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Genetic Changes That May Contribute to the Onset of Schizophrenia Identified
Scientists from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered rare genetic changes that may be responsible for the onset of schizophrenia. Several of these same genetic lesions had previously been found to have causal links to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This discovery gives new support to the notion that multiple rare genetic changes may contribute to schizophrenia and other brain disorders.
This discovery also suggests that clinical DNA (genome-wide microarray) testing may be useful in demystifying one of the most complex and stigmatized human diseases. The study is published in the current issue ofHuman Molecular Genetics, and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
In the first study of its kind, scientists at CAMH and The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at The Hospital for Sick Children analyzed the DNA of 459 Canadian adults with schizophrenia to detect rare genetic changes of potential clinical significance.
"We found a significant number of large rare changes in the chromosome structure that we then reported back to the patients and their families," said Dr. Anne Bassett, Director of CAMH's Clinical Genetics Research Program and Canada Research Chair in Schizophrenia Genetics and Genomic Disorders at the University of Toronto. "In total, we expect that up to eight per cent of schizophrenia may be caused in part by such genetic changes this translates to roughly one in every 13 people with the illness." These include several new discoveries for schizophrenia, including lesions on chromosome 2.
The research team also developed a systematic approach to the discovery and analysis of new, smaller rare genetic changes leading to schizophrenia, which provides dozens of new leads for scientists studying the illness. "We were able to identify smaller changes in chromosome structure that may play an important role in schizophrenia and that these often involve more than one gene in a single person with the illness," added Dr. Bassett, who is also a Clinician Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute.
"Moving forward, we will be able to study common pathways affected by these different genetic changes and examine how they affect brain development the more we know about where the illness comes from, the more possibilities there will be for the development of new treatments."
"CIHR is pleased to support researchers whose work aims at demystifying the causes of schizophrenia," said Dr. Anthony Phillips, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction. "We hope Canadians who live with schizophrenia will eventually benefit from these important findings."
Several of the genes and pathways discovered in this study of schizophrenia have also been identified to be important in causing ASD. This includes the large rare changes in chromosome structure of potential clinical significance. "We have seen the success clinical microarray testing has had in making sense of ASD for families, and we think the same could be true for schizophrenia," added Dr. Stephen Scherer, Director of TCAG and the University of Toronto's McLaughlin Centre.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130716102101.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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