August 29, 2022
- For the first time, a team of researchers from Brown University has recorded electrical signals in the human brain associated with ebbs and flows of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms over an extended period. This new study could be an essential advancement for an emerging therapy called deep brain stimulation (DBS), which may be responsive to common changes in OCD symptoms. DBS shows great potential for treating brain disorders. Recent research from Canada discovered that the therapy stopped severe self-injurious behaviors in a young girl with autism.
- Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Institute found that individuals who had half of their brains removed as children (due to severe epilepsy) scored remarkably well on face and word recognition tests. The study’s authors expected their subjects with only their right hemisphere to excel at face recognition, but not do well at word recognition since the right hemisphere is used to process images while the left hemisphere processes words. Conversely, they expected the opposite results for those who only had their left hemisphere. Instead, the team discovered that both groups performed similarly on both tests. Both groups were approximately 86% accurate on both tests compared to a control group consisting of people without a hemispherectomy, who had an average of 96% accuracy.
- New research shows that washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) significantly improved autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autism. WMT also reduced the children’s systemic inflammation. Interestingly, further ASD symptom improvements were seen after three additional WMT courses.
- U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Tim Scott (R-SC) have introduced the Occupational Therapy Mental Health Parity Act (S. 4712). This bill will help expand access to occupational therapy services for mental and behavioral health disorders under Medicare and Medicaid. S. 4712 seeks to remove barriers to the provision of occupational therapy services for someone with a mental health diagnosis under Medicare and Medicaid—where these services are an allowed but under-recognized benefit.
