Pubmed du 11/01/17

Pubmed du jour

2017-01-11 12:03:50

1. Bishop HJ, Biasini FJ, Stavrinos D. {{Social and Non-social Hazard Response in Drivers with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Driving is a complex task that relies on manual, cognitive, visual and social skill. The social demands of driving may be challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) due to known social impairments. This study investigated how drivers with ASD respond to social (e.g., pedestrians) and non-social (e.g., vehicles) hazards in a driving simulator compared to typically developing drivers. Overall, participants responded faster to social hazards than non-social hazards. It was also found that drivers with typical development reacted faster to social hazards, while drivers with ASD showed no difference in reaction time to social versus non-social hazards. Future work should further investigate how social impairments in ASD may affect driving safety.

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2. Deckers A, Muris P, Roelofs J. {{Being on Your Own or Feeling Lonely? Loneliness and Other Social Variables in Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Child Psychiatry Hum Dev}. 2017.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine loneliness and its correlates in children (7 to 11 years) and adolescents (12 to 18 years) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD, n = 73) and control groups of clinically referred (ADHD, n = 76) and non-clinical (n = 106) youths. Youths completed questionnaires on loneliness and desire for social interaction, while parents and teachers filled out scales on other aspects of children’s social functioning. Results indicated that only at an adolescent age, the ASD group reported higher levels of loneliness than the control groups. Further, the ASD group generally expressed relatively low levels of desire for social interaction, although these youths displayed a similar increase in the wish to belong during adolescence as participants in the control groups. Finally, the ASD group exhibited lower levels of social competence and social skills and higher levels of social problems and social anxiety than the control groups, and in all groups these social variables correlated in a theoretically meaningful with loneliness.

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3. Edmunds SR, Rozga A, Li Y, Karp EA, Ibanez LV, Rehg JM, Stone WL. {{Brief Report: Using a Point-of-View Camera to Measure Eye Gaze in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder During Naturalistic Social Interactions: A Pilot Study}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show reduced gaze to social partners. Eye contact during live interactions is often measured using stationary cameras that capture various views of the child, but determining a child’s precise gaze target within another’s face is nearly impossible. This study compared eye gaze coding derived from stationary cameras to coding derived from a « point-of-view » (PoV) camera on the social partner. Interobserver agreement for gaze targets was higher using PoV cameras relative to stationary cameras. PoV camera codes, but not stationary cameras codes, revealed a difference between gaze targets of children with ASD and typically developing children. PoV cameras may provide a more sensitive method for measuring eye contact in children with ASD during live interactions.

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4. Gray HL, Chiang HM. {{Brief Report: Mealtime Behaviors of Chinese American Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

This study investigated mealtime behaviors of Chinese-American children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty-one parents of Chinese-American children with ASD participated in this study and the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI) was used. The top problematic mealtime behaviors reported by parents were prefers « crunchy » food (54.2%); not willing to try new foods (48%); and does not remain seated at the table until the meal is finished (46%). This study found that the majority of the Chinese-American children with ASD seldom or never were aggressive (96%) or disruptive during mealtimes (92.3%). Compared to their white counterparts, Chinese-American children with ASD showed slightly lower scores on problematic mealtime behaviors. These findings may provide significant information to practitioners.

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5. Horvath A, Lukasik J, Szajewska H. {{omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Does Not Affect Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis}}. {J Nutr}. 2017.

BACKGROUND: Effective treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are still lacking. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to update the data on the effectiveness of omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid (FA) supplementation as a treatment for ASD. METHODS: The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases were systematically searched up until August 2016, with no language restrictions for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing omega-3 FA supplementation with placebo or with no supplementation. Participants were children diagnosed with ASD. All functional outcome measures reported were considered. For dichotomous outcomes, the results for individual studies and pooled statistics were reported as RRs. Mean differences (MDs) were calculated for continuous outcomes. RESULTS: Five RCTs (183 participants) were included. With 4 exceptions, there were no statistically significant differences in ASD symptoms between groups measured by validated scales. Among studies that used the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, parents’ ratings indicated significant improvement in lethargy symptoms in the omega-3 FA group compared with the placebo group (2 RCTs) (pooled MD: 1.98; 95% CI: 0.32, 3.63). Among studies that used the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, parents’ ratings indicated significant worsening of both externalizing behavior (2 RCTs) (pooled MD: -6.22; 95% CI: -10.9, -1.59) and social skills (1 RCT) (MD: -7; 95% CI: -13.62, -0.38) in the omega-3 FA group compared with the placebo group. One RCT reported a significant improvement in the omega-3 FA group for the daily-living component of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (MD: 6.2; 95% CI: 0.37, 12.03). Adverse effects were similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the limited number of included studies and small sample sizes, no firm conclusions can be drawn. However, the limited data currently available suggest that omega-3 FA supplementation does not enhance the performance of children with ASD.

