Abstract

The background that underlies each committed suicide varies among people and constitutes a complex structure of psy- chological, behavioural and biological risk factors that may be triggered by external conditions. Recent studies have shed new light on the association of suicides with particular days and periods of year, in an attempt to resolve the inconsistencies met in literature regarding this relationship. The aim of this study is to look into […]

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have borne out the association between psychotic disorders and autoimmune disease, while the immunogenetic contribution in psychosis is largely dominated by the major histocompatibility complex genetic diversity. On the other hand, demyelinating diseases, like multiple sclerosis, are characterized by a large array of invading immune cells that degrade the myelin sheath, the myelin producing oligodendrocytes and the nerve itself. Schizophrenia has been proposed to be a dysconnectivity syndrome, […]

Abstract

Lithium has been in the environment from the origin of life, interacting with almost all of the biological molecules that life invented. Lithium affects many components of intracellular signalling pathways, inhibiting more than ten cellular tar- gets and displacing magnesium ions. Lithium modulates cell function via inhibitory effects on adenosine triphosphatase activity, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, and intracellular enzymes. Lithium is also an important inhibitor of the en- zyme glycogen synthase […]