Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Human neurodevelopment is the result of genetic and environmental interactions. This paper examines the role of prenatal nutrition relative to psychiatric disorders and explores the relationship among nutrients, mood changes, and mood disorders. Epidemiologic studies have found that adults who were born with a normal, yet low birth weight have an increased susceptibility to diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and stroke in adulthood. Prenatal caloric malnutrition, low birth weight, and prematurity also increase the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, schizophrenia, affective disorders, and schizoid and antisocial personality disorders. Placebo-controlled studies in medicated patients suggest that add-on treatment with omega-3 fatty acids, particularly eicosapentaenoic acid, may ameliorate symptoms of major depressive disorder. Additional studies are necessary to confirm any benefits for bipolar disorders.
 ...
PMID:Nutrients, neurodevelopment, and mood. 1553 90

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between performance on the Stroop test and N-acetylaspartate/creatine assessed using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) of schizophrenia patients. The Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome was used to subdivide the schizophrenia patients into deficit (n=5) and nondeficit (n=17) subtypes. Twenty-one control subjects served as a comparison group. A strong correlation between right-sided N-acetylaspartate/creatine levels and Stroop scores was found in the deficit patients but not in the nondeficit patients and the controls. This result suggests a relationship between a dysfunction of the right medial prefrontal cortex and a deficit in selective attention in schizophrenia patients with the deficit syndrome.
 ...
PMID:Relationship between performance on the Stroop test and N-acetylaspartate in the medial prefrontal cortex in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia: preliminary results. 1554 6

With optimal pregnancy conditions (natural, enriched diet which includes fish) African (Digo) infants are 3-4 weeks ahead of European/American infants in sensorimotor terms at birth, and during the first year. Infants of semi-aquatic sea-gypsies swim before they walk, and have superior visual acuity compared with us. With adverse pregnancy behaviour (fear of fat, a trend to dieting), neglecting the need for brain fat to secure normal brain development and function, we run a risk of dysfunction--death. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome victims have depressed birth weight, lower levels of marine fat in brainstem than controls, and >80 suffer multiple hypoxic episodes prior to death. Depressed birth weight (more than 10% below mean) is seen in learning and behaviour disorders, and a trend towards weights of less than 3kg is increasing, which supports a rise in antenatal sub optimality. Given marine fat deficiency in pregnancy and infancy, neurons starved for fuel could delay myelination and maturation in the latest developed Frontal Lobes. The phylogenetic oldest Lateral Frontal Lobe System (feed-back mechanism etc.) derived from olfactory bulb-amygdala, which crosses in Anterior Commisure is probably spared, while the Medial Frontal Lobe System derived from Hippocampus-Cingulum and crosses in Corpus Callosum (delayed response task) is most likely affected. The rise in infantile autism (intact vision and hearing) with deficit in delayed response task only, could suggest a deficit in the Medial Frontal Lobe System. The human species is unique; 70% of total energy to the foetus goes to development of the brain, which mainly consists of marine fat. It undergoes pervasive regressive events, before birth, in infancy and at puberty. Minimal retraction of neuronal arborisation is advantageous. Attributable to adverse pregnancy childrearing practice, excessive retraction is likely prenatally and in infancy. Pubertal age affects the fundamental property of nervous tissue, excitability: excessive excitatory drive is seen in early, and a deficiency in late puberty. It is postulated that with adequate marine fat, there is probably no risk of psychopathology at the extremes, whereas a deficiency could lead to paroxysmal (subcortical) dysfunction in early puberty, and breakdown of cortical circuitry and cognitive dysfunctions in late puberty. The post-pubertal psychoses, schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis at the extremes of the pubertal age continuum, with contrasting excitability and biological treatment, are probably the result of continuous dietary deficiency, which has inactivated the expression of genes for myelin development and oligodendrocyte-related genes in their production of myelin. The beneficial effect of marine fat in both disorders, in other CNS disorders as well as in developmental dyslexia (DD) and ADHD among others, supports our usual diet is persistently deficient. We have neglected the similarity of our great brain to other mammals, and our marine heritage. Given the amount of marine fat needed to secure normal brain development and function is not known, nor the present dietary level, it seems unduly conjectural to postulate that a dietary deficiency in marine fat is causing brain dysfunction and death. However, all observations point in the same direction: our diet focusing on protein mainly, is deficient, the deficiency is most pronounced in maternal nutrition and in infancy.
 ...
PMID:From superior adaptation and function to brain dysfunction--the neglect of epigenetic factors. 1561 23

