Experiences of student and trainee autism researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic / Sowmyashree Mayur KAKU in Autism Research, 15-3 (March 2022)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism Research > 15-3 (March 2022) . - p.413-420 Titre : Experiences of student and trainee autism researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Sowmyashree Mayur KAKU, Auteur ; Alana J. MCVEY, Auteur ; Alan H. GERBER, Auteur ; Charlotte M. PRETZSCH, Auteur ; Desiree R. JONES, Auteur ; Fathima Muhsina KODAKKADAN, Auteur ; Jiedi LEI, Auteur ; Lauren SINGER, Auteur ; Lucy CHITEHWE, Auteur ; Rebecca Elizabeth POULSEN, Auteur ; Marika COFFMAN, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.413-420 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in significant personal and professional adjustments. Students and trainees, including those in autism research, face unique challenges to accomplishing their training and career goals during this unprecedented time. In this commentary, we, as members of the International Society for Autism Research Student and Trainee Committee, describe our personal experiences, which may or may not align with those of other students and trainees. Our experiences have varied both in terms of the ease (or lack thereof) with which we adapted and the degree to which we were supported in the transition to online research and clinical practice. We faced and continue to adjust to uncertainties about future training and academic positions, for which opportunities have been in decline and have subsequently negatively impacted our mental health. Students and trainees' prospects have been particularly impacted compared to more established researchers and faculty. In addition to the challenges we have faced, however, there have also been unexpected benefits in our training during the pandemic, which we describe here. We have learned new coping strategies which, we believe, have served us well. The overarching goal of this commentary is to describe these experiences and strategies in the hope that they will benefit the autism research community moving forward. Here, we provide a set of recommendations for faculty, especially mentors, to support students and trainees as well as strategies for students and trainees to bolster their self-advocacy, both of which we see as crucial for our future careers. Lay Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has affected students and trainees, including those in autism research, in different ways. Here, we describe our personal experiences. These experiences include challenges. For example, it has been difficult to move from in-person to online work. It has also been difficult to keep up with work and training goals. Moreover, working from home has made it hard to connect with our supervisors and mentors. As a result, many of us have felt unsure about how to make the best career choices. Working in clinical services and getting to know and support our patients online has also been challenging. Overall, the pandemic has made us feel more isolated and some of us have struggled to cope with that. On the other hand, our experiences have also included benefits. For example, by working online, we have been able to join meetings all over the world. Also, the pandemic has pushed us to learn new skills. Those include technical skills but also skills for well-being. Next, we describe our experiences of returning to work. Finally, we give recommendations for trainees and supervisors on how to support each other and to build a strong community. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2662 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=473 [article] Experiences of student and trainee autism researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Sowmyashree Mayur KAKU, Auteur ; Alana J. MCVEY, Auteur ; Alan H. GERBER, Auteur ; Charlotte M. PRETZSCH, Auteur ; Desiree R. JONES, Auteur ; Fathima Muhsina KODAKKADAN, Auteur ; Jiedi LEI, Auteur ; Lauren SINGER, Auteur ; Lucy CHITEHWE, Auteur ; Rebecca Elizabeth POULSEN, Auteur ; Marika COFFMAN, Auteur . - p.413-420. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism Research > 15-3 (March 2022) . - p.413-420 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in significant personal and professional adjustments. Students and trainees, including those in autism research, face unique challenges to accomplishing their training and career goals during this unprecedented time. In this commentary, we, as members of the International Society for Autism Research Student and Trainee Committee, describe our personal experiences, which may or may not align with those of other students and trainees. Our experiences have varied both in terms of the ease (or lack thereof) with which we adapted and the degree to which we were supported in the transition to online research and clinical practice. We faced and continue to adjust to uncertainties about future training and academic positions, for which opportunities have been in decline and have subsequently negatively impacted our mental health. Students and trainees' prospects have been particularly impacted compared to more established researchers and faculty. In addition to the challenges we have faced, however, there have also been unexpected benefits in our training during the pandemic, which we describe here. We have learned new coping strategies which, we believe, have served us well. The overarching goal of this commentary is to describe these experiences and strategies in the hope that they will benefit the autism research community moving forward. Here, we provide a set of recommendations for faculty, especially mentors, to support students and trainees as well as strategies for students and trainees to bolster their self-advocacy, both of which we see as crucial for our future careers. Lay Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has affected students and trainees, including those in autism research, in different ways. Here, we describe our personal experiences. These experiences include challenges. For example, it has been difficult to move from in-person to online work. It has also been difficult to keep up with work and training goals. Moreover, working from home has made it hard to connect with our supervisors and mentors. As a result, many of us have felt unsure about how to make the best career choices. Working in clinical services and getting to know and support our patients online has also been challenging. Overall, the pandemic has made us feel more isolated and some of us have struggled to cope with that. On the other hand, our experiences have also included benefits. For example, by working online, we have been able to join meetings all over the world. Also, the pandemic has pushed us to learn new skills. Those include technical skills but also skills for well-being. Next, we describe our experiences of returning to work. Finally, we give recommendations for trainees and supervisors on how to support each other and to build a strong community. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2662 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=473

The neuroanatomical substrates of autism and ADHD and their link to putative genomic underpinnings / Caroline GURR ; Johanna LEYHAUSEN ; Hanna SEELEMEYER ; Anke BLETSCH ; Tim SCHAEFER ; Charlotte M. PRETZSCH ; Bethany OAKLEY ; Eva LOTH ; Dorothea L. FLORIS ; Jan K. BUITELAAR ; Christian F. BECKMANN ; Tobias BANASCHEWSKI ; Tony CHARMAN ; Emily J. H. JONES ; Julian TILLMANN ; Chris H CHATHAM ; Thomas BOURGERON ; EU-AIMS LEAP Group ; Declan G. M. MURPHY ; Christine ECKER in Molecular Autism, 14 (2023)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 14 (2023) . - 36 p. Titre : The neuroanatomical substrates of autism and ADHD and their link to putative genomic underpinnings Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Caroline GURR, Auteur ; Johanna LEYHAUSEN, Auteur ; Hanna SEELEMEYER, Auteur ; Anke BLETSCH, Auteur ; Tim SCHAEFER, Auteur ; Charlotte M. PRETZSCH, Auteur ; Bethany OAKLEY, Auteur ; Eva LOTH, Auteur ; Dorothea L. FLORIS, Auteur ; Jan K. BUITELAAR, Auteur ; Christian F. BECKMANN, Auteur ; Tobias BANASCHEWSKI, Auteur ; Tony CHARMAN, Auteur ; Emily J. H. JONES, Auteur ; Julian TILLMANN, Auteur ; Chris H CHATHAM, Auteur ; Thomas BOURGERON, Auteur ; EU-AIMS LEAP Group, Auteur ; Declan G. M. MURPHY, Auteur ; Christine ECKER, Auteur Article en page(s) : 36 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions accompanied by differences in brain development. Neuroanatomical differences in autism are variable across individuals and likely underpin distinct clinical phenotypes. To parse heterogeneity, it is essential to establish how the neurobiology of ASD is modulated by differences associated with co-occurring conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study aimed to (1) investigate between-group differences in autistic individuals with and without co-occurring ADHD, and to (2) link these variances to putative genomic underpinnings. METHODS: We examined differences in cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) and their genomic associations in a sample of 533 individuals from the Longitudinal European Autism Project. Using a general linear model including main effects of autism and ADHD, and an ASD-by-ADHD interaction, we examined to which degree ADHD modulates the autism-related neuroanatomy. Further, leveraging the spatial gene expression data of the Allen Human Brain Atlas, we identified genes whose spatial expression patterns resemble our neuroimaging findings. RESULTS: In addition to significant main effects for ASD and ADHD in fronto-temporal, limbic, and occipital regions, we observed a significant ASD-by-ADHD interaction in the left precentral gyrus and the right frontal gyrus for measures of CT and SA, respectively. Moreover, individuals with ASD?