1. An WW, Nelson CA, Wilkinson CL. Neural response to repeated auditory stimuli and its association with early language ability in male children with Fragile X syndrome. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience. 2022; 16: 987184.

BACKGROUND: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most prevalent form of inherited intellectual disability and is commonly associated with autism. Previous studies have linked the structural and functional alterations in FXS with impaired sensory processing and sensory hypersensitivity, which may hinder the early development of cognitive functions such as language comprehension. In this study, we compared the P1 response of the auditory evoked potential and its habituation to repeated auditory stimuli in male children (2-7 years old) with and without FXS, and examined their association with clinical measures in these two groups. METHODS: We collected high-density electroencephalography (EEG) data in an auditory oddball paradigm from 12 male children with FXS and 11 age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children. After standardized EEG pre-processing, we conducted a spatial principal component (PC) analysis and identified two major PCs-a frontal PC and a temporal PC. Within each PC, we compared the P1 amplitude and inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) between the two groups, and performed a series of linear regression analysis to study the association between these EEG measures and several clinical measures, including assessment scores for language abilities, non-verbal skills, and sensory hypersensitivity. RESULTS: At the temporal PC, both early and late standard stimuli evoked a larger P1 response in FXS compared to TD participants. For temporal ITPC, the TD group showed greater habituation than the FXS group. However, neither group showed significant habituation of the frontal or temporal P1 response. Despite lack of habituation, exploratory analysis of brain-behavior associations observed that within the FXS group, reduced frontal P1 response to late standard stimuli, and increased frontal P1 habituation were both associated with better language scores. CONCLUSION: We identified P1 amplitude and ITPC in the temporal region as a contrasting EEG phenotype between the FXS and the TD groups. However, only frontal P1 response and habituation were associated with language measures. Larger longitudinal studies are required to determine whether these EEG measures could be used as biomarkers for language development in patients with FXS.

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2. Berens JC, Tsami L, Lerman DC, Matteucci M, Fray DF, Warner BF, Keehan LA, Staggers KA, Peacock C. Preliminary Results of an Interdisciplinary Behavioral Program to Improve Access to Preventative Dental Care for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(6): 504-19.

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (AIDD) experience significant oral health disparities, partially due to perceived behavioral issues. This article describes the preliminary outcomes of a developing interdisciplinary (dental, medical, behavioral) program involving a behavioral intervention for AIDD previously receiving preventative dental care with sedation, general anesthesia, or protective stabilization (SAS). After a baseline assessment, a board-certified behavior analyst implemented increasingly complex behavioral interventions during simulated dental visits. Prior to COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions, there were 32 active participants; 15 (46.9%) successfully completed a focused, real dental exam with simple behavioral interventions and 17 (53.1%) remain in treatment. These preliminary results suggest that many AIDD previously receiving SAS may participate in a preventative dental exam with minimal behavioral supports, if given the opportunity.

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3. Cipriani C, Giudice M, Petrone V, Fanelli M, Minutolo A, Miele MT, Toschi N, Maracchioni C, Siracusano M, Benvenuto A, Coniglio A, Curatolo P, Mazzone L, Sandro G, Garaci E, Sinibaldi-Vallebona P, Matteucci C, Balestrieri E. Modulation of human endogenous retroviruses and cytokines expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from autistic children and their parents. Retrovirology. 2022; 19(1): 26.

