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Ferreira R, Bastos-Leite AJ. Arterial spin labelling magnetic resonance imaging and perfusion patterns in neurocognitive and other mental disorders: a systematic review. Neuroradiology 2024; 66:1065-1081. [PMID: 38536448 DOI: 10.1007/s00234-024-03323-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/18/2024]
Abstract
We reviewed 33 original research studies assessing brain perfusion, using consensus guidelines from a "white paper" issued by the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Perfusion Study Group and the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action BM1103 ("Arterial Spin Labelling Initiative in Dementia"; https://www.cost.eu/actions/BM1103/ ). The studies were published between 2011 and 2023 and included participants with subjective cognitive decline plus; neurocognitive disorders, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI); as well as schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar and major depressive disorders, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, panic disorder and alcohol use disorder. Hypoperfusion associated with cognitive impairment was the major finding across the spectrum of cognitive decline. Regional hyperperfusion also was reported in MCI, AD, frontotemporal dementia phenocopy syndrome and VCI. Hypoperfused structures found to aid in diagnosing AD included the precunei and adjacent posterior cingulate cortices. Hypoperfused structures found to better diagnose patients with FTLD were the anterior cingulate cortices and frontal regions. Hypoperfusion in patients with DLB was found to relatively spare the temporal lobes, even after correction for partial volume effects. Hyperperfusion in the temporal cortices and hypoperfusion in the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices were found in patients with schizophrenia, most of whom were on medication and at the chronic stage of illness. Infratentorial structures were found to be abnormally perfused in patients with bipolar or major depressive disorders. Brain perfusion abnormalities were helpful in diagnosing most neurocognitive disorders. Abnormalities reported in VCI and the remaining mental disorders were heterogeneous and not generalisable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rita Ferreira
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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Goodrich AJ, Kleeman MJ, Tancredi DJ, Ludeña YJ, Bennett DH, Hertz-Picciotto I, Schmidt RJ. Pre-pregnancy ozone and ultrafine particulate matter exposure during second year of life associated with decreased cognitive and adaptive functioning at aged 2-5 years. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 252:118854. [PMID: 38574983 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Revised: 03/17/2024] [Accepted: 03/31/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study sought to investigate the association of prenatal and early life exposure to a mixture of air pollutants on cognitive and adaptive outcomes separately in children with or without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS Utilizing data from the CHARGE case-control study (birth years: 2000-2016), we predicted daily air concentrations of NO2, O3, and particulate matter <0.1 μm (PM0.1), between 0.1 and 2.5 μm (PM0.1-2.5), and between 2.5 and 10 μm (PM2.5-10) using chemical transport models with ground-based monitor adjustments. Exposures were evaluated for pre-pregnancy, each trimester, and the first two years of life. Individual and combined effects of pollutants were assessed with Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) and Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), separately for children with ASD (n = 660) and children without ASD (typically developing (TD) and developmentally delayed (DD) combined; n = 753) using hierarchical Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) models with three groups: PM size fractions (PM0.1, PM0.1-2.5, PM2.5-10), NO2, and O3. RESULTS Pre-pregnancy Ozone was strongly negatively associated with all scores in the non-ASD group (group posterior inclusion probability (gPIP) = 0.83-1.00). The PM group during year 2 was also strongly negatively associated with all scores in the non-ASD group (gPIP = 0.59-0.93), with PM0.1 driving the group association (conditional PIP (cPIP) = 0.73-0.96). Weaker and less consistent associations were observed between PM0.1-2.5 during pre-pregnancy and ozone during year 1 and VABS scores in the ASD group. CONCLUSIONS These findings prompt further investigation into ozone and ultrafine PM as potential environmental risk factors for neurodevelopment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda J Goodrich
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, 128 Medical Sciences 1C, One Shields Ave, Sacramento, CA, USA.
| | - Michael J Kleeman
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Daniel J Tancredi
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Yunin J Ludeña
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, 128 Medical Sciences 1C, One Shields Ave, Sacramento, CA, USA; Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Deborah H Bennett
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, 128 Medical Sciences 1C, One Shields Ave, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Irva Hertz-Picciotto
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, 128 Medical Sciences 1C, One Shields Ave, Sacramento, CA, USA; Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Rebecca J Schmidt
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, 128 Medical Sciences 1C, One Shields Ave, Sacramento, CA, USA; Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
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Harrop C, Tomaszewski B, Putnam O, Klein C, Lamarche E, Klinger L. Are the diagnostic rates of autistic females increasing? An examination of state-wide trends. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2024; 65:973-983. [PMID: 38181181 PMCID: PMC11161335 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism has been considered a 'male-dominant' condition. However, recent research suggests that autistic females are underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and later diagnosed. Females may also have different and more nuanced behavioral profiles. To examine diagnosis rates of females, we used 20 years of state-wide data to characterize historical trends in the diagnosis of autism in females to determine whether the proportion of females diagnosed with autism has changed over time. METHODS Data were drawn from 10,247 participants (males = 8,319, females = 1928) who received an autism diagnosis between 2000 and 2021 from state-wide autism centers associated with the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program. RESULTS The rates of females diagnosed with autism increased at a greater rate compared with males. Age of diagnosis remained consistently higher for females. Late diagnosis (defined as 13+) increased over time across both males and females, however, was more commonly associated with females, particularly those with co-occurring intellectual disability. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that the proportion of females diagnosed with autism has increased steadily over a 20-year period, which likely reflects greater societal knowledge of how autism may manifest differentially in females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Harrop
- Department of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
- University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program
| | - Brianne Tomaszewski
- University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
| | - Orla Putnam
- Department of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
| | - Claire Klein
- University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
| | | | - Laura Klinger
- University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
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Hartley G, Sirois F, Purrington J, Rabey Y. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Autism: A Meta-Analysis. TRAUMA, VIOLENCE & ABUSE 2024; 25:2297-2315. [PMID: 38041427 DOI: 10.1177/15248380231213314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
Evidence suggests that autistic children have a higher probability of experiencing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) compared to their non-autistic peers. This meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42022262635) aimed to quantify the association of autism and ACEs. Eight databases and Google Scholar were searched for studies that reported dichotomous outcomes regarding the associations between ACEs and autistic individuals, compared to non-autistic individuals. A random-effects model was used to calculate the average Odds Ratio (OR) of the relationship between a diagnosis of autism and ACEs. A total of 40 studies with 5,619,584 participants were included, generating an overall average OR 2.11 (CI 1.61, 2.77). Significant differences in the magnitude of association were found across studies with regards to the type of ACEs studied, comparison groups, and population type. Overall, moderate certainty evidence (downgraded for bias) indicates that autistic individuals are at greater risk of experiencing ACEs, compared to non-autistic individuals. Appropriate support for autistic individuals and their families are required to prevent ACEs and treat the impact of ACEs.
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Smith M, Ferguson HJ. Indistinguishable behavioural and neural correlates of perceptual self-other distinction in autistic and neurotypical adults. Cortex 2024; 176:242-259. [PMID: 38760243 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
Previous research has suggested that self-bias (i.e., enhanced cognitive processing of self-versus other-relevant information) may be atypical in autism spectrum conditions (ASC), perhaps due to difficulties with self-other distinction. However, empirical evidence for this is inconsistent, and the neural basis of processing differences remains unknown. We present two experiments that aimed to test perceptual self-bias and familiarity effects in ASC using a perceptual-association task. Participants were asked to distinguish face/label associations of the self from those of other people of differing levels of familiarity (i.e., friend vs stranger). Experiment 1 took an individual differences approach by testing whether behavioural self-bias is associated with the number of autistic traits in a neurotypical adult sample (N = 59). Experiment 2 took a case-control approach by testing whether behavioural self-bias and associated ERP responses differ between neurotypical (N = 27) and autistic (N = 30) adults. Across both experiments, behavioural results showed that participants experienced a self-bias (self > friend and stranger) and a familiarity effect (e.g., friend > stranger); neither effect was affected by the number of autistic traits or autism diagnosis. In Experiment 2, analysis of N1, N2, and P3 ERP components revealed a typical self-bias in both groups (self distinct from friend and stranger), and only the autistic group showed evidence of a familiarity effect (N2 more negative-going for stranger than friend). The findings are discussed in relation to self-other distinction ability, and the relevance of other neuropsychological and psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and alexithymia are also considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marchella Smith
- School of Psychology, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Heather J Ferguson
- School of Psychology, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
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Choi JW, Oh J, Bennett DH, Calafat AM, Schmidt RJ, Shin HM. Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and child behavioral problems. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 251:118511. [PMID: 38387490 PMCID: PMC11144101 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may adversely affect child behaviors; however, findings of epidemiologic studies are inconsistent. We examined prenatal PFAS exposure in association with child behavioral problems. METHODS Participants were 177 mother-child pairs from MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies - Learning Early Signs), a cohort with elevated familial likelihood of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We quantified nine PFAS in maternal serum (1-3 samples per mother) collected from the 1st to 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. Child behavioral problems were assessed at 3 years of age using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), developed to test for various behavioral problems of children. We examined associations of the CBCL scores with individual PFAS concentrations and with their mixture using negative binomial regression and weighted quantile sum regression models. RESULTS Higher prenatal perfluorononanoate (PFNA) concentrations were associated with higher scores of externalizing problems [β = 0.16, 95% CI (0.01, 0.32)] and aggressive behavior [β = 0.17 (0.01, 0.32)]. Higher PFNA, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluorodecanoate (PFDA) were associated with higher scores of sleep problems [β = 0.34 (0.15, 0.54) for PFNA, β = 0.20 (0.02, 0.37) for PFOS, and β = 0.19 (0.00, 0.37) for PFDA]. No significant associations observed for typically developing children, whereas PFOS, PFNA, and PFDA were associated with several behavioral problems among children diagnosed with ASD or other neurodevelopmental concerns. Exposure to a mixture of PFAS was associated with higher scores of sleep problems and aggressive behavior, mostly contributed by PFNA and PFDA. CONCLUSIONS Our study showed that prenatal exposure to some PFAS could increase child behavioral problems at 3 years of age. However, our results should be interpreted with caution because we relied on data from a cohort with increased familial likelihood of ASD and thereby had more behavioral problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeong Weon Choi
- Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
| | - Jiwon Oh
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Deborah H Bennett
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Rebecca J Schmidt
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA; MIND Institute, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Hyeong-Moo Shin
- Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
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Jia SJ, Jing JQ, Yang CJ. A Review on Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening by Artificial Intelligence Methods. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06429-9. [PMID: 38842671 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06429-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE With the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the importance of early screening and diagnosis has been subject to considerable discussion. Given the subtle differences between ASD children and typically developing children during the early stages of development, it is imperative to investigate the utilization of automatic recognition methods powered by artificial intelligence. We aim to summarize the research work on this topic and sort out the markers that can be used for identification. METHODS We searched the papers published in the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, SpringerLink, Wiley Online Library, and EBSCO databases from 1st January 2013 to 13th November 2023, and 43 articles were included. RESULTS These articles mainly divided recognition markers into five categories: gaze behaviors, facial expressions, motor movements, voice features, and task performance. Based on the above markers, the accuracy of artificial intelligence screening ranged from 62.13 to 100%, the sensitivity ranged from 69.67 to 100%, the specificity ranged from 54 to 100%. CONCLUSION Therefore, artificial intelligence recognition holds promise as a tool for identifying children with ASD. However, it still needs to continually enhance the screening model and improve accuracy through multimodal screening, thereby facilitating timely intervention and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si-Jia Jia
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jia-Qi Jing
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chang-Jiang Yang
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
- China Research Institute of Care and Education of Infants and Young, Shanghai, China.
