: Nominally significant results were found for OXTR rs53576 in connection with the CAPS and BSI scores within lifetime PTSD patients. The additive allelic model indicated that G allele carriers achieved lower CAPS (p=0.0090) and BSI (p=0.0408) scores than participants carrying one or two copies of the A allele. These results did not withstand correction for multiple tests. No significant results were observed for OXTR rs2254298, RORA rs8042149 and CNR1 rs1049353 although the results for RORA showed a slight tendency that rs8042149 may influence the level of BSI scores in current PTSD patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study points to a role of the OXTR gene in PTSD and the related psychopathology following war related trauma.

Associations between Polymorphisms in the Solute Carrier Family 6 Member 3 and the Myelin Basic Protein Gene and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Previous research showed inconsistent results concerning a possible association between solute carrier family 6 member 3 (SLC6A3) gene polymorphisms and dopamine symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Several studies also indicate that the myelin basic protein (MBP) gene is of importance in the etiology of several psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation of distinct SLC6A3 and MBP gene polymorphisms with PTSD and whether SLC6A3 and MBP genotypes contribute to PTSD symptom severity. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 719 individuals who had experienced war trauma in the South Eastern Europe (SEE). Genotypes of variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism within the SLC6A3 gene were assessed in 696 participants, and the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12458282 located within the MBP gene region was genotyped in a total of 703 subjects. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Clinical Administrated PTSD Scale (CAPS) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), were used for data collection. RESULTS: No significant differences concerning the investigated SLC6A3 and MBP polymorphisms was identifiable between PTSD and non PTSD participants. Also we could not detect significant influence of these distinct SLC6A3 and MBP alleles on the severity of PTSD symptoms (CAPS) or BSI scores. However, the results of MBP rs12458282 within the patients with lifetime PTSD may point to a possible correlation of the major allele (T) with elevated CAPS scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our results do not support an association of the analysed SLC6A3 and MBP gene polymorphisms with PTSD in war traumatized individuals. We found that there is a possibility for a correlation of the T allele rs12458282 within the MBP gene with higher CAPS scores in lifetime PTSD patients which would need to be tested in a sample providing more statistical power.