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6. Losh M, Martin GE, Lee M, Klusek J, Sideris J, Barron S, Wassink T. {{Developmental Markers of Genetic Liability to Autism in Parents: A Longitudinal, Multigenerational Study}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Genetic liability to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be expressed in unaffected relatives through subclinical, genetically meaningful traits, or endophenotypes. This study aimed to identify developmental endophenotypes in parents of individuals with ASD by examining parents’ childhood academic development over the school-age period. A cohort of 139 parents of individuals with ASD were studied, along with their children with ASD and 28 controls. Parents’ childhood records in the domains of language, reading, and math were studied from grades K-12. Results indicated that relatively lower performance and slower development of skills (particularly language related skills), and an uneven rate of development across domains predicted ASD endophenotypes in adulthood for parents, and the severity of clinical symptoms in children with ASD. These findings may mark childhood indicators of genetic liability to ASD in parents, that could inform understanding of the subclinical expression of ASD genetic liability.

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7. Maxwell J, Weill C, Damico J. {{Investigating the use of appropriation in the writing of a child with autism: A case study}}. {J Commun Disord}. 2016; 65: 10-21.

This case study investigated how a 10year old child with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), Kameron (pseudonym), utilized appropriation as a writing strategy in the context of group therapy. Using the same questions as Lensmire and Beals (1994) in their study of a typically developing third-grader, written products were collected over the course of one semester and analyzed, along with video, audio, and participant observation data, to consider the following questions: 1) Where did the material come from? 2) What was taken? and 3) How was it used? Analysis of the process of Kameron’s writing revealed utilization of appropriation as a strategy for 2 of the 4 written products. Material was appropriated from both adult authored texts performed via read alouds and from topics and values located in the local peer culture. Kameron’s appropriation of shared experiences provided substance to initiate and engage in a shared peer culture. Increased engagement in the writing process and fewer off task behaviors were noted when appropriations were evidenced compared to the writing pieces where no appropriation occurred. The results demonstrate the powerful implications of both a process oriented and strength-based approach to writing and greater social awareness than expected in children with ASD.

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8. Mitra I, Lavillaureix A, Yeh E, Traglia M, Tsang K, Bearden CE, Rauen KA, Weiss LA. {{Reverse Pathway Genetic Approach Identifies Epistasis in Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {PLoS Genet}. 2017; 13(1): e1006516.

Although gene-gene interaction, or epistasis, plays a large role in complex traits in model organisms, genome-wide by genome-wide searches for two-way interaction have limited power in human studies. We thus used knowledge of a biological pathway in order to identify a contribution of epistasis to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in humans, a reverse-pathway genetic approach. Based on previous observation of increased ASD symptoms in Mendelian disorders of the Ras/MAPK pathway (RASopathies), we showed that common SNPs in RASopathy genes show enrichment for association signal in GWAS (P = 0.02). We then screened genome-wide for interactors with RASopathy gene SNPs and showed strong enrichment in ASD-affected individuals (P < 2.2 x 10-16), with a number of pairwise interactions meeting genome-wide criteria for significance. Finally, we utilized quantitative measures of ASD symptoms in RASopathy-affected individuals to perform modifier mapping via GWAS. One top region overlapped between these independent approaches, and we showed dysregulation of a gene in this region, GPR141, in a RASopathy neural cell line. We thus used orthogonal approaches to provide strong evidence for a contribution of epistasis to ASDs, confirm a role for the Ras/MAPK pathway in idiopathic ASDs, and to identify a convergent candidate gene that may interact with the Ras/MAPK pathway. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

9. Naaijen J, Bralten J, Poelmans G, Glennon JC, Franke B, Buitelaar JK. {{Glutamatergic and GABAergic gene sets in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: association to overlapping traits in ADHD and autism}}. {Transl Psychiatry}. 2017; 7(1): e999.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often co-occur. Both are highly heritable; however, it has been difficult to discover genetic risk variants. Glutamate and GABA are main excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the brain; their balance is essential for proper brain development and functioning. In this study we investigated the role of glutamate and GABA genetics in ADHD severity, autism symptom severity and inhibitory performance, based on gene set analysis, an approach to investigate multiple genetic variants simultaneously. Common variants within glutamatergic and GABAergic genes were investigated using the MAGMA software in an ADHD case-only sample (n=931), in which we assessed ASD symptoms and response inhibition on a Stop task. Gene set analysis for ADHD symptom severity, divided into inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, autism symptom severity and inhibition were performed using principal component regression analyses. Subsequently, gene-wide association analyses were performed. The glutamate gene set showed an association with severity of hyperactivity/impulsivity (P=0.009), which was robust to correcting for genome-wide association levels. The GABA gene set showed nominally significant association with inhibition (P=0.04), but this did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. None of single gene or single variant associations was significant on their own. By analyzing multiple genetic variants within candidate gene sets together, we were able to find genetic associations supporting the involvement of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter systems in ADHD and ASD symptom severity in ADHD.