BACKGROUND: Putative pathogenic effects mediated by human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) in neurological and psychiatric disorders in humans have been extensively described. HERVs may alter the development of the brain by means of several mechanisms, including modulation of gene expression, alteration of DNA stability, and activation of immune system. We recently demonstrated that autistic children and their mothers share high expression levels of some HERVs and cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) ex vivo, suggesting a close mother-child association in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). RESULTS: In the present study, PBMCs from autistic children and their parents were exposed to stimulating factors (Interleukin-2/Phytohaemagglutinin) or drugs, as Valproic acid and Efavirenz. The results show that HERVs and cytokines expression can be modulated in vitro by different stimuli in PBMCs from autistic children and their mothers, while no significant changes were found in PBMCs ASD fathers or in controls individuals. In particular, in vitro exposure to interleukin-2/Phytohaemagglutinin or valproic acid induces the expression of several HERVs and cytokines while Efavirenz inhibits them. CONCLUSION: Herein we show that autistic children and their mothers share an intrinsic responsiveness to in vitro microenvironmental changes in expressing HERVs and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Remarkably, the antiretroviral drug Efavirenz restores the expression of specific HERV families to values similar to those of the controls, also reducing the expression of proinflammatory cytokines but keeping the regulatory ones high. Our findings open new perspectives to study the role of HERVs in the biological mechanisms underlying Autism.

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4. Díaz Vargas D, Leonario Rodríguez M. Effectiveness of nutritional interventions on behavioral symptomatology of autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review. Nutricion hospitalaria. 2022; 39(6): 1378-88.

Introduction: the main treatment for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) corresponds to cognitive behavioral therapy in conjunction with pharmacotherapy. Together they seek to attenuate the behavioral symptoms of these patients, as well as to increase their social functionality. However, other strategies have become popular to achieve the same goal of classical treatment. Particularly, nutritional interventions are positioned above others, and it is necessary to investigate their effectiveness, considering that children with ASD present a marked food selectivity, as well as gastrointestinal alterations. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of nutritional interventions in the behavioral symptomatology of infants with ASD. Methods: a systematic search was carried out in the Scopus and PubMed databases, in Spanish and English. The filters of clinical studies and original articles were used, choosing only nutritional interventions in children under 19 years of age and who had had at least 4 weeks of intervention. Results: evidence was found on gluten- and casein-free diets, ketogenic diet, omega-3 supplementation, prebiotics/probiotics, and vitamins/minerals presenting positive results in most of the articles analyzed; however, the heterogeneity presented requires a greater body of evidence to promote its use. Conclusion: the five types of nutritional interventions evaluated show varied evidence that does not allow defining the degree of effectiveness between one or the other in terms of behavioral improvements in the population with ASD.

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5. Frost-Karlsson M, Capusan AJ, Perini I, Olausson H, Zetterqvist M, Gustafsson PA, Boehme R. Neural processing of self-touch and other-touch in anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum condition. NeuroImage Clinical. 2022; 36: 103264.

INTRODUCTION: The tactile sense plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of a functional bodily self. The ability to differentiate between self- and nonself-generated touch contributes to the perception of the bodies’ boundaries and more generally to self-other-distinction, both of which are thought be altered in anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum condition (AS). While it has been suggested that AN and AS are characterized by overlapping symptomatology, they might differ regarding body perception and self-other-distinction. METHODS: Participants with a diagnosis of AN (n = 25), AS (n = 29), and a comparison group without diagnoses (n = 57) performed a self-other-touch task during functional brain imaging. In the experimental conditions, they stroked their own arm or were stroked on the arm by an experimenter. RESULTS: As shown previously, the CG group showed lower activation or deactivation in response to self-touch compared to social touch from someone else. A main group effect was found in areas including somatosensory cortex, frontal and temporal gyri, insula, and subcortical regions. This was driven by increased activations in participants with AN, while participants in the AS group showed mostly comparable activations to the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: AN diagnosis was associated with an increased neural activity in response to both self-touch and social touch. Failure to attenuate self-touch might relate to altered predictions regarding the own body and reduced perception of bodily boundaries. Participants with an AS diagnosis were mostly comparable to the comparison group, potentially indicating unaltered tactile self-other-distinction.

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6. Gagnon D, Zeribi A, Douard É, Courchesne V, Huguet G, Jacquemont S, Loum MA, Mottron L. Using developmental regression to reorganize the clinical importance of autistic atypicalities. Translational psychiatry. 2022; 12(1): 498.

