ASPIRE Blog

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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.

I was so relieved to have a diagnosis that made sense finally, which gave us the hope of treating and recovering our son.