Schizophrenia

Johns Hopkins University scientists trying to determine why people develop serious mental illness are focusing on an unlikely factor: a common parasite spread by cats. The researchers say the microbes, called Toxoplasma gondii , invade the human brain and appear to upset its chemistry — creating, in some people, the psychotic behaviors recognized as schizophrenia. If tackling the parasite can help solve the mystery of schizophrenia, "it's a pretty good opportunity … to relieve a pretty large burden of disease," said Dr. Robert H. Yolken, director of developmental neurobiology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Police are searching for a 74-year-old man who suffers from delusional disorder, schizophrenia and dementia and went missing from his nursing home in Southwest Baltimore on Wednesday. Raymond Burke was last seen at about 9 p.m. at the Rock Glen Nursing & Rehabilitation Center off North Rock Glen Road. He was wearing a gray fleece sweater, black pants and black shoes. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Missing Persons Unit at 443-984-7385 or 911. jkanderson@baltsun.

Concerning The Baltimore Sun article "Cat parasite reaches human brain: Possibility of link to schizophrenia explored" (Aug. 1): Outrageous. 1. Schizophrenia has long been understood by psychodynamic psychologists (Theodore Lidz, among others) as caused by a certain pattern of faulty emotional attachment by parents and parent-figures from early on in a child's life, causing distorted emotional development. 2. People have been cured of it--see the web site of the National Empowerment Center.

Concerning The Baltimore Sun article "Cat parasite reaches human brain: Possibility of link to schizophrenia explored" (Aug. 1): Outrageous. 1. Schizophrenia has long been understood by psychodynamic psychologists (Theodore Lidz, among others) as caused by a certain pattern of faulty emotional attachment by parents and parent-figures from early on in a child's life, causing distorted emotional development. 2. People have been cured of it--see the web site of the National Empowerment Center.

Tonight's Frontline paints a portrait of the tragic frustration that is called schizophrenia."Broken Minds," which will be on Maryland Public Television, channels 22 and 67, at 9 o'clock, is not a clinical examination of the disease, a dispassionate chronicling of the variety of its manifestations with a look at the latest research in the area.Indeed, this PBS documentary is a bit skimpy with the basic facts. It never provides even a basic definition of schizophrenia, or, alternatively, an admission that the disease is fundamentally beyond definition.

Jumping into one of the liveliest debates in psychiatry, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions will investigate an unconventional theory that viruses or other infectious agents trigger schizophrenia.The project, made possible by a $7 million grant from the private Theodore and Vada Stanley Foundation of Arlington, Va., is a large effort considering its speculative focus. It will involve nine faculty members and nine research "fellows" to be recruited over three years.Most schizophrenia studies have been dominated by research psychiatrists and geneticists, but this one will be centered in the department of pediatric infectious diseases.

Strong new evidence supporting the emerging consensus that many cases of schizophrenia are caused by a virus or other trauma that strikes the fetus during the second trimester of pregnancy was reported yesterday by an Arkansas neurologist.A growing number of neurologists now are confident that schizophrenia, which affects as many as 2.5 million Americans, is caused by congenital abnormalities in the areas of the brain that control thought and perception. But it has not been clear whether those abnormalities were inherited or caused by something in the environment.

Gene Logic Inc., a Columbia-based genomics company, and the Johns Hopkins University said yesterday that they will collaborate on research aimed at discovering the genes associated with schizophrenia and depression.The deal, said one expert, places year-old Gene Logic in one of the hottest fields of current research on depression and schizophrenia, disorders which affect millions in the United States alone.The ultimate goal of the partnership: license out the discoveries to major pharmaceutical houses interested in developing new drugs to treat the disorders.

A woman's battle with a virus such as flu during pregnancy might put her child at risk for schizophrenia later in life, new research suggests. Scientists at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons tested blood taken from thousands of pregnant women in 1959 through 1966. The blood of mothers whose children later developed the disabling mental illness had high levels of interleukin-8, an inflammatory chemical that fights infection. The finding strengthens the researchers' earlier work, presented last year at the Society of Biological Psychiatry meeting.

A 15-year study of families touched by schizophrenia has turned up strong evidence of a genetic susceptibility to the mental disorder, according to scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.The scientists, who studied more than 100 families, said they have found a genetic marker that many schizophrenic patients shared with family members afflicted with the disease. This, they say, lends weight to the long-held belief that genetics is at least partly responsible for the disease.