Early regression (ER) is often reported in autistic children with a prototypical phenotype and has been proposed as a possible pathognomonic sign present in most autistic children. Despite the uncertainties attached to its definition and report, using ER to anchor the autism phenotype could help identify the signs that best contribute to an autism diagnosis. We extracted retrospective data from 1547 autistic children between the ages of 6 and 18 years from the Simons Simplex collection. Logistic regression identified the atypicalities associated with a history of ER. Stepwise variable selection using logistic regression analysis followed by a bootstrap procedure of 1000 iterations identified the cluster of atypicalities best associated with ER. Linear and logistic regressions measured the association between combinations of atypicalities within the identified cluster and adaptative behaviors, diagnostic areas of severity, and other categories. Seven atypicalities significantly increased the likelihood of having experienced ER (OR = 1.73-2.13). Four (« hand leading-ever », « pronominal reversal-ever », « never shakes head at age 4-5 » and « stereotypic use of objects or interest in parts of objects-ever »), when grouped together, best characterized the phenotype of verbal autistic children with ER. This clustering of signs was associated with certain persistent language difficulties, higher summary scores on a diagnostic scale for autism, and greater odds of receiving an « autistic disorder » diagnosis instead of another pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) diagnosis. These results raise questions about using language as a clinical specifier, defining cross-sectional signs independent of their relationship with an early developmental trajectory, and relying on polythetic criteria or equivalent weighted autistic atypicalities.

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7. Gibson CA, Sullivan DK, Ptomey LT, Rice AM, Donnelly JE. Interviews with parents of adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a weight management study. Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID. 2022.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are at risk of obesity. Parents influence their diet and physical activity behaviours and therefore, can play important roles in weight management. The aims of this qualitative study were to explore parents’ experiences assisting their son or daughter to participate in a weight management study. METHODS: Interviews were completed at 6 months with 27 parents whose adolescent or young adult had completed the weight loss portion of an 18-month weight management study. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematic analysis performed. RESULTS: Parents shared insights about how well program components worked with their family, and what strategies worked best to adopt healthier dietary choices and become more physically active. The importance of meeting regularly with someone outside the family to encourage healthier habits was stressed. CONCLUSIONS: Future weight management studies should involve parents and their adolescents to help tailor strategies and adapt intervention approaches.

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8. Griff JR, Langlie J, Bencie NB, Cromar ZJ, Mittal J, Memis I, Wallace S, Marcillo AE, Mittal R, Eshraghi AA. Recent advancements in noninvasive brain modulation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Neural regeneration research. 2023; 18(6): 1191-5.

Autism spectrum disorder is classified as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders with an unknown definitive etiology. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder show deficits in a variety of areas including cognition, memory, attention, emotion recognition, and social skills. With no definitive treatment or cure, the main interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder are based on behavioral modulations. Recently, noninvasive brain modulation techniques including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, intermittent theta burst stimulation, continuous theta burst stimulation, and transcranial direct current stimulation have been studied for their therapeutic properties of modifying neuroplasticity, particularly in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Preliminary evidence from small cohort studies, pilot studies, and clinical trials suggests that the various noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have therapeutic benefits for treating both behavioral and cognitive manifestations of autism spectrum disorder. However, little data is available for quantifying the clinical significance of these findings as well as the long-term outcomes of individuals with autism spectrum disorder who underwent transcranial stimulation. The objective of this review is to highlight the most recent advancements in the application of noninvasive brain modulation technology in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

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9. Haartsen R, Charman T, Pasco G, Johnson MH, Jones EJH. Modulation of EEG theta by naturalistic social content is not altered in infants with family history of autism. Scientific reports. 2022; 12(1): 20758.

