This volume brings together a wealth of data on the neurochemistry and neuropharmacology of schizophrenia. It provides investigators of the etiology of schizophrenia with a basis to formulate future directions. A major portion of the book is devoted to an analysis of the dopamine neurotransmitter system in recognition of the fact that it may represent the most likely site for neurochemical abnormalities to be found in schizophrenia. Developments in the pharmacologic treatment of schizophrenia are dealt with in six authoritative reviews and the advances detailed therein may set the stage for a second generation of improved antipsychotic medications.

This volume of International Review of Neurobiology brings together cutting-edge research on advances in the neurochemistry and neuropharmacology of Tourette syndrome. It reviews current knowledge and understanding, provides a starting point for researchers and practitioners entering the field, and includes important topics regards tics, neurotransmitters, pharmacology and emerging treatments. - This volume of brings together research on tourettes synrdrome. It reviews current knowledge and understanding on the neurochemistry and neuropharmacology of tourettes syndrome

I am honored to introduce readers to this extraordinary volume, the first in the annual International Perspectives Series: Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurosciences. This particular volume on the Recent Advances In Schizophrenia stems from the Third Annual Pennsylvania Conference on Schizophrenia, held in March, 1988. At that international meeting, some of the most esteemed researchers in the field surveyed our current under standing of schizophrenia. Collectively, their presentations capture the excitement of a research field launching into a stage of rapid worldwide advancement. The last decade has seen an enormous refocusing of scientific effort on schizophrenia, directed, in large measure, by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Our understanding of this mysterious, disabling disorder in all its diversity has been enhanced by a host of technologies, including new neuroimaging techniques, cognitive psychology, molecular genetics, and anatomical, biochemical, and molecular neuropathology. The resulting growth spurt in our knowledge constitutes the essence of the conference and of this volume. As the following pages amply docu ment, it has been a decade of great progress, one in which we can take great pride. The science of our field has matured to the point that a major research thrust is now feasible-one likely to have enormous benefits for schizophrenic patients and their families. It is a very exciting time to be in this field and to participate in accelerating its advances.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling psychosis, which is an impairment of thinking in which the interpretation of reality is abnormal. Psychosis is a symptom of a disordered brain. Approximately One percent of the population worldwide develops schizophrenia during their lifetime. Although schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties, than in women, who are generally affected in the twenties to early thirties. People with schizophrenia often suffer symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. The current evidence concerning the causes of schizophrenia are many. It is quite clear that multiple factors are involved. These include changes in the chemistry of the brain, changes in the structure of the brain, and genetic factors. Viral infections and head injuries may also play a role. New molecular tools and modern statistical analyses allow focusing in on particular genes that might make people more susceptible to schizophrenia by affecting, for example, brain development or neurotransmitter systems governing brain functioning. State-of-the-art imaging techniques are being used to study the living brain. They have recently revealed specific, subtle abnormalities in the structure and function of the brains of patients with schizophrenia. In other imaging studies, early biochemical changes that may precede the onset of disease symptoms have been noted, prompting examination of the neural circuits that are most likely to be involved in producing those symptoms. This book presents new and important research in the field.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

Covering the latest advances in CNS drug development, this bookwill guide all those involved in pre-clinical to early clinicaltrials. The authors describe how recent innovations can acceleratethe development of novel CNS compounds, improve early detection ofefficacy and toxicity signals, and increase the safety oflater-stage clinical trials. The current crisis in the drug development industry iscritically reviewed, as well as the steps needed to correct theproblems, including new government-backed regulations andindustry-based innovations designed to accelerate CNS drugdevelopment in the future. Animal-based models of major CNS disorders are described indetail, and the ability of the latest in vitro and computer-basedmodels to simulate CNS disease states and predict drug efficacy andside-effects are examined. Particular attention is given tothe growing use of biomarkers and how they can be used effectivelyin early human trials as signals of potential drug efficacy, aswell as the increasingly important role of imaging studies to guidedose selection. Cognitive assessments that can be useful indicatorsof effect in patient populations are also discussed. Written by a team of clinical scientists involved in CNS drugtrials for over 20 years, and based on a wealth of drug developmentand clinical trial experience, Critical Pathways to Success inCNS Drug Developmentis full of practical advice forsuccessfully designing and executing CNS drug trials, avoidingpotential pitfalls, and complying with government regulations

H. HAFNER and W. F. GATTAZ Between 1891 and 1955, three founders of modern psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) and Kurt Schneider (1887-1967) lectured at the University of Heidelberg: Kraepelin for 12 years, Jaspers for over 25 years and Schneider for approximately 10 years. During this period they laid the foundations of descriptive psychopathology and modern classification and con tributed essentially to the development of our current thinking on schizophrenia. In 1986, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the University of Heidel berg, we held a symposium in memory of these three "giants of psychiatry" for which we chose the title "Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia". It was jointly organized by the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim and the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Heidelberg. The intention was to meet one of the major challenges of current psychiatric research, namely the fact that since Kraepelin's masterly description of "Dementia praecox" (1894) and E. Bleuler's slightly different definition of schizophrenia (1911), we have made only insufficient advances in clarifying the aetiology of this frequent and still often dis abling mental disease.