The interplay between nature and nurture is a recurring theme in the debate over the development of schizophrenia or its relapse. The evidence for a genetic component to schizophrenia is strong, but environmental factors have always been considered as having a powerful role to play. In this posting I’ve mapped out some of the influential... Read more
A new genetic link to schizophrenia has been identified by an international team of researchers. Multiple epidermal growth factor-like domains 10 or MEGF10, which influences the development of skin cells, may appear a curious contender in the quest for a genetic explanation for schizophrenia, but this is exactly what recent research has found.... Read more
A genetic variant in a gene called reelin has been identified as a significant risk factor for developing schizophrenia, but only in women. A research team led by Sagiv Shifman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Oxford, conducted their investigation in the Askenazi Jewish population and confirmed findings by establishing... Read more
The relationship between schizophrenia and smoking is both interesting and complex. In schizophrenia, the very high rates of smoking could point to a form of self-medication that actually seems to improve attention and short-term memory. Yet other forms of smoking, notably cannabis and marijuana, are implicated in the onset of psychosis. ... Read more
In one of the biggest studies of its kind, researchers have established a way to more accurately predict the onset of psychosis in high risk teenagers. The study, led by a team from UCLA and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), involved 291 young people considered to be at risk for developing psychosis. The findings, published in the... Read more