Theta oscillations (spectral power and connectivity) are sensitive to the social content of an experience in typically developing infants, providing a possible marker of early social brain development. Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting early social behaviour, but links to underlying social brain function remain unclear. We explored whether modulations of theta spectral power and connectivity by naturalistic social content in infancy are related to family history for autism. Fourteen-month-old infants with (family history; FH; N = 75) and without (no family history; NFH; N = 26) a first-degree relative with autism watched social and non-social videos during EEG recording. We calculated theta (4-5 Hz) spectral power and connectivity modulations (social-non-social) and associated them with outcomes at 36 months. We replicated previous findings of increased theta power and connectivity during social compared to non-social videos. Theta modulations with social content were similar between groups, for both power and connectivity. Together, these findings suggest that neural responses to naturalistic social stimuli may not be strongly altered in 14-month-old infants with family history of autism.

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10. Hariri R, Nakhostin-Ansari A, Mohammadi F, Memari AH, Oskouie IM, Haghparast A. An Overview of the Available Intervention Strategies for Postural Balance Control in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism research and treatment. 2022; 2022: 3639352.

BACKGROUND: Postural instability is a prevalent issue among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that affects the development of their perceptual-motor skills and social functioning. Visual and somatosensory processing deficits, hypotonia, basal ganglia dysfunction, and anxiety are some of the concurrent disorders in individuals with ASD. Nevertheless, a definite management protocol for postural instability in ASD has not been introduced yet. Hence, we aim to shed light on the available intervention strategies for postural instability in individuals with ASD. METHODS: Even though several studies have been conducted on the effects of various interventions for balance control in individuals with ASD, no study has compared their efficacy, limitations, and clinical implications. RESULTS: This review discusses diverse proposed interventions contributing to ASD postural instability, including martial arts, water-based interventions, animal-assisted therapies, trampoline, balance training, vestibular therapy, transcranial direct current stimulation, sports, play, and active recreation for kids (SPARK), and square-stepping exercise (SSE). CONCLUSION: Enhancing motor skills, cerebellum function, and sensory input integration were some of the main mechanisms of these interventions to improve balance control in ASD. Some interventions, such as water-based exercises and video games, were enjoyable for children with ASD and could raise their treatment adherence. In most studies, small sample sizes and the lack of a control group represented their major limitations. Therefore, future well-designed randomized controlled trials are required to assess the effects of available interventions on postural control in ASD.

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11. Havercamp SM, Bonardi A. Special Issue Introduction: Addressing Healthcare Inequities in Intellectual Disability and Developmental Disabilities. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(6): 449-52.

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12. Heyl J, Hardy F, Tucker K, Hopper A, Marchã MJ, Liew A, Reep J, Harwood KA, Roberts L, Yates J, Day J, Wheeler A, Eve-Jones S, Briggs TWR, Gray WK. Data quality and autism: Issues and potential impacts. International journal of medical informatics. 2022; 170: 104938.

INTRODUCTION: Large healthcare datasets can provide insight that has the potential to improve outcomes for patients. However, it is important to understand the strengths and limitations of such datasets so that the insights they provide are accurate and useful. The aim of this study was to identify data inconsistencies within the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) dataset for autistic patients and assess potential biases introduced through these inconsistencies and their impact on patient outcomes. The study can only identify inconsistencies in recording of autism diagnosis and not whether the inclusion or exclusion of the autism diagnosis is the error. METHODS: Data were extracted from the HES database for the period 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2021 for patients with a diagnosis of autism. First spells in hospital during the study period were identified for each patient and these were linked to any subsequent spell in hospital for the same patient. Data inconsistencies were recorded where autism was not recorded as a diagnosis in a subsequent spell. Features associated with data inconsistencies were identified using a random forest classifiers and regression modelling. RESULTS: Data were available for 172,324 unique patients who had been recorded as having an autism diagnosis on first admission. In total, 43.7 % of subsequent spells were found to have inconsistencies. The features most strongly associated with inconsistencies included greater age, greater deprivation, longer time since the first spell, change in provider, shorter length of stay, being female and a change in the main specialty description. The random forest algorithm had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.864 (95 % CI [0.862 – 0.866]) in predicting a data inconsistency. For patients who died in hospital, inconsistencies in their final spell were significantly associated with being 80 years and over, being female, greater deprivation and use of a palliative care code in the death spell. CONCLUSIONS: Data inconsistencies in the HES database were relatively common in autistic patients and were associated a number of patient and hospital admission characteristics. Such inconsistencies have the potential to distort our understanding of service use in key demographic groups.

