Schizophrenia

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 17 hours ago
Related Articles Neuregulin 3 Genetic Variations and Susceptibility to Schizophrenia in a Chinese Population. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Aug 16; Authors: Wang YC, Chen JY, Chen ML, Chen CH, Lai IC, Chen TT, Hong CJ, Tsai SJ, Liou YJ BACKGROUND: The study investigated the possible association of NRG3 gene and Schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population. METHODS: Of a total of 1345, 270 unrelated Schizophrenia inpatients, 235 normal control subjects, and 280 nuclear families (trios) with Schizophrenia probands were studied. Nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning intron 1 to exon 9 of the NRG3 gene were analyzed, starting with the case-control samples. The SNPs showing significant association with Schizophrenia in the case-control samples were subsequently studied in the independent trio samples with family-based association analysis. RESULTS: In case-control samples, two SNPs (rs1937970 and rs677221) showed significant genotypic and allelic association with Schizophrenia (all p < .05) with rs677221-C being the risk allele for Schizophrenia (uncorrected p = .001, odds ratio = 1.439, 95% confidence interval = 1.115-1.858). Haplotypes GC constructed by the two SNPs was also significantly associated with Schizophrenia (permutation p value = .0047). In the independent trio samples, rs1937970-A and rs677221-G consistently showed significant under-transmission to schizophrenic offspring (unadjusted p = .003 and p = .004, respectively). I ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 8 hours ago
Related Articles Hospitalization rates before and after initiation of paliperidone ER in patients with Schizophrenia: results from open-label extensions of the US double-blind trials. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008 Jun;24(6):1807-15 Authors: Janicak PG, Wu JH, Mao L OBJECTIVE: To assess differences in the number of days hospitalized among schizophrenic patients receiving paliperidone extended-release (paliperidone ER) during the open-label extension (OLE) phases, compared to a similar time period prior to the screening for entry into the double-blind (DB) trials conducted in the United States. METHODS: Mental health-related hospital days during the 52 weeks before entering the DB trials and during the OLE phases were compared. The mean number of hospital days per person per year in the pre- and post-periods was calculated and the statistical significance of pre-post differences was assessed using bootstrap resampling methods. Total person-years were also calculated for the pre- and post-periods to account for different lengths of observation. RESULTS: Patients' (n=215) mean (+/-SD) age was 41.2 (+/-11.0) years; most were male (73.0%); and black (52.1 vs. 45.1% white). The mean (+/-SD) paliperidone ER treatment duration during the OLE phase was 167.0 (+/-145.0) days and the mean (+/-SD) daily dose was 10.5 (+/-2.0) mg. Overall, paliperidone ER patients spent an average (+/-SD) of 13.2 (+/-1.6) and 3.1 (+/-0.7) hospital days per person-year in ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 22 hours ago
Related Articles Clinical and social correlates with the use of depot antipsychotic drugs in outpatients with Schizophrenia in China. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2008 May;46(5):245-51 Authors: Xiang YT, Weng YZ, Leung CM, Tang WK, Ungvari GS BACKGROUND: To date, no study has investigated the use of depot antipsychotic medication (DA) in Chinese outpatients with Schizophrenia. This study explored the frequency and sociodemographic and clinical correlates of DA in Schizophrenia outpatients in both Hong Kong (HK) and Beijing (BJ), China. METHODS: 505 clinically stable outpatients with Schizophrenia were randomly selected and interviewed in HK and BJ using standardized assessment instruments. Their basic sociodemographic and clinical data and psychotropic drug prescriptions were collected at the time of a diagnostic interview. RESULTS: 117 (23.2%) patients were prescribed DA, 36.1 and 10% of the HK and BJ samples, respectively. Prescription of DA was associated with a history of suicide, less use of clozapine, more frequent antipsychotic polypharmacy (APP), more frequent admissions, and study site (HK vs. BJ). In multiple logistic regression analysis, study site, less frequent prescription of clozapine, history of suicide, and more frequent use of APP remained significantly associated with DA. CONCLUSION: There was wide variation in the frequency of DA prescribing between HK and BJ even though the ethnic and clinical characteristics of the ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 22 hours ago
Related Articles Predictors of changes in caregiving burden in people with Schizophrenia: a 3-year follow-up study in a community mental health service. Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl. 2007;(437):66-76 Authors: Parabiaghi A, Lasalvia A, Bonetto C, Cristofalo D, Marrella G, Tansella M, Ruggeri M OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to measure changes over 3-years in caregiving burden and emotional distress in relatives of people with Schizophrenia and to identify factors predicting the levels of caregiving burden. METHOD: A cohort of 51 caregivers of patients with Schizophrenia attending the South-Verona Community Mental Health Service was assessed over 3-years with the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire, European Version. Predictors of caregiving burden included both caregivers' and patients' characteristics and patterns of carer-patient interaction. RESULTS: Baseline levels of family burden were high in worrying and urging domains. Fifty-one per cent of caregivers experienced significant emotional distress. Both overall burden and emotional distress improved. Higher patients' psychopathology, higher numbers of patient-rated needs, patients' lower global functioning and patients' poorer quality of life were found to be related to the severity of family burden. The only significant predictor of caregivers' burden at follow-up was the baseline level of caregivers' burden itself. CONCLUSION: A policy addressing the caring burden of inform ...

