Written by Dr. Jean Doak, Clinical Director, UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (CEED)   The holiday season is a time accompanied by celebrations, observances, religious, family, and cultural traditions, and increased time with family and friends. While it can be a time of excitement, anticipation, and joy, it can also be a time … Read more

By Gabby Hodgins, MD How often do we hear the sentiment, ‘it’s just hair?’ I would argue that this sentiment, although often well-meaning, is simply untrue. Being able to take care of our own skin and hair is something that gives us as human beings autonomy, dignity, and a means of self-expression. That said, the ability for all … Read more

This study examined data from a randomized controlled trial to determine whether improvements in child social communication skills were mediated through changes in caregiver responsiveness. Results indicated that as caregiver responsiveness increased over 8 months of intervention, the child’s social communication skills also increased, suggesting that caregiver responsiveness may be a mechanism through which to … Read more

Brain and behavioral markers at 6 and 12 months of age have shown to be predictive of later autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This work proposes a empirically supported research agenda for the development of a very early intervention for infants at very high likelihood of developing ASD symptoms, that can be implemented before 18 months … Read more

This manuscript reports on an innovative approach to examine brain functional network connectivity using an independent component analysis (ICA)-based approach. We evaluated the approach by studying group differences in the context of a study of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data collected from schizophrenia (SZ) individuals and healthy controls (HC). The predictive ability of … Read more

Adolescence is a period of dynamic neural development, and research has determined that some of the consequences of binge drinking can be long lasting with deficits persisting into adulthood in a variety of cognitive-behavioral tasks. Here we review several of the consequences of adolescent ethanol exposure in light of sex as a critical biological variable.

Binge alcohol exposure impacts brain function and behavior, and this impact is often more pronounced when it occurs during developmental periods such as adolescence or fetal development. This review focuses on how binge alcohol drinking in people and exposure in animals impairs cognitive flexibility and the brain mechanisms underlying that effect.