Both schizophrenia and celiac disease involve a genetic component. Several lines of evidence have shown a genetic relationship between these two conditions. Celiac disease is characterized by damage to the microscopic finger-like projections called villi, which line the small intestine and play a significant role in digestion, due to an inflammatory condition caused by a reaction to wheat gluten or related rye and barley proteins. Celiac disease represents not only malabsorption leading to a poor nutritional condition but also an alteration of gut permeability. Individuals with a history of a childhood celiac condition have a raised risk of developing schizophrenia. Psychotic symptoms often occur in adult celiac disease. It can be hypothesized that apart from malnutrition, the meeting point for the gene-environment interaction may be an alteration in gut permeability, in which the gut may lose its capacity to block exogenous psychosis-causing substances that may enter the body thus causing the development of schizophrenia and other mental conditions. To support this hypothesis, the conditional test was conducted to look at the combined effect of the CLDN5 gene involved in forming permeability barriers and the DQB1 gene that has been found to be associated with celiac disease. The results demonstrate that these two genes possibly work together in conferring a susceptibility to schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Gene, gut and schizophrenia: the meeting point for the gene-environment interaction in developing schizophrenia. 1561 64

Serum albumin (sALB) is routinely determined in blood tests and is an excellent predictor of risk for many medical illnesses. Hypoalbuminemia has been sporadically reported in patients with psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. We compared sALB levels between 19 drug-free patients of major depressive disorder with a control group of matching diets. We conducted this study by controlling the nutrition factor by assessing patient's diets, as well as other possible confounding factors such as sex, age, body mass index (BMI), liver function, and exercise, while focusing on hypoalbuminemia in patients with major depressive disorder. There is no difference in age, gender distribution, and dietary frequency on protein and albumin intake between the patient and control group. The sALB levels of the group with major depressive disorder were significantly reduced (p=0.049). The severity of depression is negatively correlated to the sALB level (r=-0.46, p=0.04). Hypoalbuminemia has clinical meanings on severity of depression and is independent of malnutrition. However, our results can only be seen as very preliminary and should be confirmed by larger studies.
 ...
PMID:Hypoalbuminemia in drug-free patients with major depressive disorder compared with a dietary matched control group: a clinical meaning beyond malnutrition. 1569 69

Epidemiological evidence suggests that dietary consumption of the long chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), commonly found in fish or fish oil, may modify the risk for certain neuropsychiatric disorders. As evidence, decreased blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids have been associated with several neuropsychiatric conditions, including Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder, Alzheimer's Disease, Schizophrenia and Depression. Supplementation studies, using individual or combination omega-3 fatty acids, suggest the possibility for decreased symptoms associated with some of these conditions. Thus far, however, the benefits of supplementation, in terms of decreasing disease risk and/or aiding in symptom management, are not clear and more research is needed. The reasons for blood fatty acid alterations in these disorders are not known, nor are the potential mechanisms by which omega-3 fatty acids may function in normal neuronal activity and neuropsychiatric disease prevention and/or treatment. It is clear, however, that DHA is the predominant n-3 fatty acid found in the brain and that EPA plays an important role as an anti-inflammatory precursor. Both DHA and EPA can be linked with many aspects of neural function, including neurotransmission, membrane fluidity, ion channel and enzyme regulation and gene expression. This review summarizes the knowledge in terms of dietary omega-3 fatty acid intake and metabolism, as well as evidence pointing to potential mechanisms of omega-3 fatty acids in normal brain functioning, development of neuropsychiatric disorders and efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in terms of symptom management.
 ...
PMID:Omega-3 fatty acids and neuropsychiatric disorders. 1586 53

