Health News

Supplement treats schizophrenia in mice, restores healthy ‘dance’ and structure of neurons

A simple dietary supplement reduces behavioral symptoms in mice with a genetic mutation that causes schizophrenia. After additional experiments, including visualizing the fluorescently stained dancing edge of immature brain cells, researchers concluded that the supplement likely protects proteins that build neurons’ cellular skeletons. The supplement betaine was first isolated from sugar beets and is often […]

Health News

Mental Illness Tied to Worse COVID-19 Outcomes, Including Death

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Preexisting mental illness is tied to worse COVID-19 outcomes, including death, results of a large meta-analysis show. “It’s imperative that healthcare providers address and treat prediagnosed mental disorders among COVID-19 patients, as this is a risk factor that may affect COVID-19 […]

Health News

Reading ability severely impaired by schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia are likely to have severely impaired reading ability, a new study has shown. A systematic review by researchers at Brunel University London’s Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) found that those who have been diagnosed as having schizophrenia are likely to have difficulty recognizing, manipulating and pronouncing individual sounds, and understanding written text. […]

Health Problems

Dietary supplement may help with schizophrenia

A dietary supplement, sarcosine, may help with schizophrenia as part of a holistic approach complementing antipsychotic medication, according to a UCL researcher. In an editorial published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, Professor David Curtis (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment and QMUL Centre for Psychiatry) suggests the readily available product could easily be incorporated into […]

Health News

Suicidal teenager hospitalised with schizophrenia was infected by CAT

Teenager caught a mind-altering infection from his cat, started believing he was the ‘son of the devil’ and having suicidal thoughts The unnamed 14-year-old boy was first hospitalised in October 2015  He suffered with hallucinations, rage outbursts and thoughts of killing his family  After dozens of treatments failed, he endured 11 weeks of extensive testing It […]

Health Problems

Improved AI-based tool increases accuracy of schizophrenia diagnosis

A tool developed by University of Alberta researchers using machine learning diagnoses schizophrenia more accurately than other AI-based systems, according to a new study. The tool, called EMPaSchiz (Ensemble algorithm with Multiple Parcellations for Schizophrenia prediction), examined brain scans from patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and predicted the diagnosis with 87 per cent accuracy. […]