<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18161 size-full" title="Grunge Map of Europe" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1736" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-1024x695.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-300x203.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-768x521.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-880x597.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-1180x800.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />The story of H is really the story of people in modern Europe.
H refers to a maternal lineage – also known as a maternal haplogroup – that originated long ago in the Near East but expanded into Europe with the recession of the last Ice Age. H –with its dozens of subgroups – is the most prevalent haplogroup in Europe today, but it wasn’t always that way.
Recently a team of scientists used DNA extracted from human skeletal remains dating from around 500 years ago to nearly 6,000 years ago to reconstruct what they say is the first detailed genetic history of modern Europe. Modern humans were in Europe as far back as 35,000 years ago, overlapping with Neanderthals who’d arrived first. But in looking at the DNA, specifically the DNA that defines maternal lineages, scientists found that H was very rare in those early hunter-gatherers.
So how did H become so common in Europe?
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What about you?
23andMe can tell you where you fall on that maternal family tree with details on more than<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/deep/"> 750 different maternal haplogroups</a>.
Check out what branch of the human family tree your maternal line falls.
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The scientists, who wrote about their findings in a<a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2656.html"> paper published in the journal Nature Communications</a>, theorize that the dramatic shift in haplogroups mirrors different waves of migrations into Europe and the stark change from a hunter-gatherer culture to one dominated by agriculture. The DNA evidence supports this theory, they say, and is bolstered by the archeological evidence. It wasn’t just a movement of ideas and technology that transformed prehistoric Europe, but the movement of people.
“This is the first high-resolution genetic record of these lineages through time, and it is fascinating that we can directly observe both human DNA evolving in ‘real-time’, and the dramatic population changes that have taken place in Europe,” said Dr Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide’s Australian Center for Ancient DNA, a co-author of the study.
The mitochondrial DNA used in this study tells not only stories of human prehistory, but also personal ancestry stories.  Everyone can trace his or her maternal ancestry using DNA testing. Your maternal lineage, defined by a type of DNA called mitochondrial DNA, is passed down to you only from your mother, who got it from her mother and so on all the way back in time to “mitochondrial Eve.”
This little piece of DNA is almost totally unchanged through the generations, linking us back through time to our ancient ancestors. The very slow rate at which it changes allows scientists to pinpoint in time major changes in human history such as our migration out of Africa and the patterns of people moving across the planet.
Each time there is a change in that DNA – a mutation – it creates a new “branch” of the maternal family tree – which traces back generations from one mother to the next. By using information from archeology, history and even what we know about changes in climate, we are gaining a better and better understanding of human history.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Mother Europe

