> Study: Nicotine Aids Schizophrenics' Memory
> 6/27/2005
>
> Schizophrenics who smoked cigarettes experienced improved attention
> and short-term memory, according to researchers from the Yale School
> of Medicine <http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/05-06-23-01.all.html> .
> Smoking appears to aid the memory of people with schizophrenia by
> stimulating nicotine receptors in the brain, researchers said; no such
> effect was observed among non-schizophrenics. When schizophrenics were
> asked to smoke while taking the drug mecamylamine, which blocks
> nicotine receptors, the memory benefits of smoking disappeared; again,
> the same was not true of non-schizophrenics.
> Researchers said the study suggests that the reason people with
> schizophrenia are up to three times more likely to smoke as
> non-schizophrenics is that they are self-medicating with nicotine.
> "Our findings have significant implications for developing treatments
> for cognitive deficits and nicotine addiction in schizophrenia," said
> study co-author Kristi Sacco.
> The study was published in the June 2005 issue of the Archives of
> General Psychiatry <http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/> .
>
>


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