Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have deciphered the complex relationship between three distinct brain circuits implicated in schizophrenia. The researchers determined that one brain circuit acts through an intermediary brain circuit. The intermediary circuit acts like a volume control knob, turning up the electrical activity of still another brain circuit, or turning it down.

The finding suggests that schizophrenia could result from a malfunction anywhere in the link between these three brain circuits.

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A rare genetic disorder called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is yielding insight into a possible cause of some neurodevelopmental disorders: structural abnormalities in neurons, or brain cells. Researchers in the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Children's Hospital Boston, led by Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD, and Xi He, PhD, also found that normal neuronal structure can potentially be restored.

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The first national survey of attitudes toward autism reveals that a small but significant percentage of people still believe the disease is caused by childhood vaccines. The survey of 1000 randomly selected adults was conducted for the Florida Institute of Technology.

Nearly one in four (24 percent) said that because vaccines may cause autism it was safer not to have children vaccinated at all. Another 19 percent were not sure. This at a time when the Centers for Disease Control reports that autism affects one in 150 children born in the United States.

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More money and effort needs to be directed to understanding the causes and treatment of mental disorders to ensure improvements in the health of the community and the one in five people that experience mental illness in any one year.

Experts from AFFIRM ? The Australia Foundation for Mental Health Research and the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) said that Mental Health Week, which begins on Sunday, is an opportunity for the community to support research on an illness which impacts many Australians.

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Images of the brain's fastest signals reveal an electromagnetic marker that predicts a patient's response to a fast-acting antidepressant, researchers have discovered.

"Such biomarkers that identify who will benefit from a new class of antidepressants could someday minimize trial-and-error prescribing and speed delivery of care for what can be a life-threatening illness," said Carlos Zarate, M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program.

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In a promising finding for the field of regenerative medicine, stem cell researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a source of adult stem cells found on the walls of blood vessels with the unlimited potential to differentiate into human tissues such as bone, cartilage and muscle.

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For decades now, cigarette makers have marketed so-called light cigarettes ? which contain less nicotine than regular smokes ? with the implication that they are less harmful to smokers' health. A new UCLA study shows, however, that they deliver nearly as much nicotine to the brain.

Reporting in the current online edition of the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, UCLA psychiatry professor Dr. Arthur L. Brody and colleagues found that low-nicotine cigarettes act similarly to regular cigarettes, occupying a significant percentage of the brain's nicotine receptors.

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Privatizing Canada's health care is not the answer: Lessons from the United States. Prominent US physician discusses her perspective in CMAJ.

Investing in Canada's public health system is the best way to improve it, rather than privatization, writes Dr. Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. The article was published online today in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.081177.

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The Nobel Prize 2008 in Medicine has been awarded to Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer and to two other European researchers Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus.

The Nobel Prize committee has announced the names of the winners of 2008 in Medicine on Monday. Thus Medicine award kicks off Nobel Prize announcements.

This year's Nobel Prize awards discoveries of two viruses causing severe human diseases.

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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission yesterday reviewed draft recommendations to Congress requiring public disclosure of financial relationships between physicians and drug and device manufacturers, and physician ownership interests in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and other entities that bill the Medicare program.

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