The letters O-C-D have become a punch line to describe people who make lists or wash their hands a lot. But for some people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the intrusive thoughts and rituals are severely disabling and don't respond to drugs or behavioral therapies.

So doctors have been trying a new treatment for OCD: deep brain stimulation.

Deep brain stimulation is best known as a way to reduce the tremors of Parkinson's disease. A surgeon places wires deep in the brain that carry electrical impulses from an implanted device a bit like a pacemaker.

The Democratic Whip in the House says it's likely that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will not get any votes from Democrats for the debt plan he presented earlier this week and is planning on putting up for a vote tomorrow.

"What Boehner is offering is a short term, interim solution, which will continue to keep us in this position," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in an interview with All Things Considered's Robert Siegel.

In recent years, Japan's leaders haven't seemed able to hang onto power for more than a year, and the current prime minister, Naoto Kan, is poised to be the latest casualty.

For months, critics have been hurling insults at the country's much-unloved leader and calling for his resignation.

The frailty of Japan's leadership reflects the fact that, more than 60 years after World War II, Japan has yet to enjoy a full-fledged democratic political system.

First of a three-part series

It's lunchtime, and Sarah Bullard and her four kids gather around the island in the kitchen of their Bristol, R.I., home. Her husband, a Navy officer, is out of town.

This kitchen is what sold her on the house on a snowy December day.

"We walked through, and it was a cluttered mess," Bullard says. "And we sort of looked at each other and walked through into the kitchen, and my husband looked at me and was like, 'Uh-oh. This is it. It's a beautiful kitchen.' "

In his new book, Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate, the journalist Juan Williams argues that his contract was terminated by NPR as part of a larger pattern of the suppression of unwelcome opinions.

In its latest list of Fittest and Fattest States, the online medical reference resource WebMD placed Kentucky in the top ten ‘fattest states’. Kentucky’s obesity rate for adults is 31.5%, placing the state at number six on the list.  But the rate of 10-17 year old kids came in at 21%, which is third in that category. The list makes reference to the 2.8 mile stretch of Broadway that’s populated by 24 fast-food restaurants, as well as the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement.

Mayor Greg Fischer announced on Wednesday that The Kentucky Derby Festival will add another week to its schedule. It’s called Give a Day and for one week before Thunder Over Louisville it asks individuals, businesses and non-profits to volunteer their service throughout the week.

After a southern-Indiana teen died of heat stroke last week, questions arose about the accusation that he was denied treatment at an immediate care center.  According to accounts, the boy’s stepfather took him to the Norton Immediate Care Center in Lyndon before calling EMS at the center’s advisement. A Norton Spokesperson said this week that the boy was not denied care and was not actually brought into the clinic. Rather, his stepfather described his symptoms to the doctors, who referred the man to an emergency room.

A recent quarterly report issued by the state found 291 deficiencies in Kentucky's nursing homes and advocates say they see see little change each quarter. The information, obtained through an Open Records request by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, shows only one nursing home, Tanbark Health Care Center in Lexington, boasting no deficiencies. Meanwhile, nine facilities had 10 or more. 

As the U.S. teeters closer to the brink of debt default, the political stalemate is being watched closely by its biggest foreign creditor, China. At last count, Beijing owned almost $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt.

Chinese officials have been quietly expressing their concern, but Beijing's options are limited.

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met senior Chinese official Dai Bingguo in Shenzhen on Monday, the mood was friendly. But behind the scenes, anxiety in China is rising as the minutes tick closer toward that Aug. 2 deadline.