Schizophrenia Overview

What is it?

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that alters how a person feels, what they see, how they process thoughts, and how they behave. It's a chronic condition that is usually diagnosed in the late teens to early thirties, and there's no cure for it. However, many people with schizophrenia are able to become fully or partially free from its symptoms and live full lives with the condition.

Schizophrenia, which can involve hallucinations, delusions and difficulty with social relationships, is not as common as some other mental health issues. In fact, it's estimated that less than 1% of Americans have schizophrenia, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Symptoms

When you have schizophrenia, different symptoms tend to occur together in different combinations. For instance, you may have delusions and hallucinations, or you might have disorganized thinking and speech.

To arrive at a diagnosis, most experts agree that you have to experience symptoms for more than six months.

As with most mental illnesses, recognizing the signs of schizophrenia isn't always easy. Schizophrenia does not mean having split or multiple personalities, despite commonly held stereotypes. Instead, schizophrenia symptoms often reflect difficulty sorting out reality from fantasy. Schizophrenia symptoms can affect all aspects of a person—thoughts, emotions, and behavior—which can filter down into difficulty negotiating many aspects of life.

Here are some of the common symptoms of schizophrenia:

Hallucinations. These can be auditory or visual.

Delusions. Stories you create to make sense of your state of mind.

Disorganized thinking and speech. This can also include talking off topic, switching topics or creating words.

Cognitive symptoms. Difficulty with memory, focus, planning, or organization.

Agitation. Flailing with extra, unnecessary movements; clumsiness.

Appearing withdrawn. Speaking in monotones, not making eye contact.

Suicidal thoughts and feelings.

Diagnosis

Doctors and mental health experts diagnose schizophrenia by performing physical examinations and medical tests to rule out other causes of a person's symptoms (like a brain tumor) first. If there is no physical reason a person is experiencing these schizophrenia-like symptoms, a psychiatric or psychological evaluation, including an interview and specific assessment tools, is the next step in delving into the cause of a person's thoughts and behaviors.

If you notice any of the symptoms of schizophrenia in yourself or a loved one, talk to a doctor or mental health professional.

Treatment

Without a cure, schizophrenia treatment remains focused on managing symptoms. This usually involves antipsychotic medications that can help with the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. These prescription meds are usually taken orally every day, but they can also sometimes be administered as injections. Doctors may also prescribe antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to manage schizophrenia symptoms.

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Neural Network Dynamics

Axon Enterprise (AXON) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Axon Enterprise (AXON) closed the most recent trading day at $189.53, moving -1.41% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.24%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.31%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 7.84%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of stun guns and body cameras had lost 6.11% in the past month. In that same time, the Industrial Products sector gained 6.1%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.39%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Axon Enterprise as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Axon Enterprise to post earnings of $0.62 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 40.91%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $347.53 million, up 21.68% from the prior-year quarter.

AXON's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.12 per share and revenue of $1.45 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +42.47% and +22.16%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Axon Enterprise. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.47% lower within the past month. Axon Enterprise is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Axon Enterprise has a Forward P/E ratio of 61.57 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.39.

The Security and Safety Services industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 64, putting it in the top 26% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.

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"Neurons and Learning Process"

4D printing allows flexible electrodes for nerve stimulation

Specific nerves may be stimulated artificially, for example to treat pain. The finer the nerves, the more difficult it is to attach the required electrodes. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and NTT Research have now developed flexible electrodes produced with 4D printing technology. On contact with moisture, they automatically fold and wrap themselves around thin nerves. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

The nervous system controls our movements through electrical impulses. These pass from nerve cell to nerve cell until finally, for example, a muscle contraction is triggered. Nerve cells can also be stimulated artificially, triggering the nerves with current pulses via acutely applied or implanted electrodes. Peripheral nerve stimulation is used, for example, to treat chronic pain or sleep apnea.

urthermore, there are clinical applications for stimulating the vagus nerve to treat for depression and epilepsy. With a diameter of several millimeters, this nerve is relatively thick.

