Emerging research has shown that Schizophrenia consists of a cluster of genes that each express a facet of the disease. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder which is characterized by weird social behavior and the inability to differentiate between reality and hallucillatory thinking. Dr. C. Robert Cloninger, professor of psychiatry and genetics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, spearheaded the new research into Schizophrenia, emphasizing how the disorder can be devastating to the people experiencing its symptoms. He stated "We are opening a new era of psychiatric diagnosis." Additionally, "his work will allow for the development of a personalized diagnosis, opening the door to treating the cause, rather than the symptoms, or schizophrenia."
Above: Dr. C. Robert Cloninger discussing how several genetic factors
express Schizophrenia symptoms.
This genetic cluster observation is illustrated by people with specific genetic profiles experiencing "word salad," while another group of people with different assortment of genes experience false noise. Furthermore, different sets of gene yield different probabilities for having the disorder. For example, one genetic set results in a nearly 95% chance of having schizophrenia, whereas another genetic profile yield a 71% chance with an early age of development at 17.
From an overall perspective, the average individual has a 1% chance of developing schizophrenia in one's lifetime.
Article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/15/genetic-cause-schizophrenia/15535557/
More Information: http://www.firstpost.com/living/many-types-schizophrenia-can-divided-8-classes-study-1713031.html
This is awesome! Especially considering how most of the risk associated with schizophrenia is associated with genetic inheritance. Without a doubt another step towards full treatment of this terrible disorder.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that over 4,000 people were used to conduct this study, so the results must be relatively accurate.
ReplyDeleteResearchers analyzed over 7,000,000 sites of the genome that supposedly causes schizophrenia.
ReplyDeleteWhen actually conducting the experiment, the research team divided the patients by symptoms of the disorder, which could have attributed to the results.
ReplyDeleteType and severity of the certain symptoms were also analyzed, such as hallucinations or a false sense of well being.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the results to me seem legitimate in regards to the conclusion that the disorder symptoms can be divided based on genetic variability.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to see how one particular disease is now broken down into eight different diseases. This definitely opens the door for new treatments. Now researchers have the opportunity to target schizophrenia from 8 different angles, instead of trying to tackle it as a whole!
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting that something once thought of as one disease is now thought to be 8 separate diseases. I think this new information definitely lights the path for further research into possible treatments and maybe even cures for this terrible disease.
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