Schizophrenia News and Research

Latest Schizophrenia News and Research

Eating less during early pregnancy impairs fetal brain development: Study

Eating less during early pregnancy impaired fetal brain development in a nonhuman primate model, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio reported today.

18 Jan 2011

UCLA imaging system could help reveal 'miscommunications' in autism, schizophrenia

Some disorders of the brain are obvious - the massive death of brain cells after a stroke, the explosion in the growth of cells that marks a tumor. Other disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia and mental retardation show no physical signs of damage and are believed to be caused by problems in how brain cells communicate with one another.

13 Jan 2011

CAMH scientists receive NARSAD's Young Investigator grant awards for brain and behavior research

Seven scientists at Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have been awarded Young Investigator grant awards by the U.S.-based NARSAD: The Brain and Behavior Research Fund.

12 Jan 2011

Nicotine may act as treatment for some symptoms of schizophrenia

Smoking is a common problem for patients with schizophrenia. The increased tendency of patients diagnosed with this disorder is to not only smoke, but to do so more heavily than the general public. This raises the possibility that nicotine may be acting as a treatment for some symptoms of schizophrenia.

11 Jan 2011

Mithridion secures commitments of $1.25 million in new funding

Mithridion, Inc., a privately-owned clinical stage drug development company focusing on serious Central Nervous System disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, announces that it has secured commitments of $1.25 million in new funding.

11 Jan 2011

ACADIA raises $15 million through private placement

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company utilizing innovative technology to fuel drug discovery and clinical development of novel treatments for central nervous system disorders, today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement for a private placement financing with a select group of institutional investors, including New Enterprise Associates and Venrock.

10 Jan 2011

Unexpected discovery holds promise for PTSD, other anxiety disorders

An unexpected discovery by UCLA life scientists holds promise for the future development of treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, and potentially for Alzheimer's disease and other memory-impairment diseases.

7 Jan 2011

NARSAD awards $12.6 million for mental health research

NARSAD: The Brain and Behavior Research Fund awards $12.6 million in new research grants, strengthening its investment in the most promising ideas to lead to breakthroughs in understanding and treating mental illness.

7 Jan 2011

Breakthrough in MRI allows brain scans more than seven times faster

An international team of physicists and neuroscientists has reported a breakthrough in magnetic resonance imaging that allows brain scans more than seven times faster than currently possible.

6 Jan 2011

Study on aberrant cellular localization in the brain

Normally, cortical nerve cells or neurons reside in the brain's gray matter with only a few scattered neurons in the white matter, but some people with schizophrenia have a higher number of neurons in the white matter. Neuronal migration errors may arise in schizophrenia as a consequence of both genetic and environmental factors.

5 Jan 2011

Oxytocin makes individuals feel calmer and dampens effect on fear receptor in the brain

"My husband of thirty-five years passed away seven years ago, and I lost my daughter in a car accident last year, I honestly could no longer find the energy to smile or laugh," recounts sixty-year-old widow Opal Perry. "My son suggested I try a new hormone being touted to help with symptoms of depression, called oxytocin. After the second day I was driving and caught myself smiling in the mirror. I couldn't believe it. I had to do a double take. I hadn't really smiled in seven years! I thought I would never smile again until now."

23 Dec 2010

Brain regions that 'fire up' due to suppression of automatic behaviour

Research from York University is revealing which regions in the brain "fire up" when we suppress an automatic behaviour such as the urge to look at other people as we enter an elevator.

23 Dec 2010

Ketamine tried on college students in experiments sparks outrage

Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge University designed experiments to investigate treatment methods for schizophrenia. Like schizophrenics who sometimes believe that external objects have become part of their body, injection of ketamine – an anesthetic agent also produces similar feelings. Ketamine is a hallucinogenic drug.

22 Dec 2010

New research sheds light on how neurons make connections with one another

Newly published research led by Professor Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory sheds important new light on how neurons in the developing brain make connections with one another.

22 Dec 2010

Ramius/RP Group extend tender offer to acquire Cypress Bioscience

Ramius V&O Acquisition LLC, affiliates of Ramius LLC (collectively, "Ramius") and affiliates of Royalty Pharma (together with Ramius and Purchaser, the "Ramius/RP Group") announced today that the Ramius/RP Group is extending its previously announced tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Cypress Bioscience, Inc., a pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative drugs to treat central nervous system (CNS) disorders, until Midnight, January 5, 2011, unless the offer is otherwise extended.

22 Dec 2010

Clue to the blues that come with the flu

Vanderbilt University researchers may have found a clue to the blues that can come with the flu - depression may be triggered by the same mechanisms that enable the immune system to respond to infection.

21 Dec 2010

Scientists boost protein supply to enhance muscle function, reduce nerve-dependent fatigue in mice

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have "engineered" a mouse that can run on a treadmill twice as long as a normal mouse by increasing its supply of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter essential for muscle contraction.

21 Dec 2010

FDA approves Neuralstem's IND to initiate NSI-189 Phase Ia safety trial in major depression

Neuralstem, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a Phase Ia safety trial to test NSI-189, its first small molecule compound, in major depression. NSI-189 is a proprietary new chemical entity discovered by Neuralstem that stimulates new neuron growth in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is believed to be involved in depression and other diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

17 Dec 2010

Zenobia, Lundbeck enter research collaboration for LRRK2 Parkinson's disease target

Zenobia Therapeutics, Inc. the leader in fragment-based lead discovery for CNS diseases, announced today a research collaboration with H. Lundbeck A/S utilizing Zenobia's expertise in protein expression and x-ray crystallography for the Parkinson's disease target, LRRK2. Under the agreement, Zenobia will continue to use its capabilities in fragment-based lead discovery (FBLD) to advance its internal LRRK2 drug discovery program independently of Lundbeck.

16 Dec 2010

Watson, PregLem enter licensing agreement to develop, market Esmya in the U.S. and Canada

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Gedeon Richter Plc today announced that Watson's subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc. has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with PregLem, S.A., ("Preglem") the wholly owned subsidiary of Richter, to develop and market Esmya™ (ulipristal acetate) in the U.S. and Canada.

16 Dec 2010