Cake, version 2

Unfortunately, we have had to schedule a twilight (3-4pm) lesson onto your timetable, on Tues week A in R23. In order to make the experience more positive I propose a CAKE ROTA, whereby someone brings cake in every week to share. If you don't want to be on the rota, that is fine, but you're not then allowed to eat other people's....... Here is the updated rota:

Date	Cake bringer
30th Sep	Mrs Watson
14th Oct	Curtis
4th Nov	Daniel
18th Nov	Louis
2nd Dec	Ciin
16th Dec	Iman
13th Jan	Emily
27th Jan	Mehwish
10th Feb	Marco
3rd March	Jardel

PLEASE make a note of your date. Daniel, you're on next.

See me if you want to be taken off the rota. It's fine to buy a packet of biscuits!

Mrs Watson

The dopamine hypothesis

We are slowly working our way through the biological explanations of schizophrenia. We've finished the genetic explanations - ask me for a worksheet if you missed Tuesday's twilight lesson as I don't have an electronic version. I recommend that you learn one twin study, the Gottesman meta-analysis and one adoption study - these are all the sheet we used in the lesson. Be able to comment on the pros and cons of using this type of research evidence.

So, the highest genetic component to schizophrenia is only around 50% - showing that genetics certainly isn't the whole story. We now move onto the dopamine hypothesis, which states that schizophrenia is a result of increased dopamine levels. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. 

The powerpoint is here (same powerpoint as last week - we are slowly working our way through it). 

Biological explanations of schizophrenia

Today we started to look at the first biological explanation of schizophrenia - genetics. We discussed MZ and DZ twins, and the problems in trying to disentangle genetic from environmental influences. We looked at the Gottesman meta-analysis and the graph with the concordance rates on is in the powerpoint, which is here. 

Our first timed essay is on Wednesday 15th October during P1. You will have 40 minutes in exam conditions. I handed out suggestion skeleton plans which we filled in today. A copy is here. 

Don't forget our next lesson is the twilight, on Tues 14th.