ASPIRE Blog

“A small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus”

Prevalence of PANS in Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Marya Aman, Jennifer Coelho, BoyeeLin, Cynthia Lu, Shannon Zaitsoff, John Best and S. Evelyn StewartBC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia “Conclusion  The surprisingly high lifetime PANS rate of 52% within pediatric ED were higher than that previously reported for OCD populations. The large […]

Recent Breakthroughs in PANDAS Research Recent Breakthroughs in PANS/PANDAS Research with Kyle Williams, MD, director of the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry and Immunology Program, discussed new findings in PANDAS/PANS research both at Massachusetts General Hospital and other programs. Watch Webinar

Tara and Dave Dollinger recently donated $2.4 million to assist the efforts of Frankovich and collaborating scientists, who are searching for answers to better understand the triggers and disease course, and to hopefully develop more effective treatments for this debilitating disease. The couple hopes that this gift will lead to faster diagnosis and treatment for other families.

7-year-old explains living with PANS, new Smackover Elementary sensory room helps kids like him cope SMACKOVER, Ark. (KTVE/KARD) — Our senses combined can help give us a better view of our world but for some people out there it actually causes them some problems. That’s why the Smackover Elementary School created a room to help […]

Infections, inflammation, and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders: the neglected role of “co-infection AmirAbdoli, AliTaghipour, MajidPirestani, Mirza AliMofazzal Jahromi, AbazarRoustazadeh, HamedMir, Hoda MirzaianArdakani, AzraKenarkoohi, ShahabFalahi, MahdiKarimi. Infections, inflammation, and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders: the neglected role of “co-infection. Heliyon Vol 6, Issue 12, Dec 2020, e05645. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05645 Read Study Abstract: Neuropsychiatric disorders (NPDs) have multiple […]

“The essence of what makes up my daughter was gone. She was a different person. And we didn’t know what was going on,” said Tara Richardson.

“Bartonella bacteria are increasingly recognized as an emerging infectious disease threat. A new study by North Carolina State University researchers has found additional instances of Bartonella infection in humans who exhibited neuropsychiatric symptoms, a subset of whom also had skin lesions. This research adds to the body of evidence that not only can Bartonella infection mimic a spectrum of chronic illnesses – including mental illness – but also that dermatological symptoms may accompany infection.”

Conclusions: These findings indicated relative difficulties with aspects of executive and motor functions. Although evaluations were performed following the resolution of acute symptoms, ongoing and significant academic difficulties and emotional, behavioral, and social concerns were targets for clinical intervention and support.

Breitschwerdt, E.B.; Bradley, J.M.; Maggi, R.G.; Lashnits, E.; Reicherter, P. Bartonella Associated Cutaneous Lesions (BACL) in People with Neuropsychiatric Symptoms. Pathogens 2020, 9, 1023. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9121023. Read Article Read NC University News

Hanie Ghasemi, Homa Nomani, Amirhossein Sahebkar* and Amir Hooshang Mohammadpour*, “Anti-inflammatory Augmentation Therapy in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: A Review”, Letters in Drug Design & Discovery (2020) 17: 1198. DOI: 10.2174/1570180817999200520122910 Anti-inflammatory Augmentation Therapy in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: A Review “Results: Recent studies display that inflammation processes and the dysfunction of the immune system are likely to play […]

Around 4th grade, Sylvie was at a friend’s house, and I received a call that she wanted to come home. She was scared as she had seen something upsetting on TV; turns out it was a cat that had fallen from a roof and broken its leg. It was a little strange that she had such a strong reaction, and afterward, she was withdrawn. Soon after, Sylvie came home from school and said she could no longer eat because she was afraid of choking and dying. She loved food and, prior to this, ate with gusto. We struggled and cajoled her into eating; the whole family got involved, and after about two weeks of extremely slow eating and chewing, she got back to somewhat normal.