Michele Solis | science writer

A lifeline for addicts

michelesolis — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:23:18 +0000

Restoring the brain’s flexibility may help addicts act on their desire to quit.

Read this story at Scientific American Mind.

Rational thought can override a generous intuition

michelesolis — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:20:34 +0000

Our instinct is to give, until we think about it logically, according to a recent study in Nature.

Read this story at Scientific American Mind.

Widespread brain reductions in “schizophrenia-lite”

michelesolis — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:01:37 +0000

Men with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) show reductions in brain volume in several, disparate regions, reports a study published online 6 February in JAMA Psychiatry. The findings highlight brain regions that might be at the root of schizophrenia itself.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Verbal lags in teenagers linked to schizophrenia

michelesolis — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Falling behind in verbal development during the teenage years increases the risk for schizophrenia in adulthood, reports a study published online January 16 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Heart disease, cancer shorten lifespans in schizophrenia

michelesolis — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:40:53 +0000

Undiagnosed heart disease and cancer steal 12 to 15 years from the lives of people with schizophrenia, reports a study published online January 15 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Brain scanners turn to mice

michelesolis — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:35:21 +0000

Mice carrying a truncated form of DISC1, a gene related to psychiatric illness, also show defects in the dopamine system akin to those found in schizophrenia. The study, published online January 11 in Human Molecular Genetics, is the first to apply positron emission tomography (PET) to an animal model for psychiatric disorders.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Stress reworks dopamine systems

michelesolis — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:33:09 +0000

Stressful events contribute to the development of psychiatric illnesses, but what are the transducers of this connection? Two studies published January 18 in Science uncover actions by stress hormones on dopamine signaling in mice.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Dissecting depression’s circuitry

michelesolis — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:28:36 +0000

With its wide range of symptoms and variable severity, depression might seem hopelessly complicated. But a spate of recent studies published in Nature suggests that this complexity is resolvable at the brain circuit level.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Rita Levi-Montalcini dies at 103

michelesolis — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:26:09 +0000

SRF notes the passing of Nobel-prize winning neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini on 30 December 2012 in Rome, Italy. She was 103. Her work in discovering nerve growth factor (NGF) gave neuroscience its first example of a diffusible, growth-promoting molecule, opening a window onto basic principles of nervous system development.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Genetic clue to psychosis found on chromosome 16

michelesolis — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 01:02:23 +0000

A common variant at 16p11.2 increases risk of psychosis, according to a report published online November 20 in Molecular Psychiatry. The results flag a single nucleotide change within a 593 kb region that has been previously linked to schizophrenia and other disorders by rare copy number variants that duplicate or delete chunks of DNA.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.