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Overcoming Barriers To Improved Physical Health In People With Severe Mental Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$864,658.00
Summary
People with severe mental illness have high rates of cardiometabolic disease and reduced life-expectancy. Public intervention campaigns have had little impact on component risks (obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, poor nutrition). This study will determine factors associated with changes in cardiometabolic profiles in people with severe mental illness; examine impediments to risk modification; and develop targeted interventions for implementation within mental health services.
Inflammation And Oxidative Stress In Emerging Psychotic And Mood Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$432,619.00
Summary
We are conducting four large clinical trials testing anti-inflammatory treatments like ?-3 PUFAs and aspirin in young people who are at high-risk for psychosis or have depression. This proposal adds an important component to this research by investigating inflammatory and oxidative stress markers. We aim to determine if the investigated biomarkers predict the course of illness and response to treatments. The findings will facilitate early intervention and targeted treatment.
Early Antipsychotic Exposure During Childhood And Adolescence: Does It Lead To Long Term Brain And Behaviour Changes In Adulthood?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
Mental health problems affect at least 9% of Australia's 4.1 million children. With the trend towards prescribing antipsychotic medication “off-label” to control these mental disorders in young people and the long-term consequences of doing so unknown, this timely research program aims to address a critical health issue by providing clinicians with valuable information so they can better balance the risk/benefit ratio before prescribing antipsychotics to young people.
Randomised Controlled Trial Of Aripiprazole For Treatment Of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations In Borderline Personality Disorder
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,748,148.00
Summary
People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often report hearing voices. There is no consensus about how to treat these symptoms. Our study aims to address this clinical problem by conducting a 12 week trial of antipsychotic medication in patients who hear voices and have a diagnosis of BPD. The study will examine the effect of this medication on the nature of these voices, as well as other aspects of mental illness and brain functioning. The results will directly inform clinical practice.
Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators - A New Adjunctive Treatment For Men With Schizophrenia?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$816,603.00
Summary
One-third of people with schizophrenia do not respond well to antipsychotic medication treatment.There is an urgent need to develop new treatments.We have conducted world-first studies showing that estrogen treatment is highly successful in treating women with schizophrenia.Our research is a trial of SERM (selective estrogen receptor modulator), a new form of “brain estrogen” in men with persistent schizophrenia. We hope to reduce the disability caused by persistent psychotic symptoms.
Roles Of Muscarinic M3 Receptors In Antipsychotic-induced Metabolic Side-effects: Prevention And Treatment Of Antipsychotic-induced Insulin Dysregulation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$603,825.00
Summary
Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat various mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia and major depression. However, these drugs cause serious metabolic side-effects leading to premature death and huge costs to the Australian health care system. This project aims to reveal the role of muscarinic M3 receptors in antipsychotic-induced insulin dysregulation that precedes diabetes. Understanding these mechanisms will provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment ....Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat various mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia and major depression. However, these drugs cause serious metabolic side-effects leading to premature death and huge costs to the Australian health care system. This project aims to reveal the role of muscarinic M3 receptors in antipsychotic-induced insulin dysregulation that precedes diabetes. Understanding these mechanisms will provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of these critical adverse effects.Read moreRead less
Brain Control Of The Thermoregulatory Cutaneous Circulation: A Window To The Mind, And To The Neurobiology Of Clozapine
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$561,396.00
Summary
Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurabl ....Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurable in, for example, rats, that can serve as a marker of the animal s emotional responses to situations that would normally prove anxiety-provoking. The present grant is based on the discovery, in my laboratory, that stressful stimuli cause sudden falls in blood flow to the tail in rats. My laboratory is the first in the world to measure pulsatile blood flow to the tail in conscious rats, and this is why we made our discovery. My laboratory also discovered that clozapine, a drug of major theoretical and practical importance for the treatment of schizophrenia inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery. Clozapine interacts with many potential neurotransmitters in the brain. Some very complex combinations of these interactions are presumably responsible for the drug s unique psychotherapeutic action in schizophrenia. Our discovery that clozapine inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery means that we will be able to investigate clozapine s mechanisms of action. Results of our findings are genuinely likely to increase our understanding of how clozapine works in schizophrenia. This information should also provide clues as to the nature of the presently mysterious brain malfunctions that result in schizophrenia.Read moreRead less
Investigating The Action Of Clozapine On The Epidermal Growth Factor System: Implications For Antipsychotic Drug Action
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,535.00
Summary
Current treatments for schizophrenia are ineffective for up to half of sufferers leaving the toxic drug clozapine as the only resort. This project aims to investigate if the unique effectiveness of clozapine is due to a novel action in brain cells that we have identified. The project will delineate this mechanism and from this may lead to the development of a new way of treating schizophrenia and insights into the causes of this disorder.