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8
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Levine MA, Chen H, Wodka EL, Caffo BS, Ewen JB. Autism Symptom Presentation and Hierarchical Models of Intelligence. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06411-5. [PMID: 38833030 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06411-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is a substantial history studying the relationship between general intelligence and the core symptoms of autism. However, a gap in knowledge is how dimensional autism symptomatology associates with different components of clinically-relevant hierarchical models of intelligence. METHOD We examined correlations between autism diagnostic symptom magnitude (Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule; ADOS) and a hierarchical statistical model of intelligence. One autistic cohort was tested on the fourth edition of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV; N = 131), and another on the fifth edition (WISC-V; N = 83). We anticipated a convergent pattern of results between cohorts. RESULTS On WISC-IV, ADOS scores were correlated significantly with g and three out of four intermediate factor scores, which was a broader pattern of correlations than anticipated from the literature. In the WISC-V cohort, only one intermediate factor correlated significantly with the ADOS; correlations with g and the other intermediate factors were less statistically certain. ADOS-factor correlations were larger in the WISC-IV than WISC-V cohort; this difference was significant at the 90% level. CONCLUSIONS WISC-IV shows dimensional relationships with ADOS at multiple points in the hierarchical model of intelligence. Moreover, the current results provide evidence that relationship between core autism symptomatology and the construct of general intelligence may depend on how intelligence is measured. Known cohort effects in the relationship between categorical autism diagnosis and general intelligence have previously been attributed to changes in autism diagnostic practices. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that differing versions of IQ tests may be implicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Levine
- Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Huan Chen
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ericka L Wodka
- Center for Autism Service, Science and Innovation, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Brian S Caffo
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Joshua B Ewen
- Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, 225 E. Chicago Ave., Box 119, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
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Gignac GE, Palermo R, Bothe E, Walker DL, Wilmer JB. Face perception and facial emotional expression recognition ability: Both unique predictors of the broader autism phenotype. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:1140-1153. [PMID: 37710359 PMCID: PMC11103922 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231203679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the broader autistic phenotype (BAP) have been suggested to be associated with perceptual-cognitive difficulties processing human faces. However, the empirical results are mixed, arguably, in part due to inadequate samples and analyses. Consequently, we administered the Cambridge Face Perception Test (CFPT), the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), a vocabulary test, and the Autism Quotient (AQ) to a sample of 318 adults in the general community. Based on a disattenuated path analytic modelling strategy, we found that both face perception ability (β = -.21) and facial emotional expression recognition ability (β = -.27) predicted uniquely and significantly the Communication dimension of AQ. Vocabulary failed to yield a significant, direct effect onto the Communication dimension of the AQ. We conclude that difficulties perceiving information from the faces of others may contribute to difficulties in nonverbal communication, as conceptualised and measured within the context of BAP.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ellen Bothe
- University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
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Worthley E, Grzadzinski R, Zwaigenbaum L, Dager SR, Estes AM, Hazlett HC, Schultz RT, Piven J, Wolff JJ. Sensory Profiles in Relation to Later Adaptive Functioning Among Toddlers at High-Familial Likelihood for Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:2183-2197. [PMID: 37017863 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05869-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/10/2022] [Indexed: 04/06/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the extent to which sensory responsivity in infancy contributes to adaptive behavior development among toddlers at high-familial likelihood for autism. Prospective, longitudinal data were analyzed for 218 children, 58 of whom received an autism diagnosis. Results indicated that sensory profiles at age one year (hyperresponsivity, sensory seeking) were negatively associated with later adaptive behavior, particularly for socialization, at age 3 years regardless of diagnostic status. These results suggest that early differences in sensory responsivity may have downstream developmental consequences related to social development among young children with high-familial likelihood for autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Worthley
- University of Minnesota, 56 East River Road, 55455, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Rebecca Grzadzinski
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 321 S Columbia St, 27516, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Stephen R Dager
- University of Washington, 1701 NE Columbia Rd, 98195, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Annette M Estes
- University of Washington, 1701 NE Columbia Rd, 98195, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Heather C Hazlett
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 321 S Columbia St, 27516, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Robert T Schultz
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Joseph Piven
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 321 S Columbia St, 27516, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Jason J Wolff
- University of Minnesota, 56 East River Road, 55455, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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Nutor C, Dunlop A, Sadler O, Brennan PA. Prenatal Cannabis Use and Offspring Autism-Related Behaviors: Examining Maternal Stress as a Moderator in a Black American Cohort. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:2355-2367. [PMID: 37097527 PMCID: PMC10127191 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05982-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal cannabis use and maternal stress have been proposed as risk factors for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Black mothers and mothers of lower socioeconomic status (SES) may be especially likely to experience high levels of stress. This study examined the impact of prenatal cannabis use and maternal stress (i.e., prenatal distress, racial discrimination, and lower SES) on child ASD-related behaviors in a sample of 172 Black mother-child pairs. We found that prenatal stress was significantly associated with ASD-related behaviors. Prenatal cannabis use did not predict ASD-related behaviors and did not interact with maternal stress to predict ASD-related behaviors. These findings replicate previous work on prenatal stress-ASD associations and add to the limited literature on prenatal cannabis-ASD associations in Black samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Nutor
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
| | - A Dunlop
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University, 1365 E Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - O Sadler
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - P A Brennan
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
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12
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Corona LL, Wagner L, Hooper M, Weitlauf A, Foster TE, Hine J, Miceli A, Nicholson A, Stone C, Vehorn A, Warren Z. A Randomized Trial of the Accuracy of Novel Telehealth Instruments for the Assessment of Autism in Toddlers. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:2069-2080. [PMID: 37185923 PMCID: PMC10129298 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05908-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Telemedicine approaches to autism (ASD) assessment have become increasingly common, yet few validated tools exist for this purpose. This study presents results from a clinical trial investigating two approaches to tele-assessment for ASD in toddlers. METHODS 144 children (29% female) between 17 and 36 months of age (mean = 2.5 years, SD = 0.33 years) completed tele-assessment using either the TELE-ASD-PEDS (TAP) or an experimental remote administration of the Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers (STAT). All children then completed traditional in-person assessment with a blinded clinician, using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 3rd Edition (VABS-3), and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2). Both tele-assessment and in-person assessment included a clinical interview with caregivers. RESULTS Results indicated diagnostic agreement for 92% of participants. Children diagnosed with ASD following in-person assessment who were missed by tele-assessment (n = 8) had lower scores on tele- and in-person ASD assessment tools. Children inaccurately identified as having ASD by tele-assessment (n = 3) were younger than other children and had higher developmental and adaptive behavior scores than children accurately diagnosed with ASD by tele-assessment. Diagnostic certainty was highest for children correctly identified as having ASD via tele-assessment. Clinicians and caregivers reported satisfaction with tele-assessment procedures. CONCLUSION This work provides additional support for the use of tele-assessment for identification of ASD in toddlers, with both clinicians and families reporting broad acceptability. Continued development and refinement of tele-assessment procedures is recommended to optimize this approach for the needs of varying clinicians, families, and circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura L Corona
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Liliana Wagner
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Madison Hooper
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Amy Weitlauf
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Tori E Foster
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Jeffrey Hine
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Alexandra Miceli
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
| | - Amy Nicholson
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Caitlin Stone
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Alison Vehorn
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
| | - Zachary Warren
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1207 17th Avenue, Suite 202, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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13
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Caruana N, Nalepka P, Perez GA, Inkley C, Munro C, Rapaport H, Brett S, Kaplan DM, Richardson MJ, Pellicano E. Autistic young people adaptively use gaze to facilitate joint attention during multi-gestural dyadic interactions. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024; 28:1565-1581. [PMID: 38006222 PMCID: PMC11134991 DOI: 10.1177/13623613231211967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2023]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Autistic people have been said to have 'problems' with joint attention, that is, looking where someone else is looking. Past studies of joint attention have used tasks that require autistic people to continuously look at and respond to eye-gaze cues. But joint attention can also be done using other social cues, like pointing. This study looked at whether autistic and non-autistic young people use another person's eye gaze during joint attention in a task that did not require them to look at their partner's face. In the task, each participant worked together with their partner to find a computer-generated object in virtual reality. Sometimes the participant had to help guide their partner to the object, and other times, they followed their partner's lead. Participants were told to point to guide one another but were not told to use eye gaze. Both autistic and non-autistic participants often looked at their partner's face during joint attention interactions and were faster to respond to their partner's hand-pointing when the partner also looked at the object before pointing. This shows that autistic people can and do use information from another person's eyes, even when they don't have to. It is possible that, by not forcing autistic young people to look at their partner's face and eyes, they were better able to gather information from their partner's face when needed, without being overwhelmed. This shows how important it is to design tasks that provide autistic people with opportunities to show what they can do.