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18126" title="Figure 1" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints.jpg" alt="" width="2049" height="1242" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints.jpg 2049w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-300x182.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-768x466.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-1024x621.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-880x533.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-1180x715.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2049px) 100vw, 2049px" />by Anne Pinckard
“’You have been asking me questions and taking my blood for years, but I do not know anything about what you have found.’”
These words, spoken by a subject in an ongoing, 7-year prospective study of HIV-treatment in Uganda, prompted the researchers to take action–they decided to stage a wedding.
The researchers had been tracking 540 patients in Mbarara, a rural area in southwestern Uganda. To date, they hadn’t shared their findings, as is the practice among similar studies in which results are not shared until after the randomized, clinical trials are completed or terminated.
But on hearing the complaint, the researchers reassessed their decision. They put together a meeting to explain their findings, using as their model a traditional Ugandan wedding, complete with dancing and feasting. The details of the study and the effort to share results with research participants was published recently in <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001397">PLOS Medicine</a>.
The success of the effort–in which researchers returned sometimes complicated results on serious conditions to research participants–may bolster other efforts to create more cooperative and open lines of communication between researchers and participants in the future. 23andMe’s own research not only returns data to customers, but it also allows customers to participate in research while they explore their own genetic information.
We’ve <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/?s=fear">written</a> several times about what happens when people are given access to their genetic information. Like the Uganda study, these cases demonstrate over and over again that when people are better informed, they don’t react negatively. Rather, people react intelligently. They seek out the support they need to make decisions that are right for them. But they can only do so if they are given the right tools. And that means being treated with respect, being informed, and being allowed to take control of their own health.
It’s not a stretch to say that, in the Uganda study, everyone won as a result of sharing results with the subjects. The participants reported feeling respected. In turn, the researchers gained new insight into how to communicate with their participants and identified new venues for investigation. And in the end, it sounds like everyone had a whole lot of fun.
The challenges the researchers faced were daunting, and included the need to translate the results into the local language, Runyankole, which lacked the terminology necessary to explain some of the science. Furthermore, the translators had to use terms and concepts that could not be misinterpreted yet were easy enough for those with limited education to understand. Some of the participants couldn’t read so researchers had to present the results orally.
In order to create a comfortable and familiar setting, the researchers decided to present the event like a local wedding. Privacy was a potential issue. By attending the event, each person would be “coming out” as HIV positive. But as one participant put it in the article, “’Well, they are living with this disease too, and so what can they think about me?’” All told, 466 out of 540 in the original study cohort attended.
At the “wedding”, a Uganda physician who ran a locally known clinic and was familiar to the participants introduced the presenters. Research assistants recorded and translated into English any questions that arose during each segment. These were passed onto the researchers to answer, and the responses were translated back into Runyankole.
The meeting included two breaks for entertainment–as is the custom in traditional celebrations. Research assistants, joined by many of the attendees, performed a local Bakiga dance. A group of participants accompanied by a researcher on the trumpet performed the drums and sang about HIV prevention and youth, and the history of the study. At the end, everyone feasted on a traditional buffet lunch.
The guests said the event made them feel as if they were participants, rather than research subjects, and several thanked the lead investigator “‘for honoring us today.’”
It’s clear the researchers were touched, too. Attendees made paper banners with colorful handprints to commemorate the occasion, and those banners now hang in the researchers’ offices in Boston. The event also helped researchers identify new venues of investigation, and uncovered nuances of Runyankole-English language translation that could lead to miscommunication. The event also created a formal mechanism for participants to share concerns and questions with the entire science team. Finally, the lines of communication gave researchers issues to investigate in the future, including support needed to continue HIV treatment, income generation, and food security issues.
Anne Pinckard cut her teeth writing for newspapers. Now based in Berkeley, California she specializes in writing about biology, but covers just about anything from quantum physics to archaeology.

Anne Pinckard

People Powered Research

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18144" title="neanderthal" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/neanderthal.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="270" />
By Amick Boone
They once numbered 300 strong, but the Oregon Cavemen, members of a Grants Pass booster club formed in 1922 whose members claim to be “direct descendants of the Neanderthal,” are fading fast.
Club members worry that as their numbers dwindle, soon there won’t be anyone around to protect their totem — a 17-foot fiberglass caveman statue that has long been a sort of guardian of the town, known as the gateway to the Oregon Caves National Monument.
The Oregon Caveman story appeared recently in an <a href="https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324010704578419171802521946.html?mod=ITP_AHED">article in the Wall Street Journal</a>, which detailed how the group fought tooth-and-nail to keep their animal-skin-wearing, club-wielding caveman standing tall on one of the main streets of Grants Pass.
The group’s original bylaws made claims regarding their Neanderthal lineage, but back then there was no way to know for sure.   These days, we have access to genetic testing that could help the Cavemen find out how much Neanderthal DNA they have, but it might not necessarily mean what they think. And the club might be as exclusive as they once believed.
Most non-African people do have Neanderthal DNA, on average about 2.5 percent, but some outliers have even more. However — sorry, Oregon Cavemen — Neanderthal DNA may not predispose you to an animal-print fashion sense or a taste for primitive weaponry.   In fact, what it means to have a higher percentage of Neanderthal DNA — whether it gives you a thicker forehead or makes you hairier, for instance — isn’t known.
Homo neandertalensis — thick-boned humans who thrived for hundreds of thousands of years in Europe and parts of Asia — died out about 30,000 years ago, while we modern humans (Homo sapiens) survived. Apart from some theories of how Neanderthals contribute to modern humans, including that they gave us some sort of <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2011/110809/full/476136a.html">“hybrid vigor”</a> — according to Peter Parham, a geneticist at Stanford University School of Medicine — why we flourished and Neanderthals died out is an evolutionary mystery <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/find-your-inner-neanderthal/">we’ve yet to unravel</a>.
While the fate of the caveman statue in Grants Pass has very little to do with Neanderthals, it does give us a chance to revisit the topic of our ancient human cousins. Far from being dumb and unable to communicate, scientists have learned that Neanderthals used relatively complicated tools, created adornments, and likely had a spoken language.
Clearly our understanding of Neanderthals has evolved from the cartoonish caveman depictions of the past as we learn more about not just our shared DNA but also as more Neanderthal artifacts are uncovered.
As University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks noted in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/decoding-neanderthals.html">a recent NOVA special on PBS</a>: “Neanderthals have the mother of all image problems.”
For more on Neanderthals check out these posts:
&#8211; <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/more-fun-with-neanderthals/">More Fun with Neanderthals</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/ancestry-2/find-your-inner-neanderthal/"> Find Your Inner Neanderthal</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/news/new-evidence-suggests-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals/"> New Evidence Suggests Humans and Neanderthal Interbreeding</a>
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14049" title="neanderthal icon" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/neanderthal-icon-96x150.jpg" alt="" width="50" height="77" />
Got Neanderthal DNA?
23andMe customers can <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/labs/neanderthal/">find their inner Neanderthal</a> or at least how much Neanderthal DNA they have. Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store</a>!
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Amick Boone

