Yesterday I went to the free Ecobuild 2009 exhibition at Earls Court, London where I learnt about how sheep in the attic can help make your homes more eco-friendly.
Copyright: Chloé Sharrocks
For a full report, see my blog here on nature network, otherwise here are a selection of images I took of the exhibition:
ECO2HOUSE, Copyright: Chloé Sharrocks
Wind Turbine, Copyright: Chloé Sharrocks
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Copyright: Chloé Sharrocks
City Grass Roofs, Copyright: Chloé Sharrocks
New research carried out by Imperial College in conjunction with GlaxoSmithKline has revealed that Schizophrenia could be caused by faulty signalling in the brain.
In the largest study ever conducted, researchers looked at brain samples donated by people with the condition and identified 49 genes that work differently in brains belonging to schizophrenia sufferers, according to new research published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Current theories behind schizophrenia believe that it could be a result of the brain producing too much of the chemical dopamine (since drugs that block dopamine are an effective treatment for the condition), or that the protective myelin sheath which surrounds nerve cells is damaged in sufferers of the disease. However, this new study found that the genes for both dopamine and myelin appear to be acting normally in schizophrenia patients and seem to suggest that the disease instead involves abnormalities in the way cells communicate with each other.
Image of a commonly prescribed schizophrenic medication, courtesy of Wikipedia (user: housed)
The disease affects around one in every 100 people and although sufferers experience little physical effect on the brain, they can have a range of symptoms from hallucinations to lack of motivation and impaired social functioning. Better understanding of how the disease affects patients could lead to improved treatments and earlier diagnosis of the condition.
Professor Jackie de Belleroche, from Imperial College and an author of the paper has said:
“The first step towards better treatment for schizophrenia is to really understand what is going on, to find out what genes are involved and what they are doing. Our new study has narrowed the search for potential targets for treatment.”