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14
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Isaev DY, Sabatos-DeVito M, Di Martino JM, Carpenter K, Aiello R, Compton S, Davis N, Franz L, Sullivan C, Dawson G, Sapiro G. Computer Vision Analysis of Caregiver-Child Interactions in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Preliminary Report. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:2286-2297. [PMID: 37103659 PMCID: PMC10603206 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05973-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
We report preliminary results of computer vision analysis of caregiver-child interactions during free play with children diagnosed with autism (N = 29, 41-91 months), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, N = 22, 48-100 months), or combined autism + ADHD (N = 20, 56-98 months), and neurotypical children (NT, N = 7, 55-95 months). We conducted micro-analytic analysis of 'reaching to a toy,' as a proxy for initiating or responding to a toy play bout. Dyadic analysis revealed two clusters of interaction patterns, which differed in frequency of 'reaching to a toy' and caregivers' contingent responding to the child's reach for a toy by also reaching for a toy. Children in dyads with higher caregiver responsiveness had less developed language, communication, and socialization skills. Clusters were not associated with diagnostic groups. These results hold promise for automated methods of characterizing caregiver responsiveness in dyadic interactions for assessment and outcome monitoring in clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry Yu Isaev
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
| | - Maura Sabatos-DeVito
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - J Matias Di Martino
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Kimberly Carpenter
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Rachel Aiello
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Scott Compton
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Naomi Davis
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Lauren Franz
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
- Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Connor Sullivan
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Geraldine Dawson
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Guillermo Sapiro
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
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15
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Schiltz H, Gohari D, Park J, Lord C. A longitudinal study of loneliness in autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities: Coping with loneliness from childhood through adulthood. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024; 28:1471-1486. [PMID: 38153097 PMCID: PMC11132953 DOI: 10.1177/13623613231217337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT We know that many autistic people feel lonely, but we don't know whether their loneliness changes over time. Our research study followed autistic people and people with other non-spectrum neurodevelopmental disabilities from childhood through young adulthood and asked them about their loneliness. While many people told us they felt lonely or very lonely, a sizable group also told us that they do not feel lonely. We found that people who reported feeling lonely earlier in life were likely to also report feeling lonely later in life. Overall, autistic people and people with other neurodevelopmental disabilities in our study became lonelier from adolescence to adulthood. People described multiple ways they cope with feeling lonely, such as distracting themselves or reaching out to connect with another person. People who used distraction tended to be lonelier than those who did not. Our findings tell us that there is a need for greater support of social connections for many autistic people as they become adults.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jamie Park
- University of California, Los Angeles, USA
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16
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Chen Y, Duku E, Szatmari P, Salt M, Smith I, Richard A, Zwaigenbaum L, Vaillancourt T, Zaidman‐Zait A, Bennett T, Elsabbagh M, Kerns C, Georgiades S. Trajectories of adaptive functioning from early childhood to adolescence in autism: Identifying turning points and key correlates of chronogeneity. JCPP ADVANCES 2024; 4:e12212. [PMID: 38827978 PMCID: PMC11143958 DOI: 10.1002/jcv2.12212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Previous research has demonstrated heterogeneous adaptive outcomes across the autism spectrum; however, the current literature remains limited in elucidating turning points and associated factors for longitudinal variability (chronogeneity). To address these empirical gaps, we aimed to provide a finer-grained characterization of trajectories of adaptive functioning from early childhood to adolescence in autism. Methods Our sample (N = 406) was drawn from an inception cohort of children diagnosed Autistic at ages 2-5. Adaptive functioning was assessed with Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS, 2nd Edition) across 6 visits from the time of diagnosis by age 18. Parallel-process latent growth curve modeling were used to estimate domain-level VABS trajectories, followed by latent class growth analysis to identify trajectory subgroups. Child characteristics at diagnosis, family demographics, and participation outcomes at adolescence were compared across subgroups. Results Piecewise latent growth models best described VABS trajectories with two turning points identified at around ages 5-6 and 9-10, respectively reflecting transitions into school age and early adolescence. We parsed four VABS trajectory subgroups that vary by level of functioning and change rate for certain domains and periods. Around 16% of the sample exhibited overall adequate functioning (standard score >85) with notable early growth and social adaptation during adolescence. About 21% showed low adaptive functioning (standard score ≤70), with decreasing slopes by age 6 followed by improvements in communication and daily-living skills by age 10. The other two subgroups (63% in total) were characterized by adaptive functioning between low and adequate levels, with relatively stable trajectories entering school age. These subgroups differed most in their cognitive ability at diagnosis, household income, and social participation in adolescence. Conclusions We identified key individual and family characteristics and time windows associated with distinct adaptive functioning trajectories, which have important implications for providing timely and tailored supports to Autistic people across developmental stages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Peter Szatmari
- Centre for Addiction and Mental HealthThe Hospital for Sick ChildrenUniversity of TorontoTorontoONCanada
| | - Mackenzie Salt
- McMaster UniversityHamiltonONCanada
- Autism Alliance of CanadaTorontoONCanada
| | - Isabel Smith
- Dalhousie UniversityHalifaxNSCanada
- Autism Research CentreIWK Health CentreHalifaxNSCanada
| | - Annie Richard
- Autism Research CentreIWK Health CentreHalifaxNSCanada
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17
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Levine MA, Chen H, Wodka EL, Deronda AC, Caffo BS, Ewen JB. A Multi-Trait Multi-Method Examination of Psychometric Instrument Performance in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Assessment 2024; 31:892-898. [PMID: 37694841 DOI: 10.1177/10731911231198205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Anecdotal evidence has suggested that rater-based measures (e.g., parent report) may have strong across-trait/within-individual covariance that detracts from trait-specific measurement precision; rater measurement-related bias may help explain poor correlation within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) samples between rater-based and performance-based measures of the same trait. We used a multi-trait, multi-method approach to examine method-associated bias within an ASD sample (n = 83). We examined performance/rater-instrument pairs for attention, inhibition, working memory, motor coordination, and core ASD features. Rater-based scores showed an overall greater methodology bias (57% of variance in score explained by method), while performance-based scores showed a weaker methodology bias (22%). The degree of inter-individual variance explained by method alone substantiates an anecdotal concern associated with the use of rater measures in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Huan Chen
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Brian S Caffo
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Joshua B Ewen
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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18
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Kipkemoi P, Savage JE, Gona J, Rimba K, Kombe M, Mwangi P, Kipkoech C, Posthuma D, Newton CRJC, Abubakar A. Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Social Communication Questionnaire in Rural Kenya. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06380-9. [PMID: 38816602 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06380-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Children can be reliably diagnosed with autism as early as 3 years of age, and early interventions are initiated. There is often a significant gap between the age of onset of symptoms (2-3 years) and diagnosis (8-10 years) in Africa. We conducted a study to validate the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) as a screening instrument in a rural setting in Kenya. The study was conducted along the Kenyan Coast. Study participants included 172 children with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) diagnosis (84 of which were autism) and 112 controls. Internal consistency was evaluated through the use of Cronbach's alpha, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood procedure to assess the conceptual model for the SCQ. Additionally, the sensitivity and specificity of cut-off scores using ROC analysis and item difficulties and discrimination quality using an IRT framework were also assessed. Factor analysis revealed an adequate fitting model for the three-factor DSM-IV-TR (root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.050; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.974; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.973) and two-factor DSM-5 factor structure (RMSEA = 0.050; CFI = 0.972; TLI = 0.974). The reliability coefficient alphas for the whole group for all items (Cronbach's α = 0.90) and all three domains (Cronbach's α = 0.68-0.84) were acceptable to excellent. The recommended cut-off score of 15 yielded 72% sensitivity and 100% specificity in the ASD group compared to the typically developing group. We provide early evidence of the adequate factor structure and good internal consistency of the SCQ. We also note that the recommended cut-off yielded sufficient predictive validity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Kipkemoi
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya.
- Complex Trait Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Jeanne E Savage
- Complex Trait Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Joseph Gona
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Kenneth Rimba
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Martha Kombe
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Paul Mwangi
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Collins Kipkoech
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Danielle Posthuma
- Complex Trait Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, Complex Trait Genetics, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Charles R J C Newton
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Warneford Ln, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
- Department of Public Health, Pwani University, P.O. BOX, Kilifi, 195-80108, Kenya
- Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University, P.O. BOX, Nairobi, 30270-00100, Kenya
| | - Amina Abubakar
- Neuroscience Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, P.O Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Warneford Ln, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
- Department of Public Health, Pwani University, P.O. BOX, Kilifi, 195-80108, Kenya
- Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University, P.O. BOX, Nairobi, 30270-00100, Kenya
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19
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Martinez-Cayuelas E, Moreno-Vinués B, Pérez-Sebastián I, Gavela-Pérez T, Del Rio-Camacho G, Garcés C, Soriano-Guillén L. Sleep problems and circadian rhythm functioning in autistic children, autism with co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and typically developing children: A comparative study. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024:13623613241254594. [PMID: 38813763 DOI: 10.1177/13623613241254594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Sleep problems are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and different factors can contribute to its occurrence in this population. Misalignment of the biological clock (our circadian system) has been described as one possible explanation. While there is a body of research on sleep problems, relatively less is known about circadian functioning and the specific population of autistic children with co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Using an ambulatory circadian monitoring (ACM) system, which resembles a common watch, we gathered sleep parameters and the different rhythms obtained from measuring motor activity, light exposure and distal temperature in 87 autistic children and adolescents, 27 of whom were diagnosed with co-occurring ADHD, and 30 neurotypical children and adolescents as a comparison group. Autistic children and, especially, those with co-occurring ADHD showed greater motor activity during sleep which would be worth studying in future projects which could better define this restless sleep. Of note, we observed an atypical pattern of wrist temperature, with higher values in neurotypical children, followed by autistic children and, ultimately, those with co-occurring ADHD. Temperature is one of the most valuable factors evaluated here as it is closely connected to sleep-wakefulness and the hormone melatonin. Its special pattern during day and nighttime would support the hypothesis of an atypical secretion of melatonin in autistic individuals which would also link with the higher presence of sleep problems in this neurodevelopmental condition.
