CHECKUP ALCOHOLISM, BIPOLARITY LINKED?

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Women who suffer from bipolar disorder have a higher risk of alcoholism, according to a study by the Bipolar Mood Disorders Research Program at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Bipolar disorder is marked by alternating cycles of depression and mania. Women with bipolar disorder showed more than seven times the risk of alcoholism when compared to women in the general population. For men with the disorder, the rate was three times greater.

People who suffer from bipolar disorder often drink alcohol to numb their depressive symptoms, researchers said. Researchers found that bipolar men who abused alcohol tended to have a family history of alcoholism and mood disorder. In bipolar women, alcohol use was more strongly associated with bouts of depression and social anxiety.

GENETIC CONNECTION: Alterations to a key gene that helps regulate the immune system can increase a person's risk of getting early-onset diabetes or having thyroid problems, British researchers say.

The gene believed to boost risk if it has the variation is the CTLA-4 gene, they report. This variation is present in about half the population, according to the researchers. The gene applies a kind of ``molecular brake'' to stop the immune system from running amok and causing autoimmune disorders - diseases in which the body turns on itself and attacks normal cells instead of attacking invading organisms.

Before arriving at the conclusion, the researchers conducted genetic studies in families. They found that a small region of the human genome on chromosome 2 was home to three genes associated with the immune response, and decided they would be suspect candidates for contributing to the disorders. A mouse model of early-onset (type 1) diabetes had already confirmed that susceptibility to the disease was associated with the same three genes.