Latest schizophrenia Stories

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been an effective yet controversial tool to treat severe depression for more than 70 years, and now Scottish researchers for the first time say they have discovered why the procedure often works the way it does. ECT works by altering how different parts of the brain involved in depression communicate with each other. The University of Aberdeen and University of Dundee researchers, reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

HERZELIYA, Israel, March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- - The agreement is expected to assist the Company with safety and efficacy data that may focus its clinical trials' design and preparations for its clinical trials and evaluation of new projects - Clalit Research Institute is the research arm of Clalit Health Services - Israel's largest HMO with more than 4 million members On March 14, 2012, XTL Biopharmaceuticals...

Psychiatry is employing smartphone technology as an innovative tool in the assessment and treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental illness. Prominent in this endeavor is Dror Ben-Zeev, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and director of the Thresholds-Dartmouth Research Center in Chicago. “We are using the technology that is already in your pocket to create a completely new medium for psychotherapeutic intervention,” says Ben-Zeev. “You can...

DETROIT, March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A team of neuroscientists led by a Wayne State University School of Medicine professor has discovered stark developmental differences in brain network function in children of parents with schizophrenia when compared to those with no family history of mental illness. The study, led by Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences and co-director of the Division of Brain Research and Imaging...

Recent studies by a UT Dallas researcher aim at finding better ways to diagnose young children with language impairments. Dr. Christine Dollaghan, a professor at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders and the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is author of a paper in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. The study evaluated data collected from a large sample of about 600 children. Some of the participants had specific language impairments, or SLI. She wanted...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA) today reported financial results for the fiscal quarter and year ended December 31, 2011 and provided a general business update. Alexza recorded a net loss of $9.7 million and $40.5 million in the quarter and year ended December 31, 2011, respectively, as reported in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP), compared to net income of $25.4 million in...

Neuron paper by UB researchers reveals why chronic stress in adolescence impairs memory, may trigger mental illness Chronic stress has a more powerful effect on the brain during adolescence than in adulthood and now there's proof at the molecular level. "We have identified a causal link between molecules and behaviors involved in stress responses," says Zhen Yan, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "It's...

Evidence-based tools help improve daily functioning and increase treatment transparency and accountability People with schizophrenia report improved functioning after participating in a new, evidence-based clinical program, according to results announced today from a six-month pilot. The program, Advancing Standards of Care for People with Schizophrenia, was spearheaded by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (National Council) and administered at 10 community...

Report highlights the barriers to stable housing and wellbeing experienced by homeless and low-income black families NEW YORK, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2010, one out of every 141 black family members stayed in a homeless shelter, a rate seven times higher than members of white families, according to "Intergenerational Disparities Experienced by Homeless Black Families," a report released by the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness. "The...

UCSF Study Shows Digital Cognitive Training Improves Brain Function and Behavior for People with Schizophrenia People with schizophrenia who completed 80 hours of intensive, computerized cognitive training exercises were better able to perform complex tasks that required them to distinguish their internal thoughts from reality. As described in the journal Neuron on Feb. 22, 2012, a small clinical study conducted at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of...