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10. Pardo CA, Farmer CA, Thurm A, Shebl FM, Ilieva J, Kalra S, Swedo S. {{Serum and cerebrospinal fluid immune mediators in children with autistic disorder: a longitudinal study}}. {Mol Autism}. 2017; 8: 1.

BACKGROUND: The causes of autism likely involve genetic and environmental factors that influence neurobiological changes and the neurological and behavioral features of the disorder. Immune factors and inflammation are hypothesized pathogenic influences, but have not been examined longitudinally. METHODS: In a cohort of 104 participants with autism, we performed an assessment of immune mediators such as cytokines, chemokines, or growth factors in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (n = 67) to determine potential influences of such mediators in autism. RESULTS: As compared with 54 typically developing controls, we found no evidence of differences in the blood profile of immune mediators supportive of active systemic inflammation mechanisms in participants with autism. Some modulators of immune function (e.g., EGF and soluble CD40 ligand) were increased in the autism group; however, no evidence of group differences in traditional markers of active inflammation (e.g., IL-6, TNFalpha, IL-1beta) were observed in the serum. Further, within-subject stability (measured by estimated intraclass correlations) of most analytes was low, indicating that a single measurement is not a reliable prospective indicator of concentration for most analytes. Additionally, in participants with autism, there was little correspondence between the blood and CSF profiles of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, suggesting that peripheral markers may not optimally reflect the immune status of the central nervous system. Although the relatively high fraction of intrathecal production of selected chemokines involved in monocyte/microglia function may suggest a possible relationship with the homeostatic role of microglia, control data are needed for further interpretation of its relevance in autism. CONCLUSIONS: These longitudinal observations fail to provide support for the hypothesized role of disturbances in the expression of circulating cytokines and chemokines as an indicator of systemic inflammation in autism. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00298246.

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11. Poljac E, Hoofs V, Princen MM. {{Understanding Behavioural Rigidity in Autism Spectrum Conditions: The Role of Intentional Control}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Although behavioural rigidity belongs to the core symptoms of autism spectrum conditions, little is known about its underlying cognitive mechanisms. The current study investigated the role of intentional control mechanisms in behavioural rigidity in autism. Autistic individuals and their matched controls were instructed to repeatedly choose between two simple cognitive tasks and to respond accordingly to the subsequently presented stimulus. Results showed that autistic participants chose to repeat tasks more often than their controls and when choosing to switch, they demonstrated larger performance costs. These findings illustrate that when required to make their own choices, autistic people demonstrate rigidity at different performance levels, suggesting that intentional control mechanisms might be important for a better understanding of behavioural rigidity in autism.

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12. Richards C, Davies L, Oliver C. {{Predictors of Self-Injurious Behavior and Self-Restraint in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Towards a Hypothesis of Impaired Behavioral Control}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Self-injury is common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however few studies have investigated correlates of self-injury or the putative associations with self-restraint. Questionnaire data on self-injury, self-restraint, health conditions, overactivity/impulsivity and repetitive/restricted behavior were collected on 208 children and 216 adults with ASD (mean age = 24.10, range 6-61). Self-injury and self-restraint were frequent and significantly associated in both children (45.7% and 40.9%, p < 0.001) and adults (49.1, and 42.6%, p < 0.001). Severe self-injury was predicted by lower ability, health conditions and overactivity/impulsivity in children (p < 0.001) and repetitive/restricted behavior and overactivity/impulsivity in adults (p < 0.001). These data provide preliminary support for a developmental model of self-injury and self-restraint in which painful health conditions and compromised behavioral control influence the presence and trajectory of self-injury in ASD. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

13. Shogren KA, Shaw LA, Wehmeyer ML, Thompson JR, Lang KM, Tasse MJ, Schalock RL. {{The Support Needs of Children with Intellectual Disability and Autism: Implications for Supports Planning and Subgroup Classification}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

The Supports Intensity Scale-Children’s version (SIS-C) was developed to provide a standardized measure of support needs of children with intellectual disability. Over half of the norming sample had a secondary diagnosis of autism. Using this subset of the sample, we engaged in exploratory analysis to examine the degree to which latent clusters were present in the data, and after identifying these clusters, the degree to which they mapped on the SIS-C standard scores. A four latent class solution provided the best fit to the data. When mapped on SIS-C standard scores, specific patterns of differences were found in life activity domain scores and overall support needs scores. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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14. Taylor JL, Hodapp RM, Burke MM, Waitz-Kudla SN, Rabideau C. {{Training Parents of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Advocate for Adult Disability Services: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

