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IMAGE: 1. Images of a groups of fruit flies (small black dots) placed in a triangular arena. Normal flies (left triangle) like to be a certain distance apart showing their preference for. view more
Credit: University of Bristol
Scientists have successfully treated flies displaying behavioural problems linked to newly discovered schizophrenia-associated genes in humans, using common anti-psychotics.
Schizophrenia is a severe long-term mental health condition that is historically poorly understood and treated. It is relatively common, affecting one to two per cent of the population, and is known to be up to 80 per cent genetic in origin.
Recent advances in sequencing genomes of people with schizophrenia have identified a list of novel genes and mutations associated with the disease. Many are expressed in the brain and are involved in how neurons communicate with each other by electrical and chemical signals released at synapses.
Un comune pesticida sta disturbando il sonno delle api
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Inseticidas afetam sono das abelhas
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Just like us, many insects need a decent night s sleep to function properly, but this might not be possible if they have been exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides, the most common form of insecticide used worldwide, suggests research by academics at the University of Bristol.
Two studies by scientists at Bristol s Schools of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Biological Sciences have shown these insecticides affect the amount of sleep taken by both bumblebees and fruit flies, which may help us understand why insect pollinators are vanishing from the wild.
Dr Kiah Tasman, Teaching Associate in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and lead author of the studies, said: The neonicotinoids we tested had a big effect on the amount of sleep taken by both flies and bees. If an insect was exposed to a similar amount as it might experience on a farm where the pesticide had been applied, it slept less, and its daily behavioural rhythms were knocked o