Latest Causes of schizophrenia Stories

Cannabis use appears to be associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies posted online today that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.More than 16 million Americans use cannabis on a regular basis, most of whom began using this and other drugs during their teenage years, according to background information in the article. "There is little doubt about...

Postmortem studies are critical to understanding psychiatric disordersBiological Psychiatry is proud to announce this week's publication of a special issue focusing on postmortem studies of psychosis.This special issue showcases the use of human brains postmortem to study psychiatric disorders, focusing on schizophrenia. The review articles highlight the benefits, achievements, problems, and perhaps most importantly, the future of postmortem research.Postmortem research, which allows...

Smoking is a common problem for patients with schizophrenia. The increased tendency of patients diagnosed with this disorder is to not only smoke, but to do so more heavily than the general public. This raises the possibility that nicotine may be acting as a treatment for some symptoms of schizophrenia.Nicotine acts through two general classes of brain receptors, those with high and low affinity for nicotine. The low affinity class of nicotinic receptors contains the alpha-7 subunit, which is...

SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Latuda (lurasidone HCl) tablets for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090824/FDALOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090824/FDALOGO) Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of the U.S. population, ages 18 years and older, in a given year. The most prominent symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disordered...

New research has linked psychosis with an abnormal relationship between two signalling chemicals in the brainNew research has linked psychosis with an abnormal relationship between two signalling chemicals in the brain. The findings, published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Biological Psychiatry, suggest a new approach to preventing psychotic symptoms, which could lead to better drugs for schizophrenia.Schizophrenia is one of the most common severe mental health conditions. Sufferers...

Press conference on the occasion of the 23rd ECNP Congress, Aug. 29, 2010, AmsterdamSchizophrenia and related psychotic disorders are a chronic and often disabling condition. Despite modern treatment techniques they still present an enormous burden to the patients and their relatives and take a serious toll in terms of human suffering and societal expenditure.The diagnosis of schizophrenia is associated with demonstrable alterations in brain structure and changes in neurotransmission, with...

Press conference on the occasion of the 23rd ECNP Congress, Aug. 29, 2010, AmsterdamThe incidence of psychotic disorders varies greatly across places and demographic groups, as do symptoms, course, and treatment response across individuals. High rates of schizophrenia in large cities, and among immigrants, cannabis users, and traumatised individuals reflect the causal influence of environmental exposures. This, in combination with progress in the area of molecular genetics, has generated...

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.The August...

UNC researchers are the first to identify brain abnormalities in children at high risk for schizophrenia shortly after birth. The finding could lead to earlier detection of schizophrenia and enable better prevention and treatment. 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...

Defects in insulin function "“ which occur in diabetes and obesity "“ could directly contribute to psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have discovered a molecular link between impaired insulin signaling in the brain and schizophrenia-like behaviors in mice. The findings, reported June 8 in PLoS Biology, offer a new perspective on the psychiatric and cognitive disorders that affect patients with diabetes and suggest new strategies for...