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- Study Probes Environment-Triggered Genetic Changes in Schizophrenia
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December 24, 2008
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Science Update
The first study of its kind to pinpoint environment-triggered genetic changes in schizophrenia has been launched with $9.8 million in funding from NIMH. The five-site study seeks telltale marks in the genome that hold clues to how nurture interacts with nature to produce the illness.
- Not All Antipsychotics Created Equal: Analysis Reveals Important Differences
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December 9, 2008
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Science Update
An analysis of studies on antipsychotics reveals multiple differences among the newer, second-generation antipsychotics as well as the older medications, and suggests the current classification system blurs important differences.
- Brain’s Wiring Stunted, Lopsided in Childhood Onset Schizophrenia
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October 30, 2008
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Science Update
Growth of the brain’s long distance connections, called white matter, is stunted and lopsided in children who develop psychosis before puberty, NIMH researchers have discovered.
- Certain Antipsychotic Medications May Increase Risk for Heart Disease
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October 16, 2008
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Science Update
Certain atypical antipsychotic medications may raise the risk for heart disease in people with schizophrenia.
- New Study to Evaluate Ways to Control Metabolic Side Effects of Antipsychotics
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October 1, 2008
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Science Update
A new NIMH-funded grant will examine ways to control the metabolic side effects associated with the use of the newer atypical antipsychotic medications in children with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
- Gene Variants Force Mental Trade-offs: Efficiency vs. Resiliency
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September 15, 2008
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Science Update
Mice genetically engineered to have an over active version of a human gene, like their human counterparts, gain in emotional mettle under stress, but at a cost of less efficient thinking, NIMH scientists have discovered. Such talents seesawed in mice engineered to have either too much or not enough the val version of the COMT gene, the most common of two that humans inherit. The new study in mice confirms and helps to explain the trade-offs seen in earlier studies in humans, which have suggested that the val version slightly biases the brain’s workings toward increased risk for schizophrenia.
- Newer Antipsychotics No Better Than Older Drug in Treating Child and Adolescent Schizophrenia
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September 15, 2008
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Press Release
Two newer atypical antipsychotic medications were no more effective than an older conventional antipsychotic in treating child and adolescent schizophrenia and may lead to more metabolic side effects.
- Why “My Get Up and Go Has Got Up and Went”
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September 15, 2008
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Science Update
If, as the song laments, our “get up and go” fades as we get older, it may stem from aging-related changes in a brain reward circuit. Compared to young participants, older participants showed less activity in brain motivation hubs while they viewed a slot machine-like video game and received money in a NIMH brain imaging study.
- Childhood Bedwetting Occurred Twice as Often in Adults with Schizophrenia
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August 29, 2008
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Science Update
Childhood bedwetting occurred twice as often in adults with schizophrenia
than in their unaffected brothers and sisters, according to a new study from researchers at NIMH. Their report appears in the September 2008 issue of the journal Brain.
- Increased Burden of Rare Genetic Variations Found in Schizophrenia
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July 30, 2008
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Press Release
People with schizophrenia bear an “increased burden” of rare deletions and duplications of genetic material, genome-wide, say researchers supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
