The comparative clinical phenotype and long term longitudinal episode course of bipolar I and II: a clinical spectrum or distinct disorders?
The variety in severity of the affective episodes shows that bipolar disorders, similar to unipolar disorders, are expressed longitudinally during their course as a dimensional illness. The similarities of the clinical phenotypes of BP-I and BP-II, suggest that BP-I and BP-II are likely to exist in a disease spectrum. They are, however, sufficiently distinct in terms of long-term course (i.e., BP-I with more severe episodes, and BP-II more chronic with a predominantly depressive course), that they are best classified as two separate subtypes in the official classification systems.
The first evidence is provided of significant variability in the interactions between L. japonicus and root-knot nematodes that may have further implications for the genetic dissection and characterization of host pathways involved in nematode parasitism and, possibly, in microbial symbiosis.