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In a clinical trial of about 200 patients, an experimental drug from Eli Lilly reduced schizophrenia symptoms without the serious side effects of current treatments, according to a paper published yesterday in the journal Nature. The drug must still be evaluated on many more patients to test for the possibility of side effects that have not yet emerged, and it is at least three to four years from completing regulatory review. But schizophrenia researchers said the trial’s results were surprising and impressive, especially since the drug works in a different way from existing antipsychotic medicines, all of which have serious...

Left-handers more at risk of mental illness By Laura Clout Last Updated: 1:49am BST 31/07/2007 Left-handed people may have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, scientists have found. An international group of scientists, led by a team at Oxford University, have identified a gene that seems to increase the chance of being left-handed. The researchers said that the same gene - called LRRTM1 - may slightly increase the risk of developing the brain disorder. Schizophrenia is a highly complex condition that results in impaired perception and thought, it affects around one in every 100 people. Although little is known about...

SCIENTISTS have created the world’s first schizophrenic mice in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the illness. It is believed to be the first time an animal has been genetically engineered to have a mental illness... Animal rights campaigners have condemned the research, saying that it is morally repugnant to create an animal doomed to mental suffering.

Cannabis users are 40% more likely than non-users to suffer a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, say UK experts. Writing in the Lancet, a team led by Dr Stanley Zammit from Bristol and Cardiff Universities said young people needed to be made aware of the dangers. In an additional article, experts said up to 800 schizophrenia cases a year in the UK could be linked to cannabis use.

A single joint of cannabis raises the risk of schizophrenia by more than 40 per cent, a disturbing study warns. The Government-commissioned report has also found that taking the drug regularly more than doubles the risk of serious mental illness. Overall, cannabis could be to blame for one in seven cases of schizophrenia and other life-shattering mental illness, the Lancet reports. The grim statistics - the latest to link teenage cannabis use with mental illness in later life - come only days after Gordon Brown ordered a review of the decision to downgrade cannabis to class C, the least serious...

Using marijuana increases the risk of one day developing a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, according to a study that provides some of the strongest evidence yet linking the drug to a mental disorder. *** The researchers found that marijuana users had a 41 percent increased chance of developing psychosis marked by symptoms of hallucinations or delusions later in life than those who never used the drug. The risk rose with heavier consumption.

Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner to become the next US president, has suffered serious bouts of depression, according to a new book by one of the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal. Carl Bernstein's A Woman in Charge details how she showed "persistent signs of melancholy" when she was a student and quotes a White House adviser saying she was "deeply depressed" in 1994, a year after her husband, Bill, became president. Carl Bernstein's A Woman in Charge profiles Hillary Clinton Due to be published on Tuesday, the book could damage the New York senator's ambition to become America's first female...

After success in a long fight against forced medication, a schizophrenic man gained freedom. But now he is accused of killing his roommate.

Danish researchers find possible schizophrenia cause The number of brain cells people have could play a role in whether they develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia Six researchers at Bispebjerg University Hospital have found a possible link between schizophrenia and the number of brain cells people have. The researchers' findings, which are published in the current issue of science journal Cerebral Cortex, suggest that some people might have a surplus of brain cells by the time they reach adulthood. By conducting autopsies and comparing the thalamus brain region of 8 newborns and 8 adults, the researchers found 11 million brain...

OXFORD, Miss. - Mississippi filed a lawsuit Monday against Eli Lilly and Co., alleging improper sales and marketing of the anti-psychotic prescription drug Zyprexa. The lawsuit was filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court. Tim Balducci of the Langston Law Firm in Booneville, named a special assistant attorney general to handle the case, said the lawsuit seeks to recover money the state spent to purchase Zyprexa to treat symptoms for which the drug has not been approved. It also seeks money spent in providing health care to certain Medicaid recipients who allegedly suffered injuries or illnesses - such a diabetes -...

This week's Forbes has an article penned by Fuller Torrey on "Cats and Schizophrenia." Besides being hard to access the article is short and leaves out some information that tones down the alarming nature of the data. Below is an exerpt of a Corante article that fills the data in. Carl Zimmer's article begins with data on rats and cats suggesting that rat behavior is indeed changed by toxoplasmosis. He then goes on to discuss the specifics in humans. "...The Oxford scientists knew that humans can be hosts to Toxoplasma, too. People can become infected by its eggs by handling...

