Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Study to Examine SZ During Pregnancy

A new study to begin in Australia will provide some much needed information about how schizophrenia can be managed during a woman's pregnancy. There have been no past studies on this subject to date, despite the obvious importance of the information to countless women and families. The study will enroll up to 100 women in Australia, and will look at the best way to clinically manage schizophrenia and other psychosis disorders during pregnancy. Investigators will set up a database of study subjects, and track the woman and her baby during pregnancy and through the first year of the baby's life. Read More...

New Class of Psych Drugs on Horizon

The information in the following story was contained in an email sent to the administrative inbox as a "UBC Media Release". I was unable to find any sort of published research or other news releases, so I assume it is still in the preliminary stages of development. -Julia Scientists at the Brain Research Centre in Vancouver, Canada, are attempting to develop a new class of "smart" drugs for psychiatric disorders. These medications would target specific brain cells, rather than mimicking the generalized neurotransmitter and receptor actions of current psychiatric drugs. Says neuroscientist and research team leader Yu Tian Wang, "the Read More...

Mirtazapine to help with akathisia?

The effect of mirtazapine augmentation of clozapine in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Zoccali, Rocco; Muscatello, Maria Rosaria; Cedro, Clemente; Neri, Pietro; Torre, Diletta La; Spina, Edoardo; Rosa, Antonio Enrico Di; Meduri, Mario. International Clinical Psychopharmacology. 19(2):71-76, March 2004. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia (blunted affect, poverty of thought content and speech, avolition or apathy and social withdrawal) continue to be a substantial problem that currently have no consistent treatments. While there is some data for various behavioral treatments as well as some limited success with various medication interventions. This is another small study that Read More...

Mirtazapine to help with negative symptoms?

The effect of mirtazapine augmentation of clozapine in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Zoccali, Rocco; Muscatello, Maria Rosaria; Cedro, Clemente; Neri, Pietro; Torre, Diletta La; Spina, Edoardo; Rosa, Antonio Enrico Di; Meduri, Mario. International Clinical Psychopharmacology. 19(2):71-76, March 2004. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia (blunted affect, poverty of thought content and speech, avolition or apathy and social withdrawal) continue to be a substantial problem that currently have no consistent treatments. While there is some data for various behavioral treatments as well as some limited success with various medication interventions. This is another small study that Read More...

Art Helps Woman Cope With Schizophrenia

Tiffani Ross Parker, diagnosed with schizophrenia since high school, says that painting helps her to positively deal with her troubling symptoms and difficult life. Ms. Parker's past has been as tumultuous as anyone's. Besides her schizophrenia diagnosis, she has struggled with drug addiction, a teenage pregnancy and abortion, poverty, and homelessness. However, she can proudly claim a free and sober history for the last four years. She credits part of this success to the assistance of the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service's Transitional Living Community (located in New York), which helped her find a permanent apartment, enroll in high school Read More...

National Trend of "Health Family Trees"

When U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona spoke with his colleauge Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, both realized an emergent need for comprehensive family health histories created by patients themselves. As research identifies a prominent genetic role in more and more chronic conditions, ranging from heart disease to schizophrenia, it is becoming increasingly more important for both patients and doctors to have current family history information at hand. In response to this need, Carmona, Collins, and colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services launched a free web-based program to assist patients in tracking and Read More...

How Stress Can Worsen Symptoms

Researchers have recently suggested how an overactive protein (protein kinase C, or PKC) in the brain can cuase disturbed thinking, impaired judgement, impulsivity, and distractibility when a person is under stress. As explained by Dr. Arnsten, one of the researchers on the project, activation of PKC can cause a reduction in memory-related cell firing, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. This, in turn, makes it harder for a person to hold on to information and memories from moment to moment. Protein kinase C can be activated by even mild stress. The tendency for kinase overactivity seems to be mediated by an Read More...

Risk from pain killers?

Association between prenatal exposure to analgesics and risk of schizophrenia. Sorensen HJ, Mortensen EL, Reinisch JM, Mednick SA. Br J Psychiatry. 2004 Nov;185:366-71. Background: Along with genes, there are many environmental factors that may increase risk for schizophrenia. Some studies have suggested there is greater risk for developing schizophrenia if an unborn child (prenatal) is exposed to viruses such as influenza. The disturbances in the brain and spinal cord that may occur prior to birth in a fetus may increase the risk for schizophrenia. However, this is still debated since there are researchers who have argued that it is still Read More...

Risk of SZ Linked to Pre-Natal Aspirin Use

A new study out of the University of Copenhagen suggests that moms-to-be who take painkillers such as aspirin or paracetamol while pregnant may be putting their babies at risk. Dr. Erik Mortensen of the Psychology Dept and his team analyzed the birth records of 7,999 babies born between Oct 1959 and Dec 1961. Out of all, 116 were later diagnosed with schizophrenia as adults, and about 140 were exposed to painkillers during the second trimester of pregnancy. The team concluded that pre-natal painkiller exposure can raise the risk of mental illness by a factor of four. Exposure during the first Read More...

Brain Waves in SZ May Indicate Cause

The brain waves that people with schizophrenia generate when asked to perform a certain task appear to be different than those produced by healthy individuals. Researchers think that this may indicate a communication deficit between brain cells of people with schizophrenia. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the brain waves of 20 subjects with schizophrenia and 20 healthy volunteers while they performed and communicated about a simple visual perception task. Results showed a distinct difference in that wave patterns of the two groups. Healthy subjects emitted gamma-wave activity (waves generated during higher Read More...