Tic disorders and the premonitory urge

The aims of this study were to examine a non-English (Hebrew) version of a scale that measures the premonitory urge in children suffering from tic disorder, as well as examine the correlations of the urge with demographic and clinical aspects of Tourette Syndrome. Forty children and adolescents, suffering from tics participated in this study. They were assessed with the Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS); the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS); the Childhood Version of the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CYBOCS); the ADHD Rating Scale IV (Conners) Scale; the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED); and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI). The mean PUTS score was 20.15 (SD = 5.89). For the entire sample the PUTS was found to be internally consistent at a = 0.79. Youths older than 10 years had higher consistency (a = 0.83) than youths younger than 10 (a = 0.69). Premonitory urge was not correlated with tic severity in the entire sample. In youths older than 10, as opposed to youths younger than 10, premonitory urge did correlate with obsessions, compulsions and depression, but not with anxiety or with ADHD. The premonitory urge can be measured reliably and the PUTS is a useful instrument for measuring this important phenomena. Premonitory urges seems to be related to obsessions, compulsions, and depression in older children and this may have implications for the developmental psychopatholgy of these symptoms

Exploratory analysis of obsessive compulsive symptom dimensions in children and adolescents: a Prospective follow-up study

BACKGROUND: Recent statistical approaches based on factor analysis of obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms in adult patients have identified dimensions that seem more effective in symptom-based taxonomies and appear to be more stable over time. Although a phenotypic continuum from childhood to adulthood has been hypothesized, no factor analytic studies have been performed in juvenile patients, and the stability of OC dimensions in children and adolescents has not been assessed. METHODS: This study was designed to perform an exploratory factor analysis of OC symptoms in a sample of children and adolescents with OC disorder (OCD) and to investigate the course of factors over time (mean follow-up period: four years). RESULTS: We report for the first time that four symptom dimensions, remarkably similar to those previously described in adults, underlined the heterogeneity of OC symptoms in children and adolescents. Moreover, after follow-up, the symptom dimensions identified remained essentially unmodified. The changes observed concerned the intensity of dimensions rather than shifts from one dimension to another. CONCLUSION: These findings reinforce the hypothesis of a phenotypic continuum of OC symptoms from childhood to adulthood. They also strengthen the interest for investigating the clinical, neurobiological and genetic heterogeneity of OCD using a dimension-based approach

Voluntary motor drive: possible reduction in Tourette syndrome

Electrophysiologically, Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterized by shortened cortical silent period (CSP), reflecting decreased motor inhibition. However, voluntary versus involuntary aspects of inhibitory functions in TS are not well understood. Hence, investigating voluntary motor drive (VMD) could help to elucidate this issue. A group of 14 healthy adolescents was compared with subjects of same age suffering from TS with (N = 6) and without (N = 6) presence of distal tics. Basic resting and active motor thresholds (RMT and AMT, respectively) as well as suprathreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation-conditioned RMT and AMT were determined during the CSP. The difference between AMT and RMT was considered as VMD quantum. No group-differences were found in RMT or AMT. Subjects with distal tics showed reduced VMD compared to healthy controls while patients without distal tics did not differ from controls. In the second half of CSP, patients with distal tics showed also diminished VMD compared to tic-patients without distal tics. The findings support the notion, that TS shows possible reduction of VMD and is associated with central motor threshold alterations confined to the very motor networks related to the tics observed

Tourette’s disorder and other tic disorders in DSM-5: a comment

Classification of tic disorders will be revised in the forthcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5). We do not support the suggestion to move tic disorders to “Anxiety and Obsessive–Compulsive Disorders”, if the section “Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence” is not retained. Other than that, most proposed changes of the criteria for tic disorders contain a number of welcome improvements, e.g., the more unified definition of tics including the removal of the term “stereotyped” and the better capture of the temporal pattern of tics (e.g., removal of the maximum 3 months criterion for a tic-free period in chronic tic disorders). But, unfortunately there are some inconsistencies in detail, e.g., the unification of diagnostic criteria for tic disorders had not been consistently pursued in transient tic disorder. In sum, the proposed DSM-5 criteria could be seen as an important step forward particularly in clinical routine. However, continued research is needed to justify the existing and proposed classification of tic disorders as well as to better clarify what other changes should be made in the DSM-5 and beyond

Familial influences on the clinical characteristics of major depression: a twin study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66157/1/j.1600-0447.1992.tb03283.x.pd

Motor-Cortical Interaction in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

BACKGROUND: In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) increased activation of the primary motor cortex (M1) before and during movement execution followed by increased inhibition after movement termination was reported. The present study aimed at investigating, whether this activation pattern is due to altered functional interaction between motor cortical areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 10 GTS-patients and 10 control subjects performed a self-paced finger movement task while neuromagnetic brain activity was recorded using Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Cerebro-cerebral coherence as a measure of functional interaction was calculated. During movement preparation and execution coherence between contralateral M1 and supplementary motor area (SMA) was significantly increased at beta-frequency in GTS-patients. After movement termination no significant differences between groups were evident. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present data suggest that increased M1 activation in GTS-patients might be due to increased functional interaction between SMA and M1 most likely reflecting a pathophysiological marker of GTS. The data extend previous findings of motor-cortical alterations in GTS by showing that local activation changes are associated with alterations of functional networks between premotor and primary motor areas. Interestingly enough, alterations were evident during preparation and execution of voluntary movements, which implies a general theme of increased motor-cortical interaction in GTS

Postural control anomalies in children with Tourette syndrome

The goal of the present study was to determine whether postural control is affected in Gilles-de-la-Tourette syndrome (TS). Center of pressure (COP) displacements were recorded in children with TS and unaffected siblings (7-16 yrs) in three conditions using a force platform: 1) Eyes-Open, 2) Eyes-Closed, 3) One-Leg standing with eyes open. The COP range and velocity were higher in children with TS than in unaffected siblings in all conditions. These differences could not be attributed to age, present tic severity, comorbidities (hyperactivity and compulsions) or medication. The data suggest that sub-clinical postural control anomalies are present in TS