Elevated levels of creatine kinase are have been reported in SCHIZOPHRENIA. To evaluate the relationship of this enzyme with SCHIZOPHRENIA we measured serum creatine kinase level in patients admitted at taleghani and Imam Hosein hospital (Tehran) during between 1998 and 1999.Serum enzyme level was measured in one hundred (100) cases including 50 patients and 50 controls. The SCHIZOPHRENIA was diagnosed according to DSM- Iv criteria. the controls were matched with the patients by age, antipsychotic drug usage, trauma history and date of admission. the method used to determine serum creatine kinase level was that of IFCC/DGKC. Levels above 170IU/L for females and 190IU/L for males were considered abnormal.The mean creatine kinase value plus or minus the standard deviation in the control group was 238±311.8 while in SCHIZOPHRENIA group was 397±538.5IU/L which indicates that serum creatine kinase of SCHIZOPHRENIA patients is 66.8% higher than non- SCHIZOPHRENIAs.More studies for determination of creatine kinase effect in scizophrenia are recommended.

Traditionally, SCHIZOPHRENIA was considered to be a severe psychiatric disorder, with a chronic course and an unfavorable outcome. Throughout history, there has been incidence of SCHIZOPHRENIA, roughly one percent of the population, consistently, in every culture. It is generally acknowledged that SCHIZOPHRENIA has multifactorial etiology, with multiple susceptibility genes interacting with environmental insults to yield a range of phenotypes in the SCHIZOPHRENIA spectrum. The discovery of antipsychotics in the 1950s revolutionized the treatment of SCHIZOPHRENIA and focused on the positive symptoms. By the 1960s, however, it became evident that the reduction in positive symptoms did not lead to recovery from SCHIZOPHRENIA and did not significantly improve the functional outcome. The advent of the novel antipsychotics during the last 15 years represents a significant improvement over the effectiveness of conventional antipsychotics. These agents are, however, not a magic bullet and bear their own side effects, such as weight gain, diabetes, hyperprolactinemia, and QTc prolongation. Nevertheless, at this point, they seem to be more effective and safer than the conventional antipsychotics. Moreover, advances in the treatment of SCHIZOPHRENIA have been and continue to be urgently needed.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the extent of sustain attention deficits between patients with paranoid SCHIZOPHRENIA, disorganized SCHIZOPHRENIA and normal individuals.Method: Participants were n=20 patients with paranoid SCHIZOPHRENIA, n=20 patients with disorganized SCHIZOPHRENIA (who were selected from the Feiz and Esfahan hospital using available sampling method) as well as n=20 normal persons (who were randomly selected from Esfahan university). The computerized Continuous Performance Test (CPT) was performed by all 60 participants.Results: Results showed a significant lower CPT performance for schizophrenic patients than normal persons. Disorganized schizophrenics showed significant lower CPT performance than paranoids as well.Conclusions: Sustain attention in schizophrenic patients is lower than normal persons and in disorganized schizophrenics is lower than paranoids. That is, the disorganized schizophrenic patients suffer from more cognitive deficits compared to the other groups.

SCHIZOPHRENIA is an important disorder in psychiatry with an unknown etiology. Many factors (e.g. birth order) have been mentioned as its risk factor. Since few studies with scientific designs on birth order and SCHIZOPHRENIA have been performed in Iran, this study was conducted.Every consecutive patient in psychiatric ward for 3 months was assessed and categorized according to the DSM-IV into four groups (i.e. SCHIZOPHRENIA, schizoaffective and bipolar, major depressive disorder and others) and demographic characteristics (age, sex, birth order and family size) were evaluated.In comparison with the non-schizophrenic group, this study indicated that SCHIZOPHRENIA is more prevalent among the first-born children (P<0.01), even in schizophrenic group itself, the-born child was more commonly affected (P<0.001). This result was independent from age, sex and family size.

Abnormal brain function in SCHIZOPHRENIA involves an extended network of brain structures. In SCHIZOPHRENIA, an abnormal dopamine activity in accordance with altered GABA and glutamate transmission appears to interfere with this process. In this study, we have examined the effect of dopamine hyperactivity on CA3 pyramidal cells using a mathematical model. Our simulation results show that while normal activity of dopamine system causes the membrane potential of pyramidal cell to display a periodic bursting behavior, hyperactivity of this system brings about irregular and aperiodic patterns of activity. In addition, it is suggested that hypo-glutamatergic conditions result in reduced activation of the striatal complex and may induce psychotic symptoms. Thus, we also investigated the role of glutamate level in postsynaptic cell activity. Simulation results indicate that hypo-glutamatergic condition has the same effect on the membrane potential of pyramidal cells, i.e. aperiodic and irregular firing patterns. Based on these results, we hypothesize that glutamate receptor activation may have good therapeutic results in SCHIZOPHRENIA.

SCHIZOPHRENIA is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that contributes to a large cascade of emotional, occupational, and cognitive impairments. Treatment involves combination of psychosocial rehabilitation and pharmacotherapy. In most cases, chronic antipsychotic therapy is required to treat symptoms, avoid relapse and attenuate episode recurrence. ...