This study presents findings from a pilot randomized controlled trial, testing a 12-week intervention to train parents of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to advocate for adult disability services-the Volunteer Advocacy Program-Transition (VAP-T). Participants included 41 parents of youth with ASD within 2 years of high school exit, randomly assigned to a treatment (N = 20) or wait-list control (N = 21) group. Outcomes, collected before and after the intervention, included parental knowledge about adult services, advocacy skills-comfort, and empowerment. The VAP-T had acceptable feasibility, treatment fidelity, and acceptability. After participating in the VAP-T, intervention parents (compared to controls) knew more about the adult service system, were more skilled/comfortable advocating, and felt more empowered.

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15. Thullen M, Bonsall A. {{Co-Parenting Quality, Parenting Stress, and Feeding Challenges in Families with a Child Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

113 parents of children aged 5-13 with ASD completed online surveys assessing co-parenting quality, parenting stress, and child feeding challenges. Results indicated that food selectivity was both the most frequently reported type of challenging feeding behavior and the most often reported as problematic but was also the only type of challenging feeding behavior that was not associated with parenting stress. Greater parenting stress was reported when co-parenting agreement and support were lower. Child disruptive behavior at mealtime was the only feeding challenge associated with quality of co-parenting. This paper points to the importance of addressing feeding challenges in addition to selectivity, such as disruptive mealtime behaviors, and doing so within the context of the family and home environment.

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16. Ting V, Weiss JA. {{Emotion Regulation and Parent Co-Regulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit emotional problems, which can be associated with emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. Parent co-regulation is often associated with child ER and emotional problems, though little work has been done with reference to youth with ASD. This study investigated the association among parent co-regulation, child ER, and internalizing and externalizing problems in 51 parents and school-aged children with ASD. Parent co-regulation strategies and scaffolding were not associated with parent-reported levels of child internalizing problems. Parent scaffolding and child ER predicted externalizing problems, after controlling for child age and IQ. Suggestions for future research on parent involvement in the emotional development of children with ASD are discussed, as well as implications for ER-focused interventions.

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17. Vanmarcke S, Wagemans J. {{Priming Facial Gender and Emotional Valence: The Influence of Spatial Frequency on Face Perception in ASD}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2017.

Adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed two priming experiments in which they implicitly processed a prime stimulus, containing high and/or low spatial frequency information, and then explicitly categorized a target face either as male/female (gender task) or as positive/negative (Valence task). Adolescents with ASD made more categorization errors than typically developing adolescents. They also showed an age-dependent improvement in categorization speed and had more difficulties with categorizing facial expressions than gender. However, in neither of the categorization tasks, we found group differences in the processing of coarse versus fine prime information. This contradicted our expectations, and indicated that the perceptual differences between adolescents with and without ASD critically depended on the processing time available for the primes.

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18. Zhong W, Johnson CM, Cui N, Xing H, Wu Y, Jiang C. {{Effects of chronic exposure to low dose THIP on brainstem neuronal excitability in mouse models of rett syndrome: Evidence from symptomatic females}}. {Neuropharmacology}. 2017.

Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations of the MECP2 gene, affecting predominantly females. One of the characteristic features of the disease is defective brainstem autonomic function. In Mecp2-/Y mice, several groups of brainstem neurons are overly excitable, which causes destabilization of neuronal networks for the autonomic control. We have previously shown that the extrasynaptic GABAA receptor agonist THIP relieves many RTT-like symptoms in Mecp2-/Y mice. Although neuronal activity is inhibited by acute THIP exposure, how a chronic treatment affects neuronal excitability remains elusive. Thus, we performed studies to address whether increased excitability occurs in brainstem neurons of female Mecp2+/- mice, how the MeCP expression affects the neuronal excitability, and whether chronic THIP exposure improves the neuronal hyperexcitability. Symptomatic Mecp2+/- (sMecp2+/-) female mice were identified with a two-step screening system. Whole-cell recording was performed in brain slices after a prior exposure of the sMecp2+/- mice to a 5-week low-dose THIP. Neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) and the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (Me5) showed excessive firing activity in the sMecp2+/- mice. THIP pretreatment reduced the hyperexcitability of both LC and Me5 neurons in the sMecp2+/- mice, to a similar level as their counterparts in Mecp2-/Y mice. In identified LC neurons, the hyperexcitability appeared to be determined by not only the MeCP2 expression, but also their environmental cues. The alleviation of LC neuronal hyperexcitability seems to benefit brainstem autonomic function as THIP also improved breathing abnormalities of these sMecp2+/- mice.

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