Johns Hopkins University scientists trying to determine why people develop serious mental illness are focusing on an unlikely factor: a common parasite spread by cats. The researchers say the microbes, called Toxoplasma gondii , invade the human brain and appear to upset its chemistry — creating, in some people, the psychotic behaviors recognized as schizophrenia. If tackling the parasite can help solve the mystery of schizophrenia, "it's a pretty good opportunity … to relieve a pretty large burden of disease," said Dr. Robert H. Yolken, director of developmental neurobiology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

It is "the worst pariah, one of the last great taboos," says the character Robert Smith in the British play "Blue/Orange." "People don't understand it. ... It scares them. It depresses them. It is not treated with some glamorous and intriguing wonder drug like Prozac or Viagra. It isn't newsworthy. Organized crime gets better press." Smith, a psychiatrist at a British hospital, is speaking of schizophrenia, one of the most devastating of all mental illnesses and traditionally one of the least well understood by the public.

Shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals fell 73 percent yesterday to its lowest level since going public two years ago after the Rockville company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected its schizophrenia drug, known as iloperidone. In a letter to the company, the FDA said it would require two additional clinical trials for approval, one to test iloperidone's efficacy in conjunction with another drug and one to gather more safety data. During a conference call yesterday, Vanda Chief Executive Officer Mihael H. Polymeropoulos said that would be impossible.

Will was the model student, lacrosse captain, student president at school. The Harford Technical High School whiz landed a four-year scholarship to the Johns Hopkins University. Everyone who knew William Garrett said the intelligent, affable teenager would one day be the president. Soon after arriving at college, he started hearing voices. Will accused his father of poisoning their dog. His grades in college began to falter. And he began seeing things, said his younger sister, Nicole Kanyuch.

It's a tale of two different realities of Baltimore's school system. On Tuesday, Kristin Covaleskie, a fourth-grade teacher at Northwood Elementary School, was celebrated - with applause from her students and gifts from her supervisors - as the city's Teacher of the Year. A day earlier, two 13-year-old students at Calverton Elementary/Middle were arrested when they showed up for class after allegedly breaking into the school and attacking a staff member who was there on her own time over the weekend.

Doctors who watch for warning signs can often predict whether a teenager will develop schizophrenia or another psychotic illness, researchers in a government study reported yesterday. Teens who spend excessive time alone doing nothing, withdraw socially or who begin thinking that people are following them have a 35 percent risk of progressing to psychosis within 2 1/2 years, the researchers said. But the odds rise steeply - as high as 80 percent - for youths who display combinations of symptoms.

Shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals fell 73 percent yesterday to its lowest level since going public two years ago after the Rockville company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected its schizophrenia drug, known as iloperidone. In a letter to the company, the FDA said it would require two additional clinical trials for approval, one to test iloperidone's efficacy in conjunction with another drug and one to gather more safety data. During a conference call yesterday, Vanda Chief Executive Officer Mihael H. Polymeropoulos said that would be impossible.

A former technician at a University of Maryland research institute faked more than a dozen test records in two government-funded studies of schizophrenia, regulators say.The federal Office of Research Integrity reported this month that the technician, who worked for the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Catonsville, acknowledged making up data for tests she never administered. The data wound up in a table published last year in a scholarly journal.Joann A. Boughman, vice president for academic affairs for the University of Maryland, Baltimore, said an internal investigation began last year when someone in a center laboratory noticed a discrepancy in research records.

Johns Hopkins scientists have genetically engineered mice that carry a human gene linked to schizophrenia, an advance they say could open new avenues of research into a debilitating disease that affects millions. Researchers hope the schizophrenic mice will be better test subjects than current mice, which often get injections of mind-altering drugs such as PCP to induce schizophrenic symptoms and behavior. The mice carry a human gene from a Scottish family prone to schizophrenia, making them a more accurate model of the disorder in humans and a boon to scientists working to unravel its causes and develop treatments, the Hopkins researchers said.

Michael Mack was only 5 when the brainstorm of schizophrenia swept his mother up in its turbulent embrace. She had shown signs of fatigue and depression after the birth of each of her four children - Michael is the oldest - but nothing like this. If you go Michael Mack will perform at McDaniel College in Westminster at 7:15 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday. Tickets are $7.50. Information: call 410-795-4363 or go to namiccmd.org.