Cerebellar atrophy in temporal lobe epilepsy affects procedural memory

The authors examined a cognitive function mediated by the cerebellum, classical eyeblink conditioning, and its relationship to cerebellar volume in healthy controls (n = 59) and temporal lobe epilepsy subjects (n = 77). Controls demonstrated better conditioning, larger cerebellar volumes, and an association between conditioning and cerebellar volume that was not observed in epilepsy patients. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that cerebellar atrophy in epilepsy affects procedural memory.

Abnormal processing of social information from faces in autism

Autism has been thought to be characterized, in part, by dysfunction in emotional and social cognition, but the pathology of the underlying processes and their neural substrates remain poorly understood. Several studies have hypothesized that abnormal amygdala function may account for some of the impairments seen in autism, specifically, impaired recognition of socially relevant information from faces. We explored this issue in eight high-functioning subjects with autism in four experiments that assessed recognition of emotional and social information, primarily from faces. All tasks used were identical to those previously used in studies of subjects with bilateral amygdala damage, permitting direct comparisons. All subjects with autism made abnormal social judgments regarding the trustworthiness of faces; however, all were able to make normal social judgments from lexical stimuli, and all had a normal ability to perceptually discriminate the stimuli. Overall, these data from subjects with autism show some parallels to those from neurological subjects with focal amygdala damage. We suggest that amygdala dysfunction in autism might contribute to an impaired ability to link visual perception of socially relevant stimuli with retrieval of social knowledge and with elicitation of social behavior.

The effect of administering long-acting oxytetracycline and tilmicosin either by dart gun or by hand on injection site lesions and drug residues in beef cattle

Forty yearling cattle were injected intramuscularly with long-acting oxytetracycline and subcutaneously with tilmicosin by dart gun or by hand in a chute 28 days prior to slaughter. The drugs caused injection site lesions and antibiotic residues in the neck and thigh that varied by technique, dose, and site.

Case study: cross-gender preoccupations with two male children with autism

Persons with autism frequently exhibit circumscribed interests and unusual preoccupations. In this case study, two young males with autism are presented who have preoccupations with feminine gender-stereotyped activities and objects. These types of preoccupations in children with autism have not been reported in the literature, but may be more prevalent than realized due to parental underreporting given the negative stigma associated with feminine interests in young boys. The development of gender identity in young children with autism has rarely been addressed in the literature. It seems unlikely that these two cases can be categorized as gender identity disorders. Understanding these preoccupations in the context of autism rather than focusing on the gender identity issues has important implications for treatment. These cases point to the need for further study of the complex interplay of environmental and neurobiologic factors affecting gender identity roles and preoccupations in autism.