Skip to main content

Genetic Clues Connect Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disease

New research suggests that the AKT1 pathway is involved in both schizophrenia and bipolar disease. Keep in mind that there are probably many other factors involved in these two diseases. Still I think this is fascinating. More info to be found in the source report: Nature Genetics, February 2004, Gogos et al.

Popular posts from this blog

The Disability Gulag NY Times magazine features a superb first person account by a lawyer who also just happens to have a physical disability. Harriet McBryde Johnson's article falls in the required reading category. What she calls "The Gulag" has relevance for all of us. It's difficult to think about these things, but most of us have parents who will age, not to mention that we all will age one day.
New Treatment for Wounds In the Hartford Courant, Hilary Waldman reports on a new paradigm for wound treatment pioneered by Dr. Kenneth Dobuler at the Comprehensive Wound Healing Center at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticutt. What's new is the use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment on intransigent cases. Routine use of Betadine and hydrogen peroxide may not be the state of the art treatment, the reason being this kills healthy tissue. Rather, use of moisturized bandages is emphasized. This article reports on a new skin treatment for non healing wounds related to lupus. But read the article to find out the details.
New Insight On How Lithium Works BioMedNet News (warning: requires registration), in the News Archives July 31, 2003, has a summary of exciting new British research throwing fresh light on how mood stabilizers used in treatment of bipolar affective disorder affects cellular pathways. (Article is entitled: “Slime Mould Gets Moody” by Laura Spinney). Although the organism in the spotlight is Dictyostelium discoideum , the slime mold, the pathways being studied are present in both mammals and slime mold. Adrian Harwood and his lab at the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology of the University College London have been focusing on the inositide signaling pathway and the Wnt-signaling pathway in slime mold. The most important implication of this work is stated here: "…Their latest findings add more detail to the picture, indicating that lithium and valproic acid exert their effects at different stages of the inositide-signaling pathway. "Dictyo...