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about Schizophrenia
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- Real-World Outcomes in Schizophrenia Are Focus of Two New NIMH Grants
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January 4, 2008
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Science Update
Two new NIMH grants are aimed at determining the most accurate methods of measuring how well community-dwelling people with schizophrenia are faring. Results of the project are meant to provide scientists who conduct future research on the effectiveness of treatments with tools that reflect the truest possible picture of daily-life outcomes.
- Ethnicity Predicts How Gene Variations Affect Response to Schizophrenia Medications
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January 2, 2008
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Science Update
Different variations in the same gene influence how well different ethnic groups, and people within the same ethnic group, respond to various antipsychotic medications, report NIMH-funded researchers. If confirmed, their findings could one day help clinicians predict which medication is most likely to help a patient, based on his or her genetic makeup.
- Schizophrenia-Related Gene Linked to Imbalance in Dopamine Pathways
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December 17, 2007
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Science Update
Forms of a gene known to increase risk for schizophrenia may create an imbalance in brain pathways for dopamine, suggests a recent study by NIMH scientists. The findings could help explain how this key chemical messenger goes awry in the disorder, which affects about one percent of adults.
- How Schizophrenia Develops: Major Clues Discovered
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October 17, 2007
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Press Release
Schizophrenia may occur, in part, because of a problem in an intermittent on/off switch for a gene involved in making a key chemical messenger in the brain, scientists have found in a study of human brain tissue.
- Suspect Schizophrenia Genes Act Together to Thwart Working Memory
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August 28, 2007
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Science Update
Two gene variants implicated in schizophrenia interact to degrade the brain's ability to process information, NIMH researchers have discovered. The interaction impaired working memory — retaining information from moment to moment. Such thinking problems are a hallmark of this severe mental illness that affects about one percent of the population.
- Violence in Schizophrenia Patients More Likely Among Those with Childhood Conduct Problems
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July 2, 2007
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Press Release
Some people with schizophrenia who become violent may do so for reasons unrelated to their current illness, according to a new study analyzing data from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE).
- Antipsychotic Medications for Schizophrenia on Equal Footing in Improving Patients’ Thinking Skills
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June 4, 2007
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Science Update
Patients with schizophrenia taking antipsychotic medications experience a small improvement in thinking and reasoning skills (neurocognition), but no one medication appears to be better than the others in improving these skills during the first two crucial months of treatment, according to the latest results from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE).
- New Details in Schizophrenia Treatment Trial Emerge
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March 1, 2007
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Press Release
Two new studies from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) provide more insights into comparing treatment options, and to what extent antipsychotic medications help people with schizophrenia learn social, interpersonal and community living skills.
- Common Gene Version Optimizes Thinking — but With a Possible Downside
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February 9, 2007
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Press Release
Most people inherit a version of a gene that optimizes their brain’s thinking circuitry, yet also appears to increase risk for schizophrenia, a severe mental illness marked by impaired thinking, scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.
- Gene Variant Linked to Schizophrenia
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January 23, 2007
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Science Update
A gene implicated in schizophrenia in adults has now also been linked to schizophrenia in children for the first time, strengthening evidence that the gene plays a role in the disease.
