1. Bauer AZ, Kriebel D. {{Prenatal and perinatal analgesic exposure and autism: an ecological link}}. {Environ Health};2013 (May 9);12(1):41.
BACKGROUND: Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders. Susceptibility is believed to be the interaction of genetic heritability and environmental factors. The synchronous rises in autism/ASD prevalence and paracetamol (acetaminophen) use, as well as biologic plausibility have led to the hypothesis that paracetamol exposure may increase autism/ASD risk. METHODS: To explore the relationship of antenatal paracetamol exposure to ASD, population weighted average autism prevalence rates and paracetamol usage rates were compared. To explore the relationship of early neonatal paracetamol exposure to autism/ASD, population weighted average male autism prevalence rates for all available countries and U.S. states were compared to male circumcision rates — a procedure for which paracetamol has been widely prescribed since the mid-1990s. Prevalence studies were extracted from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Summary of Autism/ASD Prevalence Studies database. Maternal paracetamol usage and circumcision rates were identified by searches on Pub Med. RESULTS: Using all available country-level data (n = 8) for the period 1984 to 2005, prenatal use of paracetamol was correlated with autism/ASD prevalence (r = 0.80). There was a strong correlation between country-level (n = 9) autism/ASD prevalence in males and a country’s circumcision rate (r = 0.98). A very similar pattern was seen among U.S. states and when comparing the 3 main racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The country-level correlation between autism/ASD prevalence in males and paracetamol was considerably weaker before 1995 when the drug became widely used during circumcision. CONCLUSIONS: This ecological analysis identified country-level correlations between indicators of prenatal and perinatal paracetamol exposure and autism/ASD. State level correlation was also identified for the indicator of perinatal paracetamol exposure and autism/ASD. Like all ecological analyses, these data cannot provide strong evidence of causality. However, biologic plausibility is provided by a growing body of experimental and clinical evidence linking paracetamol metabolism to pathways shown to be important in autism and related developmental abnormalities. Taken together, these ecological findings and mechanistic evidence suggest the need for formal study of the role of paracetamol in autism.
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2. Burbelo PD, Swedo SE, Thurm A, Bayat A, Levin AE, Marques A, Iadarola MJ. {{Lack of serum antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in children with autism}}. {Clin Vaccine Immunol};2013 (May 8)
It has been proposed that Borrelia burgdorferi infection is associated with approximately 25% of children with autism spectrum disorders. Here antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi were assessed in autistic (n=104), developmentally delayed (n=24) and healthy control (n=55) children. No seropositivity against Borrelia burgdorferi was detected in the children with and without autism. There was no evidence of an association between Lyme disease and autism.
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3. Foss-Feig JH, Tadin D, Schauder KB, Cascio CJ. {{A substantial and unexpected enhancement of motion perception in autism}}. {J Neurosci};2013 (May 8);33(19):8243-8249.
Atypical perceptual processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well documented. In addition, growing evidence supports the hypothesis that an excitatory/inhibitory neurochemical imbalance might underlie ASD. Here we investigated putative behavioral consequences of the excitatory/inhibitory imbalance in the context of visual motion perception. As stimulus size increases, typical observers exhibit marked impairments in perceiving motion of high-contrast stimuli. This result, termed « spatial suppression, » is believed to reflect inhibitory motion-processing mechanisms. Motion processing is also affected by gain control, an inhibitory mechanism that underlies saturation of neural responses at high contrast. Motivated by these behavioral correlates of inhibitory function, we investigated motion perception in human children with ASD (n = 20) and typical development (n = 26). At high contrast, both groups exhibited similar impairments in motion perception with increasing stimulus size, revealing no apparent differences in spatial suppression. However, there was a substantial enhancement of motion perception in ASD: children with ASD exhibited a consistent twofold improvement in perceiving motion. Hypothesizing that this enhancement might indicate abnormal weakening of response gain control, we repeated our measurements at low contrast, where the effects of gain control should be negligible. At low contrast, we indeed found no group differences in motion discrimination thresholds. These low-contrast results, however, revealed weaker spatial suppression in ASD, suggesting the possibility that gain control abnormalities in ASD might have masked spatial suppression differences at high contrast. Overall, we report a pattern of motion perception abnormalities in ASD that includes substantial enhancements at high contrast and is consistent with an underlying excitatory/inhibitory imbalance.
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4. Mielke J, Nielsen K, Magloughlin L. {{Phonetic imitation by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Investigating the role of procedural and declarative memory}}. {J Acoust Soc Am};2013 (May);133(5):3433.
