1. Bent S, Bertoglio K, Ashwood P, Nemeth E, Hendren RL. {{Brief Report: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Trial}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 5)
We sought to determine whether HBOT leads to parental reported behavioral changes and alterations in cytokines in children with ASD. Ten children completed 80 sessions of HBOT and all improved by 2 points on the clinician-rated CGI-I scale (much improved) as well as several parent-completed measures of behavior. The lack of a control group limits the ability to determine if improvements were related to HBOT. Enrolled children did not exhibit abnormal cytokine levels at baseline and no significant changes in mean cytokine levels were observed. Although this study was limited by the small sample size and by the variable nature of cytokines, we found no evidence that HBOT affects cytokine levels or that cytokine levels were associated with behavioral changes.
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2. Early MC, Erickson CA, Wink LK, McDougle CJ, Scott EL. {{Case Report: 16-Year-Old Male with Autistic Disorder with Preoccupation with Female Feet}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 5)
This paper highlights clinical challenges faced when diagnosing and then treating an individual presenting to a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic because of unwelcome comments he made to female peers about their feet. Novel use of exposure therapy helped him effectively decrease his comments from 1 to 2 times per month to once every 6 months. Conceptualizing this case as the individual’s failed attempts toward relationships with females instead of sexual harassment led to diminution of problematic behavior. Implications for diagnosis and treatment of individuals with Autistic Disorder displaying problematic behaviors are presented.
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3. Farmer C, Lecavalier L, Yu S, Eugene Arnold L, McDougle CJ, Scahill L, Handen B, Johnson CR, Stigler KA, Bearss K, Swiezy NB, Aman MG. {{Predictors and Moderators of Parent Training Efficacy in a Sample of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Serious Behavioral Problems}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 6)
The Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology-Autism Network reported additional benefit when adding parent training (PT) to antipsychotic medication in children with autism spectrum disorders and serious behavior problems. The intent-to-treat analyses were rerun with putative predictors and moderators. The Home Situations Questionnaire (HSQ) and the Hyperactivity/Noncompliance subscale of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist were used as outcome measures. Candidate predictors and moderators included 21 demographics and baseline measures of behavior. Higher baseline HSQ scores predicted greater improvement on the HSQ regardless of treatment assignment, but no other predictors of outcome were observed. None of the variables measured in this study moderated response to PT. Antipsychotic medication plus PT appears to be equally effective for children with a wide range of demographic and behavioral characteristics.
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4. Lickel A, Maclean WE, Jr., Blakeley-Smith A, Hepburn S. {{Assessment of the Prerequisite Skills for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 5)
The purpose of this study was to assess the cognitive skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) thought to be necessary for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Forty children with ASD and forty age-matched typically developing children between the ages of 7-12 years participated. Groups were comparable with regard to nonverbal IQ, but children with ASD had significantly lower verbal IQ. Children completed three CBT-related tasks requiring emotion recognition, discrimination among thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and cognitive mediation. With the exception of the emotion recognition task, children with ASD performed comparably to typically developing children and with a high rate of accuracy.
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5. Rahko JS, Paakki JJ, Starck TH, Nikkinen J, Pauls DL, Katsyri JV, Jansson-Verkasalo EM, Carter AS, Hurtig TM, Mattila ML, Jussila KK, Remes JJ, Kuusikko-Gauffin SA, Sams ME, Bolte S, Ebeling HE, Moilanen IK, Tervonen O, Kiviniemi V. {{Valence Scaling of Dynamic Facial Expressions is Altered in High-Functioning Subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorders: an fMRI Study}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 6)
FMRI was performed with the dynamic facial expressions fear and happiness. This was done to detect differences in valence processing between 25 subjects with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and 27 typically developing controls. Valence scaling was abnormal in ASDs. Positive valence induces lower deactivation and abnormally strong activity in ASD in multiple regions. Negative valence increased deactivation in visual areas in subjects with ASDs. The most marked differences between valences focus on fronto-insular and temporal regions. This supports the idea that subjects with ASDs may have difficulty in passive processing of the salience and mirroring of expressions. When the valence scaling of brain activity fails, in contrast to controls, these areas activate and/or deactivate inappropriately during facial stimuli presented dynamically.
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6. Reichow B, Halpern JI, Steinhoff TB, Letsinger N, Naples A, Volkmar FR. {{Characteristics and Quality of Autism Websites}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 6)
The World Wide Web is a common method for obtaining information on autism spectrum disorders, however, there are no guidelines for finding websites with high quality. We conducted two studies examining the characteristics and/or quality of autism websites in 2009 and 2010. We found websites with a .gov top-level domain had a statistically significant association with high quality websites and websites offering a product or service and websites promoting a non-evidence-based practice had a statistically significant association with poor quality websites. Based on our work we concluded that online information should not replace the information consumers obtain from professionals. Further implications for practice, overview of study limitations and future directions are provided.
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7. Saint-Georges C, Mahdhaoui A, Chetouani M, Cassel RS, Laznik MC, Apicella F, Muratori P, Maestro S, Muratori F, Cohen D. {{Do Parents Recognize Autistic Deviant Behavior Long before Diagnosis? Taking into Account Interaction Using Computational Methods}}. {PLoS One};2011;6(7):e22393.
BACKGROUND: To assess whether taking into account interaction synchrony would help to better differentiate autism (AD) from intellectual disability (ID) and typical development (TD) in family home movies of infants aged less than 18 months, we used computational methods. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: First, we analyzed interactive sequences extracted from home movies of children with AD (N = 15), ID (N = 12), or TD (N = 15) through the Infant and Caregiver Behavior Scale (ICBS). Second, discrete behaviors between baby (BB) and Care Giver (CG) co-occurring in less than 3 seconds were selected as single interactive patterns (or dyadic events) for analysis of the two directions of interaction (CG–>BB and BB–>CG) by group and semester. To do so, we used a Markov assumption, a Generalized Linear Mixed Model, and non negative matrix factorization. Compared to TD children, BBs with AD exhibit a growing deviant development of interactive patterns whereas those with ID rather show an initial delay of development. Parents of AD and ID do not differ very much from parents of TD when responding to their child. However, when initiating interaction, parents use more touching and regulation up behaviors as early as the first semester. CONCLUSION: When studying interactive patterns, deviant autistic behaviors appear before 18 months. Parents seem to feel the lack of interactive initiative and responsiveness of their babies and try to increasingly supply soliciting behaviors. Thus we stress that credence should be given to parents’ intuition as they recognize, long before diagnosis, the pathological process through the interactive pattern with their child.
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8. Sharma A. {{Immune response also connects autism and epilepsy}}. {Nat Med};2011;17(8):922.
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9. Young RL, Posselt M. {{Using The Transporters DVD as a Learning Tool for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2011 (Aug 6)
Data from two groups of children who were randomly allocated to those groups showed that the ability of children with ASD to identify and label basic and complex facial expressions following a 3-week home based DVD intervention significantly improved when viewing The Transporters DVD. Improvements in emotion recognition appear related to the content of the DVD as participants in a control group who observed an alternate DVD showed no such improvement. Although social behaviour improved significantly as a result of watching The Transporters, a significant improvement in social behaviour was however, also observed in the Thomas the Tank Engine condition suggesting the unique content of The Transporters DVD was not pivotal to the improvement of social behaviour in general.
