Australian Story - "All In Your Mind"

[Lara]

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/
Full Programme in INDEX

11/05/2009

Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert once dreamed of being a famous chef until her twin brother Scott Shannon was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his teens.

After witnessing the devastating symptoms of delusions and hallucinations first-hand in the person she loved the most, Cyndi Shannon Weikert embarked on a life mission to find a cure.

Now a world-leading neurobiologist, she moved from America to Australia when she was invited to lead a top schizophrenia research program in Sydney two years ago.

The team has since discovered that mutations in a particular estrogen gene are linked to schizophrenia. Clinical drug trials on a drug to regulate brain estrogen will start in July.

[clouds z]

is it found in plastic bottles?i use a lot of bottles

[Lara]

Hello clouds.
I've not talked with you in so long.
How are you?
I hope you've been doing ok.
Do you still have all your computers?

It's not bottled water or plastic bottles this time. This study was about a gene mutation.

Estrogen modifies human emotion and cognition and impacts symptoms of schizophrenia. We hypothesized that the variation in the estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene and cortical ESR1 mRNA is associated with schizophrenia.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18424448
Hum Mol Genet. 2008 August 1; 17(15): 2293–2309.
Published online 2008 April 18. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddn130
Variants in the estrogen receptor alpha gene and its mRNA contribute to risk for schizophrenia

[clouds z]

hi lara

i have a weird cold-maybe its the flu but probably not

i feel ok and other times im screwed up

phn from shingles is what i have

i have 3 computer and 3 laptops-one is 14 years old and pretty useless for wireless etc

how are you?

[Lara]

I'm a bit like you I guess, clouds.
Sometimes I'm OK and other times I'm screwed up. :D
Getting older by the minute doesn't help.

I had shingles last winter.
Was a shocking time.
I didn't have any real complications from them though. I was very thankful for that, although the shingles alone were shocking to deal with.

Good you still have some of your computers.

You take care of yourself there.
Sorry to read you're not feeling so well.
Drink lots of water if you have a fever.

Get well fast.

[redtail]

Hi Lara,

I watched this Australian Story(love the programme) and found it very informative, and interesting. They certainly have a wide and varied format from week to week.
Kate

[Lara]

Hi Kate. :)
Yes, it's always on my "to watch" list.
I like "Insight" on SBS as well.