In comparison, stimulation of nerves with diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers is more challenging. These thin as hair nerves require electrodes produced with fineness and precision. Inserting and attaching the electrode to the nerves in the micrometer range is also more complicated.

4D printing opens the door to novel shapes

4D printing involves reshaping 3D-printed objects in a targeted manner, for example using moisture or heat. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and the Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) Lab at NTT Research have now developed 4D-printed electrodes that wrap themselves around ultra-thin nerve fibers when inserted into moist tissue. The electrode is initially fabricated using 3D printing technology, allowing flexible adaptation of the shape, diameter, and other features.

The outer sheath of the electrode comprises a biocompatible hydrogel that swells upon contact with moisture. The material on the inside is flexible but does not swell. This configuration causes the electrodes to automatically wrap themselves around the nerves fibers when exposed to the moisture of the tissue.

The structured titanium-gold coating on the inside of the electrodes transmits electrical signals between the electrodes and the nerve fibers. "The close contact between the folded cuffs and the nerves allows us to both stimulate the nerves and measure nerve signals with the electrodes," says Bernhard Wolfrum, Professor of Neuroelectronics at the Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) at TUM and head of the study. This expands the range of possibilities for potential applications.

Better selectivity in stimulation

A variety of biomedical applications for the new electrodes are conceivable in the future. One example is improved implants for sleep apnea. In patients who suffer from sleep apnea, the tongue drops back toward the throat and briefly obstructs the airway. Stimulating the muscles that pull the tongue forward can correct the problem.

"Currently, however, selectively stimulating only those muscles that move the tongue forward is difficult. This is where the flexible electrodes might be applied to facilitate stimulating nerves more selectively in the future," says Professor Clemens Heiser, senior physician at the Department of Otolaryngology at the TUM University Hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar.

The self-folding electrodes are robust and easy to manage. The research team has already demonstrated the application of the electrodes in locusts: fine nerves fibers with a diameter of 100 micrometers were sheathed without damaging the nerves. This allowed the scientists to stimulate muscles in a very targeted manner.

While still in an early development stage, the electrodes may provide an important means of deploying peripheral nerve stimulation for broader clinical application in the future.

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Award Winners- Best Researcher Award

7 best Countries to study Neuroscience

New Images Capture Unseen Details of the Synapse

Scientists have created one of the most detailed 3D images of the synapse, the important juncture where neurons communicate with each other through an exchange of chemical signals. These nanometer scale models will help scientists better understand and study neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and schizophrenia.

The new study appears in the journal PNAS and was authored by a team led by Steve Goldman, MD, PhD, co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester and the University of Copenhagen. The findings represent a significant technical achievement that allows researchers to study the different cells that converge at individual synapses at a level of detail not previously achievable.

“It is one thing to understand the structure of the synapse from the literature, but it is another to see the precise geometry of interactions between individual cells with your own eyes,” said Abdellatif Benraiss, PhD, a research associate professor in the Center for Translational Neuromedicine and co-author of the study. “The ability to measure these extremely small environments is a young field, and holds the potential to advance our understanding of a number of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases in which synaptic function is disturbed.”

The researchers used the new technique to compare the brains of healthy mice to mice carrying the mutant gene that causes Huntington’s disease. Prior research in Goldman’s lab has shown that dysfunctional astrocytes play a key role in the disease. Astrocytes are members of a family of support cells in the brain called glia, and help maintain the proper chemical environment at the synapse.

The team then examined the brain tissue using a serial block-face scanning electron microscope located at the University of Copenhagen, a research tool created to study the smallest structures of the brain. The device uses a diamond knife to serially remove and image ultrathin slices of brain tissue, creating 3D, nanometer scale models of the labeled cells and their interactions at the synapse.