Oregon Cavemen May Have Neanderthals All Wrong

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18103 size-medium" title="ADHD Graphic" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-300x184.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="184" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-300x184.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-768x471.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-1024x628.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-880x540.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-1180x724.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic.jpg 1509w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
Although Attention-Defincit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has only been recognized as a disease in the last 20 years, patients already are well-versed in what treatments work for them, accoring to a new study by CureTogether, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
People in the study said they found that lifestyle changes like exercising, meditation, and limiting external stimuli were effective treatments, as were the drugs Adderall and Ritalin. Conversely some drugs like Strattera, Wellbutrin, and Abilify were among the least effective, according to the study. These are all treatments suggested and reported by patients, so some redundancy in the terms used is to be expected. In addition, the term “treatment” in this study refers to anything patients describe using to help them feel better whether it is an officially prescribed medical treatment or not.
More than five million Americans have been diagnosed with ADHD, and often appears to run in families. Finding treatments that work well can be a challenge, so CureTogether asked people suffering from ADHD to rate the effectiveness of different treatments.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Most Effective Rated Treatments for People with ADHD
1. Adderall xr 
2. Adderall 
3. Exercise 
4. Dexedrine 
5. Vyvanse 
6. Limit external stimuli 
7. Coaching 
8. Rock climbing 
9. Ritalin 
10. Learn organizational skills
</div>
CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 852 people with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, who rated the effectiveness of 28 different treatments.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/symptoms/">Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder</a>, in which people living with the condition shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the ADHD study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in ADHD. Thank you!

Alexandra Carmichael

What Patients Say Works for ADHD

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17048" title="Abstract DNA" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg" alt="" width="406" height="296" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg 406w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpeg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />
This month marks the tenth anniversary of one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time when in 2003 researchers decoded the last of the three billion letters that make up the human genome.
Dr. Eric Green, director of the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/"> National Human Genome Project,</a> spoke with reporters a week ago saying that the milestone might not be breaking news, but it does warrant a few moments of reflection.
Green noted the  breadth of technical, scientific and medical advances made in the last ten years.
For Green, those advances have set the stage for what will become the age of genomic breakthroughs. We’ve already made great strides that have changed people’s lives in both big and small ways, he said.
&#8220;By improving our understanding of basic genome biology, the genomic underpinnings of disease and genomic medicine, the field gets ever closer to its ultimate goal &#8211; improving human health through genomics research,&#8221; he said.
Pointing to cancer, as an example, Green said genetics has transformed how it is diagnosed and treated. The astounding drop in the cost of sequencing has opened the way for doctors to easily use genetic information when treating patients. In the case of breast cancer, doctors now regularly sequence tumors and if they find that the tumor is positive for a genetic signature known as “HER-2” they know that their patient will benefit from the drug Herceptin. And in the case of prescription drugs, the FDA now recommends the use of genetic testing in prescribing more than 100 medications, to help ensure that the right amount of the right drug is prescribed to the right patient.
Some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in genetic science have been in the treatment of rare diseases. While rare diseases are individually rare, when you add up all the people who suffer from a rare disease it amounts to about one in ten, or about 30 million people in the United States. Doctors now know the genetic underpinnings of almost 5,000 rare diseases, more than twice as many as a decade ago.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18056 size-full" title="hgp_measures" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg" alt="" width="1667" height="2274" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg 1667w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-220x300.jpg 220w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-768x1048.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-751x1024.jpg 751w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-645x880.jpg 645w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-865x1180.jpg 865w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1667px) 100vw, 1667px" />
And the science has had tremendous impact on many lives. Consider the case of Nic Volker, a 4 year-old Wisconsin boy suffering from a mysterious life-threatening disease that had required multiple painful surgeries. His story,<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/dna"> written about eloquently</a> by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher, had a happy ending after doctors worked tirelessly to identify the genetic mutation causing the problem. Knowing the mutation allowed them to come up with a possible treatment – a risky but ultimately successful bone marrow transplant.
While saying that &#8220;we have a long way to go to deliver on the promise of genomic medicine,&#8221; Green said the progress thus far has been &#8220;amazing.&#8221;

