Schizophrenia 'price for speech?'

BBC ^ | Saturday, 27 August 2005 | Caroline Ryan

[SunkenCiv]

Professor Tim Crow believes that the difference in the development of the human brain from the primate brain - which allows us to process thought and speech - is linked to why psychotic illnesses occur.

The human brain has developed to have a strong regional bias, so each side of the brain performs certain roles - for example, speech is controlled by the left side of the brain.

Professor Crow of the mental health charity Sane's Prince of Wales International Centre in Oxford, suggests the division boundaries between certain areas of the brain, particularly those which are concerned with language and thought, are "blurred" in people with psychoses.

[SunkenCiv]

Older Dads May Increase Kids' Schizophrenia Risk
	Posted by LouAvul On News/Activism 10/23/2004 11:49:01 PM PDT· 18 replies · 450+ views fox | 10-23-04 Children born to older fathers may have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia (search) than those with younger dads, according to a new study. Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling mental illness. Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with multiple or split personalities. Instead, people with schizophrenia hear voices that others don't; they suffer from paranoia and live fearful and withdrawn lives. The first signs of the mental illness emerge around adolescence and early adulthood. The cause of schizophrenia is not known, and there is no cure. The study is based on more than 750,000 Swedes born between...
Mental Health Charity Calls for Cannabis Probe (can 'trigger' psychotic episode of schizophrenia)
	Posted by Libloather On News/Activism 01/30/2005 7:39:28 PM PST· 39 replies · 646+ views Yahoo News | 1/29/05 Mental Health Charity Calls for Cannabis Probe Sat Jan 29,10:37 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A British health charity called on Saturday for an investigation into evidence that smoking cannabis may cause psychosis in people at risk of mental illness. Rethink, which campaigns on behalf of schizophrenia sufferers, said the mental health risks of using cannabis were not widely understood. "There is strong evidence from a wide range of sources that long term and short-term use of cannabis can 'trigger' a psychotic episode of schizophrenia in people who are at high risk of developing schizophrenia --- for instance, people who...
Drug (cannabis/marijuana) 'doubles mental health risk' (psychosis, schizophrenia)
	Posted by FairOpinion On News/Activism 02/28/2005 8:56:41 PM PST· 169 replies · 1,949+ views BBC News | March 1, 2005 | BBC The study asked people about their cannabis use Smoking cannabis virtually doubles the risk of developing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, researchers say. The New Zealand scientists said their study suggested this was probably due to chemical changes in the brain which resulted from smoking the drug. The study, published in the journal Addiction, followed over 1,000 people born in 1977 for 25 years. UK mental health campaigners said it was more evidence of a "drug-induced mental health crisis". The researchers, from the University of Otago, interviewed people taking part in the Christchurch Health and Development Study about their cannabis...
Smoking tobacco 'may ease' some schizophrenia symptoms
	Posted by kingattax On News/Activism 03/01/2005 10:49:08 PM PST· 20 replies · 260+ views Scotsman.com | 1 Mar 2005 | LYNDSAY MOSS THE effects of nicotine could help relieve the symptoms of schizophrenia in some sufferers, researchers suggested today. The study, in Granada in Spain, looked at the theory that smoking is a form of "self-medication" for people with schizophrenia. They found that for mildly dependent smokers, nicotine could have a beneficial effect on their symptoms. But the researchers also found that people with a high nicotine dependence were more likely to be readmitted to hospital and have a poor outcome to their condition. The results of the study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, noted that worldwide, schizophrenia was linked...
Cannabis use 'trigger for schizophrenia'
	Posted by Crackingham On News/Activism 03/23/2005 12:33:10 PM PST· 104 replies · 1,440+ views New Zealand Herald | Mar. 24, ,2005 | Kent Atkinson Cannabis use as a teenager increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in later life, a study using research on New Zealand youths has revealed. A report in the British Medical Journal showed those who used cannabis as a teenager had a 10 per cent chance of developing psychosis by the age of 26. The general public have a 3 per cent risk. The conclusions were based on a study by the Institute of Psychiatry in London of 759 people born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between 1972 and 1973. That report was used and supported by Dutch researcher Dr Jim van...
Social Network's Healing Power Is Borne Out in Poorer Nations (amazing schizophrenia studies)
	Posted by neverdem On News/Activism 06/27/2005 7:32:08 PM PDT· 14 replies · 399+ views The Washington Post | June 27, 2005 | Shankar Vedantam RAIPUR RANI, India -- Second of three articles Psychiatrist Naren Wig crossed an open sewer, skirted a pond and, in the dusty haze of afternoon, saw something miraculous. Krishna Devi, a woman he had treated years ago for schizophrenia, sat in a courtyard surrounded by religious pictures, exposed brick walls and drying laundry. Devi had stopped taking medication long ago, but her articulate speech and easy smile were eloquent testimony that she had recovered from the debilitating disease. Few schizophrenia patients in the United States are so lucky, even after years of treatment. But Devi had hidden assets: a doting...

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[SunkenCiv]

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[jdm]

Way Back link looks good now. Thanks for the FReepmail.

[dsc]

Rereading "A Beautiful Mind" just now.

Entirely different from the movie. Entirely.

[SunkenCiv]

Most if not all are probably deceased links.

Schizophrenia linked to mother's lack of sunlight
by Rachel Nowak

Vitamin D's role in building healthy brains had been largely ignored, until researchers began to spot some curious epidemiological trends. People who develop schizophrenia in Europe and North America are more likely to be born in the spring. And they are roughly four times as likely to be born to Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in England as they are to have parents of other ethnic origins living in the same areas.