“The models reveal the geometry and structural relationships between astrocytes and their partnered synapses, which is important because these cells must interact in a specific manner at the synapse,” said Carlos Benitez Villanueva, PhD, senior associate in Center for Translational Neuromedicine and first author of the study. “This approach gives us the ability to measure and describe the geometry of the synaptic environment, and to do so as a function of glial disease.”

In the brains of healthy mice, the team observed that astrocytic processes engaged with and completely enveloped the space around the disk-shaped synapse, creating a tight bond. In contrast, the astrocytes in Huntington’s mice were not as effective in investing or sequestering the synapse, leaving large gaps. This structural flaw allows potassium and glutamate—chemicals that regulate communication between cells—to leak from the synapse, potentially disrupting normal cell-cell communication.

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Toxic algae that can cause lung infections and neurological disorders is taking over a giant lake in Florida, and ecologists say the bloom will only grow

The largest freshwater lake in Florida, which is a draw for fishing and boating in the summer months, likely won't see many faces this year.

That's because Lake Okeechobee is already half-full with a bright green, toxic algae that researchers say will only grow as algae season continues on through the summer. The algae can cause several health complications, including lung infections, organ damage, and neurological disorders, The New York Times reports.

Experts told the Times the severity of this year's bloom is, in large part, due to the warming climate that has resulted in increased rainfall and rising levels of carbon dioxide, which the algae feeds on. The algae also thrives among the fertilizer and manure that runs into the lake from nearby crops.

This is not a new problem for Florida. In 2018, former Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency across seven counties in an effort to combat the same toxic algae in Lake Okeechobee that was also inundating a nearby river.

Florida plans to build a reservoir to stop the algae from flowing out of the lake and into other bodies of water — though the Times reports that the reservoir would fill to capacity after depleting Okeechobee by only six inches.

Environmentalists are also calling on the state of Florida to implement rules limiting the run-off of pollutants from nearby crops that feed the algae, the Times reports.

This policy would take decades to make a large impact, thanks to the phosphorous-rich sediment already present in the lake.

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Peripheral Neuropathy: How to Manage Symptoms

MRI links CVR reactivity to small-vessel disease in stroke patients

MRI shows that cerebrovascular (CVR) reactivity is a predictor of small-vessel disease severity after one year in patients with mild stroke, according to research presented on 7 June at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting.

In her presentation, doctoral candidate Emilie Sleight of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland discussed her team's research, which found that CVR impairment is linked to small-vessel disease burden and predicts worse burden from white-matter hypersensitivities and perivascular space after one year.

"This work showed that CVR is a potential biomarker for small-vessel disease and should be considered for future studies and clinical trials," she said.

Sporadic cerebral small-vessel disease is the cause of about 20% of strokes and most vascular dementias, Sleight noted. No treatment is available for this, and understanding of the mechanisms behind the disease remains poor.

MRI can visualize brain tissue damage caused by small vessel disease, including white-matter hyperintensities, lacunes, microbleeds, perivascular spaces, and atrophy. Because small-vessel disease is of vascular origin, there may be a relationship between MRI findings and vascular dysfunction, Sleight said.

Her group sought to explore CVR reactivity any links between impairment and tissue damage and the progression of such damage one year after stroke diagnosis. They conducted a study that used data from the university's Mild Stroke Study 3 (MSS3), which recruited 182 small-vessel disease patients with minor ischemic stroke (stroke score of 1 out of 4). Within three months after having a stroke, the patients presented for baseline 3-tesla MR imaging, which the researchers used to quantify CVR reactivity; they returned for follow-up after a year. MRI exams visualized patients' intermittent breath intake of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas and medical gas to map CVR and acquired blood oxygen level-dependent images.

Patients with lower CVR reactivity at baseline had higher white matter hyperintensity volumes and a higher number of lacunes and microbleeds, the group reported, but there were no significant differences in brain volumes or perivascular space volumes between high and low CVR activity.