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20
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Wang X, Lee HK, Tong SX. Temporal dynamics and neural variabilities underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Brain Res 2024; 1840:149030. [PMID: 38821334 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated the neural dynamics underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 50 autistic and 46 non-autistic children during an emotional Go/Nogo task. Based on single-trial ERP analyses, autistic children, compared to their non-autistic peers, showed a larger Nogo-N170 for angry faces and an increased Nogo-N170 amplitude variation for happy faces during early visual perception. They also displayed a smaller N200 for all faces and a diminished Nogo-N200 amplitude variation for happy and neutral faces during inhibition monitoring and preparation. During the late stage, autistic children showed a larger posterior-Go-P300 for angry faces and an augmented posterior-Nogo-P300 for happy and neutral faces. These findings clarify the differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli and inhibition between Chinese autistic and non-autistic children, highlighting the importance of considering these dynamics when designing intervention to improve emotion regulation in autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Hyun Kyung Lee
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shelley Xiuli Tong
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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21
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Kurth L, O'Shea TM, Burd I, Dunlop AL, Croen L, Wilkening G, Hsu TJ, Ehrhardt S, Palanisamy A, McGrath M, Churchill ML, Weinberger D, Grados M, Dabelea D. Intrapartum exposure to synthetic oxytocin, maternal BMI, and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children within the ECHO consortium. J Neurodev Disord 2024; 16:26. [PMID: 38796448 PMCID: PMC11128127 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-024-09540-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2024] [Indexed: 05/28/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Synthetic oxytocin (sOT) is frequently administered during parturition. Studies have raised concerns that fetal exposure to sOT may be associated with altered brain development and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. In a large and diverse sample of children with data about intrapartum sOT exposure and subsequent diagnoses of two prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders, i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we tested the following hypotheses: (1) Intrapartum sOT exposure is associated with increased odds of child ADHD or ASD; (2) associations differ across sex; (3) associations between intrapartum sOT exposure and ADHD or ASD are accentuated in offspring of mothers with pre-pregnancy obesity. METHODS The study sample comprised 12,503 participants from 44 cohort sites included in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the association between intrapartum sOT exposure and offspring ADHD or ASD (in separate models). Maternal obesity (pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and child sex were evaluated for effect modification. RESULTS Intrapartum sOT exposure was present in 48% of participants. sOT exposure was not associated with increased odds of ASD (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-1.03) or ADHD (aOR 0.89; 95% CI, 0.76-1.04). Associations did not differ by child sex. Among mothers with pre-pregnancy obesity, sOT exposure was associated with lower odds of offspring ADHD (aOR 0.72; 95% CI, 0.55-0.96). No association was found among mothers without obesity (aOR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.80-1.18). CONCLUSIONS In a large, diverse sample, we found no evidence of an association between intrapartum exposure to sOT and odds of ADHD or ASD in either male or female offspring. Contrary to our hypothesis, among mothers with pre-pregnancy obesity, sOT exposure was associated with lower odds of child ADHD diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Kurth
- Department of Pediatrics, Developmental Section, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E. 16th Ave. B065, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
| | - T Michael O'Shea
- Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Irina Burd
- Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Anne L Dunlop
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Lisa Croen
- Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Greta Wilkening
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Ting-Ju Hsu
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Stephan Ehrhardt
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Arvind Palanisamy
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Monica McGrath
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Marie L Churchill
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Daniel Weinberger
- Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- The Lieber institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Marco Grados
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Dana Dabelea
- Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
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22
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Yang Y, Wang Q, Wang C, Buxbaum J, Ionita-Laza I. KnockoffHybrid: A knockoff framework for hybrid analysis of trio and population designs in genome-wide association studies. Am J Hum Genet 2024:S0002-9297(24)00166-6. [PMID: 38821058 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Both trio and population designs are popular study designs for identifying risk genetic variants in genome-wide association studies (GWASs). The trio design, as a family-based design, is robust to confounding due to population structure, whereas the population design is often more powerful due to larger sample sizes. Here, we propose KnockoffHybrid, a knockoff-based statistical method for hybrid analysis of both the trio and population designs. KnockoffHybrid provides a unified framework that brings together the advantages of both designs and produces powerful hybrid analysis while controlling the false discovery rate (FDR) in the presence of linkage disequilibrium and population structure. Furthermore, KnockoffHybrid has the flexibility to leverage different types of summary statistics for hybrid analyses, including expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and GWAS summary statistics. We demonstrate in simulations that KnockoffHybrid offers power gains over non-hybrid methods for the trio and population designs with the same number of cases while controlling the FDR with complex correlation among variants and population structure among subjects. In hybrid analyses of three trio cohorts for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) from the Autism Speaks MSSNG, Autism Sequencing Consortium, and Autism Genome Project with GWAS summary statistics from the iPSYCH project and eQTL summary statistics from the MetaBrain project, KnockoffHybrid outperforms conventional methods by replicating several known risk genes for ASDs and identifying additional associations with variants in other genes, including the PRAME family genes involved in axon guidance and which may act as common targets for human speech/language evolution and related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Yang
- Department of Biostatistics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; School of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Qi Wang
- School of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Chen Wang
- Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Joseph Buxbaum
- Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Iuliana Ionita-Laza
- Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Statistics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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23
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Wang H, Liu Y, Ding Y. Identifying Diagnostic Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder From Higher-order Interactions Using the PED Algorithm. Neuroinformatics 2024:10.1007/s12021-024-09662-w. [PMID: 38771433 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-024-09662-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
In the field of neuroimaging, more studies of abnormalities in brain regions of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually focused on two brain regions connected, and less on abnormalities of higher-order interactions of brain regions. To explore the complex relationships of brain regions, we used the partial entropy decomposition (PED) algorithm to capture higher-order interactions by computing the higher-order dependencies of all three brain regions (triads). We proposed a method for examining the effect of individual brain regions on triads based on the PED and surrogate tests. The key triads were discovered by analyzing the effects. Further, the hypergraph modularity maximization algorithm revealed the higher-order brain structures, of which the link between right thalamus and left thalamus in ASD was more loose compared with the typical control (TC). Redundant key triad (left cerebellum crus 1 and left precuneus and right inferior occipital gyrus) exhibited a discernible attenuation in interaction in ASD, while the synergistic key triad (right cerebellum crus 1 and left postcentral gyrus and left lingual gyrus) indicated a notable decline. The results of classification model further confirmed the potential of the key triads as diagnostic biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Wang
- School of Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yanting Liu
- School of Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yanrui Ding
- School of Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
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24
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Tadesse AW, Ayano G, Dachew BA, Betts K, Alati R. Exposure to maternal cannabis use disorder and risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring: A data linkage cohort study. Psychiatry Res 2024; 337:115971. [PMID: 38788554 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the association between pre-pregnancy, prenatal and perinatal exposures to cannabis use disorder (CUD) and the risk of autism spectrum disoder (ASD) in offspring. Data were drawn from the New South Wales (NSW) Perinatal Data Collection (PDC), population-based, linked administrative health data encompassing all-live birth cohort from January 2003 to December 2005. This study involved 222 534 mother-offspring pairs. . The exposure variable (CUD) and the outcome of interest (ASD) were identified using the 10th international disease classification criteria, Australian Modified (ICD-10-AM). We found a three-fold increased risk of ASD in the offspring of mothers with maternal CUD compared to non-exposed offspring. In our sensitivity analyses, male offspring have a higher risk of ASD associated with maternal CUD than their female counterparts. In conclusion, exposure to maternal CUD is linked to a higher risk of ASD in offspring, with a stronger risk in male offspring. Further research is needed to understand these gender-specific effects and the relationship between maternal CUD and ASD risk in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abay Woday Tadesse
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia; Dream Science and Technology College, Dessie 1466, Amhara region, Ethiopia; Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Samara University 132, Semera, Ethiopia.
| | - Getinet Ayano
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia
| | - Berihun Assefa Dachew
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia
| | - Kim Betts
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia
| | - Rosa Alati
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia; Institute for Social Sciences Research, The University of Queensland, 80 Meier's Rd, Indooroopilly, QLD, 4068, Australia
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25
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Augé P, Maruani A, Humeau E, Ellul P, Cartigny A, Lefebvre A, Dellapiazza F, Delorme R, Peyre H. Global Sensory Features are Linked to Executive and Attentional Impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06385-4. [PMID: 38761284 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06385-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
Sensory features, executive and attentional impairments are frequently reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, little is known about their complex relationships. In this study, we aim to examine the executive and attentional difficulties related to distinct sensory profiles. We identified sensory profiles with a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) based on scores on the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) questionnaire in 95 children with ASD aged 6 to 17 years. Executive and attention functions were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF) questionnaire and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (ADHD-RS). A three-cluster solution based on raw SSP scores identified a "high'', a "medium" and a "low'' SSP profile. We found a significant relationship between executive functions, attentional skills and the global severity of sensory features, reinforcing findings of previous studies in the literature. A two-cluster solution based on normalized SSP (i.e. equalized for the global severity) identified distinct sensory profiles, mainly discriminated by the score of underresponsive/seeks sensation. We found no significant difference between these two clusters for the BRIEF and ADHD-RS related scores. Our study suggests that the heterogeneity of sensory features in ASD may not be explained by differences in executive and attention functions. Future studies are needed to refine the link between sensory features and executive functions in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Augé
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France.
| | - Anna Maruani
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
- Centre de Référence "Déficiences Intellectuelles", Robert Debré Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Elise Humeau
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
- Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France
| | - Pierre Ellul
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
| | - Ariane Cartigny
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
- Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France
- Laboratory of Psychopathology and Health Process, Université Paris Cité, F92000, Paris, France
| | - Aline Lefebvre
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
| | - Florine Dellapiazza
- Centre de Ressources Autisme Languedoc-Roussillon et Centre d'Excellence sur l'Autisme et les Troubles Neurodéveloppement (CeAND), CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Richard Delorme
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
| | - Hugo Peyre
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris-Cité University, Paris, France
- Centre de Ressources Autisme Languedoc-Roussillon et Centre d'Excellence sur l'Autisme et les Troubles Neurodéveloppement (CeAND), CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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26
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Yang F, You H, Mizui T, Ishikawa Y, Takao K, Miyakawa T, Li X, Bai T, Xia K, Zhang L, Pang D, Xu Y, Zhu C, Kojima M, Lu B. Inhibiting proBDNF to mature BDNF conversion leads to ASD-like phenotypes in vivo. Mol Psychiatry 2024:10.1038/s41380-024-02595-5. [PMID: 38762692 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02595-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 04/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) comprise a range of early age-onset neurodevelopment disorders with genetic heterogeneity. Most ASD related genes are involved in synaptic function, which is regulated by mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF) and its precursor proBDNF in a diametrically opposite manner: proBDNF inhibits while mBDNF potentiates synapses. Here we generated a knock-in mouse line (BDNFmet/leu) in which the conversion of proBDNF to mBDNF is attenuated. Biochemical experiments revealed residual mBDNF but excessive proBDNF in the brain. Similar to other ASD mouse models, the BDNFmet/leu mice showed reduced dendritic arborization, altered spines, and impaired synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus. They also exhibited ASD-like phenotypes, including stereotypical behaviors and deficits in social interaction. Moreover, the plasma proBDNF/mBDNF ratio was significantly increased in ASD patients compared to normal children in a case-control study. Thus, deficits in proBDNF to mBDNF conversion in the brain may contribute to ASD-like behaviors, and plasma proBDNF/mBDNF ratio may be a potential biomarker for ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Yang
- China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Basic and Translational Medicine Center, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China
| | - He You
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China
| | - Toshiyuki Mizui
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan
| | - Yasuyuki Ishikawa
- Department of Systems Life Engineering, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi, 371-0816, Japan
| | - Keizo Takao
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan
- Life Science Research Center, University of Toyama, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
- Department of Behavioral Physiology, Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Miyakawa
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan
- Division of Systems Medical Science, Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, 470-1192, Japan
| | - Xiaofei Li
- China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Basic and Translational Medicine Center, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China
| | - Ting Bai
- Centre for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Kun Xia
- Centre for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Lingling Zhang
- Henan Key Laboratory of Child Brain Injury and Henan Pediatric Clinical Research Center, Institute of Neuroscience and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China
| | - Dizhou Pang
- Center for Child Behavioral Development, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China
| | - Yiran Xu
- Henan Key Laboratory of Child Brain Injury and Henan Pediatric Clinical Research Center, Institute of Neuroscience and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China
| | - Changlian Zhu
- Henan Key Laboratory of Child Brain Injury and Henan Pediatric Clinical Research Center, Institute of Neuroscience and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China
| | - Masami Kojima
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan.
