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Showing posts with label Schizophrenia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Schizophrenia. Show all posts

Thursday, December 7, 2017

MCQ 12. 11 years old boy, restless all time, unable to concentrate in class, hardly ever in his seat, roams around the hall, difficulty in playing quietly.


MCQ 12. An 11 years old boy is all the time so restless that the rest of the class is unable to concentrate. He is hardly ever in his seat and roams around the hall. He has difficulty in playing quietly.


What is the the most likely diagnosis?
a. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder 
b. Conduct disorder 
c. Depressive disorder 
d. Schizophrenia


Correct answer: Click here

Monday, August 29, 2016

Migraines 101: Causes, Symptoms, And Treatment

What is a migraine headache? Brush up on the causes, symptoms, and treatments.

Migraine is the third most common disease in the world. It costs American employers $20 billion each year, and considering how widespread and the suffering it causes are, it’s safe to say research funding is meager at best. The National Institutes of Health provides the mainstay of medical funding in the United States, about $20 million annually — but funding should be 12-fold higher if it will be comparable to research dollars allotted for other brain diseases such as schizophrenia.

A ‘typical’ migraine headache is severe: One-sided, pulsing or throbbing, accompanied by severe pain and discomfort to normal lights, sounds, or smells, not to mention nausea and vomiting. It typically lasts four to 72 hours, during which the scalp can be extremely sensitive to the touch. So it’s not unusual for migraine sufferers — also known as migraineurs — to withdraw from the outside world to lie down without moving in a dark, quiet room. But the truth is, the realities of life often prevent this form of relief.


Friday, May 6, 2016

Bipolar, autism, and schizophrenia might share genetic origin

A new, in-depth genetic study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, finds a potential link between bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism. Although the findings are tentative, they open the door to new avenues of investigation.

Bipolar disorder, previously called manic depression, causes dramatic shifts in mood, along with swings in activity and energy levels.

Thought to affect almost 1 to 3 percent of Americans, bipolar disorder can be an incredibly disruptive condition.

Bipolar disorder is thought to share a common genetic origin with a number of other psychiatric conditions. Although evidence of this connection is growing, the search is still in its infancy.

New research, led by Dr. James Potash, puts another gene-shaped piece in the jigsaw. The study was a joint venture, conducted at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY.


The genetics behind psychiatric disorders are slowly revealed.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

A Clinical Review on Vitamin D in Schizophrenia

Vitamin D (vitD) is known for its essential role in calcium homeostasis and bone health. VitD is made endogenously in the skin from UVB radiation from sunlight. VitD is now considered as a potent neurosteroid hormone, critical to brain development and normal brain function, and is known for its anti-inflammatory property affecting various aspects of human health. VitD ligand-receptor, a receptor that mediates much of vitD's biological actions, has been found throughout the body including the central nervous system. VitD deficiency is common in patients with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a debilitating chronic mental illness characterised by positive symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and negative symptoms including flat affect and lack of motivation. Several environmental risk factors for schizophrenia, such as season of birth, latitude and migration, have been linked to vitD deficiency. Recent studies have suggested a potential role of vitD in the development of schizophrenia. For example, neonatal vitD status is associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia in later life obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and cardiovascular disease, which are commonly seen in patients with schizophrenia. It has been well established that vitD deficiency is related to these metabolic problems. The biological mechanism is most likely related to vitD's action on the regulation of inflammatory and immunological processes, consequently affecting the manifestation of clinical symptoms and treatment response of schizophrenia. Potential benefits of vitD supplementation to improve schizophrenia symptoms as well as physical health in patients with schizophrenia should be further explored in future studies.

Introduction
Vitamin D (vitD), the 'sunshine' vitamin, is widely known for its essential role in calcium absorption and bone health. VitD is created in mammals after the epidermis comes into contact with UVB light. UVB radiation catalyses the conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3 in the skin, which is then quickly converted into vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) by the body. 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], the main circulating form of vitD, is used by clinicians to measure vitD levels in the body. VitD is also obtained through dietary sources. Fatty fish, fungus and eggs naturally contain high levels of vitD. In many countries, cereal, milk and other everyday foods are fortified with vitD. VitD is also readily available as a dietary pill. However, since most individuals lack the necessary amount of exposure to UVB light and do not consume enough dietary vitD, vitD deficiency has become a global pandemic. While vitD has long been associated with bone health and related diseases, research in the past decade has uncovered its widespread effects on other aspects of the human body. Studies have identified links between vitD and a multitude of conditions including various cancers, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases and mental disorders.

Studies have unveiled the presence of vitD, vitD receptors (VDR) and related enzymes (CYP 27B1, CYP 24A1) in various regions of the brain, leading researchers to establish vitD as a neuroactive/neurosteroid hormone critical to brain development and normal brain function. Furthermore, VitD's possible role in depression has led researchers to explore its potential benefits in other mental illnesses.

Schizophrenia is a severe and debilitating mental illness characterized by chronic positive (hallucinations, delusions) and negative symptoms (lack of motivation, speech issues).


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