Consortium for the Human Information and Neurocognitive Endophenotype (CHINE) in mainland China: An example from neurological soft signs for neuropsychiatric disorders

Abstract

Increasing efforts to identify alternate expressions of neuropsychiatric disorders that are broader than the DSM or ICD diagnostic criteria needed to diagnose them reflects a growing consensus that multidimensional expressions of neuropsychiatric disorders may advance the search for underlying etiological or modulatory factors. Endophenotypic research can be considered to be one of the most promising strategies to bridge the gap between genomic complexity and the phenotypic heterogeneity observed in neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the majority of endophenotype studies were limited to our western counterparts, very little has been done and initiated by scholars in mainland China. In this paper, we urge the need to establish a potential central consortium for endophenotypes to study neuropsychiatric disorders in mainland China. In particular, we illustrate a potential example of neurological soft signs in following the steps for building the consortium. © 2011 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.