- Biomedical Department of Applied Bioscience, College of Bioscience and Chemistry, Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), Ishikawa, 924-0838, Japan.
| | - Bai Lu
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, 100070, Beijing, China.
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
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27
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Andrews DS, Diers K, Lee JK, Harvey DJ, Heath B, Cordero D, Rogers SJ, Reuter M, Solomon M, Amaral DG, Nordahl CW. Sex differences in trajectories of cortical development in autistic children from 2-13 years of age. Mol Psychiatry 2024:10.1038/s41380-024-02592-8. [PMID: 38755243 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02592-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Previous studies have reported alterations in cortical thickness in autism. However, few have included enough autistic females to determine if there are sex specific differences in cortical structure in autism. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate autistic sex differences in cortical thickness and trajectory of cortical thinning across childhood. Participants included 290 autistic (88 females) and 139 nonautistic (60 females) individuals assessed at up to 4 timepoints spanning ~2-13 years of age (918 total MRI timepoints). Estimates of cortical thickness in early and late childhood as well as the trajectory of cortical thinning were modeled using spatiotemporal linear mixed effects models of age-by-sex-by-diagnosis. Additionally, the spatial correspondence between cortical maps of sex-by-diagnosis differences and neurotypical sex differences were evaluated. Relative to their nonautistic peers, autistic females had more extensive cortical differences than autistic males. These differences involved multiple functional networks, and were mainly characterized by thicker cortex at ~3 years of age and faster cortical thinning in autistic females. Cortical regions in which autistic alterations were different between the sexes significantly overlapped with regions that differed by sex in neurotypical development. Autistic females and males demonstrated some shared differences in cortical thickness and rate of cortical thinning across childhood relative to their nonautistic peers, however these areas were relatively small compared to the widespread differences observed across the sexes. These results support evidence of sex-specific neurobiology in autism and suggest that processes that regulate sex differentiation in the neurotypical brain contribute to sex differences in the etiology of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek S Andrews
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Kersten Diers
- AI in Medical Imaging, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany
| | - Joshua K Lee
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Danielle J Harvey
- Division of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Brianna Heath
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Devani Cordero
- A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sally J Rogers
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Martin Reuter
- AI in Medical Imaging, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany
- A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marjorie Solomon
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - David G Amaral
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Christine Wu Nordahl
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, the MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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28
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Boulton KA, Lee D, Honan I, Phillips NL, Morgan C, Crowle C, Novak I, Badawi N, Guastella AJ. Exploring early life social and executive function development in infants and risk for autism: a prospective cohort study protocol of NICU graduates and infants at risk for cerebral palsy. BMC Psychiatry 2024; 24:359. [PMID: 38745143 PMCID: PMC11092236 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-05779-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Delays in early social and executive function are predictive of later developmental delays and eventual neurodevelopmental diagnoses. There is limited research examining such markers in the first year of life. High-risk infant groups commonly present with a range of neurodevelopmental challenges, including social and executive function delays, and show higher rates of autism diagnoses later in life. For example, it has been estimated that up to 30% of infants diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) will go on to be diagnosed with autism later in life. METHODS This article presents a protocol of a prospective longitudinal study. The primary aim of this study is to identify early life markers of delay in social and executive function in high-risk infants at the earliest point in time, and to explore how these markers may relate to the increased risk for social and executive delay, and risk of autism, later in life. High-risk infants will include Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates, who are most commonly admitted for premature birth and/or cardiovascular problems. In addition, we will include infants with, or at risk for, CP. This prospective study will recruit 100 high-risk infants at the age of 3-12 months old and will track social and executive function across the first 2 years of their life, when infants are 3-7, 8-12, 18 and 24 months old. A multi-modal approach will be adopted by tracking the early development of social and executive function using behavioural, neurobiological, and caregiver-reported everyday functioning markers. Data will be analysed to assess the relationship between the early markers, measured from as early as 3-7 months of age, and the social and executive function as well as the autism outcomes measured at 24 months. DISCUSSION This study has the potential to promote the earliest detection and intervention opportunities for social and executive function difficulties as well as risk for autism in NICU graduates and/or infants with, or at risk for, CP. The findings of this study will also expand our understanding of the early emergence of autism across a wider range of at-risk groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsie A Boulton
- Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental (CAN) research, Brain and Mind Centre, Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Team, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Dabin Lee
- Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental (CAN) research, Brain and Mind Centre, Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Team, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ingrid Honan
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance Institute, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Natalie L Phillips
- Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental (CAN) research, Brain and Mind Centre, Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Team, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Catherine Morgan
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance Institute, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Cathryn Crowle
- Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care, Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Sydney, Australia
| | - Iona Novak
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance Institute, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Nadia Badawi
- Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Team, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance Institute, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care, Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Sydney, Australia
| | - Adam J Guastella
- Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental (CAN) research, Brain and Mind Centre, Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
- Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Team, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
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29
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Cumming D, Kozhemiako N, Thurm AE, Farmer CA, Purcell S, Buckley AW. Spindle chirp and other sleep oscillatory features in young children with autism. Sleep Med 2024; 119:320-328. [PMID: 38733760 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2024.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To determine whether spindle chirp and other sleep oscillatory features differ in young children with and without autism. METHODS Automated processing software was used to re-assess an extant set of polysomnograms representing 121 children (91 with autism [ASD], 30 typically-developing [TD]), with an age range of 1.35-8.23 years. Spindle metrics, including chirp, and slow oscillation (SO) characteristics were compared between groups. SO and fast and slow spindle (FS, SS) interactions were also investigated. Secondary analyses were performed assessing behavioural data associations, as well as exploratory cohort comparisons to children with non-autism developmental delay (DD). RESULTS Posterior FS and SS chirp was significantly more negative in ASD than TD. Both groups had comparable intra-spindle frequency range and variance. Frontal and central SO amplitude were decreased in ASD. In contrast to previous manual findings, no differences were detected in other spindle or SO metrics. The ASD group displayed a higher parietal coupling angle. No differences were observed in phase-frequency coupling. The DD group demonstrated lower FS chirp and higher coupling angle than TD. Parietal SS chirp was positively associated with full developmental quotient. CONCLUSIONS For the first time spindle chirp was investigated in autism and was found to be significantly more negative than in TD in this large cohort of young children. This finding strengthens previous reports of spindle and SO abnormalities in ASD. Further investigation of spindle chirp in healthy and clinical populations across development will help elucidate the significance of this difference and better understand this novel metric.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew Cumming
- National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Audrey E Thurm
- National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Shaun Purcell
- Brigham and Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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30
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Mandelli V, Severino I, Eyler L, Pierce K, Courchesne E, Lombardo MV. A 3D approach to understanding heterogeneity in early developing autisms. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.05.08.24307039. [PMID: 38766085 PMCID: PMC11100949 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.08.24307039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Phenotypic heterogeneity in early language, intellectual, motor, and adaptive functioning (LIMA) features are amongst the most striking features that distinguish different types of autistic individuals. Yet the current diagnostic criteria uses a single label of autism and implicitly emphasizes what individuals have in common as core social-communicative and restricted repetitive behavior difficulties. Subtype labels based on the non-core LIMA features may help to more meaningfully distinguish types of autisms with differing developmental paths and differential underlying biology. Using relatively large (n=615) publicly available data from early developing (24-68 months) standardized clinical tests tapping LIMA features, we show that stability-based relative cluster validation analysis can identify two robust and replicable clusters in the autism population with high levels of generalization accuracy (98%). These clusters can be described as Type I versus Type II autisms differentiated by relatively high versus low scores on LIMA features. These two types of autisms are also distinguished by different developmental trajectories over the first decade of life. Finally, these two types of autisms reveal striking differences in functional and structural neuroimaging phenotypes and their relationships with gene expression. This work emphasizes the potential importance of stratifying autism by a Type I versus Type II distinction focused on LIMA features and which may be of high prognostic and biological significance.
