Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have developed a test that can predict how likely an individual is to develop schizophrenia. The scientists combined data from several different types of studies in order to identify and prioritize a group of genes most associated with the disease. Combined, ...

Reducing the non-FDA-approved use of antipsychotic drugs may be a way to save money while having little effect on patient care, according to a Penn State College of Medicine study. Researchers say that 57.6 percent of patients prescribed antipsychotic medications in data from 2003 did not have schizophrenia or bipolar ...

Children are nearly 50% more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life if their mothers are sensitive to wheat protein gluten, say researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. The study, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, adds to increasing evidence that ...

An Indiana University-led research team, along with a group of national and international collaborators, has identified and prioritized a comprehensive group of genes most associated with schizophrenia that together can generate a score indicating whether an individual is at higher or lower risk of developing the disease...

These findings are not about the classic story of gift-giving, although the MAGI genes (officially named membrane associated guanylate kinase, WW and PDZ domain containing proteins) do influence brain function in important ways. MAGI1 and MAGI2 are genes that code for the MAGI proteins. These proteins influence the development and ...

In 1619, the pioneering astronomer Johannes Kepler published Harmonices Mundi in which he analyzed data on the movement of planets and asserted that the laws of nature governing the movements of planets show features of harmonic relationships in music. In so doing, Kepler provided important support for the, then controversial, ...

It is increasingly recognized that chronic psychotropic drug treatment may lead to structural remodeling of the brain. Indeed, clinical studies in humans present an intriguing picture: antipsychotics, used for the treatment of schizophrenia and psychosis, may contribute to cortical gray matter loss in patients, whereas lithium, used for the treatment ...

Antipsychotic medications are increasingly prescribed in the US, but they can cause serious side effects including rapid weight gain, especially in children. In the first study of its kind, researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research identified a gene that increases weight gain in those ...

Five decades worth of evidence demonstrates that antipsychotic drugs can decrease the risk of relapse in patients with schizophrenia by 60% The study, published Online First in The Lancet, shows that patijdents taking antipsychotics also have a considerably lower chance of needing to be hospitalized, behave aggressively, and may enjoy ...

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that children who have experienced severe trauma are three times as likely to develop schizophrenia in later life. The findings shed new light on the debate about the importance of genetic and environmental triggers of psychotic disorders...

In a new study, researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have identified epigenetic changes - known as DNA methylation - in the blood of patients with schizophrenia. The researchers were also able to detect differences depending on how old the patients were when they developed the disease and ...

Working with genetically engineered mice and the genomes of thousands of people with schizophrenia, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they now better understand how both nature and nurture can affect one's risks for schizophrenia and abnormal brain development in general. The researchers reported in Cell that defects in a schizophrenia-risk ...