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13. Hsu JW, Chen LC, Huang KL, Tsai SJ, Bai YM, Su TP, Chen TJ, Chen MH. The influence of sex on major psychiatric comorbidities and parental psychiatric disorders in 22,698 children and adolescents with ICD-9-CM-based autism spectrum disorder. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience. 2022.

It remains unclear how major psychiatric comorbidities and parental psychiatric disorders differ in males and females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Between 2001 and 2011, 17,627 children and 5071 adolescents with ASD (ICD-9-CM code: 299) were identified from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database and assessed for major psychiatric comorbidities and parental psychiatric disorders. Compared with females with ASD, males with ASD were more likely to be diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (relative risk [RR], 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.63, 1.51-1.75) and disruptive behavior disorder (1.38, 1.17-1.62) and less likely to be diagnosed as having schizophrenia (0.45, 0.36-0.56), bipolar disorder (0.58, 0.45-0.74), or intellectual disability (0.53, 0.49-0.58). Furthermore, compared with women, having a parental history of schizophrenia (RR, 95% CI 0.66, 0.49-0.89) or intellectual disability (0.34, 0.19-0.61) was less associated with ASD among men. However, the difference in ASD diagnosis between ICD-9-CM and ICD-10/11-CM systems may reflect the different, but surely overlapping, entity of ASD, which may limit the generalization of our results. Additional studies should be performed.

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14. Li X, Ruan C, Zibrila AI, Musa M, Wu Y, Zhang Z, Liu H, Salimeen M. Children with autism spectrum disorder present glymphatic system dysfunction evidenced by diffusion tensor imaging along the perivascular space. Medicine. 2022; 101(48): e32061.

This study used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) to assess glymphatic system function in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to healthy controls. Patients with ASD may have glymphatic system dysfunction, which is related to age. We retrospectively included 30 children with ASD and 25 healthy controls in this study. 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner was used to perform DTI magnetic resonance imaging on all participants, and the DTI-ALPS index was calculated from the DTI data. Additionally, we evaluated how the DTI-ALPS index differed between the 2 groups. Moreover, we examined the relationships between the bilateral DTI-ALPS index and the age of the participants. The DTI-ALPS index considerably differed between groups. In the left index (1.02 ± 0.12 vs. 1.27 ± 0.25, P < .001) and in the right index (1.03 ± 0.12 vs. 1.32 ± 0.20, P < .001), the DTI-ALPS in ASD patients was significantly lower than that in healthy controls. Furthermore, the DTI-ALPS index was strongly and positively associated with age. In patients with ASD, there is a glymphatic system dysfunction. This is intimately correlated to age. Our findings suggest the importance of the DTI-ALPS approach in assessing the function of the glymphatic system in ASD.

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15. Liu X, Yang Q, Shi C, Hao H, Xiao X, Li S. [Analysis of clinical characteristics and genetic variant in a child with Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome due to maternal mosaicism]. Zhonghua yi xue yi chuan xue za zhi = Zhonghua yixue yichuanxue zazhi = Chinese journal of medical genetics. 2022; 39(12): 1366-9.

OBJECTIVE: To carry out genetic testing for a child featuring global developmental delay, abnormal liver function, congenital heart disease, and brain malformation. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected for the extraction of genomic DNA and trio-whole exome sequencing. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Genetic testing revealed that the child has harbored a heterozygous c.2002G>T (p.Glu668Ter) variant of the SMARCA2 gene, which was predicted to be likely pathogenic by bioinformatic analysis. His mother was found to be a low-percentage mosaic for the same variant, with a ratio of 0.054 (246/4549). CONCLUSION: The child was diagnosed with Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome resulting from maternal mosaicism for the SMARCA2 gene variant.