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31
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Guo X, Xu C, Chen J, Wu Z, Hou S, Wei Z. Disrupted cognitive and affective empathy network interactions in autistic children viewing social animation. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae028. [PMID: 38597901 PMCID: PMC11071513 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Empathy can be divided into two core components, cognitive empathy (CE) and affective empathy (AE), mediated by distinct neural networks. Deficient empathy is a central feature of autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), but it is unclear if this deficit results from disruption solely within empathy networks or from disrupted functional integration between CE and AE networks. To address this issue, we measured functional connectivity (FC) patterns both within and between empathy networks in autistic children (4-8 years, n = 31) and matched typically developing (TD) children (n = 26) using near-infrared spectroscopy during the presentation of an animated story evoking CE and AE. Empathy and social communication ability were also assessed using the Empathy Quotient/Systemizing Quotient (EQ/SQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale, respectively. The results showed that the FC in the AE network of autistic children did not differ from the TD group across conditions; however, the ASC group showed weaker FC in the CE network under the CE condition and weaker FC between networks when processing AE information, the latter of which was negatively correlated with EQ scores in ASC. The empathy defect in ASC may involve abnormal integration of CE and AE network activities under AE conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinrong Guo
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
- Department of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen 518040, China
| | - Chuanyong Xu
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Jierong Chen
- Department of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen 518040, China
| | - Zhiliu Wu
- Department of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen 518040, China
| | - Shumeng Hou
- Department of Humanity and Social Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Zhen Wei
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
- Department of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen 518040, China
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32
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Suresh H, Morgan BR, Mithani K, Warsi NM, Yan H, Germann J, Boutet A, Loh A, Gouveia FV, Young J, Quon J, Morgado F, Lerch J, Lozano AM, Al-Fatly B, Kühn AA, Laughlin S, Dewan MC, Mabbott D, Gorodetsky C, Bartels U, Huang A, Tabori U, Rutka JT, Drake JM, Kulkarni AV, Dirks P, Taylor MD, Ramaswamy V, Ibrahim GM. Postoperative cerebellar mutism syndrome is an acquired autism-like network disturbance. Neuro Oncol 2024; 26:950-964. [PMID: 38079480 PMCID: PMC11066932 DOI: 10.1093/neuonc/noad230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) is a common and debilitating complication of posterior fossa tumor surgery in children. Affected children exhibit communication and social impairments that overlap phenomenologically with subsets of deficits exhibited by children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although both CMS and ASD are thought to involve disrupted cerebro-cerebellar circuitry, they are considered independent conditions due to an incomplete understanding of their shared neural substrates. METHODS In this study, we analyzed postoperative cerebellar lesions from 90 children undergoing posterior fossa resection of medulloblastoma, 30 of whom developed CMS. Lesion locations were mapped to a standard atlas, and the networks functionally connected to each lesion were computed in normative adult and pediatric datasets. Generalizability to ASD was assessed using an independent cohort of children with ASD and matched controls (n = 427). RESULTS Lesions in children who developed CMS involved the vermis and inferomedial cerebellar lobules. They engaged large-scale cerebellothalamocortical circuits with a preponderance for the prefrontal and parietal cortices in the pediatric and adult connectomes, respectively. Moreover, with increasing connectomic age, CMS-associated lesions demonstrated stronger connectivity to the midbrain/red nuclei, thalami and inferior parietal lobules and weaker connectivity to the prefrontal cortex. Importantly, the CMS-associated lesion network was independently reproduced in ASD and correlated with communication and social deficits, but not repetitive behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that CMS-associated lesions may result in an ASD-like network disturbance that occurs during sensitive windows of brain development. A common network disturbance between CMS and ASD may inform improved treatment strategies for affected children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hrishikesh Suresh
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Benjamin R Morgan
- Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Karim Mithani
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nebras M Warsi
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Han Yan
- Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jürgen Germann
- Division of Neurosurgery, University Health Network, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Alexandre Boutet
- Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Aaron Loh
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Flavia Venetucci Gouveia
- Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Julia Young
- Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jennifer Quon
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Felipe Morgado
- Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jason Lerch
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Andres M Lozano
- Division of Neurosurgery, University Health Network, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Bassam Al-Fatly
- Department of Neurology and Experimental Neurology, Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrea A Kühn
- Department of Neurology and Experimental Neurology, Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
- Exzellenzcluster NeuroCure, Charité, Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Suzanne Laughlin
- Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael C Dewan
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Donald Mabbott
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Carolina Gorodetsky
- Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ute Bartels
- Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Annie Huang
- Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Uri Tabori
- Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - James T Rutka
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - James M Drake
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Abhaya V Kulkarni
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Peter Dirks
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael D Taylor
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Vijay Ramaswamy
- Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - George M Ibrahim
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Peng X, Li T, Liu G, Ni W, Yi L. Enhanced neural synchronization during social communications between dyads with high autistic traits. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:104-111. [PMID: 38696603 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Autism is characterized by atypical social communication styles. To investigate whether individuals with high autistic traits could still have effective social communication among each other, we compared the behavioral patterns and communication quality within 64 dyads of college students paired with both high, both low, and mixed high-low (HL) autistic traits, with their gender matched. Results revealed that the high-high (HH) autistic dyads exhibited atypical behavioral patterns during conversations, including reduced mutual gaze, communicational turns, and emotional sharing compared with the low-low and/or HL autistic dyads. However, the HH autistic dyads displayed enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization during social communications measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy, suggesting an effective communication style. Besides, they also provided more positive subjective evaluations of the conversations. These findings highlight the potential for alternative pathways to effectively communicate with the autistic community, contribute to a deeper understanding of how high autistic traits influence social communication dynamics among autistic individuals, and provide important insights for the clinical practices for supporting autistic people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyue Peng
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
- Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Tianbi Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Guangfang Liu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Wei Ni
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Li Yi
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, China
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Liu J, Girault JB, Nishino T, Shen MD, Kim SH, Burrows CA, Elison JT, Marrus N, Wolff JJ, Botteron KN, Estes AM, Dager SR, Hazlett HC, McKinstry RC, Schultz RT, Snyder AZ, Styner M, Zwaigenbaum L, Pruett Jr JR, Piven J, Gao W. Atypical functional connectivity between the amygdala and visual, salience regions in infants with genetic liability for autism. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:30-39. [PMID: 38696599 PMCID: PMC11065105 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The amygdala undergoes a period of overgrowth in the first year of life, resulting in enlarged volume by 12 months in infants later diagnosed with ASD. The overgrowth of the amygdala may have functional consequences during infancy. We investigated whether amygdala connectivity differs in 12-month-olds at high likelihood (HL) for ASD (defined by having an older sibling with autism), compared to those at low likelihood (LL). We examined seed-based connectivity of left and right amygdalae, hypothesizing that the HL and LL groups would differ in amygdala connectivity, especially with the visual cortex, based on our prior reports demonstrating that components of visual circuitry develop atypically and are linked to genetic liability for autism. We found that HL infants exhibited weaker connectivity between the right amygdala and the left visual cortex, as well as between the left amygdala and the right anterior cingulate, with evidence that these patterns occur in distinct subgroups of the HL sample. Amygdala connectivity strength with the visual cortex was related to motor and communication abilities among HL infants. Findings indicate that aberrant functional connectivity between the amygdala and visual regions is apparent in infants with genetic liability for ASD and may have implications for early differences in adaptive behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janelle Liu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 116 N. Robertson Bldv., Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Jessica B Girault
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC Chapel Hill , 101 Renee Lynne Court, Carrboro, NC 27510, USA
| | - Tomoyuki Nishino
- Institute for Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA
| | - Mark D Shen
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC Chapel Hill , 101 Renee Lynne Court, Carrboro, NC 27510, USA
| | - Sun Hyung Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
| | - Catherine A Burrows
- Institute for Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA
| | - Jed T Elison
- Institute for Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA
| | - Natasha Marrus
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Jason J Wolff
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, 56 E River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Kelly N Botteron
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Annette M Estes
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Washington, 1417 NE 42nd St., Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Stephen R Dager
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St., Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Heather C Hazlett
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC Chapel Hill , 101 Renee Lynne Court, Carrboro, NC 27510, USA
| | - Robert C McKinstry
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Robert T Schultz
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2716 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Abraham Z Snyder
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Martin Styner
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
| | - Lonnie Zwaigenbaum
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, 116 St. and 85 Ave, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2R3, CA
| | - John R Pruett Jr
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Joseph Piven
- Department of Psychiatry, UNC Chapel Hill, 333 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC Chapel Hill , 101 Renee Lynne Court, Carrboro, NC 27510, USA
| | - Wei Gao
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 116 N. Robertson Bldv., Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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Krug MK, Takarae Y, Iosif AM, Solomon M. Decision-making under conditions of explicit risk and uncertainty in autistic and typically developing adolescents and young adults. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:1-7. [PMID: 38696604 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Adolescence has been characterized as a period of risky and possibly suboptimal decision-making, yet the development of decision-making in autistic adolescents is not well understood. To investigate decision-making in autism, we evaluated performance on 2 computerized tasks capturing decision-making under explicit risk and uncertainty in autistic and non-autistic adolescents/young adults ages 12-22 years. Participants completed the Game of Dice Task (32 IQ-matched participant pairs) to assess decision-making under explicit risk and the modified Iowa Gambling Task (35 IQ-matched pairs) to assess decision-making under uncertainty. Autistic participants overall made riskier decisions than non-autistic participants on the Game of Dice Task, and the odds of making riskier decisions varied by age and IQ. In contrast, the autistic group showed comparable levels of learning over trial blocks to the non-autistic group on the modified Iowa Gambling Task. For both tasks, younger autistic participants performed poorer than their non-autistic counterparts, while group differences diminished in older ages. This age-related pattern suggests positive development during adolescence on risk assessment and decision-making in autism but also implies differential developmental trajectories between groups. These findings also suggest differential performance by the risk type, with additional complex influences of IQ and fluid cognition, which warrants further investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie K Krug
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA 95817, United States
| | - Yukari Takarae
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA 95817, United States
| | - Ana-Maria Iosif
- Department of Public Health Sciences and MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Marjorie Solomon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, MIND Institute, and Imaging Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95817, United States
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Ma Z, Fu W, Gu P, Siting H, Liujing Y, Zhou W. Parental Perception of the Importance of Friendship and Other Educational Outcomes in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in China. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:2012-2025. [PMID: 36961612 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05954-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Abstract
This study examined parental perception of the importance of friendship and five other educational outcomes from 101 Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorders between the ages of 3 and 12 years. Results showed Chinese parents considered friendship less important than social skills, emotional development, and physical skills and motor development. Unlike the results from previous studies, Chinese parents ranked friendship as the second least important outcome. Children's age rather than educational setting impacted parental perceptions. The findings suggested cultural contexts may have influenced parental perceptions of the importance of different educational outcomes, and future research on the influence of cultural contexts is warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zijie Ma
- Department of Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA
| | - Wangqian Fu
- Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Peidi Gu
- College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China.
