Cognitive Enhancement In Schizophrenia Via Selective Oestrogen Receptor Modulator.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,380.00
Summary
Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia is resistant to treatment and related to poor community functioning and quality of life. In spite of the widely appreciated magnitude of the problem, there is still a critical gap in our knowledge concerning treatments to reverse these cognitive deficits. The proposed research is significant because it will clarify the role of hormones and genes in relation to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and it may help patients improve their level of functioning.
Selective Attention And The Processing Of Observed Actions.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$343,812.00
Summary
Our ability to understand the hand and face gestures of others is a crucial part of social interaction. Deficits in the ability to perceive others' actions are associated with clinical disorders such as autism and apraxia. We will examine how specific regions of the brain operate to process and recognise actions that we observe. This is a crucial first-step toward understanding and redefining clinical disorders such as apraxia that involve deficits in the perception of actions and gestures.
Functional Studies On A Neuroprotective Activity Of The Amyloid Precursor Protein Of Alzheimer S Disease.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$160,475.00
Summary
Alzheimer's disease is a major health problem of the elderly. With our aging population living longer, this presents enormous economic and social pressures. Research into the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease is therefore of immediate importance. In this study we are trying to determine the relationship between proteins involved in the disease process. In particular we are studying the amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP has both therapeutic as well as disease causing actions. It gives rise to t ....Alzheimer's disease is a major health problem of the elderly. With our aging population living longer, this presents enormous economic and social pressures. Research into the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease is therefore of immediate importance. In this study we are trying to determine the relationship between proteins involved in the disease process. In particular we are studying the amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP has both therapeutic as well as disease causing actions. It gives rise to the toxic amyloid peptide Abeta which is responsible for disease. However APP can also inhibit Abeta toxicity thus controlling cell death. We are studying how APP is able to modulate the neurotoxic activity of Abeta. These studies will identify key aspects of the disease pathway and hopefully lead to treatment strategies.Read moreRead less
Imaging Genetics In Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder: Adjudicating Neurocognitive Endophenotypes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$569,873.00
Summary
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share some common genes and cognitive deficits, yet manifest differently in terms of symptom expression, illness course, and functional impact. This research tests the assertion that genes implicated as common to these conditions may code for impairments in prefrontal cognitive and sub-cortical emotion processing. We also examine whether between-diagnosis distinctions in these brain responses may be mediated by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning.
Anatomical Substrates For Primate Executive Cortical Function
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,820.00
Summary
When studying the brain, many have been tempted to look for similarities in organization of cells and circuitry in different regions involved in various processes. While, at a first approximation, this may be a reasonable approach to understand how the brain works, it also ignores what makes the brain so complex: the diversity in its structure. In the late 19th, and early 20th, centuries, pioneering anatomists seized on the diversity in structure of the human brain. The study of cortical circuit ....When studying the brain, many have been tempted to look for similarities in organization of cells and circuitry in different regions involved in various processes. While, at a first approximation, this may be a reasonable approach to understand how the brain works, it also ignores what makes the brain so complex: the diversity in its structure. In the late 19th, and early 20th, centuries, pioneering anatomists seized on the diversity in structure of the human brain. The study of cortical circuitry that underlies the diversity in cortical processing reached a zenith and there was a renaissance in understanding of brain function. These researchers were, however, limited by techniques available to them at the time. With the advent of new methodologies which allowed scientists to explore individual connections between cells (synapses), to probe structure and transmission across synapses, and to record from live neurones, new and exciting discoveries were made. However, these methodologies are highly time consuming and studies became necessarily more focussed. As a result, there was a tendency in the later half of the 20th century to extrapolate findings from one cortical area to cortex in general. Even more precarious, anatomical and functional findings in highly specialized sensory cortex of one species were projected to other distantly related species. Such thinking lead to a dark age in neuroscience. It became widely accepted that there exists a canonical circuit. Consequently, differences in function between different cortical areas were attributed solely to the source of their projections. The central thesis of this project is to study aspects of cell structure and cortical circuitry in the prefrontal lobe. We hope that the project will provide another step in the pathway that leads to understanding the mind.Read moreRead less
The Effects Of Oxytocin On Social Cognition In Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$187,631.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is characterised by problems with social cognition. These problems are associated with an increased risk of low educational attainment, unemployment, homelessness, social isolation, and reduced quality of life. This project will determine whether a novel biological intervention, Oxytocin, improves social interaction behaviour skills in schizophrenia. This project, therefore, represents a critical first step in developing a new treatment for schizophrenia.
A Population-based Cohort Study Of Brain Ageing - Rates Of Brain Structural Change, Functional Effects, And Mechanisms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,323,361.00
Summary
This study will provide unique longitudinal Australian data on the effects and causes of brain aging in a population-based sample of older people. The results may assist in preventing dementia and falls, major public health problems in older Australians.