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16. McMaughan DJD, Jones JL, Mulcahy A, Tucker EC, Beverly JG, Perez-Patron M. Hospitalizations Among Children and Youth With Autism in the United States: Frequency, Characteristics, and Costs. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(6): 484-503.

National estimates of hospitalization diagnoses and costs were determined using the 2016 HCUP Kids’ Inpatient Database. Children and youth with autism were hospitalized over 45,000 times at over $560 million in costs and 260,000 inpatient days. The most frequent principal diagnoses for hospitalizations of children and youth with autism were epilepsy, mental health conditions, pneumonia, asthma, and gastrointestinal disorders, which resulted in almost $200 million in costs and 150,000 inpatient days. Mental health diagnoses accounted for 24.8% of hospitalizations, an estimated $82 million in costs, and approximately 94,000 inpatient days. Children and youth with autism were more likely hospitalized for epilepsy, mental health diagnoses, and gastrointestinal disorders, and less likely for pneumonia and asthma compared to other children and youth.

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17. Schroeder C, Ragotzy S, Poling A. Young adults with intellectual and other developmental disabilities acquire vocational skills with video prompting. Journal of applied behavior analysis. 2022.

Students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities often require substantial support to acquire the skills needed to secure work experience and paid employment. Prior findings suggest that video prompting is likely to be an effective and feasible strategy for establishing such skills. To evaluate this possibility in a special education transition program, we examined the effectiveness of a video prompting procedure in teaching 8 young adults with developmental disabilities to perform job-related tasks (doing laundry, checking in to work, vacuuming, stripping bed). The intervention was effective with all participants. The skills maintained over 3 months, and the participants performed the tasks accurately in a new setting with different materials. Participants were reportedly satisfied with the intervention and deemed it easy to use.

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18. Shields R, Kaat A, Sansone S, Michalak C, Coleman J, Thompson T, McKenzie F, Dakopolos A, Riley K, Berry-Kravis E, Widaman K, Gershon RC, Hessl D. Sensitivity of the NIH Toolbox to Detect Cognitive Change in Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disability. Neurology. 2022.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) experience protracted cognitive development compared to typical youth. Sensitive measurement of cognitive change in this population is a critical need for clinical trials and other intervention studies, but well-validated outcome measures are scarce. This study’s aim was to evaluate the sensitivity of the NIH-Toolbox Cognitive Battery (NIHTB-CB) to detect developmental changes in groups with ID – fragile X syndrome (FXS), Down syndrome (DS), and other intellectual disability (OID) – and to provide further support for its use as an outcome measure for treatment trials. METHODS: We administered the NIHTB-CB and a reference-standard cross-validation measure (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, SB5) to 256 individuals with FXS, DS, and OID (ages 6-27 years). After two years of development, we retested 197 individuals. Group developmental changes in each cognitive domain of the NIHTB-CB and SB5 were assessed using latent change score models, and two-year growth was evaluated at three age points (10, 16, and 22 years). RESULTS: Overall, effect sizes of growth measured by the NIHTB-CB tests were comparable to or exceeded those of the SB5. The NIHTB-CB showed significant gains in almost all domains in OID at younger ages (10 years), with continued gains at 16 years and stability in early adulthood (22 years). The FXS group showed delayed gains in attention and inhibitory control compared to OID. The DS group had delayed gains in receptive vocabulary compared to OID. Unlike the other groups, DS had significant growth in early adulthood in two domains (working memory and attention/inhibitory control). Importantly, each group’s pattern of NIHTB-CB growth across development corresponded to their respective pattern of SB5 growth. CONCLUSION: The NIHTB-CB is sensitive to developmental changes in individuals with ID. Comparison with levels and timing of growth on the cross-validation measure shows that the NIHTB-CB has potential to identify meaningful trajectories across cognitive domains and ID etiologies. Sensitivity to change within the context of treatment studies and delineation of clinically meaningful changes in NIHTB-CB scores, linked to daily functioning, must be established in future research to evaluate the battery more completely as a key outcome measure.

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19. Spackman E, Smillie LD, Frazier TW, Hardan AY, Alvares GA, Whitehouse A, Uljarević M. Characterizing restricted and unusual interests in autistic youth. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

A broad range of interests characterized by unusual content and/or intensity, labeled as circumscribed interests (CI), are a core diagnostic feature of autism. Recent evidence suggests that a distinction can be drawn between interests that, although characterized by unusually high intensity and/or inflexibility, are otherwise common in terms of their content (e.g., an interest in movies or animals), labeled as restricted interests (RI), and interests that are generally not salient outside of autism (e.g., an interest in traffic lights or categorization), labeled as unusual interests (UI). The current study aimed to further characterize RI and UI by exploring their association with age, sex, IQ, and social motivation, as well as to examine differences in the adaptive benefits and negative impacts of these two subdomains. Parents of 1892 autistic children and adolescents (M(age) = 10.82, SD(age) = 4.14; 420 females) completed an online survey including the Dimensional Assessment of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors and the Social Communication Questionnaire. Both RI and UI were found to be highly frequent. Sex-based differences were observed in the content, but not intensity, of CI such that females were more likely to show interests with a social component. Finally, RI and UI showed distinct patterns of association with age, sex, IQ, and social motivation, as well as metrics of adaptive benefits and negative impacts. Findings afford a more nuanced understanding of sex-based differences in CI and, crucially, provide preliminary evidence that RI and UI represent distinct constructs that should be studied independently in future research.

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20. Stewart GR, Corbett A, Ballard C, Creese B, Aarsland D, Hampshire A, Brooker H, Charlton RA, Happé F. The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

Cognitive differences in memory, information processing speed (IPS), and executive functions (EF), are common in autistic and high autistic trait populations. Despite memory, IPS and EF being sensitive to age-related change, little is known about the cognitive profile of older adults with high autistic traits. This study explores cross-sectional memory, IPS and EF task performance in a large sample of older adults in the online PROTECT cohort (n = 22,285, aged 50-80 years), grouped by high vs. low autistic traits. Approximately 1% of PROTECT participants (n = 325) endorsed high autistic traits [henceforth Autism Spectrum Trait (AST) group]. Differences between AST and age-, gender-, and education-matched comparison older adults (COA; n = 11,744) were explored on memory, IPS and EF tasks and questionnaires administered online. AST had lower performance than COA on tasks measuring memory, working memory, sustained attention, and information processing. No group differences were observed in simple attention or verbal reasoning. A similar pattern of results was observed when controlling for age, and current depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, AST self-reported more cognitive decline than COA, but this difference was not significant when controlling for current depression symptoms, or when using informant-report. These findings suggest that autistic traits are associated with cognitive function in middle-aged and later life. Older adults with high autistic traits experienced more performance difficulties in a range of memory, IPS and EF tasks compared with the low autistic traits comparison group. Further longitudinal work is needed to examine age-related change in both older autistic and autistic trait populations.

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21. Tomomi M, Arisa N, Katsumi T. Inappropriate driving behavior exhibited by drivers with the tendency of developmental disabilities. Heliyon. 2022; 8(12): e12052.