| | - He Siting
- College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Yang Liujing
- College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Wei Zhou
- Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Martinez-Cayuelas E, Gavela-Pérez T, Rodrigo-Moreno M, Losada-Del Pozo R, Moreno-Vinues B, Garces C, Soriano-Guillén L. Sleep Problems, Circadian Rhythms, and Their Relation to Behavioral Difficulties in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1712-1726. [PMID: 36869970 PMCID: PMC9984759 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05934-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
This was an exploratory cross-sectional study comparing 45 children with ASD to 24 typically developing drug-naïve controls, group-matched on age, sex, and body mass index. Objective data was obtained using the following: an ambulatory circadian monitoring device; saliva samples to determine dim light melatonin onset (DLMO): and three parent-completed measures: the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL); the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R); and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28). The CBCL and RBS-R scales showed the highest scores amongst poor sleepers with ASD. Sleep fragmentation was associated with somatic complaints and self-injury, leading to a higher impact on family life. Sleep onset difficulties were associated with withdrawal, anxiety, and depression. Those with phase advanced DLMO had lower scores for "somatic complaints"; "anxious/depressed" state; and "social problems", suggesting that this phenomenon has a protective role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Martinez-Cayuelas
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Avenida Reyes Católicos n2, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Teresa Gavela-Pérez
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Rodrigo-Moreno
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rebeca Losada-Del Pozo
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Beatriz Moreno-Vinues
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carmen Garces
- Lipid Laboratory, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Leandro Soriano-Guillén
- Department of Pediatrics, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Moser C, Campanelli A, Friedman L, Thurman AJ, Roberts JE, Abbeduto L, Klusek J. Characterising the social interaction style of autism in young adult males with fragile X syndrome. JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH : JIDR 2024; 68:464-476. [PMID: 38258970 PMCID: PMC11023774 DOI: 10.1111/jir.13121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The characterisation of autism in fragile X syndrome (FXS) has been a source of controversy due to the complexity of disentangling autism traits from common features of the FXS phenotype. Autism in FXS is significantly underdiagnosed in the community, which may be partly due to insufficient clinical description of the social interaction profile of autism within the FXS phenotype. In this study, we applied a classic framework for characterising social interaction styles in autism to a sample of young adult males with FXS and co-occurring autism to enhance understanding of how the social challenges associated with autism manifest within FXS. METHODS Participants were 41 males (M age = 18 years) with FXS and co-occurring autism. Interaction samples were coded for expression of predominately 'active' (characterised by a desire to make social approaches) or 'passive' (characterised by lack of initiation of social approach towards others) interaction profiles. Differences in the expression of phenotypic features of FXS, including anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, cognitive, adaptive and language impairments and autism symptom severity, were examined across those with passive and active interaction styles. RESULTS Approximately half of the sample was classified as active and half as passive, demonstrating diversity in the social phenotype of autism associated with FXS. The two subtypes did not differ in autism severity, anxiety or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms or in cognitive, adaptive or language abilities. CONCLUSIONS This study enhances understanding of FXS-associated autism by documenting phenotypic variability in the social interaction profile in this group, with active and passive social interaction styles represented. The two social interaction styles were not associated with differential expression of common phenotypic features of FXS, suggesting similar support needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly Moser
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia SC 29208, USA
| | - Alyssa Campanelli
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia SC 29208, USA
| | - Laura Friedman
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia SC 29208, USA
| | - Angela John Thurman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and MIND Institute, University of California Davis Health, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Jane E. Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA
| | - Leonard Abbeduto
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and MIND Institute, University of California Davis Health, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Jessica Klusek
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia SC 29208, USA
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Dahl E, Moody EJ, Barger B, Rosenberg S, DiGuiseppi C, Fallin MD, Lee LC, Wiggins L. Differential Performance of Social Communication Questionnaire Items in African American/Black vs. White Children. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1820-1833. [PMID: 36897518 PMCID: PMC10913152 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05931-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an essential early step in the identification process and inaccurate screening may lead to significant delays in the onset of treatment. Past research has highlighted discrepancies in the performance of ASD screening tools such as the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) among certain racial and ethnic groups. The current study explored the functioning of the SCQ among African American/Black and White respondents based on item level performance on the measure. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses showed that 16 (41%) items of the SCQ functioned differently for African American/Black respondents when compared to White respondents. Implications, such as the potential for delayed diagnosis and treatment, and the influence on downstream outcomes, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ethan Dahl
- Department of Education, Health, & Behavior Studies, College of Education & Human Development, University of North Dakota, 231 Centennial Dr Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-7189, USA.
| | - Eric J Moody
- Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Brian Barger
- Center for Leadership in Disabilities, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Steven Rosenberg
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Carolyn DiGuiseppi
- Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - M Daniele Fallin
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Li-Ching Lee
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Lisa Wiggins
- National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
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Oosting DR, Howard MS, Carter AS. Reciprocal Associations Between Language Ability and Social Functioning Development in Pre-verbal Autistic Children. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1643-1655. [PMID: 36719605 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05906-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Longitudinal research on language abilities and social functioning in young children suggests that gains in one domain affect gains in the other. However, few studies have examined inter-relations of language and social functioning jointly among young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Pre-verbal toddlers with ASD are a group of particular clinical relevance, given that greater language abilities at school entry have been associated with positive long-term adjustment in many areas, including adaptive and social functioning. Reduced attention to and engagement in social interactions among autistic toddlers who are not yet speaking may interfere with language development concurrently and over time. The present study examined reciprocal associations between language ability and social functioning over a 2-year period across three time points in a sample of 90 pre-verbal autistic toddlers using cross-lagged panel analyses conducted in MPlus. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed significant within-timepoint synchronous correlations, within-domain autoregressive paths over time, and as hypothesized, reciprocal significance in all cross-lagged paths. For very young pre-verbal children with ASD, language ability and social functioning appear to exert concurrent and cascading developmental influences on one another. Targeting both language and social functioning simultaneously may enhance intervention efficacy for very young pre-verbal children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Devon R Oosting
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Mya S Howard
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Alice S Carter
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
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Rudra S, McManus S, Hassiotis A, Ali A. Mental health and service use of parents with and without borderline intellectual functioning. Psychol Med 2024; 54:1294-1308. [PMID: 37877259 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723003136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND People with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) encounter greater social adversities than the general population and have an increased prevalence of mental illness. However, little is known about the socio-demographic characteristics and mental health of parents with BIF. METHODS A secondary data analysis of the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014 was conducted. Logistic regression models were fitted to compare differences in socio-demographic, mental health and service-use characteristics between parents and non-parents with and without BIF, and to investigate if the relationship between parent status and mental health outcomes was modified by BIF status, sex, and employment. RESULTS Data from 6872 participants was analyzed; 69.1% were parents. BIF parents had higher odds of common mental disorder, severe mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm/suicide and were more likely to see their General Practitioner (GP) and to receive mental health treatment than non-BIF parents. BIF parents did not have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than BIF non-parents. Being a parent, after adjusting for BIF status and other confounders, was associated with increased odds of having a common mental disorder, visits to see a GP and treatment for mental health. Female parents had higher odds of treatment for mental health problems. CONCLUSIONS Being a parent is associated with elevated rates of common mental disorders. There is a higher burden of mental health problems and service use in people with BIF. A greater provision of specialist support services including ascertainment is indicated for this group.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sally McManus
- City University and NatCen Associate; NatCen Social Research, London, UK
| | | | - Afia Ali
- Queen Mary University of London, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, London, UK
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42
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Blume J, Dhanasekara CS, Kahathuduwa CN, Mastergeorge AM. Central Executive and Default Mode Networks: An Appraisal of Executive Function and Social Skill Brain-Behavior Correlates in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1882-1896. [PMID: 36988766 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05961-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Atypical connectivity patterns have been observed for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly across the triple-network model. The current study investigated brain-behavior relationships in the context of social skills and executive function profiles for ASD youth. We calculated connectivity measures from diffusion tensor imaging using Bayesian estimation and probabilistic tractography. We replicated prior structural equation modeling of behavioral measures with total default mode network (DMN) connectivity to include comparisons with central executive network (CEN) connectivity and CEN-DMN connectivity. Increased within-CEN connectivity was related to metacognitive strengths. Our findings indicate behavior regulation difficulties in youth with ASD may be attributable to impaired connectivity between the CEN and DMN and social skill difficulties may be exacerbated by impaired within-DMN connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Blume
- Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 41230, Lubbock, TX, 79409-1230, USA.
| | | | - Chanaka N Kahathuduwa
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA
| | - Ann M Mastergeorge
- Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 41230, Lubbock, TX, 79409-1230, USA
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Twito R, Hadad BS, Szpiro S. Is she still angry? Intact learning but no updating of facial expressions priors in autism. Autism Res 2024; 17:934-946. [PMID: 38716802 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Autistic people exhibit atypical use of prior information when processing simple perceptual stimuli; yet, it remains unclear whether and how these difficulties in using priors extend to complex social stimuli. Here, we compared autistic people without accompanying intellectual disability and nonautistic people in their ability to acquire an "emotional prior" of a facial expression and update this prior to a different facial expression of the same identity. Participants performed a two-interval same/different discrimination task between two facial expressions. To study the acquisition of the prior, we examined how discrimination was modified by the contraction of the perceived facial expressions toward the average of presented stimuli (i.e., regression to the mean). At first, facial expressions surrounded one average emotional prior (mostly sad or angry), and then the average switched (to mostly angry or sad, accordingly). Autistic people exhibited challenges in facial discrimination, and yet acquired the first prior, demonstrating typical regression-to-the-mean effects. However, unlike nonautistic people, autistic people did not update their perception to the second prior, suggesting they are less flexible in updating an acquired prior of emotional expressions. Our findings shed light on the perception of emotional expressions, one of the most pressing challenges in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renana Twito
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Sarit Szpiro
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Waizbard-Bartov E, Ferrer E, Heath B, Andrews DS, Rogers S, Kerns CM, Wu Nordahl C, Solomon M, Amaral DG. Changes in the severity of autism symptom domains are related to mental health challenges during middle childhood. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024; 28:1216-1230. [PMID: 37691349 PMCID: PMC10924781 DOI: 10.1177/13623613231195108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT For many autistic children, the severity of their autism symptoms changes during middle childhood. We studied whether these changes are associated with the emergence of other mental health challenges such as anxiety and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children who had increased social-communication challenges had more anxiety and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and disruptive behavior problems than other children. Children who decreased their restricted and repetitive behaviors, on the contrary, had more anxiety. We discuss why these changes in autism symptoms may lead to increases in other mental health concerns.
