1. Brugha TS, McManus S, Bankart J, Jenkins R, Smith J, Scott F. {{The proportion of true cases of autism is not changing}}. {BMJ};2014;348:g3774.
2. Burgoyne L, Dowling L, Fitzgerald A, Connolly M, J PB, Perry IJ. {{Parents’ perspectives on the value of assistance dogs for children with autism spectrum disorder: a cross-sectional study}}. {BMJ Open};2014;4(6):e004786.
OBJECTIVE: While there is an emerging literature on the usefulness of assistance dogs for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is a dearth of quantitative data on the value of assistance dog interventions for the family unit and family functioning. Using previously validated scales and scales developed specifically for this study, we measured parents’/guardians’ perceptions of how having an assistance dog affects: (1) child safety from environmental dangers, (2) public reception of ASD and (3) levels of caregiver strain and sense of competence. We also obtained open-ended response data from parents/guardians on benefits and constraints of having an assistance dog. SETTING: This study was based in the primary care setting, within the context of a specific accredited assistance dog centre in Ireland. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 134 parents/guardians with an assistance dog, and 87 parents of children on the waiting list were surveyed. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were scores on environmental hazards and public reception scales. The secondary outcome measures were scores on caregiver strain and competence scales. RESULTS: Parents/guardians of children who have ASD and an assistance dog rate their child as significantly safer from environmental dangers (p<0.001), perceive that the public act more respectfully and responsibly towards their child (p<0.001) and feel more competent about managing their child (p=0.023) compared with parents on the waiting list. There was a concentration of positive feeling towards assistance dog interventions with particular focus on safety and comfort for children, and a sense of freedom from family restrictions associated with ASD. The amount of dedication and commitment required to care for a dog were viewed as the primary constraints. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that parents perceive that assistance dog interventions can be a valuable intervention for families with children who have ASD.
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3. Crane FL, Low H, Sun I, Navas P, Gvozdjakova A. {{Plasma membrane coenzyme Q: evidence for a role in autism}}. {Biologics};2014;8:199-205.
BACKGROUND: The Voltage Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC) is involved in control of autism. Treatments, including coenzyme Q, have had some success on autism control. DATA SOURCES: Correlation of porin redox activity and expression of autism is based on extensive literature, especially studies of antibodies, identification of cytosolic nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced (NADH) dehydrogenase activity in the VDAC, and evidence for extreme sensitivity of the dehydrogenase to a mercurial. Evidence for a coenzyme Q requirement came from extraction and analog inhibition of NADH ferricyanide reductase in the erythrocyte plasma membrane, done in 1994, and reinterpreted when it was identified in VDAC in 2004. The effects of ubiquinol (the QH2 – reduced form of coenzyme Q) in children with autism were studied. RESULTS: A new role for coenzyme Q in the porin channels has implications on autism. Ubiquinol, the more active form of coenzyme Q, produces favorable response in children with autism. Agents which affected electron transport in porin show parallel effects in autism. CONCLUSION: We propose a hypothesis that autism is controlled by a coenzyme Q-dependent redox system in the porin channels; this conclusion is based on the effects of agents that positively or negatively affect electron transport and the symptoms of autism. The full understanding of the mechanism of their control needs to be established.
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4. Daly BP, Nicholls EG, Patrick KE, Brinckman DD, Schultheis MT. {{Driving Behaviors in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2014 (Jun 13)
This pilot study investigated driving history and driving behaviors between adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as compared to non-ASD adult drivers. Seventy-eight licensed drivers with ASD and 94 non-ASD comparison participants completed the Driver Behavior Questionnaire. Drivers with ASD endorsed significantly lower ratings of their ability to drive, and higher numbers of traffic accidents and citations relative to non-ASD drivers. Drivers with ASD also endorsed significantly greater numbers of difficulties on the following subscales: intentional violations, F(1, 162) = 6.15, p = .01, eta p 2 = .04; mistakes, F(1, 162) = 10.15, p = .002, eta p 2 = .06; and slips/lapses, F(1, 162) = 11.33, p = .001, eta p 2 = .07. These findings suggest that individuals with ASD who are current drivers may experience more difficulties in driving behaviors and engage in more problematic driving behaviors relative to non-ASD drivers.
