Publications by authors named "Rebecca Hommer"

This report presents results of parent-implemented behavioral treatments for a child with cortical visual impairment (CVI), intellectual disability (ID), epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) associated with a pathogenic variant in the SCN2A gene (i.e., SCN2A-Related Disorder).

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The human brain undergoes rapid development during the first years of life. Beginning in utero, a wide array of biological, social, and environmental factors can have lasting impacts on brain structure and function. To understand how prenatal and early life experiences alter neurodevelopmental trajectories and shape health outcomes, several NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices collaborated to support and launch the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study.

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Existing clinical tools that measure non-seizure outcomes lack the range and granularity needed to capture skills in developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE)-affected individuals who also fall in the severe to profound range of intellectual disability. This effectively excludes those with severe impairments from clinical trials, impeding the ability of sponsors to evaluate disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). The Inchstone Project, an international, patient advocate-led collaboration, brings together leading researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and advocates to develop an adapted, validated assessment battery within 5 years.

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Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are rare, often monogenic neurodevelopmental conditions. Most affected individuals have refractory seizures. All have multiple severe impairments which can be as life-limiting as or more limiting than the seizures themselves.

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The objective of this study is to examine the association between headache and mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of American youth. We used the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement to assess sex-specific prevalence of lifetime migraine and non-migraine headache using modified International Headache Society criteria and examine associations between headache subtypes and DSM-IV mental disorders. Adolescent report (n = 10,123) was used to identify headache subtypes and anxiety, mood, eating, and substance use disorders.

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Opioid-related death and overdose have now reached epidemic proportions. In response to this public health crisis, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, an aggressive, trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. Herein, we describe two NIH HEAL Initiative programs to accelerate development of non-opioid, non-addictive pain treatments: The Preclinical Screening Platform for Pain (PSPP) and Early Phase Pain Investigation Clinical Network (EPPIC-Net).

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Background: There is an epidemic of obesity in children and adolescents. Research into the self-regulatory factors that drive eating behavior is of critical importance. Food craving contributes to overeating and difficulty with weight loss and is strongly correlated with self-regulation.

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Movement, behavioral, and neuropsychiatric disorders in children have been linked to infections and a group of anti-neuronal autoantibodies, implying dopamine receptor-mediated encephalitis within the basal ganglia. The purpose of this study was to determine if anti-neuronal biomarkers, when used as a group, confirmed the acute disease in Sydenham chorea (SC) and pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS). IgG autoantibodies against four neuronal autoantigens (tubulin, lysoganglioside G, and dopamine receptors D1 and D2) were detected in SC sera (N=8), sera and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from two groups of PANDAS cases (N=25 first group and N=35 second group), sera from Tourette's syndrome (N=18), obsessive-compulsive disorder (N=25), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (N=18), and healthy controls (N=28) by direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

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The Trier Social Stress Test for children (TSST-C) adapted from TSST is one of the most commonly used laboratory paradigms for investigating the effects of stress on cognitive, affective and physiological responses in children and adolescents. Considering that laboratory procedures generate a significant amount of stress to children and adolescents, even in the absence of a stress paradigm, it is important to validate TSST-C against an inactive control condition in which the stress components were absent. Using a randomized design, we tested an inactive control condition, which replaced the TSST-C with a benign video clip (nature scenes viewed while standing), thus removing the stress associated components of the TSST-C.

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Background: We previously demonstrated the specificity of familial transmission of the atypical subtype of depression, primarily characterized by overeating and oversleeping. However, the specific components of this subtype that are familial have not been established. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the familial specificity of atypical depression can be attributed to the association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and overweight/obesity with mood disorders.

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Little is known about the natural history of children with pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS). This study prospectively followed 33 children with PANDAS for up to 4.8 years (mean 3.

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Objective: Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) are hypothesized to occur as a result of cross-reactive antibodies produced in response to group A streptococcal infections. Previous research suggests that immunomodulatory therapies, such as intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), may lead to rapid and sustained symptom improvement in patients with PANDAS.