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Parenti M, Schmidt RJ, Tancredi DJ, Hertz-Picciotto I, Walker CK, Slupsky CM. Neurodevelopment and Metabolism in the Maternal-Placental-Fetal Unit. JAMA Netw Open 2024; 7:e2413399. [PMID: 38805224 PMCID: PMC11134213 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.13399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Importance Disturbances in maternal, placental, and fetal metabolism are associated with developmental outcomes. Associations of maternal, placental, and fetal metabolism with subsequent neurodevelopmental outcomes in the child are understudied. Objective To investigate the metabolic associations within the maternal-placental-fetal unit and subsequent neurodevelopmental outcomes in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study was conducted within a subset of the Markers of Autism Risk in Babies, Learning Early Signs (MARBLES) cohort. MARBLES is a prospective birth cohort of younger siblings of children with ASD assessed for neurodevelopmental outcomes at approximately age 36 months. Participants in MARBLES were recruited through the UC Davis MIND Institute. This subset of the MARBLES cohort included younger siblings born between 2009 and 2015. Maternal third trimester serum, placental tissue, and umbilical cord serum samples were collected from participants. Only pregnancies with at least 2 of these sample types were included in this analysis. Data analysis was conducted from March 1, 2023, to March 15, 2024. Exposures Quantitative metabolomics analysis was conducted on maternal third trimester serum, as well as placental tissue and umbilical cord serum collected at delivery. Main Outcomes and Measures Using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Mullen Scales of Early Learning, outcomes were classified as ASD, other nontypical development (non-TD), and typical development (TD). Results This analysis included 100 maternal serum samples, 141 placental samples, and 124 umbilical cord serum samples from 152 pregnancies (median [IQR] maternal age, 34.6 [30.8-38.3] years; median [IQR] gestational age, 39.0 [38.6-39.7] weeks; 87 [57.2%] male infants). There was no evidence that the maternal third trimester serum metabolome was significantly associated with the other metabolomes. The placental and cord serum metabolomes were highly correlated (first latent variate pair: R2 = 0.75; P < .001) and the variate scores for each tissue were significantly associated with reduced risk of non-TD (placenta: relative risk [RR], 0.13; 95% CI, 0.02-0.71; cord: RR, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.03-0.70) but not ASD (placenta: RR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.42-2.81; cord: RR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.23-1.73) compared with the TD reference group. Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study of children with high familial risk of ASD, placental and cord serum metabolism at delivery were highly correlated. Furthermore, placental and cord serum metabolic profiles were associated with risk of non-TD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Parenti
- Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis
- Now with Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington
| | - Rebecca J. Schmidt
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis
- MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Sacramento
| | - Daniel J. Tancredi
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis
| | - Irva Hertz-Picciotto
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis
- MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Sacramento
| | - Cheryl K. Walker
- MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Sacramento
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento
| | - Carolyn M. Slupsky
- Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis
- Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis
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Capiotto F, Romano Cappi G, Mirlisenna I, Mazza A, Cicinelli G, Lauritano C, Keller R, Dal Monte O. Autonomic and hedonic response to affective touch in autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2024; 17:923-933. [PMID: 38685201 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Interpersonal touch plays a crucial role in shaping relationships and encouraging social connections. Failure in processing tactile input or abnormal tactile sensitivity may hamper social behaviors and have severe consequences in individuals' relational lives. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by both sensory disruptions and social impairments, making affective touch an ideal meeting point for understanding these features in ASD individuals. By integrating behavioral and physiological measures, we investigated the effects of affective touch on adult individuals with ASD from both an implicit and explicit perspective. Specifically, at an implicit level, we investigated whether and how receiving an affective touch influenced participants' skin conductance tonic and phasic components. At the explicit level, we delved into the affective and unpleasant features of affective touch. Overall, we observed lower skin conductance level in ASD compared to TD subjects. Interestingly, the typically developing (TD) group showed an increased autonomic response for affective touch compared to a control touch, while ASD subjects' autonomic response did not differ between the two conditions. Furthermore, ASD participants provided higher ratings for both the affective and unpleasant components of the touch, compared to TD subjects. Our results reveal a noteworthy discrepancy in ASD population between the subjective experience, characterized by amplified hedonic but also unpleasant responses, and the physiological response, marked by a lack of autonomic activation related to affective touch. This insightful dissociation seems crucial for a deeper understanding of the distinctive challenges characterizing people with ASD and may have implications for diagnosis and therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Giovanni Cicinelli
- Adult Autism Center, Mental Health Department, Local Health Unit ASL Città di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Chiara Lauritano
- Adult Autism Center, Mental Health Department, Local Health Unit ASL Città di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Roberto Keller
- Adult Autism Center, Mental Health Department, Local Health Unit ASL Città di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Olga Dal Monte
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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Hongo M, Oshima F, Guan S, Takahashi T, Nitta Y, Seto M, Hull L, Mandy W, Ohtani T, Tamura M, Shimizu E. Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the camouflaging autistic traits questionnaire. Autism Res 2024. [PMID: 38661257 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated the factor structure and determined the reliability and validity of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire-Japanese version (CAT-Q-J) among 204 autistic and 410 non-autistic people. Since a confirmatory factor analysis revealed no factor validity of the CAT-Q-J for both autistic and non-autistic adults, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to ensure the psychometric properties matched those of the original scale as much as possible. The results showed the CAT-Q-J comprised three subscales, a four-item compensation subscale, a five-item masking scale, and a five-item assimilation subscale. The overall CAT-Q-J and all three subscales showed sufficient internal consistency and moderate-to-good and stable test-retest reliability in both the autistic and non-autistic samples. Convergent validity was also supported by the correlations found with measures of autistic traits, well-being, anxiety, and depression. Different from the original CAT-Q, compensation/masking for the autistic sample was not correlated with mental health or autistic traits. The reliability and the validity of the overall CAT-Q-J were confirmed; however, caution should be exercised when interpreting its subscales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minako Hongo
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Fumiyo Oshima
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University; Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, Osaka, Japan
| | - Siqing Guan
- Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan
| | - Toru Takahashi
- Laureate Insutitute for Brain Research, Tulsa, USA
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yusuke Nitta
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Mikuko Seto
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Laura Hull
- Centre for Academic Mental Health, Department of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - William Mandy
- Reserch Department for Clinial, Educational & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Toshiyuki Ohtani
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University; Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, Osaka, Japan
- Safety and Health Organization, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Masaki Tamura
- Department of Cognitive Behavioral Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Eiji Shimizu
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University; Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, Osaka, Japan
- Department of Cognitive Behavioral Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
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48
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Punatar R, Angkustsiri K, Kair LR, Tancredi DJ, Harvey DJ, Schmidt RJ. Association of Breastfeeding Duration with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in an Enriched Familial Likelihood Cohort for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2024:10.1007/s10578-024-01700-7. [PMID: 38658455 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-024-01700-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
This study aimed to compare the breastfeeding (BF) duration of the younger siblings of children with ASD in an enriched-likelihood cohort for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to determine whether longer BF duration was associated with differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes in this cohort. Information on BF practices was collected via surveys in the MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) study. Developmental evaluations, including the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, were conducted by expert clinicians. Participants' neurodevelopmental outcome was classified by an algorithm into three groups: typical development, ASD, and non-typical development. The median duration of BF was 10.70 months (interquartile range of 12.07 months). There were no significant differences in the distribution of duration of BF among the three neurodevelopmental outcome categories. Children in this enriched-likelihood cohort who were breastfed for > 12 months had significantly higher scores on cognitive testing compared to those who were breastfed for 0-3 months. There was no significant difference in ASD symptomatology or ASD risk based on BF duration.
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Grants
- P50HD103256 (Abbeduto) Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorder (MIND) Institute's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- P50HD103256 (Abbeduto) Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorder (MIND) Institute's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- P50HD103256 (Abbeduto) Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorder (MIND) Institute's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- P50HD103256 (Abbeduto) Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorder (MIND) Institute's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- T77MC25733 (Angkustsiri) Maternal Child Health Bureau Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant
- T77MC25733 (Angkustsiri) Maternal Child Health Bureau Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant
- R-833292 (Pessah) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- 863967 (Schmidt) Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI)
- R01ES020392 (Hertz-Picciotto) National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- R01ES020392 (Hertz-Picciotto) National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- UL1 TR001860 (PI Theodore Wun, MD) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, and the National Institute on Aging and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health
- UL1 TR001860 (PI Theodore Wun, MD) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, and the National Institute on Aging and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health
- K12 HD051958, PI Nancy Lane, MD Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health award
- K12 HD051958, PI Nancy Lane, MD Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health award
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruchi Punatar
- Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
- UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Kathleen Angkustsiri
- Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
- UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Laura R Kair
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Daniel J Tancredi
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Danielle J Harvey
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Med Sci 1C, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Rebecca J Schmidt
- UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Med Sci 1C, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
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Minhas A, Whitlock K, Rosenfelt C, Shatto J, Finlay B, Zwicker J, Lippe S, Jacquemont S, Hagerman R, Murias K, Bolduc FV. Analyzing the Quality of Life in Individuals with Fragile X Syndrome in Relation to Sleep and Mental Health. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06317-2. [PMID: 38653851 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06317-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to examine the physical, emotional, social and school functioning domains of quality of life of individuals with Fragile X Syndrome, in relation to mental health and sleep patterns to gain a better understanding of how these aspects are affected by the disorder. This study included 119 individuals with Fragile X Syndrome who were given different cognitive examinations by a neuropsychologist or by parent-proxy questionnaires. This study focused on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQoL), the Anxiety, Depression and Mood Scale (ADAMS), the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), but did include other cognitive tests (Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, Nonverbal IQ, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule). We identified significant associations between decreases in emotional, social and school domains of PedsQoL and the ADAMS subtests of Generalized Anxiety, Manic/Hyperactivity and Obsessive/Compulsivity, with the subtest of Depressed Mood having associations with lower physical and emotional domains. We also identified a significant impact between CSHQ subtests of Sleep Anxiety, Night Wakings, Daytime Sleepiness, and Parasomnia with the emotional and school domains of PedsQoL. There were associations connecting school functioning with Bedtime Resistance, and additional associations connecting emotional functioning with Sleep Duration and Sleep Onset Delay. Physical functioning was also associated with Sleep Anxiety. Our study shows how mental health and sleep defects impact improper sleep patterns and mental health which leads to decreases in the quality of life for individuals with FXS, and how it is important to screen for these symptoms in order to alleviate issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amrita Minhas
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Kerri Whitlock
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Cory Rosenfelt
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Julie Shatto
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Brittany Finlay
- School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Jennifer Zwicker
- School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Sarah Lippe
- Hopital Sainte-Justine, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Randi Hagerman
- MIND Institute, University of California, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Kara Murias
- Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Francois V Bolduc
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
- Women and Children Health Research Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
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50
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Pugliese CE, Handsman R, You X, Anthony LG, Vaidya C, Kenworthy L. Probing heterogeneity to identify individualized treatment approaches in autism: Specific clusters of executive function challenges link to distinct co-occurring mental health problems. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024:13623613241246091. [PMID: 38642028 DOI: 10.1177/13623613241246091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Many autistic people struggle with mental health problems like anxiety, depression, inattention, and aggression, which can be challenging to treat. Executive function challenges, which impact many autistic individuals, may serve as a risk factor for mental health problems or make treating mental health conditions more difficult. While some people respond well to medication or therapy, others do not. This study tried to understand if there are different subgroups of autistic young people who may have similar patterns of executive function strengths and challenges-like flexibility, planning, self-monitoring, and emotion regulation. Then, we investigated whether executive function subgroups were related to mental health problems in autistic youth. We found three different types of executive function subgroups in autistic youth, each with different patterns of mental health problems. This helps us identify specific profiles of executive function strengths and challenges that may be helpful with identifying personalized supports, services, and treatment strategies for mental health conditions.
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