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5. Hadley D, Wu ZL, Kao C, Kini A, Mohamed-Hadley A, Thomas K, Vazquez L, Qiu H, Mentch F, Pellegrino R, Kim C, Connolly J, Glessner J, Hakonarson H. {{The impact of the metabotropic glutamate receptor and other gene family interaction networks on autism}}. {Nat Commun};2014;5:4074.
Although multiple reports show that defective genetic networks underlie the aetiology of autism, few have translated into pharmacotherapeutic opportunities. Since drugs compete with endogenous small molecules for protein binding, many successful drugs target large gene families with multiple drug binding sites. Here we search for defective gene family interaction networks (GFINs) in 6,742 patients with the ASDs relative to 12,544 neurologically normal controls, to find potentially druggable genetic targets. We find significant enrichment of structural defects (P</=2.40E-09, 1.8-fold enrichment) in the metabotropic glutamate receptor (GRM) GFIN, previously observed to impact attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. Also, the MXD-MYC-MAX network of genes, previously implicated in cancer, is significantly enriched (P</=3.83E-23, 2.5-fold enrichment), as is the calmodulin 1 (CALM1) gene interaction network (P</=4.16E-04, 14.4-fold enrichment), which regulates voltage-independent calcium-activated action potentials at the neuronal synapse. We find that multiple defective gene family interactions underlie autism, presenting new translational opportunities to explore for therapeutic interventions.
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6. Jeste SS, Wu JY, Senturk D, Varcin K, Ko J, McCarthy B, Shimizu C, Dies K, Vogel-Farley V, Sahin M, Nelson CA, 3rd. {{Early developmental trajectories associated with ASD in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex}}. {Neurology};2014 (Jun 11)
OBJECTIVE: We performed a longitudinal cohort study of infants with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), with the overarching goal of defining early clinical, behavioral, and biological markers of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in this high-risk population.METHODS: Infants with TSC and typically developing controls were recruited as early as 3 months of age and followed longitudinally until 36 months of age. Data gathered at each time point included detailed seizure history, developmental testing using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and social-communication assessments using the Autism Observation Scale for Infants. At 18 to 36 months, a diagnostic evaluation for ASD was performed using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule.RESULTS: Infants with TSC demonstrated delays confined to nonverbal abilities, particularly in the visual domain, which then generalized to more global delays by age 9 months. Twenty-two of 40 infants with TSC were diagnosed with ASD. Both 12-month cognitive ability and developmental trajectories over the second and third years of life differentiated the groups. By 12 months of age, the ASD group demonstrated significantly greater cognitive delays and a significant decline in nonverbal IQ from 12 to 36 months.CONCLUSIONS: This prospective study characterizes early developmental markers of ASD in infants with TSC. The early delay in visual reception and fine motor ability in the TSC group as a whole, coupled with the decline in nonverbal ability in infants diagnosed with ASD, suggests a domain-specific pathway to ASD that can inform more targeted interventions for these high-risk infants.
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7. Lartseva A, Dijkstra T, Kan CC, Buitelaar JK. {{Processing of Emotion Words by Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Reaction Times and EEG}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2014 (Jun 12)
This study investigated processing of emotion words in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using reaction times and event-related potentials (ERP). Adults with (n = 21) and without (n = 20) ASD performed a lexical decision task on emotion and neutral words while their brain activity was recorded. Both groups showed faster responses to emotion words compared to neutral, suggesting intact early processing of emotion in ASD. In the ERPs, the control group showed a typical late positive component (LPC) at 400-600 ms for emotion words compared to neutral, while the ASD group showed no LPC. The between-group difference in LPC amplitude was significant, suggesting that emotion words were processed differently by individuals with ASD, although their behavioral performance was similar to that of typical individuals.
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8. Poslawsky IE, Naber FB, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van Daalen E, van Engeland H, van IMH. {{Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI): A randomized controlled trial}}. {Autism};2014 (Jun 11)
In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the early intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI) with 78 primary caregivers and their child (16-61 months) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. VIPP-AUTI is a brief attachment-based intervention program, focusing on improving parent-child interaction and reducing the child’s individual Autism Spectrum Disorder-related symptomatology in five home visits. VIPP-AUTI, as compared with usual care, demonstrated efficacy in reducing parental intrusiveness. Moreover, parents who received VIPP-AUTI showed increased feelings of self-efficacy in child rearing. No significant group differences were found on other aspects of parent-child interaction or on child play behavior. At 3-months follow-up, intervention effects were found on child-initiated joint attention skills, not mediated by intervention effects on parenting. Implementation of VIPP-AUTI in clinical practice is facilitated by the use of a detailed manual and a relatively brief training of interveners.
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9. Shih W, Patterson SY, Kasari C. {{Developing an Adaptive Treatment Strategy for Peer-Related Social Skills for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol};2014 (Jun 13):1-11.
The purpose of this study was to understand the trajectories of children’s response to an intervention prior to the end of the treatment in order to inform adaptive treatment models for future studies. Participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were drawn from a randomized controlled trial comparing 2 different social skills interventions at children’s schools. We excluded children with ASD who entered the study with at least 80% time engaged (the average time of neurotypical children in the same classes) in order to examine only those who were engaged below the typical developing peers’ average percentage of time engaged. The final sample included 92 children with ASD (82% male, average age = 8.14 years, average IQ = 89.6). We explored whether playground engagement scores measured at entry and midpoint of treatment predicted their engagement scores at end of treatment using the Classification and Regression Tree (CART) method. Using the CART approach, 4 meaningful subgroups based on children’s playground engagement scores measured at entry and changes from entry to midpoint were identified. These data suggest that measurements of children’s behavior midstudy can be used to predict children’s treatment outcomes. Such data may be used to inform decisions to augment or alter programming prior to treatment end in order to tailor intervention to best meet the needs of individual children.
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10. Siegel M, Milligan B, Chemelski B, Payne D, Ellsworth B, Harmon J, Teer O, Smith KA. {{Specialized Inpatient Psychiatry for Serious Behavioral Disturbance in Autism and Intellectual Disability}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2014 (Jun 13)
Psychiatric hospitalization of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or intellectual disability is common, however, the effectiveness of this intervention is largely unknown. Thirty-eight clinically-referred children 8-19 years old admitted to a specialized inpatient psychiatry unit were assessed by a consistent caregiver on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability (ABC-I) subscale at admission, discharge and 2 months post discharge. There was a decrease in the mean ABC-I score from admission (27.3, SD 7.4) to discharge (11.9, SD 8.8), which was sustained at 2 months post discharge (14.8, SD 9.3) (p < 0.001). Seventy-eight percent of the subjects were rated as « Improved » on the clinician Clinical Global Impressions Improvement scale at discharge. The study is limited by lack of a control group, but offers preliminary evidence for specialized inpatient psychiatry as an intervention for serious behavioral disturbance in this population.
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11. Zhou Y, Yu F, Duong T. {{Multiparametric MRI characterization and prediction in autism spectrum disorder using graph theory and machine learning}}. {PLoS One};2014;9(6):e90405.
This study employed graph theory and machine learning analysis of multiparametric MRI data to improve characterization and prediction in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Data from 127 children with ASD (13.5+/-6.0 years) and 153 age- and gender-matched typically developing children (14.5+/-5.7 years) were selected from the multi-center Functional Connectome Project. Regional gray matter volume and cortical thickness increased, whereas white matter volume decreased in ASD compared to controls. Small-world network analysis of quantitative MRI data demonstrated decreased global efficiency based on gray matter cortical thickness but not with functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) or volumetry. An integrative model of 22 quantitative imaging features was used for classification and prediction of phenotypic features that included the autism diagnostic observation schedule, the revised autism diagnostic interview, and intelligence quotient scores. Among the 22 imaging features, four (caudate volume, caudate-cortical functional connectivity and inferior frontal gyrus functional connectivity) were found to be highly informative, markedly improving classification and prediction accuracy when compared with the single imaging features. This approach could potentially serve as a biomarker in prognosis, diagnosis, and monitoring disease progression.
