Predicting eating behaviours in children with Tourette syndrome: The role of sensory sensitivity and tic severity

Appetite ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 317
Author(s):  
Bobbie Smith ◽  
Samantha Rogers ◽  
Amanda Ludlow
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason He ◽  
Mark Mikkelsen ◽  
David Huddleston ◽  
Deana Crocetti ◽  
Kim Cecil ◽  
...  

Background. Individuals with Tourette syndrome (TS) often report that they express tics as a means of alleviating the experience of unpleasant sensations. These sensations are perceived as an urge to act and are referred to as premonitory urges. Premonitory urges have been the focus of recent efforts to develop interventions to reduce tic expression in those with TS. Increasing evidence points to the role of both structural and functional alterations of prefrontal and limbic brain regions regarding the experience of premonitory urges to tic in TS. This study examined the contribution of brain GABA and glutamate levels of the right primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1), supplementary motor area (SMA), and insular cortex (insula) to tic and urge severity in children with TS.Methods. Edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to assess GABA+ (GABA + macromolecules) and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) of the right SM1, SMA and insula in 68 children with TS (MAge = 10.59, SDAge = 1.33) and 41 typically developing controls (MAge = 10.26, SDAge = 2.21). We first compared GABA+ and Glx levels of these brain regions between groups. We then explored the association between regional GABA+ and Glx levels with urge and tic severity. Results. GABA+ and Glx of the right SM1, SMA and insula were comparable between the children with TS and typically developing controls. In children with TS, lower levels of SMA GABA+ was associated with more severe and more frequent premonitory urges. Neither GABA+ nor Glx levels were associated with tic severity. Conclusions. These results broadly support the role of GABAergic neurotransmission within the SMA in the experience of premonitory urges in children with TS.


Appetite ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 131-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bobbie Smith ◽  
Samantha L. Rogers ◽  
Jacqueline Blissett ◽  
Amanda K. Ludlow

Author(s):  
Mohamed Abdulkadir ◽  
Dongmei Yu ◽  
Lisa Osiecki ◽  
Robert A. King ◽  
Thomas V. Fernandez ◽  
...  

AbstractTourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with involvement of genetic and environmental factors. We investigated genetic loci previously implicated in Tourette syndrome and associated disorders in interaction with pre- and perinatal adversity in relation to tic severity using a case-only (N = 518) design. We assessed 98 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) selected from (I) top SNPs from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of TS; (II) top SNPs from GWASs of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD); (III) SNPs previously implicated in candidate-gene studies of TS; (IV) SNPs previously implicated in OCD or ASD; and (V) tagging SNPs in neurotransmitter-related candidate genes. Linear regression models were used to examine the main effects of the SNPs on tic severity, and the interaction effect of these SNPs with a cumulative pre- and perinatal adversity score. Replication was sought for SNPs that met the threshold of significance (after correcting for multiple testing) in a replication sample (N = 678). One SNP (rs7123010), previously implicated in a TS meta-analysis, was significantly related to higher tic severity. We found a gene–environment interaction for rs6539267, another top TS GWAS SNP. These findings were not independently replicated. Our study highlights the future potential of TS GWAS top hits in gene–environment studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Jackson ◽  
Hilmar P. Sigurdsson ◽  
Katherine Dyke ◽  
Maria Condon ◽  
Georgina M. Jackson

Author(s):  
James F. Leckman ◽  
Heping Zhang ◽  
Amy Vitale ◽  
Fatima Lahnin ◽  
Kimberly Lynch ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Merinuk ◽  
Stephanie C. Varcoe ◽  
Peter J. Kelly ◽  
Laura D. Robinson

Purpose Substance use disorder (SUD) frequently co-occurs with other psychological conditions, such as eating disorders (EDs). Psychological factors such as emotional dysregulation, rash impulsivity (RI) and reward sensitivity (RS) play a role in the etiology of each disorder, yet little is known about the combined effects of these on comorbid SUDs and EDs or disordered eating behaviours (DEBs). This study aims to examine the role of these psychological factors in comorbid DEBs and SUDs among individuals in treatment for SUDs. The role of gender is tested as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional self-report survey was completed by 131 participants attending Australian residential substance use treatment centres. A binomial logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the effects of emotional dysregulation, RI and RS on comorbid DEB and SUD. Further, moderation analyses were used to examine the moderating effect for gender on the relationship between these three personality variables and comorbidity. Findings The most commonly reported primary substance of use was alcohol (43.5%), followed by amphetamines (38.6%). Findings showed that emotional dysregulation and RI were significantly related to an increase in comorbidity likelihood; however, RS was not. Gender moderated the relationship between comorbidity and RI only. Originality/value The significant positive relationship found between RI and comorbidity for females only was a novel finding for the current study. Further research is needed to develop an understanding of the etiology of comorbidity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Andrén ◽  
Vera Wachtmeister ◽  
Julia Franzé ◽  
Caroline Speiner ◽  
Lorena Fernández de la Cruz ◽  
...  

Background: Treatment guidelines recommend behaviour therapy (BT) as the first-line intervention for patients with Tourette syndrome (TS) and chronic tic disorder (CTD). The efficacy of BT has been documented in randomised controlled trials (RCTs), but it is unclear to what extent these results are generalisable to real-world clinical settings, and whether the therapeutic gains are maintained long-term.Methods: In this naturalistic study, 74 young people with TS/CTD (aged 6 to 17) received BT (including psychoeducation, exposure with response prevention, habit reversal training or a combination of these treatments) at a specialist clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. Data were routinely collected at baseline, post-treatment, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Measures included the clinician-rated Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) and the Clinical Global Impression – Improvement scale (CGI-I), amongst others.Results: Tic severity and tic-related impairment (as measured by the YGTSS) improved significantly after treatment, with large within-group effect sizes (d=1.03 for the YGTSS Total Tic Severity Score, and d=1.37 for the YGTSS Impairment Score). At post-treatment, 57% of the participants were classified as treatment responders according to the CGI-I. Both tic severity and tic-related impairment continued to improve further through the follow-up, with 75% of the participants being rated as responders 12 months after the end of treatment. Significant improvements were also observed across a range of secondary measures.Conclusions: BT is an effective and durable treatment for young people with TS/CTD in a real-world clinical setting, with effects comparable to those reported in RCTs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Eichele ◽  
Kerstin J. Plessen

Background:Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with childhood onset characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics. The typical clinical course of an attenuation of symptoms during adolescence in parallel with the emerging self-regulatory control during development suggests that plastic processes may play an important role in the development of tic symptoms.Methods:We conducted a systematic search to identify existing imaging studies (both anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) in young persons under the age of 19 years with TS.Results:The final search resulted in 13 original studies, which were reviewed with a focus on findings suggesting adaptive processes (using fMRI) and plasticity (using anatomical MRI). Differences in brain activation compared to healthy controls during tasks that require overriding of prepotent responses help to understand compensatory pathways in children with TS. Along with alterations in regions putatively representing the origin of tics, deviations in several other regions most likely represent an activity-dependent neural plasticity that help to modulate tic severity, such as the prefrontal cortex, but also in the corpus callosum and the limbic system.Discussion:Factors that potentially influence the development of adaptive changes in the brain of children with TS are age, comorbidity with other developmental disorders, medication use, IQ along with study-design or MRI techniques for acquisition, and analysis of data. The most prominent limitation of all studies is their cross-sectional design. Longitudinal studies extending to younger age groups and to children at risk for developing TS hopefully will confirm findings of neural plasticity in future investigations.


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