Smoking is a common problem for patients with schizophrenia. The increased tendency of patients diagnosed with this disorder is to not only smoke, but to do so more heavily than the general public. This raises the possibility that nicotine may be a…
A team of neuroscientists has discovered important new information in the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the debilitating neurological disorder that afflicts more than 5.3 million Americans and is the sixth-leading cause …
A well-tolerated drug that blocks nicotine receptors in the brain appears to relieve depression and mood instability in children and adolescents with Tourette’s syndrome, a preliminary study has found. The multicenter, placebo-controlled study of the drug mecamylamine is published in the latest issue of the journal Depression and Anxiety. “These preliminary findings are consistent with anecdotal observations that mecamylamine stabilizes mood,” said lead author Douglas Shytle. “In addition, this is the first clinical evidence supporting the hypothesis that many antidepressants function, in part, by inhibiting nicotinic receptors.”