Some people with schizophrenia who become violent may do so for reasons unrelated to their current illness, according to a new study analyzing data from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE). CATIE was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study was published online on June 30, 2007, in the journal Law and Human Behavior.

A newly discovered interplay of cells in one of the brain's memory centers sheds light on how you recall your grocery list, where you laid your keys, and a host of important but fleeting daily tasks.

Two genes important for human development and implicated in cancer and schizophrenia also help keep a healthy balance between excitation and inhibition of brain cells, researchers say.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) researchers have identified a function of neuregulin1 (NRG1), a gene previously linked to schizophrenia but whose role in the disease was unknown. "We found that when this gene or this pathway is impaired," explained CSHL's Bo Li. "It starts a chain reaction negatively impacting synapses in the brain which contribute to the abnormal development of brain circuits and may lead to schizophrenia."

In a six-week study in adolescents (13-17 years old) with schizophrenia, the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) atypical antipsychotic aripiprazole demonstrated significant improvement compared to placebo on the primary efficacy endpoint, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) Total Score.

On May 18th, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved SEROQUEL XR(TM) (quetiapine fumarate) Extended-Release Tablets, a once-daily medicine for the treatment of schizophrenia in adult patients.

Antipsychotic drugs do most of their work in the brain, but they also leave behind in the bloodstream a trail of hundreds of chemicals that may be used in the future to direct better treatment for schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, say Duke University Medical Center researchers.

Curidium Medica Plc, (LSE: CUR), the personalized medicine company focused on bringing the right drug to the right patient, announced on May 14th it has developed a blood diagnostic test that can sub-classify patients with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder into one of four subgroups.

Scientists have pinpointed how different types of damage in types of damage to the same gene can cause some people to suffer from schizophrenia while others have major depression.

Yale School of Medicine and University of Crete School of Medicine researchers report in Cell April 20 the first evidence of a molecular mechanism that dynamically alters the strength of higher brain network connections.

A new technology developed at the University of Toronto is revealing biochemical processes responsible for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and could one day pave the way for pharmaceutical applications.

Large mammals--humans, monkeys, and even cats--have brains with a somewhat mysterious feature: The outermost layer has a folded surface. Understanding the functional significance of these folds is one of the big open questions in neuroscience.