The Decade After Decoding

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18019 size-full" title="Helix" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix-.jpg" alt="" width="1372" height="1014" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix-.jpg 1372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--300x222.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--768x568.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--1024x757.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--880x650.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--1180x872.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1372px) 100vw, 1372px" />
Last week the sale of some high-profile memorabilia attracted our attention, and no, we’re not talking about the $2.1M price tag for a Honus Wagner baseball card.
It was the sale of two sets of items once owned by Francis Crick, who with James Watson discovered the structure of DNA back in 1953.
Auctioneers sold off Crick’s Nobel prize – along with a few other items like his lab coat and a sailing journal – last Thursday for about $2 million. But also <a href="http://www.christies.com/salelanding/index.aspx?intSaleID=24391" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">auctioned off last week</a> was a handwritten letter Crick sent to his then 12 year-old son describing his and Watson’s discovery and the DNA model of the double helix structure they created.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18020 size-full" title="crick&amp;watson" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson.jpg" alt="" width="708" height="433" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson.jpg 708w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson-300x183.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px" />Crick and Watson
It’s the letter – grabbed by an <a href="http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/11/francis-cricks-letter-to-son-describing-dna-auctioned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anonymous bidder for $6 million</a> – that attracted the attention of many of us here.
In March of 1953 just before Crick and Watson had their findings published in Nature, Crick sent off this simple note to his son.
By now the double helix is so iconic that we forget how brilliant it is in its simplicity. As Crick said in the letter to his son, the “structure is very beautiful.”
<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Crick-letter-to-Michael1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">His letter</a>  accomplishes the difficult task of explaining this scientific breakthrough in terms that even a 12 year-old could understand. In describing the quality of DNA that allows our cells to divide and make copies of themselves, he wrote:
“It is like a code. If you are given one set of letters you can write down the others.&#8221;
He went on, “Now we believe that the DNA is a code. That is, the order of the bases (the letters) makes a gene different from another gene (just as one page of print is different from another.) You can now see how Nature makes copies of the genes. Because if the two chains unwind into two separate chains, and if each chain then makes another chain come together on it, then because A always goes with T, and G with C, we shall get two copies where we had one before.”