For longitudinal analysis, one year after baseline analysis, the team included data from 163 patients with median small-vessel disease score of two. It found increased white-matter hyperintensity volumes in those with lower CVR, suggesting underlying damage that was not visible at baseline imaging. These results remained true even after adjusting for factors such as sex, age, and vascular risk. Additionally, it reported that those with lower CVR reactivity at baseline saw a significant increase in perivascular space volume.

Sleight said she and her team hope future research will refer to these findings to better understand the mechanisms behind small-vessel disease develop a successful treatment method for it, adding that they plan to look next at CVR data at a follow-up of three years.

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Dr. XiaoyanFang, Chongqing Vocational Institute of Engineering, China, B...

Japanese Encephalitis claims 3 more lives in Assam, death toll reaches 35

Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 21 (ANI): Japanese Encephalitis claimed three more lives in Assam in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 35 and reported a total of 24 new cases of during the period.

Out of 24 new cases, four each were reported from Nagaon, Biswanath district, three in Jorhat district, two each in Dhemaji, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Nalbari and Sonitpur district and one each in Baksa and Chirang district.

A total of 226 cases of Japanese Encephalitis have been detected in July so far.

Japanese encephalitis virus JEV is the most important cause of viral encephalitis in Asia. It is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, and belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.

The first case of Japanese encephalitis viral disease (JE) was documented in 1871 in Japan. The annual incidence of the clinical disease varies both across and within endemic countries, ranging from 1 to 10 per 1 lakh of population or higher during outbreaks, as per World Health Organization (WHO) website.

Most JEV infections are mild (fever and headache) or without apparent symptoms, but approximately 1 in 250 infections results in severe clinical illness. The incubation period is between 4 and 14 days. In children, gastrointestinal pain and vomiting may be the dominant initial symptoms. Severe disease is characterized by rapid onset of high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, seizures, spastic paralysis and ultimately death.

The case-fatality rate can be as high as 30 per cent among those with disease symptoms.

Of those who survive, 20 per cent to 30 per cent suffer permanent intellectual, behavioural or neurological sequelae such as paralysis, recurrent seizures or the inability to speak.

Safe and effective JE vaccines are available to prevent disease. WHO recommends having strong JE prevention and control activities, including JE immunization in all regions where the disease is a recognized public health priority, along with strengthening surveillance and reporting mechanisms. Even if the number of JE-confirmed cases is low, vaccination should be considered where there is a suitable environment for JE virus transmission. (ANI

This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

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Promising Breakthroughs in Glioma Research

EC grants orphan drug status for Genenta’s glioma therapy

he European Commission (EC) has issued orphan drug designation (ODD) for Genenta Science’s Temferon to treat glioma.

Temferon’s initial clinical indication is for treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive type of diffuse glioma.

Temferon is a cell therapy that introduces immunomodulatory molecules to tumours to reprogramme the tumour microenvironment.

This product is being analysed in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in individuals newly diagnosed with GBM who have an unmethylated MGMT [methylguanine methyltransferase] gene promoter.

Temferon has been shown to disrupt tumour-elicited tolerance, thereby aiding the immune system in detecting the tumour and generating a lasting immune response.

The EC grants ODD to therapies being developed for treating rare ailments that impact not more than five in 10,000 individuals in the European Union.

Genenta CEO Pierluigi Paracchi stated: “The European Medicine Agency’s committee reviewed Genenta’s ODD application for Temferon and agreed on the potential significant benefit that Temferon could contribute to patients suffering from GBM if approved.

“The ODD designation supports and facilitates the development of our cell therapy-based technology platform for solid tumours.

The company received ODD from the US Food and Drug Administration for Temferon to treat GBM in March 2023.

Earlier this year, Genenta entered a development and manufacturing service agreement with AGC Biologics to produce a cell therapy lentivirus-based product.

Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.

Editorial content is independently produced and follows the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content.

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