+?ADHD differed in CT to those without. Both main effects and the interaction were enriched for ASD-but not for ADHD-related genes. LIMITATIONS: Although we employed a multicenter design to overcome single-site recruitment limitations, our sample size of N=25 individuals in the ADHD only group is relatively small compared to the other subgroups, which limits the generalizability of the results. Also, we assigned subjects into ADHD positive groupings according to the DSM-5 rating scale. While this is sufficient for obtaining a research diagnosis of ADHD, our approach did not take into account for how long the symptoms have been present, which is typically considered when assessing ADHD in the clinical setting. CONCLUSION: Thus, our findings suggest that the neuroanatomy of ASD is significantly modulated by ADHD, and that autistic individuals with co-occurring ADHD may have specific neuroanatomical underpinnings potentially mediated by atypical gene expression. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-023-00568-z Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=513 [article] The neuroanatomical substrates of autism and ADHD and their link to putative genomic underpinnings [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Caroline GURR, Auteur ; Johanna LEYHAUSEN, Auteur ; Hanna SEELEMEYER, Auteur ; Anke BLETSCH, Auteur ; Tim SCHAEFER, Auteur ; Charlotte M. PRETZSCH, Auteur ; Bethany OAKLEY, Auteur ; Eva LOTH, Auteur ; Dorothea L. FLORIS, Auteur ; Jan K. BUITELAAR, Auteur ; Christian F. BECKMANN, Auteur ; Tobias BANASCHEWSKI, Auteur ; Tony CHARMAN, Auteur ; Emily J. H. JONES, Auteur ; Julian TILLMANN, Auteur ; Chris H CHATHAM, Auteur ; Thomas BOURGERON, Auteur ; EU-AIMS LEAP Group, Auteur ; Declan G. M. MURPHY, Auteur ; Christine ECKER, Auteur . - 36 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 14 (2023) . - 36 p. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions accompanied by differences in brain development. Neuroanatomical differences in autism are variable across individuals and likely underpin distinct clinical phenotypes. To parse heterogeneity, it is essential to establish how the neurobiology of ASD is modulated by differences associated with co-occurring conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study aimed to (1) investigate between-group differences in autistic individuals with and without co-occurring ADHD, and to (2) link these variances to putative genomic underpinnings. METHODS: We examined differences in cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) and their genomic associations in a sample of 533 individuals from the Longitudinal European Autism Project. Using a general linear model including main effects of autism and ADHD, and an ASD-by-ADHD interaction, we examined to which degree ADHD modulates the autism-related neuroanatomy. Further, leveraging the spatial gene expression data of the Allen Human Brain Atlas, we identified genes whose spatial expression patterns resemble our neuroimaging findings. RESULTS: In addition to significant main effects for ASD and ADHD in fronto-temporal, limbic, and occipital regions, we observed a significant ASD-by-ADHD interaction in the left precentral gyrus and the right frontal gyrus for measures of CT and SA, respectively. Moreover, individuals with ASD?+?ADHD differed in CT to those without. Both main effects and the interaction were enriched for ASD-but not for ADHD-related genes. LIMITATIONS: Although we employed a multicenter design to overcome single-site recruitment limitations, our sample size of N=25 individuals in the ADHD only group is relatively small compared to the other subgroups, which limits the generalizability of the results. Also, we assigned subjects into ADHD positive groupings according to the DSM-5 rating scale. While this is sufficient for obtaining a research diagnosis of ADHD, our approach did not take into account for how long the symptoms have been present, which is typically considered when assessing ADHD in the clinical setting. CONCLUSION: Thus, our findings suggest that the neuroanatomy of ASD is significantly modulated by ADHD, and that autistic individuals with co-occurring ADHD may have specific neuroanatomical underpinnings potentially mediated by atypical gene expression. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-023-00568-z Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=513

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