Early life influences risk for psychiatric disorders

Philadelphia, PA – August 18, 2010 – For more than a century, clinical investigators have focused on early life as a source of adult psychopathology. Although the hypothesized mechanisms have evolved, a central notion remains: early life is a period of unique sensitivity during which experience confers enduring effects.

Read more

Current directions in schizophrenia research

It has been nearly a century since the term “schizophrenia” was first used to describe what was then considered a hopeless and incurable disorder of thought and emotion. Schizophrenia is still baffling to both scientists and the general public, but it is no longer considered hopeless. Significant advances have been made on several fronts in fathoming and combating this debilitating mental illness—from genetics to neuroscience to the psychosocial aspects of the disorder.

Read more

Immune responses during pregnancy linked to schizophrenia among offspring

Infections like the flu are common occurrences during pregnancy, and research has shown that children born to mothers who suffered from flu, viruses and other infections during pregnancy have about a 1.5 to 7 times increased risk for schizophrenia. A new study out of Temple University examines what’s behind that link.

Read more

Large risk schizophrenia marker revealed

A group of scientists has identified a genetic variant that substantially increases the risk for developing schizophrenia in Ashkenazi Jewish and other populations. The study, published by Cell Press on August 5th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, associates a deletion on chromosome 3 with increased incidence of schizophrenia.

Read more

EEG predicts response to medication for schizophrenia

A commonplace electroencephalography (EEG) test may hold the key to predicting whether a person will respond to certain prescribed drugs, particularly those related to psychiatric conditions.

In a study to be published by Clinical Neurophysiology, and now posted online, engineering and health sciences researchers at McMaster University applied machine learning to EEG patterns and successfully predicted how patients with schizophrenia would respond to clozapine therapy.

Read more

Neural disconnection in schizophrenia

Dendritic spines act as hubs for communication between nerve cells. Reductions in spines may contribute to a lack of coordination in activity between brain regions. This structural abnormality is particularly relevant in schizophrenia, where pyramidal neurons located in layer 3, the principal cell type receiving communication from other brain regions, have fewer dendritic spines.

Read more

Brain signs of schizophrenia found in babies

CHAPEL HILL – Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder affecting one in 100 people worldwide. Most cases aren’t detected until a person starts experiencing symptoms like delusions and hallucinations as a teenager or adult. By that time, the disease has often progressed so far that it can be difficult to treat.

Read more

Cold sore virus may contribute to cognitive and brain abnormalities in schizophrenia

Contact: Christen Brownlee
cbrownlee@jhmi.edu
410-955-7832
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Exposure to the common virus that causes cold sores may be partially responsible for shrinking regions of the brain and the loss of concentration skills, memory, coordinated movement and dexterity widely seen in patients with schizophrenia, according to research led by Johns Hopkins scientists.

Read more

Blood flows differently through the brains of schizophrenic patients

Contact: Linda Brooks
lbrooks@rsna.org
630-590-7762
Radiological Society of North America
OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers in Germany have used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) to map cerebral blood flow patterns in schizophrenic patients quickly and without using radiation or contrast agents. Their findings appear in the online edition and July printed issue of the journal Radiology.

Read more

Schizophrenia drugs raise the volume of a key signaling system in the brain

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society
All the major groups of medications for schizophrenia turn up the volume of a brain signal known to be muted in individuals with this psychiatric disorder — a signal that also can be influenced by diet. “This is the first example of a common but specific molecular effect produced by all antipsychotic drugs in any biological system,” scientists note in the current edition of ACS Chemical Neuroscience, a monthly journal.

Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »