1. Carollo A, Bonassi A, Lim M, Gabrieli G, Setoh P, Dimitriou D, Aryadoust V, Esposito G. Developmental disabilities across the world: A scientometric review from 1936 to 2020. Research in developmental disabilities. 2021; 117: 104031.

BACKGROUND: Developmental disabilities have been largely studied in the past years. Their etiological mechanisms have been underpinned to the interactions between genetic and environmental factors. These factors show variability across the world. Thus, it is important to understand where the set of knowledge obtained on developmental disabilities originates from and whether it is generalizable to low- and middle-income countries. AIMS: This study aims to understand the origins of the available literature on developmental disabilities, keeping a focus on parenting, and identify the main trend of research. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: A sample of 11,315 publications from 1936 to 2020 were collected from Scopus and a graphical country analysis was conducted. Furthermore, a qualitative approach enabled the clustering of references by keywords into four main areas: « Expression of the disorder », « Physiological Factors », « How it is studied » and « Environmental factors ». For each area, a document co-citation analysis (DCA) on CiteSpace software was performed. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results highlight the leading role of North America in the study of developmental disabilities. Trends in the literature and the documents’ scientific relevance are discussed in details. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Results demand for investigation in different socio-economical settings to generalize our knowledge. What this paper adds? The current paper tries to provide insight into the origins of the literature on developmental disabilities with a focus on parenting, together with an analysis of the trends of research in the field. The paper consisted of a multi-disciplinary and multi-method review. In fact, the review tried to integrate the analysis of the relation between developmental disabilities with a closer look at the scientific contributions to the field across the world. Specifically, the paper integrates a total of 11,315 papers published on almost a century of research (from 1936 to 2020). An initial qualitative analysis on keywords was combined to a subsequent quantitative approach in order to maximize the comprehension of the impact of almost a century of scientific contributions. Specifically, documents were studied with temporal and structural metrics on a scientometric approach. This allowed the exploration of patterns within the literature available on Scopus in a quantitative way. This method not only assessed the importance of single documents within the network. As a matter of fact, the document co-citation analysis used on CiteSpace software provided insight into the relations existing between multiple documents in the field of research. As a result, the leading role of North America in the literature of developmental disabilities and parenting emerged. This was accompanied by the review of the main trends of research within the existing literature.

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2. Seguin D, Pac S, Wang J, Nicolson R, Martinez-Trujillo J, Duerden EG. Amygdala subnuclei development in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: Association with social communication and repetitive behaviors. Brain and behavior. 2021; 11(8): e2299.

INTRODUCTION: The amygdala subnuclei regulate emotional processing and are widely implicated in social cognitive impairments often seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dysregulated amygdala development has been reported in young children with ASD; less is known about amygdala maturation in later adolescence, a sensitive window for social skill development. METHODS: The macrostructural development of the amygdala subnuclei was assessed at two time points in a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of adolescents with ASD (n = 23) and typically-developing adolescents (n = 15) . In adolescents with ASD, amygdala subnuclei growth was assessed in relation to ASD symptomatology based on standardized diagnostic assessments. Participants were scanned with MRI at median age of 12 years and returned for a second scan at a median age of 15 years. The volumes of nine amygdala subnuclei were extracted using an automatic segmentation algorithm. RESULTS: When examining the longitudinal data acquired across two time points, adolescents with ASD had larger basolateral amygdala (BLA) nuclei volumes compared to typically developing adolescents (B = 46.8, p = 0.04). When examining ASD symptomatology in relation to the growth of the amygdala subnuclei, reciprocal social interaction scores on the ADI-R were positively associated with increased growth of the BLA nuclei (B = 8.3, p < 0.001). Growth in the medial nucleus negatively predicted the communication (B = -46.9, p = 0.02) and social (B = -47.7, p < 0.001) domains on the ADOS-G. Growth in the right cortical nucleus (B = 26.14, p = 0.02) positively predicted ADOS-G social scores. Central nucleus maturation (B = 29.9, p = 0.02) was associated with the repetitive behaviors domain on the ADOS-G. CONCLUSIONS: Larger BLA volumes in adolescents with ASD may reflect underlying alterations in cellular density previously reported in post-mortem studies. Furthermore, findings demonstrate an association between regional growth in amygdala subnuclei volumes and ASD symptomatology. Improved understanding of the developmental trajectories of the amygdala subnuclei may aid in identifying key windows for interventions, particularly for social communication, in adolescents with ASD.

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3. Yamada H, Okanishi T, Okazaki T, Oguri M, Fukuda H, Uchiyama Y, Mizuguchi T, Matsumoto N, Maegaki Y. Gait disturbance in a patient with de novo 1.0-kb SOX2 microdeletion. Brain & development. 2022; 44(1): 68-72.

BACKGROUND: Sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) plays an important role in the early embryogenesis of the eye, forebrain, and hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Anophthalmia, microphthalmia, and hormonal abnormalities are commonly observed in patients with SOX2-related disorders. Although gait disturbance, particularly ataxic gait, has recently been observed in several cases, detailed data regarding the clinical course of gait disturbance in SOX2-related disorders are limited. CASE REPORT: A 9-year-old Japanese boy presented with focal dyskinesia only during walking and running after he started walking at the age of 3 years. He also exhibited intellectual disability and mild dysmorphic features, including microcephaly, micropenis, and short stature associated with hormonal abnormalities. Gait disturbance with involuntary extremity movements only during walking and running was indicative of choreoathetosis and dystonia. Genetic analysis detected a de novo heterozygous 1.0-kb deletion including SOX2 at 3q26.32, as described in a previous technical paper. CONCLUSIONS: SOX2-related disorders should be considered in patients with some anomalies having a differential diagnosis of dyskinesia. Focal dyskinesia only during walking and running may be a characteristic feature of SOX2-related disorders.

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4. Yang XY, Zhang BB, Zhao L, Chen X. Effect of multi-sensory stimulation on children with global developmental delay. Asian journal of surgery. 2021; 44(10): 1308-9.

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