1. Aurebekk IKJ. Autism in girls. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen;2024 (Feb 13);144(2)

Many girls with autism remain undetected by the health service. The absence of a diagnosis can have far-reaching negative consequences for their health, education, employment and independence. How many more autistic girls will we overlook? eng

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2. Bölte S, Alehagen L, Black MH, Hasslinger J, Wessman E, Lundin Remnélius K, Marschik PB, D’Arcy E, Crowson S, Freeth M, Seidel A, Girdler S, Zander E. The Gestalt of functioning in autism revisited: First revision of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Sets. Autism;2024 (Feb 13):13623613241228896.

Autistic people experience individual strengths and challenges as well as barriers and facilitators in their environment. All of these factors contribute to how well autistic people can cope in everyday life, fulfill the roles they choose, and meet their needs. The World Health Organization has developed a system aiming to capture the many factors within people (like how someone thinks and feels) and outside of people (things around a person) that influence their daily living, called the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health can be used for different purposes in research and practice to assess people’s situations and plan support measures. Previously in 2019, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health was adapted to autism by developing so-called Core Sets, which are shorter International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health versions for use in specific conditions. Here, we present the first revisions of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Sets for autism, based on research, development results, and community feedback. Some factors influencing daily life for autistic people were added to the Core Sets, and other factors deemed less relevant were removed. Changes were also made in Core Sets designed for different age groups (0-5, 6-16, and ⩾17 years). Particularly, contents for sensory processing (like smell, touch, seeing, hearing) were added. We recommend these updated Core Sets for future use in autism research and practice. These changes to the Core Sets after 4 years indicate that there should be ongoing updates based on research and experience from practice and involvement of stakeholders.

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3. Corluka N, Laycock R. The influence of dynamism and expression intensity on face emotion recognition in individuals with autistic traits. Cogn Emot;2024 (Feb 13):1-10.

Face emotion recognition (FER) ability varies across the population, with autistic traits in the general population reported to contribute to this variation. Previous studies used photographs of posed facial expressions, while real social encounters involve dynamic expressions of varying intensity. We used static photographs and dynamic videos, showing peak and partial facial expressions to investigate the influence of dynamism and expression intensity on FER in non-clinical adults who varied in autistic traits. Those with high autistic traits had lower accuracy with both static peak and dynamic partial intensity expressions, when compared to low autistic trait participants. Furthermore, high autistic traits were linked to an accuracy advantage for dynamic compared with static stimuli in both partial and peak expression conditions, while those with low autistic traits demonstrated this dynamic advantage only for partial expressions. These findings reveal the differing importance of dynamism and expression intensity for FER across the non-clinical population and appear linked to self-reported social-communication skills. Furthermore, FER difficulties in autism might relate to the ability to integrate subtle, dynamic information, rather than static emotion categorisation alone.

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4. Eisenberg N, Zuffianò A, Spinrad TL. Are prosocial tendencies relevant for developmental psychopathology? The relations of prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding to externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and autism spectrum disorder. Dev Psychopathol;2024 (Feb 13):1-11.

The field of developmental psychopathology tends to focus on the negative aspects of functioning. However, prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding – positive aspects of functioning- might relate to some aspects of psychopathology in meaningful ways. In this article, we review research on the relations of three types of developmental psychopathology- externalizing problems (EPs), internalizing problems (IPs), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – to empathy-related responding (e.g., affective and cognitive empathy, sympathy, personal distress) and prosocial behavior. Empathy-related responding and prosocial behavior generally have been inversely related to EPs, although findings are sometimes reversed for young children and, for empathy, weak for reactive aggression. Some research indicates that children’s empathy (often measured as emotional contagion) and personal distress are positively related to IPs, suggesting that strong sensitivity to others’ emotions is harmful to some children. In contrast, prosocial behaviors are more consistently negatively related to IPs, although findings likely vary depending on the motivation for prosocial behavior and the recipient. Children with ASD are capable of prosocially and empathy-related responding, although parents report somewhat lower levels of these characteristics for ASD children compared to neurotypical peers. Issues in regard to measurement, motivation for prosociality, causal relations, and moderating and mediating factors are discussed.

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5. Eva C, Anna J, Mark L. Interorganisational collaboration to improve accessibility of diagnostic evaluations for children with a developmental disability. Health Serv Insights;2024;17:11786329241232531.

INTRODUCTION: A timely integrated diagnostic and care trajectory for children with a developmental disability may prevent severe problems in later life. In Flanders, Belgium, different types of governmental regulated and subsidised settings offer diagnostic evaluations, as (part of) their mission. However, they operate in a non-coordinated way inducing severe accessibility problems for the public. This article studies the factors impacting on interorganisational collaboration and proposes an interorganisational conceptual model improving accessibility. METHODS: Focus groups were performed per type of organisation. Qualitative data were categorised thematically in an iterative process of data- and researcher triangulation. A member check validation was organised. RESULTS: Fifty-nine individuals participated in 6 focus groups. Structural and agency-related barriers for interorganisational collaboration were identified at micro, meso and macro level. Participants provided suggestions for better interorganisational collaboration. DISCUSSION: To improve accessibility adapted to patients’ needs, a patient-centred, integrated and interorganisational network model grounded in a stepped care logic is proposed to adapt the current organisation-centred model. CONCLUSION: A timely, integrated, diagnostic and care trajectory for children with a developmental disability preventing severe problems in later life requires an integration of services during the overall care trajectory of children by means of interorganisational collaboration.

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6. Fontanals J, McCleery JP, Schatz P. Neurocognitive Concussion Test Performance for Student Athletes on the Autism Spectrum. Arch Clin Neuropsychol;2024 (Feb 13)

OBJECTIVE: To examine baseline neurocognitive functioning among adolescent athletes on the autism spectrum based on self-reported level of academic performance. METHOD: Participants in this cross-sectional, observational study were 6,441 adolescent athletes with a self-reported diagnosis of autism who completed pre-season neurocognitive testing using Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT); 4,742 reported a co-occurring learning disorder (LD), and 6,612 individuals without autism or LD were included as a control group. The majority (57%) self-reported Average Academic Performance, 39% Above Average, and 4% Below Average performance. RESULTS: Athletes with self-reported autism (with or without LD; 12.2%) were 2.74x (95% CI: 2.17-2.82) more likely to fall below cutoffs for ImPACT Embedded Invalidity Indicators (EVIs), with a significant interaction between self-reported Diagnosis and Academic Performance; individuals with co-occurring autism and LD who reported Below Average Academic Performance had the greatest likelihood of scoring below cutoffs (22%), followed by ASD without LD (14.8%) and Controls (14.6%) with Below Average Academic Performance. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed main effects of Diagnosis and Academic Performance on neurocognitive performance, with interactions on all ImPACT Composite Scores except Processing Speed. CONCLUSION: Athletes with self-reported ASD are more likely to fall below ImPACT EVIs and score worse on ImPACT, with greater likelihood/worse performance related to level of academic functioning. Academic performance should be considered when interpreting neurocognitive testing data, to best index neuropsychological functioning associated with concussion in this population. The current findings highlight the importance of individual participant baseline neuropsychological testing for individuals on the autism spectrum.

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7. Huang YH, Wu SI, Lee MJ, Chen YL, Yang YH, Kuo TY, Hung TH, Dewey ME, Stewart R, Chen VC. Excess Mortality in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Population-Based Cohort Study. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat;2024;20:247-255.

PURPOSE: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be associated with increased mortality, but relevant findings have been inconsistent. The modifying effects of gender and intellectual disability on excess mortality in individuals with ASD are underexplored. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database and the National Death Registry, this population-based cohort study selected the data of 75,946 patients with ASD (ASD cohort) and 75,946 age group-, gender-, and income-matched (1:1) patients without ASD (non-ASD cohort). Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare mortality rates between the cohorts, and stratified analyses were used to evaluate the influence of gender and intellectual disability on mortality risk. RESULTS: The ASD cohort had higher mortality rates for all causes of death than did the non-ASD cohort (adjusted hazard ratio 1.64, 95% confidence interval 1.54-1.75). Comorbid intellectual disability was associated with an increased risk of mortality, and this association was stronger in female patients than in male patients. Moreover, when focusing on deaths from natural causes, we found a significantly higher odds ratio for mortality in the ASD population with ID compared to those without ID. CONCLUSION: ASD is associated with increased mortality, especially among female individuals and those with intellectual disability.

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8. Ko CL, Lin CK, Lin CL. Relationship between executive function and autism symptoms in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. Res Dev Disabil;2024 (Feb 13);147:104692.

Executive dysfunction and other symptomatology could have links in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study contains three objectives: to explore the difference in executive function between preschoolers with ASD and typically developing individuals (TD), to investigate correlations between executive function and multiple domains of autism symptoms in preschoolers with ASD, and to examine the impact of executive function on symptoms of autism. Participants of this study included preschoolers (4-6 years) with ASD (24 boys, 20 girls) according to DSM-5-TR criteria and TD (24 boys, 20 girls). BRIEF-P (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version) and CASD-C (Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorder-Chinese Version) were used as measurement tools. Data were analyzed using MANOVA, ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and simple regression. For the results, the study found results of executive function were significantly lower in preschoolers with ASD than in preschoolers without ASD; the greater the executive dysfunction, the greater the autistic symptomatology, and executive dysfunction predicted 57 % of the variability of autism symptoms. In conclusion, preschoolers with ASD had more executive dysfunction than those without ASD. Based on our findings, the study recommends incorporating executive function into clinical assessment programs to understand how executive function is related to autism symptoms.

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9. Molinaro G, Bowles JE, Croom K, Gonzalez D, Mirjafary S, Birnbaum S, Razak KA, Gibson JR, Huber KM. Female specific dysfunction of sensory neocortical circuits in a mouse model of autism mediated by mGluR5 and Estrogen Receptor α. bioRxiv;2024 (Feb 13)

Autism manifests differently in males and females and the brain mechanisms that mediate these sex-dependent differences are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that deletion of the ASD-risk gene, Pten, in neocortical pyramidal neurons (NSE Pten KO) results in robust hyperexcitability of local neocortical circuits in female, but not male, mice, observed as prolonged, spontaneous persistent activity states (UP states). Circuit hyperexcitability in NSE Pten KO mice is mediated by enhanced and/or altered signaling of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) and estrogen receptor α (ERα) to ERK and protein synthesis selectively in Pten deleted female neurons. In support of this idea, Pten deleted Layer 5 cortical neurons have female-specific increases in mGluR5 and mGluR5-driven protein synthesis. In addition, mGluR5-ERα complexes are elevated in female cortex and genetic reduction of ERα in Pten KO cortical neurons rescues circuit excitability, protein synthesis and enlarged neurons selectively in females. Abnormal timing and hyperexcitability of neocortical circuits in female NSE Pten KO mice are associated with deficits in temporal processing of sensory stimuli and social behaviors as well as mGluR5-dependent seizures. Female-specific cortical hyperexcitability and mGluR5-dependent seizures are also observed in a human disease relevant mouse model, germline Pten +/- mice. Our results reveal molecular mechanisms by which sex and a high impact ASD-risk gene interact to affect brain function and behavior.

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10. Ozdemir S, Akin-Bulbul I, Yildiz E. Visual Attention in Joint Attention Bids: A Comparison Between Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Toddlers. J Autism Dev Disord;2024 (Feb 12)

Impairments in joint attention are considered core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are crucial for early assessment and intervention. However, existing information about visual attention during joint attention and its relation to developmental functioning is limited. The current study investigated the visual attention differences between toddlers with ASD and typically developing (TD) toddlers during single and multiple joint attention cue conditions. This study further examined whether visual attention in joint attention Area of Interests (AOIs) is related to cognitive, language, and motor development in participants. Participants included 56 toddlers with ASD and 56 TD toddlers, aged 18-36 months. A passive viewing paradigm was used to assess participants’ visual attention across four different joint attention conditions. Study results showed that toddlers with ASD displayed limited visual attention towards joint attention AOIs, Target, Face, and Target and Face AOIs, in all conditions. As the joint attention cues increased from Condition 1 to Condition 4, toddlers with ASD showed increased visual attention directed towards the Target AOI over the Face AOI. Moreover, increased visual attention on the joint attention AOIs was associated with improved cognitive and language development in toddlers with ASD. This research broadens our understanding of the positive relationships between visual attention to joint attention AOIs and cognitive as well as language development in toddlers with ASD, suggesting that early interventions targeting joint attention may offer promising pathways for treatment.

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11. Price JR, Biebesheimer EC, Chen K. Examining gender effects in autistic written language skills: A small sample exploratory study. Autism Dev Lang Impair;2024 (Jan-Dec);9:23969415241227071.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gender differences in the written language of autistic individuals are an overlooked but important area of research. We contend that the gender differences in spoken language of autistic individuals may extend to written language, mirroring the gender differences of writing in the general population and reflecting the shared dimensionality of oral and written language. Our research question was: Do autistic adolescent females demonstrate written language characteristics, across persuasive, expository, and narrative genres, that are distinct from those of autistic adolescent males and non-autistic (NA) adolescent females? METHODS: We performed a secondary, exploratory analysis on writing samples collected from 18 participants (11 autistic males, three autistic females, and four NA females) from a larger investigation of autistic adolescents’ writing skills. Each participant completed three writing samples-one persuasive, one expository, and one narrative (for a total of 54 writing samples). We compared sample length (total number of words), writing productivity (words written per minute), syntactic length (mean length of T-unit in words), vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio), and macrostructure of autistic females’ samples to autistic males’ and NA females’ samples. RESULTS: Based on non-parametric analyses using variable medians, autistic males, but not autistic females, wrote significantly shorter expository samples than NA females. Autistic males’ writing productivity was significantly lower in the persuasive and expository genres than both autistic females and NA females. Several other comparisons of sample length, productivity, vocabulary diversity, and persuasive and narrative macrostructure yielded large effect sizes but were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Though our small sample sizes prevent us from drawing generalizable conclusions, we observed that some gender-specific findings of the current study differ from previous findings based on a single autistic group (females and males combined). Combining data of autistic females with autistic males may cloud the distinct written language characteristics of each group. IMPLICATIONS: Our findings, especially when situated in the context of relevant literature, suggest that larger-scale investigation of gender differences in written language is essential in order to more fully describe the unique characteristics of autistic females. Clinicians should be prepared to support autistic writers’ needs for producing written language to meet their developmental, academic, social, and employment-related goals.

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12. Schendel D, Ejlskov L, Overgaard M, Jinwala Z, Kim V, Parner E, Kalkbrenner AE, Acosta CL, Fallin MD, Xie S, Mortensen PB, Lee BK. 3-generation family medical histories of mental, neurologic, cardiometabolic, birth defect, asthma, allergy, and autoimmune conditions associated with autism. medRxiv;2024 (Feb 13)

BACKGROUND: Family histories of different mental and non-mental conditions have often been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but the restricted scope of conditions and family members that have been investigated limits etiologic understanding. We aimed to perform a comprehensive assessment of ASD associations with 3-generation family histories of 90 mental, neurologic, cardiometabolic, birth defect, asthma, allergy, and autoimmune conditions. The assessment comprised separate estimates of association with ASD overall; separate estimates by sex and intellectual disability (ID) status; as well as separate estimates of the co-occurrence of each of the 90 disorders in autistic persons. Additionally, we aimed to provide interactive catalogues of results to facilitate results visualization and further hypothesis-generation. METHODS: We conducted a population-based, registry cohort study comprised of all live births in Denmark, 1980-2012, of Denmark-born parents, and with birth registry information (1,697,231 births), and their 3-generation family member types (20 types). All cohort members were followed from birth through April 10, 2017 for an ASD diagnosis. All participants (cohort members and each family member) were followed from birth through April 10, 2017 for each of 90 diagnoses, emigration or death. Adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) were estimated for ASD overall; by sex; or accounting for ID via separate Cox regression models for each diagnosis-family member type combination, adjusting for birth year, sex, birth weight, gestational age, parental ages at birth, and number of family member types of index person. aHRs were also calculated for sex-specific co-occurrence of each disorder, for ASD overall and considering ID. A catalogue of all results is displayed via interactive heat maps here: https://ncrr-au.shinyapps.io/asd-riskatlas/ and interactive graphic summaries of results are here: https://public.tableau.com/views/ASDPlots_16918786403110/e-Figure5 . RESULTS: Increased aHRs for ASD (26,840 cases; 1.6% of births) were observed for almost all individual mental disorder-family member type combinations yet for fewer non-mental disorder-family member type combinations. aHRs declined with diminishing degree of relatedness between the index person and family member for some disorders, especially mental disorders. Variation in aHR magnitude by family member sex (e.g., higher maternal than paternal aHRs) or side of the family (e.g., higher maternal versus paternal half sibling aHRs) was more evident among non-mental than mental disorders. Co-occurring ID in the family member or the index person impacted aHR variation. CONCLUSION: Our approach revealed considerable breadth and variation in magnitude of familial health history associations with ASD by type of condition, sex of the affected family member, side of the family, sex of the index person, and ID status which is indicative of diverse genetic, familial, and non-genetic ASD etiologic pathways. More careful attention to identifying sources of autism likelihood encompassed in family medical history, in addition to genetics, may accelerate understanding of factors underlying neurodiversity.

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13. Siemann J, Kroeger A, Bender S, Muthuraman M, Siniatchkin M. Segregated Dynamical Networks for Biological Motion Perception in the Mu and Beta Range Underlie Social Deficits in Autism. Diagnostics (Basel);2024 (Feb 13);14(4)

OBJECTIVE: Biological motion perception (BMP) correlating with a mirror neuron system (MNS) is attenuated in underage individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While BMP in typically-developing controls (TDCs) encompasses interconnected MNS structures, ASD data hint at segregated form and motion processing. This coincides with less fewer long-range connections in ASD than TDC. Using BMP and electroencephalography (EEG) in ASD, we characterized directionality and coherence (mu and beta frequencies). Deficient BMP may stem from desynchronization thereof in MNS and may predict social-communicative deficits in ASD. Clinical considerations thus profit from brain-behavior associations. METHODS: Point-like walkers elicited BMP using 15 white dots (walker vs. scramble in 21 ASD (mean: 11.3 ± 2.3 years) vs. 23 TDC (mean: 11.9 ± 2.5 years). Dynamic Imaging of Coherent Sources (DICS) characterized the underlying EEG time-frequency causality through time-resolved Partial Directed Coherence (tPDC). Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification validated the group effects (ASD vs. TDC). RESULTS: TDC showed MNS sources and long-distance paths (both feedback and bidirectional); ASD demonstrated distinct from and motion sources, predominantly local feedforward connectivity, and weaker coherence. Brain-behavior correlations point towards dysfunctional networks. SVM successfully classified ASD regarding EEG and performance. CONCLUSION: ASD participants showed segregated local networks for BMP potentially underlying thwarted complex social interactions. Alternative explanations include selective attention and global-local processing deficits. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study applying source-based connectivity to reveal segregated BMP networks in ASD regarding structure, cognition, frequencies, and temporal dynamics that may explain socio-communicative aberrancies.

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14. Simeone PJ, Green JR, Tager-Flusberg H, Chenausky KV. Vowel distinctiveness as a concurrent predictor of expressive language function in autistic children. Autism Res;2024 (Feb);17(2):419-431.

Speech ability may limit spoken language development in some minimally verbal autistic children. In this study, we aimed to determine whether an acoustic measure of speech production, vowel distinctiveness, is concurrently related to expressive language (EL) for autistic children. Syllables containing the vowels [i] and [a] were recorded remotely from 27 autistic children (4;1-7;11) with a range of spoken language abilities. Vowel distinctiveness was calculated using automatic formant tracking software. Robust hierarchical regressions were conducted with receptive language (RL) and vowel distinctiveness as predictors of EL. Hierarchical regressions were also conducted within a High EL and a Low EL subgroup. Vowel distinctiveness accounted for 29% of the variance in EL for the entire group, RL for 38%. For the Low EL group, only vowel distinctiveness was significant, accounting for 38% of variance in EL. Conversely, in the High EL group, only RL was significant and accounted for 26% of variance in EL. Replicating previous results, speech production and RL significantly predicted concurrent EL in autistic children, with speech production being the sole significant predictor for the Low EL group and RL the sole significant predictor for the High EL group. Further work is needed to determine whether vowel distinctiveness longitudinally, as well as concurrently, predicts EL. Findings have important implications for the early identification of language impairment and in developing language interventions for autistic children.

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15. Stein MT. Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics 5th Edition. J Dev Behav Pediatr;2024 (Jan 1);45(1):e97.

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16. Wu R, Hamilton AFC, White SJ. Can group membership modulate the social abilities of autistic people? An intergroup bias in smile perception. Cortex;2024 (Feb 13);173:150-160.

Autistic adults struggle to reliably differentiate genuine and posed smiles. Intergroup bias is a promising factor that may modulate smile discrimination performance, which has been shown in neurotypical adults, and which could highlight ways to make social interactions easier. However, it is not clear whether this bias also exists in autistic people. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate this in autism using a minimal group paradigm. Seventy-five autistic and sixty-one non-autistic adults viewed videos of people making genuine or posed smiles and were informed (falsely) that some of the actors were from an in-group and others were from an out-group. The ability to identify smile authenticity of in-group and out-group members and group identification were assessed. Our results revealed that both groups seemed equally susceptible to ingroup favouritism, rating ingroup members as more genuine, but autistic adults also generally rated smiles as less genuine and were less likely to identify with ingroup members. Autistic adults showed reduced sensitivity to the different smile types but the absence of an intergroup bias in smile discrimination in both groups seems to indicate that membership can only modulate social judgements but not social abilities. These findings suggest a reconsideration of past findings that might have misrepresented the social judgements of autistic people through introducing an outgroup disadvantage, but also a need for tailored support for autistic social differences that emphasizes similarity and inclusion between diverse people.

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17. Zhang J, Zhang Z, Sun H, Ma Y, Yang J, Chen K, Yu X, Qin T, Zhao T, Zhang J, Chu C, Wang J. Personalized functional network mapping for autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Transl Psychiatry;2024 (Feb 12);14(1):92.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two typical neurodevelopmental disorders that have a long-term impact on physical and mental health. ASD is usually comorbid with ADHD and thus shares highly overlapping clinical symptoms. Delineating the shared and distinct neurophysiological profiles is important to uncover the neurobiological mechanisms to guide better therapy. In this study, we aimed to establish the behaviors, functional connectome, and network properties differences between ASD, ADHD-Combined, and ADHD-Inattentive using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used the non-negative matrix fraction method to define personalized large-scale functional networks for each participant. The individual large-scale functional network connectivity (FNC) and graph-theory-based complex network analyses were executed and identified shared and disorder-specific differences in FNCs and network attributes. In addition, edge-wise functional connectivity analysis revealed abnormal edge co-fluctuation amplitude and number of transitions among different groups. Taken together, our study revealed disorder-specific and -shared regional and edge-wise functional connectivity and network differences for ASD and ADHD using an individual-level functional network mapping approach, which provides new evidence for the brain functional abnormalities in ASD and ADHD and facilitates understanding the neurobiological basis for both disorders.

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18. Zhang X, Gao Y, Zhang Y, Li F, Li H, Lei F. Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Topological Data Analysis. J Imaging Inform Med;2024 (Feb 13)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive brain development disease. Recently, the incidence rate of ASD has increased year by year and posed a great threat to the lives and families of individuals with ASD. Therefore, the study of ASD has become very important. A suitable feature representation that preserves the data intrinsic information and also reduces data complexity is very vital to the performance of established models. Topological data analysis (TDA) is an emerging and powerful mathematical tool for characterizing shapes and describing intrinsic information in complex data. In TDA, persistence barcodes or diagrams are usually regarded as visual representations of topological features of data. In this paper, the Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) data of subjects obtained from Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database were used to extract features by using TDA. The average accuracy of cross validation on ABIDE I database was 95.6% that was higher than any other existing methods (the highest accuracy among existing methods was 93.59%). The average accuracy for sampling with the same resolutions with the ABIDE I on the ABIDE II database was 96.5% that was also higher than any other existing methods (the highest accuracy among existing methods was 75.17%).

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