Articles, Abstracts and News Reports on TS

Lara · 03-19-2007, 06:59 PM

Haiqun Lin, Liliya Katsovich, Musie Ghebremichael, Diane B. Findley, Heidi Grantz, Paul J. Lombroso, Robert A. King, Heping Zhang, James F. Leckman (2007)

Psychosocial stress predicts future symptom severities in children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48 (2), 157–166.
doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01687.x

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...0.2006.01687.x

Quote:

Abstract

Background: The goals of this prospective longitudinal study were to monitor levels of psychosocial stress in children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome (TS) and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to healthy control subjects and to examine the relationship between measures of psychosocial stress and fluctuations in tic, obsessive-compulsive (OC), and depressive symptom severity.

Methods: Consecutive ratings of tic, OC and depressive symptom severity were obtained for 45 cases and 41 matched healthy control subjects over a two-year period. Measures of psychosocial stress included youth self-report, parental report, and clinician ratings of long-term contextual threat. Structural equation modeling for unbalanced repeated measures was used to assess the temporal sequence of psychosocial stress with the severity of tic, OC and depressive symptoms.

Results: Subjects with TS and OCD experienced significantly more psychosocial stress than did the controls. Estimates of psychosocial stress were predictive of future depressive symptoms. Current levels of psychosocial stress were also a significant predictor of future OC symptom severity, but not vice versa. Current OC symptom severity was a predictor of future depressive symptom severity, but not vice versa. Current levels of psychosocial stress and depression were independent predictors of future tic severity, even after controlling for the effect of advancing chronological age.

Conclusions: The impact of antecedent psychosocial adversity is greater on future depressive symptoms than for tic and/or OC symptoms. Worsening OC symptoms are also a predictor of future depressive symptoms. Advancing chronological age is robustly associated with reductions in tic severity.

Lara · 03-19-2007, 07:10 PM

Am J Hum Genet. 2007 Feb;80(2):265-72.

Genome scan for Tourette disorder in affected-sibling-pair and multigenerational families.

Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics.

Tourette disorder (TD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with a complex mode of inheritance and is characterized by multiple waxing and waning motor and phonic tics. This article reports the results of the largest genetic linkage study yet undertaken for TD. The sample analyzed includes 238 nuclear families yielding 304 "independent" sibling pairs and 18 separate multigenerational families, for a total of 2,040 individuals. A whole-genome screen with the use of 390 microsatellite markers was completed. Analyses were completed using two diagnostic classifications: (1) only individuals with TD were included as affected and (2) individuals with either TD or chronic-tic (CT) disorder were included as affected. Strong evidence of linkage was observed for a region on chromosome 2p (-log P = 4.42, P = 3.8 x 10(-5) in the analyses that included individuals with TD or CT disorder as affected. Results in several other regions also provide moderate evidence (-log P >2.0) of additional susceptibility loci for TD.

PMID: 17304708 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Lara · 03-19-2007, 07:15 PM

J Neurol Sci. 2007 Mar 2; [Epub ahead of print]

Frontal dopaminergic abnormality in Tourette syndrome: A postmortem analysis.

Yoon DY, Gause CD, Leckman JF, Singer HS.

Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Harriett Lane Outpatient Building, 200 N. Wolfe Street, Suite 2158, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Frontal-subcortical abnormalities have been implicated in the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome (TS). The goal of this study was to more extensively evaluate a possible underlying neurochemical abnormality in frontal cortex. Postmortem brain tissue from frontal and occipital regions (Brodmann's areas 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 17) from three TS patients and three age-and sex-matched controls were analyzed by semiquantitative immunoblotting. Relative densities were measured for a variety of neurochemical markers including dopamine (D1, D2), serotonin (5HT-1A), and alpha-adrenergic (alpha-2A) receptors, the dopamine transporter (DAT), a monoamine terminal marker (vesicular monoamine transporter type 2, VMAT-2), and vesicular docking and release proteins (VAMP-2, synaptotagmin, SNAP-25, syntaxin, synaptophysin). Data from each TS sample, corrected for actin content, was expressed as a percentage value of its control. Results identified consistent increases of DAT and D2 receptor density in five of six frontal regions in all three TS subjects. D1 and alpha-2A receptor density were increased in a few frontal regions. These results support the hypothesis of a dopaminergic dysfunction in the frontal lobe and a likely role in the pathophysiology of TS.

PMID: 17337006 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Chemar · 03-25-2007, 10:43 AM

although this article specifically deals with autism...it has much of interest and so I felt it worth posting here too related to ASD

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/apr...tart:int=0&-C=

Lara · 03-31-2007, 04:18 PM

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...c57ec46e02d5e2

Genomics. 2003 Jul;82(1):1-9.