Method: A total of 35 children meeting criteria for PANDAS and moderate to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were enrolled in a randomized-entry, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 6-week trial of IVIG (1 g/kg/day on 2 consecutive days), followed by optional open-label treatment for nonresponders, with follow-up at 12 and 24 weeks.

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Study Objectives: Polysomnographic investigation of sleep architecture in children presenting with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS).

Methods: Fifteen consecutive subjects meeting criteria for PANS (mean age = 7.2 y; range 3-10 y) underwent single-night full polysomnography (PSG) read by a pediatric neurologist.

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Background: Few prospective studies examine the link between lower heart rate variability (HRV) and depression symptoms in adolescents. A recent animal model specifically links HRV to anhedonia, suggesting a potential translational model for human research.

Method: We investigated the association between spectral measures of resting HRV and depressive symptoms measured one year later, among 73 adolescents, aged 11-18 years.

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Background: Work examining the link between lower heart rate variability (HRV) and depression in children and adolescents is lacking, especially in light of the physiological changes that occur during pubertal development.

Method: We investigated the association between spectral measures of resting HRV and depressive symptoms among 127 children and adolescents, ages 10-17. Using spectral analysis, we evaluated (1) the association between relative high frequency (HF) HRV and depressive symptoms; (2) the predictive power of relative HF HRV for depressive symptoms in the context of relative low frequency (LF) and relative very low frequency (VLF) HRV; and (3) the relationship between relative HF, LF, and VLF band activity, age and pubertal maturation.

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Background: The first cases of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) were described >15 years ago. Since that time, the literature has been divided between studies that successfully demonstrate an etiologic relationship between Group A streptococcal (GAS) infections and childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and those that fail to find an association. One possible explanation for the conflicting reports is that the diagnostic criteria proposed for PANDAS are not specific enough to describe a unique and homogeneous cohort of patients.

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Background: Severe, chronic irritability is receiving increased research attention, and is the cardinal symptom of a new diagnostic category, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD). Although data from epidemiological community samples suggest that childhood chronic irritability predicts unipolar depression and anxiety in adulthood, whether these symptoms are stable and cause ongoing clinical impairment is unknown. The present study presents 4-year prospective and longitudinal diagnostic and impairment data on a clinical sample of children selected for symptoms of severe irritability (operationalized as severe mood dysregulation [SMD]).

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Objective: Sudden onset clinically significant eating restrictions are a defining feature of the clinical presentation of some of the cases of pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). Restrictions in food intake are typically fueled by contamination fears; fears of choking, vomiting, or swallowing; and/or sensory issues, such as texture, taste, or olfactory concerns. However, body image distortions may also be present.

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Purpose: Although talking to youth about drugs is often recommended to parents, we know little about how parents actually discuss drugs with their children in the moment and how parental advice is linked to youth arousal and substance use. This study examined observed parental drug use advice and parenting behaviors during parent-adolescent drug use discussions and associations with adolescent physiological responses and substance use.

Methods: Fifty-eight 12-17 year olds and their primary caregivers participated in a laboratory session in which parents and youth discussed the topic of alcohol and/or drug use for 10 minutes.

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We examined event-related electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations, including event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP) and intertrial coherence (ITC), to compare feedback processing during a chance-based reward vs. non-reward task in groups of 10-12-year-old (n=42), 13-14-year-old (n=34) and 15-17-year-olds (n=32). Because few, if any studies have applied these analytic methods to examine feedback processing in children or adolescents, we used a fine-grained approach that explored one half hertz by 16ms increments during feedback (no win vs.

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We employed event-related potentials to examine the feedback-related negativity (FRN), during a non-learning reward versus non-reward task. We compared 10-12-year-old, 13-14-year-old, and 15-17-year-old youth (n = 91). Age effects included a larger FRN for younger age groups, regardless of feedback type, and a decrease in peak latency for feedback, across age groups as a linear trend.

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Background: We used a dot-probe paradigm to examine attention bias toward threat (i.e., angry) and happy face stimuli in severe mood dysregulation (SMD) versus healthy comparison (HC) youth.

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