New research from Sweden indicates that the brain's immune system is activated in people with Schizophrenia. This reminded me of Dr. Moreau's discovery that Osteopontin levels in children with Scoliosis are dangerously high. Osteopontin can be a marker for both inflammation and infection.
Sciencedaily: (November 18, 2009) Immune System Activated in Schizophrenia
In related news
NY Times: Study Shows Role of Time and Place of Birth in Schizophrenia
But wait there's more!
Schizophrenia Susceptibility Genes Directly Implicated in the Life Cycles of Pathogens: Cytomegalovirus, Influenza, Herpes simplex, Rubella, and Toxoplasma gondii
Sciencedaily: (November 18, 2009) Immune System Activated in Schizophrenia
The results show that patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have raised levels of a signal substance called interleukin-1beta, which can be released in the presence of inflammation. In the healthy control patients, this substance was barely measurable.
"This suggests that the brain's immune defence system is activated in schizophrenia," says Professor Göran Engberg, who led the study. "It now remains to be seen whether there is an underlying infection or whether the immune system is triggered by some other means."
"This suggests that the brain's immune defence system is activated in schizophrenia," says Professor Göran Engberg, who led the study. "It now remains to be seen whether there is an underlying infection or whether the immune system is triggered by some other means."
NY Times: Study Shows Role of Time and Place of Birth in Schizophrenia
The study, published in today's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, found that having a parent or a sibling with schizophrenia increased a person's chances of developing the illness by about sevenfold to ninefold. But people who are born in the winter months, in particular in February or March, or who are born in urban areas, are also slightly more likely to develop schizophrenia than people born at other times of the year or in rural regions.
People born in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, were 2.4 times as likely to develop schizophrenia as those born in rural areas, the study found. February and March were the months of birth associated with the highest risk; August and September were associated with the lowest risk.
People born in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, were 2.4 times as likely to develop schizophrenia as those born in rural areas, the study found. February and March were the months of birth associated with the highest risk; August and September were associated with the lowest risk.
Schizophrenia Susceptibility Genes Directly Implicated in the Life Cycles of Pathogens: Cytomegalovirus, Influenza, Herpes simplex, Rubella, and Toxoplasma gondii
Many genes implicated in schizophrenia can be related to glutamatergic transmission and neuroplasticity, oligodendrocyte function, and other families clearly related to neurobiology and schizophrenia phenotypes. Others appear rather to be involved in the life cycles of the pathogens implicated in the disease.
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