1/14/19 1/14/19

Lyme and other infections can trigger mental illness

5/19/17 5/19/17

Suicide and biomarkers of gastrointestinal inflammation

9/27/14 9/27/14

Eating disorders and the causative role of autoimmunity

Eating disorders are multifactorial; like other psychiatric conditions the causative role of auotimmune neuroinflammation is coming to the fore as evidenced by a study just published in PLoS One.

9/10/14 9/10/14

Schizophrenia risk increased by maternal inflammation

Schizophrenia is well recognized to have a neuroinflammatory component, and a study just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry links maternal inflammation during pregnancy as reflected in elevated CRP (C-reactive protein) levels with a markedly increased irisk of schizophrenia in offspring.

8/27/14 8/27/14

Depression and brain inflammation

Evidence for the role of brain inflammation in depression is proliferating as noted in a report published recently in JAMA. Certain biomarkers including the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and TNF, and CRP are standing out...

6/8/14 6/8/14

Neuropsychiatric illness in non-celiac gluten sensitivity

Neuropsychiatric illness can result from neuroinflammation due to a variety of causes. Recent studies offer more evidence that depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders can be a manifestation of non-celiac gluten sensitivity. A paper published in Gastroenterology Research and Practice explores the pathophysiologic mechanisms by which gluten sensitivity can present as a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions in the absence of celiac disease.

2/27/14 2/27/14

Bipolar disorder and neuroinflammation

There is a massive amount of evidence supporting the importance of assessing and treating neuroinflammation in bipolar disorder and other neuropsychiatric illnesses. This makes necessarily the comprehensive examination of autoimmunity and its numerous underlying contributory causes.

9/29/13 9/29/13

Neuropsychiatric illness, autoimmunity and the role of microbes

Neuropsychiatric illness often involves brain inflammation for which there may be an autoimmune origin. The authors of a paper* recently published in Current Opinion in Rheumatology set out to..."illustrate how microbes might participate in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric illness by triggering the production of autoantibodies that bind to brain targets."

1/16/13 1/16/13

Adolescent decline in verbal ability can predict psychosis in adulthood

It's well recognized that cognitive deficits in childhood or adolescence typically precede the onset of psychosis, but the studies done up until now have not determined whether the association is prodromal (an early symptom of psychosis itself) or neurodevelopmental (problems with brain development and maturation that set the stage for later psychosis). A study just published in JAMA Psychiatry offers strong evidence that verbal decline in adolescence reflects neurodevelopmental defects that significantly increase the lifetime risk for psychosis.

11/4/12 11/4/12

Lyme disease, neuropsychiatric symptoms and autoimmunity

As with other chronic infections, the most devastating effects of Lyme disease can occur from the immune system losing tolerance for normal tissue as it cross-reacts while attacking the pathogen. A paper just published in The Open Neurology Journal reviews the body of knowledge on the neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease and other infections as an immune mediated neurodegenerative disorder, enlarged by a wealth of citations.