A Letter About the Letters of Life

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18005" title="bipolarimage" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bipolarimage.jpg" alt="" width="766" height="459" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bipolarimage.jpg 766w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bipolarimage-300x180.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 766px) 100vw, 766px" />For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, <a href="http://curetogether.com/bipolar-disorder/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity">click here</a>.
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
Some of the most effective treatments for bipolar disorder reported by patients are not drugs, according to a new study by CureTogether, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
People in the study said they found that lifestyle changes like exercising, reducing alcohol intake, and having a defined sleep schedule were the most effective. The exception, according to those surveyed, was the drug Lamictal. Conversely some popular treatments such as Prozac, Wellbutrin, and anti-depressants in general, were among the least effective, according to the study. These are all treatments suggested and reported by patients, so some redundancy in the terms used is to be expected. In addition, the term “treatment” in this study refers to anything patients describe using to help them feel better whether it is an offically prescribed medical treatment or not.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Most Effective Rated Treatments for People with Bipolar Disorder
1. Regimented sleep 
2. Reduce alcohol 
3. Exercise 
4. Lamictal 
5. Sunlight 
6. Yoga 
7. Psychotherapy 
8. Mindfulness meditation 
9. Small, frequent snacks 
10. Self-tracking
</div>
More than five million Americans are affected by bipolar disorder every year, and two-thirds of people with this disorder have at least one close relative with the illness or with major depression – evidence that the disease has a heritable component. Finding treatments that work well can be a challenge, so CureTogether asked people suffering from Bipolar Disorder to rate the effectiveness of different treatments.
CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 301 people with Bipolar Disorder, who rated the effectiveness of 45 different treatments. Among the most helpful treatments were yoga, mindfulness meditation, sunlight, and the drug Lamictal. Also highly effective for those in the study were journaling and self-tracking. The people in the study also said that Celexa, Abilify, and Risperdal – all prescription drugs –  were not as effective, and were reported to actually make the condition worse.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/bipolar-disorder/symptoms/">Bipolar Disorder</a>, in which people living with the condition shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the Bipolar study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in Bipolar Disorder. Thank you!

What Patients Say Works for Bipolar Disorder

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17920" title="Football" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Football-300x200.jpg" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Football-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Football.jpg 424w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Mounting <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1007051">evidence</a> points to brain trauma as a risk factor for mental decline. Football players who’ve had multiple concussions <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10485682">perform worse</a> on tests of brain function and are more likely to have memory <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16239884">problems</a> later on. Repeated blows to the head can also cause certain types of dementia &#8212; medically referred to as “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” and historically called “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pugilistica">punch-drunk syndrome</a>” in boxers. These <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3400421/">athletes</a> usually suffer repeated onslaughts, but <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1007051">research suggests</a> that even an isolated severe brain injury might be enough to increase risk for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
(A severe traumatic brain injury is one that leads to a concussion and unconsciousness for 30 minutes or more.)
Research also suggests that DNA may play a role in how susceptible we are to mental decline after head trauma. Numerous genes have been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442212702260">implicated</a> but the most plausible connection is with a gene named APOE. A version of this gene called e4 is firmly linked to higher risk for Alzheimer’s and researchers are studying people with the e4 variant to see if they are more likely to show signs of mental decline after brain injury compared to people without this genetic variant.
But how might the APOE e4 variant affect our ability to recover from a traumatic brain injury? Research on Alzheimer’s offers some clues.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justify; width: 250px; background-color: #e6e6e6; padding: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 12px;">Sizing up head trauma 
More than <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18162698">10 million</a> people around the world suffer a traumatic brain injury every year and a staggering <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/statistics.html">1.7 million</a> of these injuries occur in the USA. This makes traumatic brain injury the leading cause of death and disability in Americans under the age of 35. Most <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/traumatic-brain-injury/DS00552/DSECTION=causes">cases of brain injury</a> result from falls and car accidents, but contact sports and modern warfare are also contributors. </div>
It’s not clear exactly why people with the e4 variant are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, but it is known that the brains of people with this variant <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/APOE">have more protein clumps</a>, called amyloid plaques, than the brains of people without the variant. It’s possible that these plaques cause neurons in the brain to die.
Up to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8163989">30% of people</a> who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury also have plaques. These plaques seem to develop very quickly &#8212; sometimes <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014488604002420">within two hours</a> &#8212; after injury. It’s possible that people with the e4 variant are simply more likely to develop plaques in their brains &#8212; perhaps even more so with trauma &#8212; and this predisposes them for developing cognitive problems.
Scientists have long thought that our genes interact with our environment to impact our health. In the case of mental decline and dementia, preliminary research suggests a connection between the APOE e4 variant and severe brain injury, but findings are inconsistent and more research is needed to know for sure.
Not everyone who suffers a brain injury or has the e4 variant will develop dementia or other cognitive problems. But being aware of the risk can help you be proactive in avoiding head injuries in the first place. You can keep your brain active, through social engage ­ment or “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/23/brain-games-may-help-thwart-alzheimers-study/">brain games</a>” like Sudoku, in order to lower your risk of mental decline.
Recommended reading:

