As scientists continue to explore how the brain works, using ever more sophisticated technology, it seems likely that new findings will radically alter the traditional understanding of human nature. One aspect of human nature already being questioned by recent developments in neuroscience is free will...

Rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregnant had smaller brains and showed other brain changes similar to those observed in human patients with schizophrenia, a study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found...

Allon Therapeutics Inc. (TSX:NPC) announced today that a Phase 1 clinical trial of its lead neuroprotective drug, davunetide , which began patient enrolment January 28, 2010, has been completed. The results demonstrated that the intranasal dose range can be broadened and provided additional information on the pharmacokinetic profile of davunetide...

In one of the first such studies involving human patients with schizophrenia, researchers at UC Davis have provided evidence that deficits in a brain chemical may be responsible for some of the debilitating cognitive deficits - poor attention, memory and problem-solving abilities - that accompany the delusions and hallucinations that are the hallmarks of the disorder...

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. (DSPA), a U.S. subsidiary of Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (DSP), announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted for review the lurasidone New Drug Application (NDA) for the treatment of patients with acute schizophrenia. The NDA was submitted to FDA on December 30, 2009 and will receive a standard review...

Munich, Germany - Contrary to expectations, the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone is no better than placebo and can be counterproductive in treating substance use disorder in patients with schizophrenia, according to data released at the 18th European Congress of Psychiatry...

The underlying causes of the debilitating psychiatric disorder schizophrenia remain poorly understood. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have performed a powerful gene network analysis that has revealed surprising new insights into how gene regulation and age play a role in schizophrenia...

An Australian study found that prolonged use of cannabis or marijuana by young adults was linked to a higher risk of developing psychosis, with the highest risk affecting those who started using the substance in their teens, and continued using it for 6 years or more into adulthood: the risk of developing psychosis among these users was more than double that of never users...

In reports of two new studies, researchers led by Johns Hopkins say they have identified the mechanisms rooted in two anatomical brain abnormalities that may explain the onset of schizophrenia and the reason symptoms don't develop until young adulthood...

Schizophrenia is an incredibly complex and profoundly debilitating disorder that typically manifests in early adulthood but is thought to arise, at least in part, from pathological disturbances occurring during very early brain development...

A genetic link between schizophrenia and autism is enabling researchers to study the effectiveness of drugs used to treat both illnesses. Dr Steve Clapcote from the University of Leeds's Faculty of Biological Sciences will be analysing behaviour displayed by mice with a genetic mutation linked to schizophrenia and autism and seeing how antipsychotic drugs affect their behavioural abnormalities...

Johns Hopkins Children's Center neurovirologist Robert Yolken, M.D., and collaborators from the Stanley Medical Research Institute have developed a large repository of brain and tissue samples to advance the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia...

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) announced that it has developed a novel, proprietary LinkeRx™ technology platform to enable the creation of injectable extended-release versions of antipsychotics and other central nervous system (CNS) therapies...

Today Merz Pharma entered the Irish Healthcare market with Denzapine, the first generic form of clozapine available in Ireland. Denzapine is an atypical antipsychotic agent used in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) which has been available to prescribe in the UK since February 2004...

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affect tens of millions of individuals around the world. These disorders have a typical onset in the early twenties and in most cases have a chronic or recurring course. Neither disorder has an objective biological marker than can be used to make diagnoses or to guide treatment...

A new study suggests that people at very high risk of developing psychotic disorders appear less likely to to do so after taking fish oil for three months...

Between 1997 and 2006, 38% of out-of-clinic suicides by mental health patients were carried out by people absent without leave from the hospital. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry suggest that measures to improve the ward environment or prevent patients from leaving psychiatric wards without staff agreement could avoid up to 50 suicide deaths every year...

A new study from UC Davis Health System identifies for the first time a brain protein called SynDIG1 that plays a critical role in creating and sustaining synapses, the complex chemical signaling system responsible for communication between neurons. The research, published in the Jan...

The onset of schizophrenia is not easy to predict. Although it is associated with as many as 14 genes in the human genome, the prior presence of schizophrenia in the family is not enough to determine whether one will succumb to the mind-altering condition. The disease also has a significant environmental link. According to Prof...

The International Serious Adverse Events Consortium (SAEC) has announced that it will collaborate with Duke University's Center for Human Genome Variation to research the genetics of Clozapine-induced agranulocytosis (CIA), with the goal of identifying potential rare genetic variants predictive of this serious drug induced adverse event...