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Program ID: Innovation Anthology #64
Program Date: 09/06/2007
Program Category: Health and Medicine

MRI Scans Reactions in Schizophrenics

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that usually manifests in early adulthood. Common symptoms include paranoid delusions and hearing voices.

Very little is known about what might cause schizophrenia, but David McAllindon expects his research using functional magnetic resonance imaging will change that.

As part of his master’s research at the University of Alberta, David McAllindon is comparing brain activity between schizophrenics and normal adults.

With MRI technology, he’s measuring the difference in reaction time when his subjects perform tasks and what happens with a part of the brain called the anterior singular cortex.

DAVID MCALLINDON: So in schizophrenia, many of the patients have a slower reaction time than a healthy person. And so we’re expecting to see a difference in activation in this anterior singular cortex in people with schizophrenia and so we think that there’s something structural or the connections in the anterior singular cortex that are not the same as normal people.

David McAllindon’s research could lead to better treatments for schizophrenia.

Thanks today to The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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More than half of Canada’s aboriginal population lives in urban centres. University of Lethbridge health researcher Dr. Cheryl Currie's recent study of urban aboriginal health indicates those who participate in traditional activities despite living in the city are less likely to have trouble with drug abuse. (Alberta Innovates Health Solutions)

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