Study hints at biology of schizophrenia, may aid treatment

[n2doc]

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists pursuing the biological roots of schizophrenia have zeroed in on a potential factor — a normal brain process that gets kicked into overdrive. The finding could someday lead to ways to treat the disease or even prevent it.

The result — accomplished by analysis of genetics, autopsy brain tissue and laboratory mice — is "going to be a game-changer" in terms of understanding schizophrenia and offering routes for treatment and potential for prevention, said Bruce Cuthbert, acting deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the research.

An expert unconnected to the research said the study's conclusion was not yet proven, but plausible.

Almost 1 percent of the general population will have schizophrenia at some point in their lives. They may hear voices or hallucinate, talk about strange ideas, and believe others are reading their minds or plotting against them.

Nobody knows what causes the disorder, so the new result offers a possible peek into a black box. The work is reported in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature.

more

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Study-hints-at-biology-of-schizophrenia-may-aid-6787686.php

[mopinko]

1. ANY advances in identifying physical signs of any mental illness

will be a huge leap forward. i have know a couple of people who got bipolar dx's through the check box system that is currently used that are pretty surely not actually bipolar. one is my sister, and it was ms, not bp.

also know so many who deny obvious mental health issues, and therefore get no help.

aint science grand?

[Chemisse]

2. Really interesting, and seems logical.

The study doesn't directly demonstrate that that excessive pruning of synapses plays a role in schizophrenia, but the idea makes sense, McCarroll said. It ties together previous observations, among them that schizophrenia most often develops during youth and that patients' brains show unusually few synapses, he said.

[HuckleB]

3. A good study, with too much hype.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2016/02/01/schizophrenia-hubris-science/#.VrIyuLIrIdU