Source: services.inquirer.net --- 1 hour ago
PARIS -- Pregnant women subjected to traumatizing stress are more likely to give birth to children who develop Schizophrenia, according to a study published Thursday. ...

Source: news.sawf.org --- 7 hours ago
Pregant women subjected to traumatising stress are more likely to give birth to children who develop Schizophrenia, according to a study published Thursday. ...

Source: dx.doi.org --- 10 hours ago
As Chief Psychologist and Director of Psychological Research at Worcester State Hospital (WSH), David Shakow (1901-1981) made substantial contributions to the scientific study of Schizophrenia and by extension to the study of psychopathology in general. His methodological innovations - particularly on issues of diagnosis and conditions of testing - set a new standard for experimental rigor in the field. Shakow helped to establish many of what are considered basic facts about Schizophrenia. His empirical work at WSH - specifically on the crossover effect - provided the scientific foundation for his theory of schizophrenic cognition, known as segmental set. Moreover, Shakow's Schizophrenia work informed his developing ideas on the synergy between clinical practice and research. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. ...

Source: www.thewest.com.au --- 4 hours ago
Women who suffer extreme stress in the early stages of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children who develop Schizophrenia, a major international study shows. The research looked at wom ...

Source: esciencenews.com --- 4 hours ago
Pregnant women who endure the psychological stress of being in a war zone are more likely to give birth to a child who develops Schizophrenia. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry supports a growing body of literature that attributes maternal exposure to severe stress during the early months of pregnancy to an increased susceptibility to Schizophrenia in the offspring. read more ...

Source: www.topix.com --- 5 hours ago
Affymetrix Inc. announced that researchers around the world have used the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Arrays 5.0 and 6.0 to uncover important links between copy number variations and Schizophrenia. ...

Source: www.topix.com --- 17 hours ago
Mary was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2001 at the young age of 19. Frustrated by the fact that the first treatment she took caused her to gain almost 20 pounds within a few months, she was exhausted and ... ...

Source: www.psychiatry24x7.com --- 6 hours ago
2008-08-04 06:14:15 Estrogen relieves psychotic symptoms in women with Schizophrenia... ...