The purpose of this study was to clarify what kind of driving behavior that attributes from the disabilities is troublesome for drivers with developmental disabilities, what driving actions they are aware of as being hard to deal with, and what near-miss incidents and accidents they have experienced. This paper is composed of three studies. Study 1 is the observation of driving behavior of drivers with developmental disabilities on public roads. Study 2 is the interview survey on drivers with developmental disabilities. Study 3 is the interview survey on family members of drivers with developmental disabilities. It is confirmed that in Survey 1 « stopping the car just before the entrance of a busy parking lot of a store » and « driving too much on the right or left side, but not at the center of the lane » are some of the characteristics of drivers with developmental disorder, in Survey 2 more than half the survey subjects feel anxiety about « right turn at an intersection without a green allow signal », « merging and changing lanes » and « placing a car in the garage ». When asking about inappropriate behaviors of the drivers with developmental disorder to the family members who are also specialists of developmental disorder in Survey 3, more than half of them brought up the issues including « having narrow field of alert vision and not aware of his/her surroundings », « driving without predicting what is going to happen », « not good at doing more than one thing at the same time », and « easily getting distracted by any movement and noise in his/her surroundings ».

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22. Xu Y, Yang X, Chen D, Xu Y, Lan L, Zhao S, Liu Q, Snijders AM, Xia Y. Maternal exposure to pesticides and autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders in offspring: A meta-analysis. Chemosphere. 2022: 137459.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between maternal pesticide exposure and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) in offspring. METHOD: Five databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, as well as PsycINFO were systematically retrieved for the records related to pesticide exposure during pregnancy and ASD and ADHD in offspring before August 30, 2022. The pesticide category, maternal age and window of exposure as the main subgroups were presented. RESULTS: 949 studies were initially identified, and 19 studies were eventually included. Eleven were on ASD, seven were on ADHD, and one was on both disorders. Maternal pesticide exposure was positively related to ASD (pooled OR = 1.19 (95%CI: 1.04 to 1.36)) and ADHD (pooled OR = 1.20 (95%CI: 1.04 to 1.38)) in offspring. In the subgroup analysis, organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) (pooled OR = 1.14 (95%CI: 1.04 to 1.24)), pyrethroid (pooled OR = 1.40 (95%CI: 1.09 to 1.80)), and maternal age ≥30 years old (pooled OR = 1.24 (95%CI: 1.10 to 1.40)) increased the risk of ASD in offspring. Maternal organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) exposure was a risk factor for ADHD in offspring (pooled OR = 1.22 (95%CI: 1.03 to 1.45)). CONCLUSION: Maternal pesticide exposure increased the risk of ASD and ADHD in offspring. Moreover, OPs, pyrethroid, and maternal age ≥30 years old were found to be risk factors affecting children’s ASD. Maternal exposure to OCPs increased the risk of ADHD in offspring. Our findings contribute to our understanding of health risks related to maternal pesticide exposure and indicate that the in utero developmental period is a vulnerable window-of-susceptibility for ASD and ADHD risk in offspring. These findings should guide policies that limit maternal exposure to pesticides, especially for pregnant women living in agricultural areas.

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23. Yang B, Wang M, Zhou W, Wang X, Chen S, Potenza MN, Yuan LX, Dong GH. Disrupted network integration and segregation involving the default mode network in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of affective disorders. 2022; 323: 309-19.

Changes in the brain’s default mode network (DMN) in the resting state are closely related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Module segmentation can effectively elucidate the neural mechanism of ASD and explore intra- and inter-network connections by means of the participation coefficient (PC). We used that resting-state fMRI data from 269 ASD patients and 340 healthy controls (HCs) in the current study. From the results, ASD subjects showed a significantly higher PC of the DMN than HC subjects. This difference was related to lower intra-module connections within the DMN and higher inter-network connections between the DMN and other networks. When the subjects were split into age groups, the results were verified in the 7-12- and 12-18-year-old age groups but not in the young adult group (18-25 years). When the subjects were divided according to different subtypes of ASD, the results were also observed in the classic autism and pervasive developmental disorder groups, but not in the Asperger disorder group. In conclusions, less developed network segregation in the DMN could be a valid biomarker for ASD. This provides network scientists with new insights into the intermodular connectivity configurations of complex networks from different dimensions in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

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