Tourettes Action Funded Research 2017

1. The impact of executive functioning and time processing abilities on adaptive functioning in children with Tourette Syndrome

Dr Tara Murphy, Consultant Paediatric Neuropsychologist, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK

Award: £1013 

Study Duration: 2017 - 2018

Aims of the study

This project will draw together important questions raised from several areas of research into TA including adaptive function, comorbidity, executive function, and temporal processing:

1. To test for differences in performance of children with TS across several domains of adaptive functioning (i.e. socialisation, communication, and daily living).
2. To test the hypothesis suggested by the literature that the adaptive functioning skills of socialisation and communication are disproportionately impaired, relative to daily living, in children with TS.
3. To examine the contribution of executive functioning (EF, using ecologically valid, behavioural and experimental measures) and time processing abilities on parent report adaptive functioning in children with TS.
4. To test if children with TS show deficits in executive functioning and examine whether EF function is predicted by levels of ADHD and OCD.
5. To test if differences in performance exist across different components of EF functioning.
6. To examine the contribution of attention deficit traits and tic severity to temporal processing and adaptive functioning.

Click here to read the results of the research study

2. Developing novel and effective non-drug therapies for Tourette syndrome based upon tic prediction and non-invasive brain stimulation (NiBS)

Professor Stephen Jackson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Nottingham, UK

Award: £120,867

Study Duration: 2017 - 2023

Important note: This grant was originally awarded in 2017 but additional funds were awarded to support the development of the wearable median nerve stimulation device. This extended the life of this grant to 2023 (including a period 2020 – 2021 when research was suspended due to Covid-19).

Aims of the study

The primary aim of this project is to develop a safe, effective, and novel treatment for TS based on the recording of brain electrical signals (EEG) in combination with delivery of non-invasive brain stimulation [NiBS]. Key objectives will be to:

1. Using multiple converging brain imaging techniques, identify the neural antecedents that precede the execution of tics and their relationship to one another, in particular:
   1. Use functional brain imaging (MRI) techniques to identify areas of increased brain activity that precede the execution of tics.
   2. Use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify the timecourse and locus of brain magnetic signals that precede the execution of tics.
   3. Use electroencephalography (EEG) to identify reliable brain electrical signals that immediately precede the execution of tics.
2. Identify a non-invasive brain stimulation (NiBS) protocol (i.e., type of stimulation, site of stimulation, duration of stimulation, intensity of stimulation) that reliably reduces the probability of tic execution.
3. Investigate whether a period of NiBS treatment in which NiBS is delivered immediately preceding the onset of tics can reduce the association between the neural antecedents of tics and tic execution, and thus reduce tic expression.

Click here to read the results of the research study

3. Causes of mortality in Tourette’s and Chronic Tic Disorders: A Swedish total population, 40-year longitudinal cohort study

Lorena Fernández de la Cruz, Principal Researcher, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Award: £53,000

Study Duration: 2017 - 2019

Aims of the study

The main objective of this project is to comprehensively examine the all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Tourette’s Syndrome and Chronic Tic Disorder (henceforth TS) at the population level. Specific aims are as follows:

1. To quantify the loss of life expectancy in individuals with TS
2. To establish the all-cause and cause-specific mortality in TS
3. To determine the extent to which comorbid psychiatric disorders explain the risks of premature mortality in TS
4. To explore if all-cause and cause-specific mortality differ in men and women with TS and in patients whose tics persist in adult life
5. To investigate a possible association between TS and conditions that are known to shorten life expectancy, such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases
6. To explore if cumulative use of medications typically prescribed for TS, particularly antipsychotics, is associated with premature mortality or conditions that are known to shorten life expectancy (e.g., metabolic and cardiovascular complications).

Click here to read the results of the research study