Is schizophrenia caused by an enemy within?
by Joanna Marchant

David Yolken of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and his colleagues have found traces of active endogenous retroviruses in the cerebrospinal fluid of 10 out of 35 patients recently diagnosed with acute schizophrenia. A control group of people without schizophrenia showed no trace of these genes.

Infectious agent
by Joanna Marchant

We all carry around retroviral DNA from viruses that inserted themselves into the human genome millions of years ago... David Yolken of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and his colleagues have found traces of active endogenous retroviruses in the cerebrospinal fluid of 10 out of 35 patients recently diagnosed with acute schizophrenia. A control group of people without schizophrenia showed no trace of these genes. Yolken says he thought retroviruses might be involved because schizophrenia seems to depend on both environmental and genetic factors... Support for the idea comes from anecdotal evidence that patients often suffer a fever immediately before the onset of schizophrenia. People with HIV can also develop schizophrenia-like symptoms that diminish when they are given antiviral drugs.

Can cats cause schizophrenia?
by Keith Hearn

In everyone's DNA are things called "endogenous retroviruses." They're throwbacks to infections our ancestors had and are normally harmless. But if they're activated, they slowly mess up an area of the brain known as the hippocampus. The damage doesn't show up until the brain stops growing in adolescence. And it's between then and age 30 when most schizophrenia develops... Psychiatrist Fuller Torrey and virologist Robert Yolken believe the culprit is something called toxoplasma. That's a parasite found in the feces (spelled faeces in Britain) of about 1 percent of house cats. This bug is killed by most people's immune systems before it causes the disease toxoplasmosis. But a pregnant woman with the parasite can transmit it to her fetus. And here's where it gets interesting. As the resulting baby grows into an adult, the parasite supposedly hides dormant in the person's brain. Then sometime between age 15 and 30, the toxoplasma comes alive, triggers the retrovirus and schizophrenia develops... Torrey and Yolken plan to treat one test group of schizophrenics with an antibiotic that kills toxoplasma, and another group with an anti-viral drug used against the herpes virus.

NEW SCHIZOPHRENIA THEORY
[dead link]

Glial cells play a crucial role in the early development of the brain. In adults they help support neurons, as well as fighting infection. New research suggests that they may also play a big part in causing a devastating mental illness that affects one in 100 people.

Retroviral RNA identified in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia
Karlsson H, Bachmann S, Schroder J, McArthur J, Torrey EF, Yolken RH

The nucleotide sequences identified in the CSFs of the individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were related to those of the human endogenous retroviral (HERV)-W family of endogenous retroviruses and to other retroviruses in the murine leukemia virus genus. Transcription of RNA homologous to members of the HERV-W family of retroviruses also was found to be up-regulated differentially in the frontal cortex regions of brains obtained postmortem from individuals with schizophrenia, as compared with corresponding tissue from individuals without psychiatric diseases.

[LibKill]

I suppose it is possible. One of the worst symptoms of schizophrenia is the constant "voices" that the sufferer hears. These are as real to the schizophreniac as ordinary conversation is to you or I. Perhaps these are due to some sort of short-circuit in the brain.

[SunkenCiv]

Too bad about the kitty link -- particularly here on FreeRepublic, where the Viking Kitties romp.

[prion]

I'm trying to make sense of this. He says human brains process information in a certain way. Schizophrenic brains don't do this properly. But I don't see why having a brain that works a certain way makes it susceptible to working incorrectly, and why brains that work incorrectly would be the "price" we pay for most of the brains that work correctly.

Is he saying schizophrenics are some sort of neurological throwback? That's like saying the occasional really, really hairy guy is the price we pay for not having pelts. What am I missing?

[SunkenCiv]

I believe it has to do with brain lateralization. The asymmetry would not be the cause, but is merely the way the modern human brain functions. The lateralization is the older characteristic, and made asymmetry possible.

20+ years ago there was a book, "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" that is pertinent to this discussion, and Tim what's his name probably is familiar with it.

[SunkenCiv]

huh, I'll be, still in print.

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The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

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[monkey]

What am I missing?

If you go to the source, and see the picture (caption: Early humans developed a taste for sea food), that should explain everything.

[jocon307]

But how would we know if an animal had mental illness? Maybe it happens and we just don't realize it. I had a cat that used to get pretty wacky at times, in fact, I've had several cats like that.

[Jeff Chandler]

so each side of the brain performs certain roles - for example, speech is controlled by the left side of the brain.

I read that this is a myth, that language is handled by both sides of the brain, with different processing styles on different hemispheres. According to Joseph Hellige, a psychologist at the University of Southern California, areas on the left deal with the core aspects of speech such as grammar and word production, while aspects such as intonation and emphasis are dealt with by the right side.

[Drammach]

But how would we know if an animal had mental illness? Maybe it happens and we just don't realize it.

Interesting point..
Many male primates ( chimps gorillas, etc..) have onsets of extremely violent behaviour as they get older..
This has been explained as "typical" male dominance behaviour, but sometimes results in deaths of members of the "tribe"..

Possibly the violent behaviour has it's roots in some sort of schizophrenia or other psychotic ailment..

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

[SunkenCiv]

Hippocampus? I didn't know they even *went* to school.

[really lame rimshot]

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

I think the real question is how do we know humans are actually "SANE" we may be born "MAD" and not even know it !

[Know your rights]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. "Ok, so where's the population cohort of schizophrenics to go along with the boom in marijuana use in the 60's and 70's?"

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, if you can remember the 60s and 70s, you weren't there. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

I think that has an impact on some of the population. I mean, c'mon, someone out there voted for Kerry, and for Gore, and for Clinton...