3 ms·

Wasn't schizophrenia fairly recently attributed to an off-by-one error in the brain while deleting old brain cells, taking more than necessary, essentially a na

by bitL 8y ago

Wasn't schizophrenia fairly recently attributed to an off-by-one error in the brain while deleting old brain cells, taking more than necessary, essentially a natural algorithm gone wrong?

klodolph 8y ago
It’s a long-studied and complicated condition, I don’t think we’re anywhere near having such a concise explanation of its causes yet (etiology). There are many competing theories each with different levels of support. There is also reason to believe that schizophrenia is multiple disorders that are currently lumped into the same category because we’re not good at differentiating them (similar to the way different types of cancer are lumped under the label “cancer”). Trust the science, but don’t trust the science reporting.
- bitL 8y ago
  I was talking about this (pruning of synapses): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204114612.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204114612.h... This study pointed out 90+ days of taking minocycline/doxycycline during adolescence "had a significantly reduced risk of a subsequent psychotic disorder diagnosis than did those receiving other antibiotics." - from their 10-years sample of electronic records. I had a suspicion that as you say "schizophrenia" might be an umbrella term for many distinct diseases with similar symptoms.
  - klodolph 8y ago
    But, is that a symptom of schizophrenia? Does it cause other symptoms? Is it caused by other symptoms? Is it common to all forms of schizophrenia?
    - bitL 8y ago
      For me as a computer scientist with interest in medicine (using Deep Learning to beat humans in detecting diseases), this was a cool finding pointing to a possible algorithmic reason behind schizophrenia. Now it might be just a small part of the puzzle, intertwined with other mechanisms we don't understand with overly complex interactions, not mentioning it likely misses other, completely different diagnoses sharing the same label. So yes, your questions are perfectly adequate, though for me personally that finding is exciting, as I can potentially apply supercomputing on that problem.

by bitL 8y ago

Wasn't schizophrenia fairly recently attributed to an off-by-one error in the brain while deleting old brain cells, taking more than necessary, essentially a natural algorithm gone wrong?

klodolph 8y ago

It’s a long-studied and complicated condition, I don’t think we’re anywhere near having such a concise explanation of its causes yet (etiology). There are many competing theories each with different levels of support. There is also reason to believe that schizophrenia is multiple disorders that are currently lumped into the same category because we’re not good at differentiating them (similar to the way different types of cancer are lumped under the label “cancer”). Trust the science, but don’t trust the science reporting.

bitL 8y ago
I was talking about this (pruning of synapses): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204114612.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204114612.h... This study pointed out 90+ days of taking minocycline/doxycycline during adolescence "had a significantly reduced risk of a subsequent psychotic disorder diagnosis than did those receiving other antibiotics." - from their 10-years sample of electronic records. I had a suspicion that as you say "schizophrenia" might be an umbrella term for many distinct diseases with similar symptoms.
- klodolph 8y ago
  But, is that a symptom of schizophrenia? Does it cause other symptoms? Is it caused by other symptoms? Is it common to all forms of schizophrenia?
  - bitL 8y ago
    For me as a computer scientist with interest in medicine (using Deep Learning to beat humans in detecting diseases), this was a cool finding pointing to a possible algorithmic reason behind schizophrenia. Now it might be just a small part of the puzzle, intertwined with other mechanisms we don't understand with overly complex interactions, not mentioning it likely misses other, completely different diagnoses sharing the same label. So yes, your questions are perfectly adequate, though for me personally that finding is exciting, as I can potentially apply supercomputing on that problem.