Tancredo says president believes nation should be merely 'idea' without borders PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Bush believes America should be more of an idea than an actual place, a Republican congressman told WND in an exclusive interview. "People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this...

Memorial for UC Berkeley's 'Naked Guy' Monday, November 13, 2006 A memorial was held in Cupertino on Sunday for Andrew Martinez, whose naked jaunts through the UC Berkeley campus earned him the nickname "the Naked Guy" and national fame before he committed suicide May 18 in a Santa Clara Jail cell at age 33. Here, attendees watch a 20-minute video of Martinez made by his girlfriend, Micaela O'Herliha of Milwaukee.

In the hour before he was killed, on Sunday, Sept. 3, Dr. Wayne S. Fenton, a prominent schizophrenia specialist, was helping his wife clear the gutters of their suburban Washington house. He was steadying the ladder, asking her to please stop showering debris on his clean shirt; he had just made an appointment to see a patient and wanted to look presentable. She said she would be happy to go along, to help control the patient. It was a running joke between them. For in this part of the country, Dr. Fenton was the therapist of last resort, the one...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Zacarias Moussaoui's behavior is abnormal even for an al-Qaida terrorist, a defense psychologist testified Tuesday. Xavier Amador diagnosed the Sept. 11, 2001, conspirator with paranoid schizophrenia after observing his actions and writings since 2002. He cited delusional beliefs firmly held by Moussaoui, including his conviction that President Bush will free him from prison and that his court-appointed lawyers are in a conspiracy to kill him. He also contrasted Moussaoui's erratic behavior with that of several other al-Qaida terrorists who have been tried in U.S. criminal court. The defense introduced affidavits filed by lawyers for Ramzi Yousef, serving...

Researchers have made progress in understanding how a variant gene linked to schizophrenia may exert its influence in the brain. The findings are tentative but, if confirmed, could yield deep insights into the biological basis of the disease. The gene, called neuregulin-1, was first implicated in schizophrenia in 2002 by DeCode Genetics, a Reykjavik company that looks for the genetic roots of common diseases... But how the variant form of the gene contributed to the disease was far from clear, in part because even the normal gene's function is far from understood. A team led by Amanda J. Law of...

Jessica Wilcox was born into a humble family on New Year’s Eve of 1925. Her father left them when she was three; her mother was critical and cold to her. The young girl was often left alone for hours in a dark room, and hence, as children are wont to do, she created an imaginary friends with whom to pass the time. With these imaginary friends, Jessica forged strong friendships, chief among them was one named Arlene, who hung around for many years and grew up with Jessica despite being an almost polar opposite of her: Jessica was open...

Some questions about the Christian life have easy answers. Others do not. In a nice article from January 17th, 2006, D.C. Toedt at The Questioning Christian addresses the thorny and complex issue of Christianity and mental illness. It is my opinion that the Christian community in general has historically not done a very good job at of understanding and ministering to those with mental illness. Christians have no problems helping those suffering from heart disease and cancer, but often blame mental illness on the patient. How many Christians have been told "If you just prayed more and developed a better attitude" you...

Researchers have found stronger evidence for a link between a parasite in cat faeces and undercooked meat and an increased risk of schizophrenia. Research published today in Procedings of the Royal Society B, shows how the invasion or replication of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in rats may be inhibited by using anti-psychotic or mood stabilising drugs. The researchers tested anti-psychotic and mood stabilising medications used for the treatment of schizophrenia on rats infected with T. gondii and found they were as, or more, effective at preventing behaviourial alterations as anti-T. gondii drugs. This led them to believe that T. gondii...

New research into schizophrenia reveals that creative minds of poets and artists act as a sexual magnetLord Byron, Dylan Thomas and Pablo Picasso had more in common than being creative. They also had lively and exhausting sex lives - which, researchers say today, is no coincidence. Psychologists have found that the creativity of professional artists and poets acts like a sexual magnet, which could explain the behaviour of notorious womanisers such as the poet Byron and the painter Picasso. Dylan Thomas's wife, Caitlin, bore the brunt of his promiscuity Although creative types have long been associated with increased sexual activity,...