Articles

A new study, led by Dr. Lorenza Putignani from the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome (Italy), has found that gut microbiota may promote gut inflammation and activation of an immune response in PANS/PANDAS patients.

The researchers collected three fecal samples over consecutive days and, using 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA)-based metagenomics, they analyzed the gut microbiota composition of a cohort of 30 PANS/PANDAS patients aged 4-16 years (20 males and 10 females), comparing them with 70 healthy controls.

A far-reaching study conducted by scientists at Cincinnati Children’s reports that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)—best known for causing mononucleosis—also increases the risks for some people of developing seven other major diseases.

A major finding from researchers at Houston Methodist reveals a significant number of people diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may actually have a treatable immune system disorder. The condition causes NMDA receptors to stop functioning properly and can result in symptoms commonly associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.

BALTIMORE — The shower served as a litmus test of sorts, a daily struggle instead of the footnote it should be. Thirteen-year-old Connor Odom had always been a little slow to get out of the house in the morning, but this was something else. He’d be in the shower for hours, as mornings stretched into afternoons. His mother buried herself in research, trying to understand as much as she could about OCD. She ended up coming across a book that she believes changed their lives: “Saving Sammy: A Mother’s Fight to Cure Her Son’s OCD” by Beth Alison Maloney.

And it may have nothing to do with you. One person infected with strep bacteria might get a painful sore throat; another might face a life-threatening blood infection. Now, scientists are trying to pin down why.

I almost didn’t take my 7-year-old son, Luke, to the doctor right away when he experienced a sudden onset of excessive blinking. He had just started a new school and was having trouble adjusting so I figured the stress of trying to fit in was producing this psychological habit.

I had no idea at the time his tics were the result of a strep infection I never even knew he had. Thankfully, our pediatrician made the correct diagnosis and treatment began immediately. My son was one of the lucky ones.

It’s strep throat season, and while many children are treated for the infection and suffer no problems, strep can trigger rare behavioral disorders in some unlucky kids, CBS reports.

For some, strep can cause disorders such as severe tantrums, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and even tics. These rare complications are caused by an immune system that attacks the strep bacteria and the child’s brain.

THE adoring parents of a “miracle” baby are slowly adjusting to life without their perfect little girl.

Less than four months ago Esmae-Rose Bailey was fit and eagerly anticipating her first day at school.

But at the start of the summer holidays, the four-year-old contracted chicken pox and within hours developed obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), physical tics, anxiety and underwent a personality change.

A new brain imaging study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows for the first time that brain inflammation is significantly elevated – more than 30 per cent higher – in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) than in people without the condition. Published in JAMA Psychiatry, the study provides compelling evidence for a new potential direction for treating this anxiety disorder, which can be debilitating for people who experience it.

Young Brandon was always a happy, bright and content child, his parents say, so when he would get sick with a strep throat and fever three years in a row — always in February and always followed days later with distressingly unhappy behavior — his parents knew something was wrong.