The psychological study is based on the clinical typology of refusal reactions (RR) in schizophrenic patients--"capitulation", "avoidance", "absenteism". Seventy patients with RR, mean age 27 years, 25 women, 45 men, were examined with the use of a number of psychological methods. The findings prove the hypothesis on the disturbances of motivation as a psychological mechanism of RR in schizophrenic patients. Deficiency is related to functions of the motivational process: incentive function, goal achievement, sense making and strengthened by trait anxiety and desize to avoid danger. The main factor promoting RR formation is basic motivation deficiency caused by endogenous process (schizophrenia). A mechanism of capitulation reaction formation is closely related to expectation of failure and refusal from acting as an opportunity to preserve self-estimation; avoidance reaction is characterized by significant disturbance of the motivation at the stage of incentive, goal achievement and sense making. Motivation deficiency in patients with absenteism reactions is predominantly associated with an specific individual's sense.
 ...
PMID:[Psychological mechanisms of refusal reactions in schizophrenic patients]. 1587 38

Empirical evidence suggests impaired facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia. However, the nature of this deficit is the subject of ongoing research. The current study tested the hypothesis that a generalized deficit at an early stage of face-specific processing (i.e. putatively subserved by the fusiform gyrus) accounts for impaired facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia as opposed to the Negative Emotion-specific Deficit Model, which suggests impaired facial information processing at subsequent stages. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 11 schizophrenia patients and 15 matched controls while performing a gender discrimination and a facial emotion recognition task. Significant reduction of the face-specific vertex positive potential (VPP) at a peak latency of 165 ms was confirmed in schizophrenia subjects whereas their early visual processing, as indexed by P1, was found to be intact. Attenuated VPP was found to correlate with subsequent P3 amplitude reduction and to predict accuracy when performing a facial emotion discrimination task. A subset of ten schizophrenia patients and ten matched healthy control subjects also performed similar tasks in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Patients showed reduced blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activation in the fusiform, inferior frontal, middle temporal and middle occipital gyrus as well as in the amygdala. Correlation analyses revealed that VPP and the subsequent P 3a ERP components predict fusiform gyrus BOLD activation. These results suggest that problems in facial affect recognition in schizophrenia may represent flow-on effects of a generalized deficit in early visual processing.
 ...
PMID:Functional MRI of facial emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia and their electrophysiological correlates. 1617 65

Deficit schizophrenia (DS) is considered a distinct subtype within the diagnosis of schizophrenia. While the common assumption is that DS represents a single, cohesive domain of psychopathology, the factorial structure of DS has not been investigated. We assessed 52 individuals with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia with DS. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the symptoms of the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome. The PCA resulted in 2 distinct factors explaining 73.8% of the variance. Factor 1 (avolition) is made up of symptoms of curbing of interests, diminished sense of purpose, and diminished social drive. Factor 2 (emotional expression) is made up of symptoms of restricted affect, diminished emotional range, and poverty of speech. The results indicate that DS is best characterized by these 2 factors. The great majority of participants (86%) displayed DS symptoms from both factors. On average, participants had 4.19 (S.D. = 1.39) symptoms that were primary, enduring, and at least moderate in severity. The mean severity of symptoms was 2.25 (S.D. = 1.06). We discuss possible links between the obtained factors and putative neurobiological mechanisms, as well as directions for future research.
 ...
PMID:The factorial structure of the schedule for the deficit syndrome in schizophrenia. 1617 74

To explore associations between psychiatric symptoms and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in low-birth-weight adolescents, 55 very low-birth-weight (<or=1500 gm), 54 term small for gestational age (birth weight <10th centile) and 66 term control adolescents (birth weight >or=10th centile) were assessed at 14-15 years of age. Outcome measures were Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale IV, Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire, and qualitatively assessed cerebral magnetic resonance images. The very low-birth-weight group manifested increased prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and disorders compared with controls (P < 0.001), especially symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and high frequency of ventricular dilatation, white matter reduction, thinning of corpus callosum, and gliosis (P < 0.01 vs controls). The Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale score was significantly associated with white matter reduction and thinning of corpus callosum in this group. The term small for gestational age group had increased prevalence of psychiatric symptoms compared with control subjects, but not more frequent abnormalities on cerebral magnetic resonance imaging. In conclusion, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms were significantly associated with white matter reduction and thinning of corpus callosum in very low-birth-weight adolescents. No associations were found for other psychiatric symptoms and brain abnormalities in any of the groups.
 ...
PMID:Low-birth-weight adolescents: psychiatric symptoms and cerebral MRI abnormalities. 1619 24


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>