Transcranial magnetic stimulation is not a cure-all for back pain

2025-11-13

The ineffectiveness of this intervention serves as a reminder that research is still far from finding a satisfactory solution to chronic back pain.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a promising therapeutic approach for many ailments that affect us, but unfortunately it may not be the long-awaited remedy for chronic back pain. This is suggested by a study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy by a research team led by Professor Hugo Massé-Alarie from the Faculty of Medicine and the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Rehabilitation and Social Integration at Université Laval.

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Recent News

A method to better measure the impacts of hyperacusis

2025-11-25

A team has developed a protocol to more objectively assess the functional consequences of intolerance to loud sounds.

Intolerance to loud sounds — hyperacusis — has a subjective nature that complicates both diagnosis and research on this auditory disorder. Indeed, clinicians must rely on self-assessments from affected individuals to determine how much the condition interferes with their daily activities. However, an experimental protocol developed by researchers at Université Laval could help reduce some of this subjectivity, suggests an article recently published in the scientific journal Hearing Research.

Hyperacusis is believed to affect between 4% and 17% of the adult population. “It is increasingly recognized as an auditory disorder, even though there is no scientific consensus regarding its definition,” notes the study’s lead author, Philippe Fournier, professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Rehabilitation and Social Integration at Université Laval.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: the metabolic pathway to slow the disease

2025-11-20

What if amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were also a metabolic disease? This is the question raised by a research team led by Chantelle Sephton, professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval and researcher at the CERVO Research Centre. Their work using a mouse model suggests that the way nervous system cells use energy contributes to the death of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

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Three questions about the links between ADHD and entrepreneurship

2025-11-20

Professor Matthias Pepin and postdoctoral fellow Roxane Hoyer explain attention-deficit disorder, its growing prevalence, and its effects in the entrepreneurial world.

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, an expert in entrepreneurial mindset and a neuroscience researcher teamed up to analyze an intriguing fact: the slightly higher incidence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among entrepreneurs.
Matthias Pepin, professor in the Faculty of Business Administration, and Roxane Hoyer, postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine, examine the effects that ADHD can have on an entrepreneurial journey.

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Michelle Janusz Advances to the North American Grand Finale of the Three Minute Thesis Competition

2025-11-13

Doctoral student Michelle Janusz, the first member of the community to advance this far in this science-communication competition, shares her creative process for captivating the public.

Michelle Janusz, a PhD student in electrical engineering at Université Laval, won second place at the national finals of the Three Minute Thesis competition, the English-language counterpart of Ma thèse en 180 secondes. The event, organized by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, was held on November 6 in Ottawa.

This achievement qualifies her for the North American grand finale, which will take place in Washington, D.C., on December 6 as part of the annual Council of Graduate Schools conference. She is the first Université Laval contestant ever to reach this stage of the competition.

Her presentation, titled “Silencing the Alarm: A New Approach to Chronic Pain,” compares chronic pain signals to a faulty alarm system. In it, she explains her project: an implant that uses light to activate and deactivate specific nerves in the spinal cord to stop the transmission of pain signals.

Read the article on Ulaval Nouvelles.

Understanding emotions conveyed through the voice may decline with age

2025-11-13

This decline also affects people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and individuals who have experienced a stroke.

When you speak with older relatives, do they sometimes seem unmoved by your sadness or indifferent to stories about events that amazed you? If so, don’t hold it against them—this lack of reaction may be explained by the fact that the ability to understand emotions conveyed through vocal modulations decreases with age. This is what a study recently published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research by a Université Laval research team has shown.

The research team reached this conclusion after comparing the ability to decode affective prosody in young adults and older individuals. “Affective prosody is the acoustic modulation of the voice that allows emotions to be conveyed. It is more important in daily life than we realize because, just like words, facial expressions and gestures, it carries essential information for communication,” explains the lead author of the study, Laura Monetta, professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Rehabilitation and Social Integration at Université Laval.

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