Cntnap2 is disrupted in a family with gilles de la tourette syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder

Verkerk AJ, Mathews CA, Joosse M, Eussen BH, Heutink P, Oostra BA; Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics.
_________________

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Eur J Hum Genet. 2007 Mar 28

Disruption of the CNTNAP2 gene in a t(7;15) translocation family without symptoms of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

Belloso JM, Bache I, Guitart M, Caballin MR, Halgren C, Kirchhoff M, Ropers HH, Tommerup N, Tumer Z.

Quote:

In this study, we describe a familial balanced reciprocal translocation t(7;15)(q35;q26.1) in phenotypically normal individuals. The 7q35 breakpoint disrupts the CNTNAP2 gene, indicating that truncation of this gene does not necessarily lead to the symptoms of the complex Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 28 March 2007; doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201824.

bold added by me.

Lara · 05-26-2007, 05:26 PM

Neuropsychologia. 2007 Apr 5;
Speeded processing of grammar and tool knowledge in Tourette's syndrome.
Walenski M, Mostofsky SH, Ullman MT.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Quote:

Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a developmental disorder characterized by motor and verbal tics. The tics, which are fast and involuntary, result from frontal/basal-ganglia abnormalities that lead to unsuppressed behaviors. Language has not been carefully examined in TS. We tested the processing of two basic aspects of language: idiosyncratic and rule-governed linguistic knowledge. Evidence suggests that idiosyncratic knowledge (e.g., in irregular past tense formation; bring-brought) is stored in a mental lexicon that depends on the temporal-lobe-based declarative memory system that also underlies conceptual knowledge. In contrast, evidence suggests that rule-governed combination (e.g., in regular past tenses; walk+-ed) takes place in a mental grammar that relies on the frontal/basal-ganglia-based procedural memory system, which also underlies motor skills such as how to use a hammer. We found that TS children were significantly faster than typically developing control children in producing rule-governed past tenses (slip-slipped, plim-plimmed, bring-bringed) but not irregular and other unpredictable past tenses (bring-brought, splim-splam). They were also faster than controls in naming pictures of manipulated (hammer) but not non-manipulated (elephant) items. These data were not explained by a wide range of potentially confounding subject- and item-level factors. The results suggest that the processing of procedurally based knowledge, both of grammar and of manipulated objects, is particularly speeded in TS. The frontal/basal-ganglia abnormalities may thus lead not only to tics, but also to a wider range of rapid behaviors, including the cognitive processing of rule-governed forms in language and other types of procedural knowledge.

PMID: 17493643

Lara · 05-26-2007, 05:34 PM

Interesting...

J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2007 Jun;36(2):217-27.
Quality of Life in Youth With Tourette's Syndrome and Chronic Tic Disorder.
Storch EA, Merlo LJ, Lack C, Geffken GR, Goodman WK, Murphy TK.
Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Florida.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Quote:

This study sought to examine quality of life (QoL) in clinic-referred children and adolescents (n = 59, M age = 11.4+/-2.6 years) with a chronic tic disorder. The QoL scores for tic patients were lower than for healthy controls but higher than for the psychiatric sample on the majority of domains. Children's self-reported QoL scores and a measure of tic severity were moderately and inversely correlated. Parent reports of their child's QoL were weakly related to tic severity. Correlations between parent and child ratings of QoL for children ages 8 to 11 years were generally higher than those for youth ages 12 to 17 years. Finally, externalizing behavior moderated the relations between tic severity and parent-rated QoL, such that tic severity was significantly associated with parent-rated QoL for children with below average externalizing symptoms but not for children 3with above average externalizing symptoms.

PMID: 17484694

Lara · 06-28-2007, 08:09 PM

These two are not specifically about Tourette's Syndrome but they are of interest.

The 2nd one regarding RLS is also of interest as quite a lot of people have Restless Leg Syndrome as well as their Tics or have members in their families who have RLS as well. [It fits in with the posts regarding OC behaviours or even Secondary causes of Tics or Tourettism.]

So, just some things in the news of interest...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0615110252.htm
from Science Daily
Source: Mayo Clinic
Date: June 15, 2007

Researchers Use 'Genomic Pathway' To Predict Parkinson's

<snipped article>

Quote:

The researchers speculate that common genetic variations within the same biological pathway might also contribute to a person's risk of developing other brain diseases; disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Tourette's syndrome, dyslexia, epilepsy and schizophrenia, need to be studied.

