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Researchers Identify New Genes Linked With Schizophrenia Risk in First-of-Its-Kind Study

Researchers have made an important discovery about the causes of schizophrenia, a disease related to dementia or fragmented mentality.   Researchers have identified two genes associated with the disease as well as a third gene that carries the risk of schizophrenia and autism. Scientists involved in this research believes, this discovery can go a long way in finding a cure for these kind of diseases. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine found that these harmful genes are almost the same in every ethnic or racial group. The findings of this research were published in Nature Genetics . According to an estimate, about one percent of people worldwide suffering from schizophrenia. The scientists identified two risky genes, SRRM2 and AKAP11, based on a comparative analysis of gene sequencing from individuals with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. It compared a dataset of 35,828 patients with schizophrenia to 107,877 healthy or control groups and included a v...
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Viral Infection Affects the Mother's Brain and Behavior with Children after Delivery

Pregnant women are advised to take special precautions during pregnancy. The effects of diseases during pregnancy not only harm the mother but can also cause long-term harm to the baby.

A study conducted by researchers at the Medical University of Vienna found that viral infections during pregnancy negatively affect a pregnant woman's brain and lead to changes in postpartum behavior.

This study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Researchers say there is substantial evidence that viral infection during pregnancy negatively affects brain development in the fetus, lasting lifelong effects on the child's mental health and behavior.

Now a new preclinical study has revealed for the first time that virus-induced immune activation during pregnancy also affects the mother's brain. 

This has a negative impact on the maternal care and behavior of the mother after the birth of the child.

The findings were published by a team of behavioral biologists from the Department of Neurophysiology and Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna. 

In this study on rats, a chemical was used that activates the same receptor as is caused by virus infection.

In pregnant women, the immune system is activated in the same way as in normal viral infections. After that, after the birth of the child, his care and behavior was assessed by the mother.

According to researcher Daniel de Pollack, mothers who had a viral infection-like immune system activated, were taking care of their child less than mothers in the control group. 

It was also observed that the mothers passing through a condition like infection were not prepared as expected to save their child from any danger.

It can be deduced that those women lacked attachment to their child. The researchers not only found differences in behavior, but also identified structural, molecular, and some functional changes in their brains.

Pollack says, although this study was done on other organisms and it does not apply directly to humans, but there are indications that viral infection during pregnancy can change a mother's behavior towards her child.

According to the researchers, if a woman has any mental problem after delivery, then the doctor should also focus on the viral history during pregnancy and make a medical treatment strategy accordingly.
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