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New understanding of schizophrenia could lead to new treatment approaches

New research helps bridge an important gap in understanding schizophrenia, providing the best evidence to date that defects in the brain's white matter are a key contributor to the disease, which affects about 1 percent of people worldwide. The findings, to be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also demonstrate how two of the dozen or more genes previously linked with schizophrenia may contribute to the disease.

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Keywords: understanding, schizophrenia, lead, treatment, approaches, approache

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1. UCLA study finds brain response differences in the way women with IBS anticipate and react to pain
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   UCLA researchers found that women with irritable bowel syndrome cannot effectively turn-off a pain modulation mechanism in the brain, which causes them to be more sensitive to abdominal pain, compared to women without IBS. The findings may lead to a greater understanding of the condition and new treatment approaches.
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2. Microgrid Allows Simultaneous Study of Multiple Variables
   10-10-2007 · Brookhaven National Laboratory
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3. UCLA and NYU microbiologists crack genome of a parasite that causes a common STD
   01-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
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4. Molecules might identify high-risk acute-leukemia patients
   01-15-2008 · EurekAlert!
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5. A dynamical systems hypothesis of schizophrenia
   11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
   The inconsistent expressions related to schizophrenia are newly structured in a recent study by researchers at the Universitas Pompeau Fabra and Oxford University. Marco Loh, Edmund Rolls and Gustavo Deco have created a dynamical system framework to discuss the disorder, publishing on Nov. 9, 2007 in the journal PLoS Computational Biology. The dynamical framework put forth in this study may better the understanding of the symptoms of schizophrenia, therefore culminating in better treatment for those with the disorder.
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6. Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
   02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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7. NIH selects LIAI for major study on allergy molecular causes and possible treatments
   11-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A major study that will provide a new window into understanding and potentially treating allergies will be conducted by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology under a $5 million federal contract. The five-year study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, could lead to revolutionary new approaches for treating allergies based on targeting T cells, white blood cells that regulate the immune response.
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8. Risk-taking in infertility treatment correlates with women's negative moods
   07-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A study of women's moods during IVF has found a strong relationship between negative mood and multiple embryo transfer, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference heard (Tuesday 3 July). Dr Christopher Newton of the University Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, London, Canada, said that his work could lead to better understanding of the importance of couples’ emotional health during IVF treatment, and the effect this has on their decision-making.
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9. Mesothelin engineered on virus-like particles provides treatment clues for pancreatic cancer
   02-15-2008 · EurekAlert!
   New understanding of a protein that spurs the growth of pancreatic cancer could lead to a new vaccine against the deadly disease, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report appearing in the current edition of the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
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10. Promising treatment for post traumatic stress disorder sleep disturbances
    04-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
    For sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder, sleep disturbances are among the most treatment-resistant symptoms and can lead to drug and alcohol abuse and even suicide. Previously, there has been little success in treating these sleep disorders with psychopharmacologic approaches. In a study in the April 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry, researchers have found that an inexpensive, widely available drug was successful in reducing symptoms in chronic PTSD patients.
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