<a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers-disease/AN01710">What types of brain injury carry a risk for mental decline?</a> 
<a href="http://www.alz.org/dementia/traumatic-brain-injury-head-trauma-symptoms.asp">Traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease</a> 
Prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease 
<a href="https://dopasolution.com/dementia/">Online Resources That Meet W3C Guidelines for Accessibility</a>

Brain Injury, Mental Decline, and the APOE Gene

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17861" title="Layout 1" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Still-Point-cover-photo-202x300.jpg" width="202" height="300" />
by Amick Boone
In the memoir <a href="http://emilyrapp.com/books/the-still-point-of-the-turning-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“The Still Point of the Turning World,”</a> author Emily Rapp recounts the nine agonizing months following her son Ronan’s diagnosis of Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disease characterized by progressive nerve cell degeneration in the brain.
<a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/carrier/tay-sachs-disease">Tay-Sachs disease</a> – there are two forms infantile and late-onset – is triggered by mutations in the HEXA gene that cause a loss of enzyme activity that leads to the accumulation of a nerve cell-destroying fatty substance in the brain. In its most severe form, this process slowly robs children of movement, vision, taste, touch and hearing, “resulting in a gradual disconnect,” writes Rapp, “from the faculties that make life livable.” There is no cure for Tay-Sachs, and the devastating severe form of the disease eventually leads to the death of the child between the ages of two and four.
Despite having testing negative for the most common HEXA mutation before giving birth, Rapp’s DNA contained a rare mutation for which the standard prenatal test didn’t screen. After Ronan’s diagnosis, Rapp saw a genetic counselor at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles who told her the odds were astronomical, but that due to an unknown thread of Moroccan ancestry, she was indeed a carrier.  Combined with her husband’s more common HEXA mutation, Ronan had the misfortune of ending up with two mutated copies of HEXA.
A writer whose own genetic disability resulted in the amputation of her foot, Rapp is familiar with the rage and helplessness that come from trying to reason with chance.  Rapp tirelessly searched to find an answer to the question, “Why me?” She repeatedly got no acceptable answer. Tay-Sachs came into her family’s life without warning, and it slowly took away her son.
When Ronan was first diagnosed with Tay-Sachs at nine months old, Rapp and her husband began the wrenching process of deciding which measures to use to maintain his life.  With doctors and hospice workers, they asked questions such as, “What will this lead to?” and, “What kind of a life is he living?”
Making these decisions for her child was beyond unbearable, and the only comfort Rapp found was from a Tay-Sachs support group she calls the “Dragon Moms.” With the Dragon Moms, Rapp discussed the latest Tay-Sachs research and navigated her child’s care plan with people who, unlike some of Rapp’s friends and doctors, didn’t struggle to sympathize, because they don’t have to.
“These mighty indefatigable Dragon Moms gave me all the grim details, compassionately but matter-of-factly, and without hesitation or pity,” writes Rapp.  This kind of support ended up being exactly what Rapp needed, and she repeatedly called on the Dragon Moms throughout Ronan’s illness.  They were a critical lifeline to her sanity and survival, that, and the writing.
Rapp tirelessly read books on grief, researched religion, meditated, learned Reiki, did yoga and visited holy sites to find solace. But it was the writing that became her “still point of the turning world.” She wrote to get away from the chaos of impermanence, loss and fear. “Writing about the experience from the inside creates something new, namely, a safe or safe-ish place to rest,” Rapp notes. “Writing would not save Ronan. But, I thought, it might save me.”
For Rapp, rendering her loss was a way of honoring Ronan’s life.  Showing how valuable and full of love Ronan’s short existence could be helped her be present and cherish every experience with her son, so she could care for him in the right way in the short time they had together before he slipped away.
Rapp’s memoir, in addition to honoring Ronan, sheds light on Tay-Sachs, informing readers about the importance of awareness and screening for the disease.  To learn more about family services, research, education and how you can help in the fight against Tay-Sachs, visit the<a href="http://www.ntsad.org/"> National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases website</a>.
In bringing attention to her experience with Tay-Sachs, Rapp also gives voice to the plight of families dealing with other rare diseases. Although individually the chances of contracting such diseases are slim, collectively one in ten, about 30 million Americans, are dealing with some kind of rare disease.

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