Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Schizophrenia News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/schizophrenia/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156586.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156586.php With neuroscience on the threshold of unprecedented advances in understanding and treating Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, autism, and a range of other disorders of the brain and nervous system, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced plans to launch a new journal devoted to the molecular basis of neurological disease. ACS Chemical Neuroscience will launch in January 2010 with Craig W. Lindsley, Ph.D. Neurology / Neuroscience Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156390.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156390.php Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signaling molecules with humans. Now MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans. Neurology / Neuroscience Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156241.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156241.php A trio of genome-wide studies - collectively the largest to date - has pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in part, to the same chromosomal neighborhoods. "These new results recommend a fresh look at our diagnostic categories," said Thomas R. Insel, M.D. Schizophrenia Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156240.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156240.php Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have played a major role in an international effort that has shown, for the first time, that modern genetic technologies can solve the riddle of how gene variations lead to schizophrenia. Researchers at Stanford and 14 other institutions carried out a study of common DNA variations throughout the genome, and then combined forces with two independent studies to complete a pooled analysis of 27,000 individuals. Schizophrenia Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156197.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156197.php Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disease, thought to be caused by the interaction of both genetic and environmental factors. Because there is no biochemical test that can identify the disorder, physicians rely upon the recognition of its symptoms - which can include auditory hallucinations and paranoia - in order to make their diagnosis. Schizophrenia Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156198.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156198.php Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have played a major role in an international effort that has shown, for the first time, that modern genetic technologies can solve the riddle of how gene variations lead to schizophrenia. Researchers at Stanford and 14 other institutions carried out a study of common DNA variations throughout the genome, and then combined forces with two independent studies to complete a pooled analysis of 27,000 individuals. Schizophrenia Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156095.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156095.php A multi-national group of investigators, including a scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has discovered that nearly a third of the genetic basis of schizophrenia may be attributed to the cumulative actions of thousands of common genetic variants. The effects of each of these genetic changes, innocuous on its own, add up to a significant risk for developing both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156114.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156114.php A new study by a large international consortium found that many common genetic variants contribute up to a third of a person's risk of inheriting schizophrenia and many of the same DNA variations are also involved in bipolar disorder. While the study helps to explain the complexity of the genetic make up of these diseases it also suggests that developing a test to predict these diseases will take some time. Schizophrenia Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156084.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156084.php The largest study of the genetics of schizophrenia ever undertaken has revealed several new common single-letter variants in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) linked to risk of the disease. The study, by a multinational consortium of scientists led by a team from deCODE genetics (Nasdaq: DCGN), analyzed the genomes of more than 50,000 patients and control participants from fourteen countries. It is published today in the online edition of Nature. Schizophrenia Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155402.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155402.php Research co-led by an academic at the University of Hertfordshire, concludes that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is of no value in schizophrenia and has limited effect on depression. Schizophrenia Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155209.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155209.php UQ neuroscientists have, for the first time, been able to demonstrate that moderate exercise significantly increases the number of neural stem cells in the ageing brain. In research published in Stem Cells, Dr Daniel Blackmore and his colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) have shown that moderate exercise directly increases the number of stem cells in the ageing brain. Neurology / Neuroscience Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155077.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155077.php Phoning someone whilst driving to work without having to think about it. After plenty of practice, people can do a lot of things on automatic pilot and simultaneously. However, for people with schizophrenia that is a different story. Dutch researcher Tamar van Raalten investigated whether a disruption to the automation process, learning by repetition to do something on automatic pilot, explains why people with schizophrenia can process less information. Schizophrenia Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155001.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155001.php Schizophrenia, a chronic and debilitating disorder marked in part by auditory hallucinations and paranoia, can strike in late adolescence or early adulthood at a time when people are ready to stand on their own two feet as fully independent adults. Now scientists at UCLA think they are beginning to understand one important piece of this puzzle. Schizophrenia Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154988.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154988.php People with schizophrenia are four times as likely to die from all causes and are 50 percent more likely to die from cancer compared to people in the general population. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the August 1, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's results suggest that extra efforts should be made to improve cancer prevention and early detection in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php Mental health refers to our cognitive, and/or emotional wellbeing - it is all about how we think, feel and behave. Mental health, if somebody has it, can also mean an absence of a mental disorder. Approximately 25% of people in the UK have a mental health problem during their lives. The USA is said to have the highest incidence of people diagnosed with mental health problems in the developed world. Mental Health Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153842.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153842.php Researchers have been seeking a safe and effective way to treat cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia by enhancing N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors. Functional deficits in NMDA receptors may contribute to the underlying neurobiology of this disorder. The first generation of studies trying to stimulate NMDA receptors administered large amounts of substances, like glycine or D-serine, which indirectly enhance NMDA receptor function. Schizophrenia Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153806.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153806.php Auditory hallucinations are one of the more disturbing features of schizophrenia, and tend to persist even when patients are treated with conventional medication treatments. Researchers from the University of Caen, France, report on a new treatment for hallucinations at the meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. They used a technique called Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation- rTMS, which sends magnetic pulses at high frequency (20 Hz) over the brain surface. Schizophrenia Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153682.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153682.php The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) voted that Zyprexa(R) (olanzapine), an atypical antipsychotic, is effective and acceptably safe for the acute treatment of schizophrenia or manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder in adolescents aged 13-17 years old. Schizophrenia Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153185.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153185.php When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring. Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been substantial concern about this association. A new study in the June 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that the observed association depends upon a pre-existing vulnerability in the fetus. Specifically, Dr. Pregnancy / Obstetrics Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153186.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153186.php Researchers have been seeking a safe and effective way to treat cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia by enhancing N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors. Functional deficits in NMDA receptors may contribute to the underlying neurobiology of this disorder. The first generation of studies trying to stimulate NMDA receptors administered large amounts of substances, like glycine or D-serine, which indirectly enhance NMDA receptor function. Schizophrenia Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152506.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152506.php Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., (DSP) announced that positive results from a phase 2 clinical trial for lurasidone in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia have been published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. This six-week, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial, involving 180 patients with acute schizophrenia, evaluated a single fixed dose of lurasidone 80 mg/day versus placebo. Schizophrenia Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152468.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152468.php Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness. Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151758.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151758.php A new instrument for improving patient understanding and acceptance of long-acting injectable antipsychotic therapy (LAT) has been published in the April edition of Psychiatry 2009.1 This novel, psychosocial approach encompasses Goal setting, Action planning, Initiating treatment, and Nurturing motivation (GAIN) through the use of a clinical discussion tool. Schizophrenia Thu, 28 May 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151611.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151611.php Neuroscientists feel they are much closer to an accepted unified theory about how the brain processes speech and language, according to a scientist at Georgetown University Medical Center who first laid the concepts a decade ago and who has now published a review article confirming the theory. Neurology / Neuroscience Wed, 27 May 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151446.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151446.php The 22nd Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) will be held from 12-16 September 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. More than 6,500 clinical and basic scientists such as psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists and neuroscience researchers from all over the world will attend the ECNP Congress, which is the largest annual high scientific standard congress on mental disorders and neuropsychopharmacology in Europe. Neurology / Neuroscience