This study investigates the role of procedural and declarative memory in phonetic imitation, by examining the word- and phoneme-specificity of imitation produced by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous research has shown that individuals with ASD process language differently from the Neurotypical population [e.g., Ullman (2004), Walenski et al. (2006)], with Autistic individuals relying more on declarative memory. Previous work with the general population has shown a robust effect of phonetic convergence [e.g., Pardo (2006)], as well as generalization and weak word-specificity effects [Nielsen (2011)]. To test whether individuals with ASD exhibit increased specificity, we used Nielsen’s (2011) experimental paradigm, which has been shown to elicit generalized phonetic imitation in the general population. A linear mixed effects regression analysis revealed that increased VOT on the modeled phoneme /p/ was imitated by both ASD and control groups [p < 0.05]. However, different patterns emerged in phoneme-level specificity: the control group exhibited sub-phonemic generalization (increasing VOT on /p/ and /k/), while the ASD group exhibited a phoneme-specific pattern (increasing VOT only on /p/) [p < 0.05]. Furthermore, a stronger trend toward word-specificity was observed within the ASD group. Taken together, these results confirm the earlier finding that ASD individuals exhibit greater reliance on declarative memory.
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5. Nordenbaek C, Jorgensen M, Kyvik KO, Bilenberg N. {{A Danish population-based twin study on autism spectrum disorders}}. {Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry};2013 (May 10)
Genetic epidemiological studies of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) based on twin pairs ascertained from the population and thoroughly assessed to obtain a high degree of diagnostic validity are few. All twin pairs aged 3-14 years in the nationwide Danish Twin Registry were approached. A three-step procedure was used. Five items from the « Child Behaviour Checklist » (CBCL) were used in the first screening phase, while screening in the second phase included the « Social and Communication Questionnaire » and the « Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire ». The final clinical assessment was based on « gold standard » diagnostic research procedures including diagnostic interview, observation and cognitive examination. Classification was based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. The initial sample included 7,296 same-sexed twin pairs and, after two phases of screening and clinical assessment, the final calculations were based on 36 pairs. The probandwise concordance rate for ASD was 95.2 % in monozygotic (MZ) twins (n = 13 pairs) and 4.3 % in dizygotic (DZ) twins (n = 23 pairs). The high MZ and low DZ concordance rate support a genetic aetiology to ASDs.
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6. Sheridan C. {{Drugmakers plow more resources into autism}}. {Nat Biotechnol};2013 (May);31(5):367-369.
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7. Silva EB, Filipini R, Monteiro CB, Valenti VE, de Carvalho SM, Wajnsztejn R, de Farias MD, Macedo CC, de Abreu LC. {{The biopsychosocial processes in autism spectrum disorder}}. {Int Arch Med};2013 (May 8);6(1):22.
BACKGROUND: Autism is a disorder characterized by pervasive social and communicative impairments, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and restricted interests. Its causes and effects have been researched from various neurocognitive theoretical perspectives and with the aid of neuroimaging technology. We aimed to describe biopsychosocial processes characteristic of the Autism Spectrum Disorders. METHOD: Literature review using Medline and Scopus databases published between 2001 and 2011, with the keywords « autism », « theory of mind », « executive functions », « central coherence » and « fMRI ». RESULTS: The studies found were plotted and organized into tables and an explanatory diagram of the main findings was produced. CONCLUSIONS: The most popular neurocognitive theories are still unable to fully explain the characteristics of the complications that autistic spectrum disorder causes to the quality of life of individuals living with autism. The association of clinical research and neuroimaging may contribute to a better understanding of the functioning of the brain affected by the disorder.
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8. Tekinarslan IC. {{A comparison study of depression and quality of life in Turkish mothers of children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorder}}. {Psychol Rep};2013 (Feb);112(1):266-287.
This study aimed to compare the quality of life and depression levels in Turkish mothers of children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An additional purpose is to identify whether the depression and quality of life levels of the mothers differ significantly based on demographic variables. Two hundred fifty-two mothers participated in the study. The World Health Organization’s Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF-TR) assessment instrument was used to determine the mothers’ quality of life and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to characterize their depression. Mothers of children with cerebral palsy had significantly lower quality of life scores on the environment and national environment domains of the WHOQOL-BREF-TR than those of children with Down syndrome. No significant difference was observed in the depression of mothers. With increasing education and income, quality of life of the mothers increased whereas depression decreased. Moreover, depression increased and quality of life decreased in older mothers. Furthermore, the findings indicated significant negative correlations between mothers’ depression and quality of life scores on all domains of the WHOQOL-BREF-TR.
