General Proposals

Genetics

* The effect of ethnicity on allelic frequency of common genetic polymorphisms

* Genetics of Normal & Abnormal Behavior, Including Psychosis, Learning Disabilities & Violence

* Learning Disabilities. Conduct Disorder & Violence in Children Joint projects with– University of Toronto and Harvard University

* Genetics of Personality – genetics of addiction- smoking, drugs

* Executive Function – Alzheimer’s and other dementias

* Genetic Risk Factors of Susceptibility to Stress and Trauma

 

Psychiatry

* Neuropsychological evaluation of attention and concentration deficits in schizophrenia

* The development of new methods of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia with special focus on negative symptoms and cognitive deficits

* Studies of the role of genetic polymorphism in schizophrenia using novel family study methods

* The assessment of correlations between clinical status and serum levels of long-acting antipsychotic compounds

* Assessment of serum free radicals levels and their role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia ( movement disorder induced by psychiatric drugs)

* The role of central nervous system excitaory amino acids (EAAs) neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and related psychiatric syndromes

* Investigations of the safety and efficacy of the NMDA receptor modulators glycine and d-cycloserine as potential new treatments in schizophrenia and related psychiatric syndromes

* Assessment of the correlation between NMDA receptor polymorphism and treatment response to glycine and d-cycloserine

* Efficacy and safety of novel atypical antipsychotics (i.e. clozapine, risperidone, olanzepine, iloperidone).

* A new biofeedback modality for the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

* Cognitive Processing without Awareness in Hypnosis, Electrophysiological Manifestations.

* The effects of family attitudes upon the course of illness of schizophrenic patients.

 

Nutrition and Brain Function in Psychiatry and Geriatrics including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

* Animal models of schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia based upon the PCP/NMDA

hypothesis of schizophrenia and the glutamatergic hypothesis of tardive dyskinesia

* The role of EAAs in the etiology of brain damage

* The assessment of glycine and d-cycloserine-induced morphological changes in rat brain.

* Effects of nutritional iron deficiency on hippocampal development in relation to cognitive behavior in rats

* Manipulations of endogenous iron and neurotoxicity induced by excitatory amino acids in rat brain.

* Combination of diet restriction and antioxidant drugs for protection from Parkinson’s disease

* High dose glycine nutrition affects glial cell morphology in rat hippocampus and cerebellum

* Diet Restriction Increases Enkephalin-and Dynorphin-like Immunoreactivity in Rat Brain and Attenuates Long-term Retention of Passive Avoidance

 

 

Neurogeriatrics

* Age Associated Cognitive Decline

* Posterior Truncal Tacile Extinction in Anteriorly Flexed Parkinsonian (PD) Patients

* Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease by Deficits in Autonomic Activity and Internal Cognition

* Biofeedback therapy of agitation instead of pharmacological treatment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

* Effect of overt orienting in a visual scene on memory in Alzheimer patients

* Category-specific semantic deficit in Anterior thalamic infarction

* Survey of the age structure of “age relevant” articles in four general medical journals

* Prevalence of potentially reversible dementias and actual reversibility in a memory clinic cohort

* Joint Israel-Canada enteral feeding study of end stage dementia patients

 

 

Psychotrauma

* Genetic factors in the prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder

* The wellbeing of Holocaust survivors born during the war

* Prevention of the effects of trauma resulting from traffic accidents