______________

Dopaminergic Agonists Linked to Compulsions in RLS

Medscape Medical News 2007
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/558519
Registration required

Caroline Cassels

Quote:

June 19, 2007 (Istanbul) — Like their counterparts with Parkinson's disease (PD), patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) taking dopaminergic agonists (DA) are at increased risk for compulsive behaviors, new research suggests.
Presented here at the 11th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, researchers from the Quebec Memory Motor Skills Disorders Clinic, in Quebec City, Quebec, found up to 10% of RLS patients had compulsive behaviors, including trichotillomania, a Tourette-like syndrome, and other impulse-control disorders, including shopping, overeating, and gambling.

bold added by me

Lara · 07-06-2007, 11:07 PM

Comparative Effectiveness of Off-Label Use of Atypical Antipsychotics: AHRQ Executive Summary
http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/...nal_Report.pdf
Full Text pdf
This is very long, but worth reading if you're interested. Just use the search feature to highlight keywords in the file e.g. Tourette's syndrome or Autism or PTSD etc..

from

Medscape Medical News
07/06/2007
Comparative Effectiveness of Off-Label Use of Atypical Antipsychotics: AHRQ Executive Summary
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559169_1

Lara · 08-10-2007, 04:27 PM

PubMed Abstract

Curr Opin Neurol. 2007 Aug;20(4):470-6.
Surgery for other movement disorders: dystonia, tics.
Hamani C, Moro E.

Quote:

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Various movement disorders are now treated with stereotactic procedures, particularly deep brain stimulation. We review the neurosurgical treatment of dystonias and tics, focusing mainly on the surgical aspects and outcome of deep brain stimulation.

RECENT FINDINGS: Pallidal stimulation is nowadays the mainstay surgical treatment for patients with dystonia, particularly generalized dystonia. Various well designed recent clinical trials support the efficacy of the procedure. Improvements of 40-80% have been reported in primary generalized, segmental and cervical dystonia. For secondary dystonia, a similar outcome has been described in patients with tardive dystonia and pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration. In patients with Tourette's syndrome, the results of the first trials with thalamic and pallidal deep brain stimulation have been very promising. Improvements of 70-90% in the frequency of tics have been reported with surgery in both targets.

SUMMARY: Deep brain stimulation has become an established therapy for dystonia and is currently being used to treat Tourette's syndrome. With accumulation of experience, clinical features that are more responsive to surgery and the best surgical candidates will be revealed. This will likely improve even further the outcome of surgery for the treatment of these disorders.

PMID: 17620884 [PubMed - in process]

PubMed Abstract
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2007 Jul;7(4):278-89.
Limbic, associative, and motor territories within the targets for deep brain stimulation: potential clinical implications.
Sudhyadhom A, Bova FJ, Foote KD, Rosado CA, Kirsch-Darrow L, Okun MS.

Quote:

The use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) has recently been expanding for the treatment of many neurologic disorders such as Parkinson disease, dystonia, essential tremor, Tourette's syndrome, cluster headache, epilepsy, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. The target structures for DBS include specific segregated territories within limbic, associative, or motor regions of very small subnuclei. In this review, we summarize current clinical techniques for DBS, the cognitive/mood/motor outcomes, and the relevant neuroanatomy with respect to functional territories within specific brain targets. Future development of new techniques and technology that may include a more direct visualization of "motor" territories within target structures may prove useful for avoiding side effects that may result from stimulation of associative and limbic regions. Alternatively, newer procedures may choose and specifically target non-motor territories for chronic electrical stimulation.

PMID: 17618533 [PubMed - in process]

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/full/68/2/85
NEUROLOGY 2007;68:85
© 2007 American Academy of Neurology
January 9 Highlight and Commentary
Deep brain stimulation for a teen with tics?
Donald L. Gilbert, MD, MS

Quote:

This report describes short-term changes after deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a 16-year-old boy with unusually severe Tourette syndrome (TS) symptoms.1 The report illustrates important factors in considering DBS as an experimental treatment for TS.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/abst...e2=tf_ipsecsha
Tourette’s syndrome and deep brain stimulation
J L Houeto, C Karachi, L Mallet, B Pillon, J Yelnik, V Mesnage, M L Welter, S Navarro, A Pelissolo, P Damier, B Pidoux, D Dormont, P Cornu and Y Agid

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content...e2=tf_ipsecsha
NEUROLOGY 2006;66:E12
NeuroImages
Hemi tics and deep brain stimulation
Catherine L. Gallagher, MD, P. Charles Garell, MD and Erwin B. Montgomery, Jr, MD

http://www.touchbriefings.com/pdf/2785/tipuaziz.pdf
Deep Brain Stimulation—Which Patients and When?

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