Source: www.psychiatry24x7.com --- 6 hours ago
In a major paper published in the online edition of the journal Nature, scientists from deCODE genetics and the University of Iceland, along with academic colleagues from the deCODE-led European SGENE consortium, China and the United States, report the discovery of three rare deletions in the human genome... ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 17 hours ago
Related Articles Influence of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Variation on Human Hippocampus Morphology. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Aug 14; Authors: Blumberg HP, Wang F, Chepenik LG, Kalmar JH, Edmiston E, Duman RS, Gelernter J BACKGROUND: Morphological abnormalities in hippocampus have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, Schizophrenia, and dementia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been demonstrated to have neurogenic effects in the hippocampus in rats. However, influence of VEGF variation on hippocampus morphology in humans has yet to be shown. Here, an integrated genetic and neuroimaging approach was used to investigate whether VEGF variation influences hippocampus morphology in humans. METHODS: High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry were used to identify the influence of genetic variation of VEGFA [rs833068 (SNP-1), rs833070 (SNP-2), rs2146323 (SNP-3) and rs3025020 (SNP-4)] on brain morphology in 47 healthy individuals. RESULTS: Variation in VEGFA SNP-2 and SNP-3 showed significant effects on hippocampus concentration. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that effects of VEGF in hippocampus found in rats extend to humans; further understanding of effects of VEGFA variation might have important implications in identifying individuals more vulnerable to hippocampus pathology as well as those neuropsychiatric populations most likely to benefit from VEGF-mediated ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 12 hours ago
Related Articles Pregnenolone sulfate induces NMDA receptor dependent release of dopamine from synaptic terminals in the striatum. J Neurochem. 2008 Aug 14; Authors: Whittaker MT, Gibbs TT, Farb DH Neuromodulators that alter the balance between lower-frequency glutamate-mediated excitatory and higher-frequency GABA-mediated inhibitory synaptic transmission are likely to participate in core mechanisms for CNS function and may contribute to the pathophysiology of neurological disorders such as Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Pregnenolone sulfate (PS) modulates both ionotropic glutamate and GABA(A) receptor mediated synaptic transmission. The enzymes necessary for PS synthesis and degradation are found in brain tissue of several species including human and rat, and up to 5 nM PS has been detected in extracts of postmortem human brain. Here, we ask whether PS could modulate transmitter release from nerve terminals located in the striatum. Superfusion of a preparation of striatal nerve terminals comprised of mixed synaptosomes and synaptoneurosomes with brief-duration (2 min) pulses of 25 nM PS demonstrates that PS increases the release of newly accumulated [(3)H]dopamine ([(3)H]DA), but not [(14)C]glutamate or [(3)H]GABA, whereas pregnenolone is without effect. PS does not affect dopamine transporter (DAT) mediated uptake of [(3)H]DA, demonstrating that it specifically affects the transmitter release mechanism. The PS-induced [(3)H ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 22 hours ago
Related Articles Impact of risperidone long acting injection on resource utilization in psychiatric secondary care. J Psychopharmacol. 2008 Mar;22(2):128-31 Authors: Taylor M, Currie A, Lloyd K, Price M, Peperell K Risperidone long acting injection (RLAI) is the only long acting atypical antipsychotic available in the UK. Its impact on NHS resource use has not been widely studied. This review of medical records was conducted to quantify the impact of RLAI on NHS psychiatric secondary care resource use, primarily in terms of episodes of inpatient hospital care 12 months before and 12 months after RLAI initiation. Data on number of hospitalizations and hospital bed days were collected retrospectively, from patient notes and hospital databases in four acute psychiatric units in the UK for all individuals with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were prescribed RLAI more than 12 months previously. Data were collected on 100 individuals (58 male) with a mean age 40.8 years (range 19-70). The median duration of illness before RLAI initiation was 12 years (range six months to 43 years).There were 62 admissions in the 12 months pre-RLAI, falling to 22 admissions in the 12 months post-RLAI. Number of admissions, we argue, offer a more reliable indicator of the impact of treatment than total hospital bed days in this type of study. In this study there were 40 fewer admissions in the 12 months after RLAI was initiated com ...

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov --- 23 hours ago
Related Articles Selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors: a promising target for cognition enhancement. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2008 Aug 16; Authors: Reneerkens OA, Rutten K, Steinbusch HW, Blokland A, Prickaerts J RATIONALE: One of the major complaints most people face during aging is an impairment in cognitive functioning. This has a negative impact on the quality of daily life and is even more prominent in patients suffering from neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Schizophrenia, and depression. So far, the majority of cognition enhancers are generally targeting one particular neurotransmitter system. However, recently phosphodiesterases (PDEs) have gained increased attention as a potential new target for cognition enhancement. Inhibition of PDEs increases the intracellular availability of the second messengers cGMP and/or cAMP. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the effects of phosphodiesterase inhibitors (PDE-Is) on cognition, the possible underlying mechanisms, and the relationship to current theories about memory formation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Studies of the effects of inhibitors of different PDE families (2, 4, 5, 9, and 10) on cognition were reviewed. In addition, studies related to PDE-Is and blood flow, emotional arousal, and long-term potentiation (LTP) were described. RESULTS: PDE-Is have a positive effect on several aspects of cognition, including in ...

Source: www.mywire.com --- 1 day ago
A lack of diligence and attention at school could be early signs of illnessPoor performance at school could indicate an increased risk of later developing Schizophrenia, a study says. (The full text of this article is available free) ...

Source: www.medtrackalert.com --- 3 days ago
An international team of scientists has found that poor school performance may be a sign that a child has a higher risk of developing Schizophrenia in later life. read more ...