LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Psychiatric disorders (otherwise termed as mental disorders, or mental illnesses) stand for a broad range of problems, including anxiety disorders (post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder,andphobias); bipolar disorder (also known as maniac-depressive illness); depression; mood disorders; personality disorders; psychotic disorders (includingschizophrenia). The causes are varied, including genes and family history; life experiences, like stress or a history of abuse; biological factors; a traumatic brain injury; a mother's exposure to viruses or toxic chemicals during her pregnancy; and, to a lesser extent, the use of illegal drugs or a serious medical condition like cancer. The treatment depends upon the psychiatric disorders type, its severity as well as what works best for a particular patient. Most commonly, a combination of treatments is used, encompassing psychiatricmedications; psychotherapy (also named talk therapy or psychological counseling); brain-stimulation treatments; hospitalisation and residential treatment programs; and others. Discounted study Psychiatric Disorders - Pipeline Review, H1 2013 elaborated by Global Markets Direct provides an up-close look atthe global therapeutic scenario for psychiatric disorders. The report gives an overview of the psychiatric disorders products under development by companies and different research organisations; examines the products being in various phases of development from discovery till registration; features … Continue reading →

Apr. 29, 2013 Researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Health Sciences Research Institute Foundation (IGTP), the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), and the Sant Joan de Du de Martorell Hospital, has identified a new subtype of ataxia, a rare disease without treatment that causes atrophy in the cerebellum and affects around 1.5 million people in the world. The results have been published online on April 29 in the journal JAMA Neurology. The cause of ataxia is a diverse genetic alteration. For this reason it is classified in subtypes. The new subtype identified described by the researchers has been called SCA37. The study has found this subtype in members of the same family living in Barcelona, Huelva and Madrid and Salamanca (Spain). The finding will allow in the medium term that these families and all who suffer the genetic alteration identified will have personalized therapies and diagnostics prior to the development of the disease. The study was funded by La Marat de TV3 (the Catalan public TV) in 2009, dedicated to rare diseases. The cerebellum is a part of the brain located behind the brain that, among other functions, coordinates the movements of the human body. When it is atrophied, … Continue reading →

April 29, 2013 Rayshell Clapper for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online After learning about human genetic engineering, many readers might want to find out about some examples of genetic engineering. Both bizarre and beneficial, the following article highlights some truly fascinating and pragmatic examples of modern genetic engineering. The Biotechnology Forums, a website for professionals and students in biotechnology (the area that studies genetic engineering) recently explained some of these examples. The first animal example of genetic engineering is the spider goat. Yes, you read that correctly. A spider goat is able to produce the strong, stretchable silk used by spiders to create their webs. This silk web is one of the strongest natural materials known to man, stronger even than steel. Nexia Biotechnologies Company inserted the gene from a golden orb-weaver spider into the genome of goat in such a way that the goat secretes the protein of the spider web in its milk. The milk was then used to create a what Nexia called (and trademarked) BioSteel, a material with characteristics similar to spider webs. Beyond goats capable of secreting spider webs in their milk, there are a number of other really cool examples of genetic engineering in animals. … Continue reading →

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- For cancer patients, selecting a treatment plan can be a complex and difficult process. Often, understanding future medical breakthroughs that can provide hope remains a distant and incomprehensible proposition. This may be the case as the field of oncology races towards the era of precision medicine. Now, a recently-released video interview featuring Mark Rubin, MD, director of the new Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, provides simple understanding of precision oncology and what the future holds for cancer patients. In the simplest of terms, the ability to map the genes of cancer patients tumors and determine their specific genotype (variety) is rapidly moving oncology into the practice of precision medicine where the right oncology treatment is delivered to the right patient for optimal outcome. Less effective treatments are bypassed and those that can best target specific tumor types and destroy them can be deployed sooner. In the interview, Dr. Rubin says: The concept that prostate cancer is not one cancer, but rather many cancers, is important for patients and clinicians to think about. This is going to lead us in the direction of breast or lung cancer where there … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Tropical Diseases Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Article Date: 29 Apr 2013 - 4:00 PDT Current ratings for: Genetic Fingerprints Track Drug-Resistant Malaria Parasites 5 (1 votes) Senior author Dominic Kwiatkowski, from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, and colleagues, discovered the new artemisinin-resistant strains in western Cambodia, a known hotspot for drug-resistance. They write about this, and how they were able to identify distinct genetic patterns for each of the strains, in the 28 April online issue of Nature Genetics. Artemisinin is the key drug against malaria, which is caused when the parasite P. falciparum gets into the bloodstream through a mosquito bite. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the parasite is weakening the impact of artemisinin, putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. Co-author Nicholas White, a professor from the Centre for Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, says in a statement: "Artemisinin resistance is an emergency which could derail all the good work of global malaria control in recent years. We desperately need methods to track it in order to contain … Continue reading →

Researchers studying a genetic mutation, which causes sudden cardiac death, may have discovered a genetic link between German, Danish and Newfoundland families. Dr. Hendrick Milting, a genetics researcher at the Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, has been doing work with a gene mutation for arrhythmogenic right ventricular, or ARVC, a form of heart disease that usually appears in early adulthood and causes sudden cardiac death. It has affected many members of a German family. That mutation is the same one that genetic researchers at Memorial University identified in 2008 as affecting 24 Newfoundland families adding up to 1,200 people over several generations. Not only did Milting discover the Newfoundland research, he also found a similar mutation in a Danish family. "By chance at the same time, a group in Copenhagen found a similar family in Denmark. We decided to make a genetic fingerprint of these families and we found that all these families are connected," said Milting. "So they have a common root." Milting has come to Memorial University to work with genetic researchers Dr. Kathy Hodgkinson, Dr. Terry Lynn Young, and Dr. Sean Connors at the Faculty of Medicine. He has also planned to … Continue reading →