German scientists say they have identified a flawed gene that might be making a form of schizophrenia run in a large family. If they are right, it would be the first mutation known to promote schizophrenia.
Several experts cautioned that the evidence tying the mutation to the disease is weak. An author of the study agreed the finding is only tentative.
"We have no definitive proof," said Dr. Klaus-Peter Lesch, a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. Unless such a finding is confirmed by further work, it is unclear whether it is real or just a statistical fluke, he said.
Scientists want to identify genes that predispose people to schizophrenia because that could reveal the biology behind the disease, which in turn might lead to better treatments.
In the current issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry, Lesch and colleagues focus on a family with an inherited vulnerability to "periodic catatonia." People with the disorder may be agitated and be unable to sit still, or not move around at all, or show jerking in their limbs. They also suffer anxiety, confusion and periods of psychosis, a loss of touch with reality that is a hallmark of schizophrenia.
Some other researchers called the disorder uncommon and said the relationship of the disease to ordinary schizophrenia is not clear.<
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CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
Disadvantaged = uneducated third world foreigners whose living habits are not aligned with the USA.
CA Is Burning said:
LITTLE - I think the time is here, have you considered MAID?
Thomas Morgan said:
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