1. {{[Cytogenetic, molecular cytogenetic, clinical and genealogical study of mothers of children with autism: a search for family genetic markers of autistic disorders]}}. {Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova};2009;109(6):54-64.
2. Benjak T, Vuletic Mavrinac G, Pavic Simetin I. {{Comparative study on self-perceived health of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders and parents of non-disabled children in Croatia}}. {Croat Med J};2009 (Aug);50(4):403-409.
3. Bowler DM, Gaigg SB, Gardiner JM. {{Multiple List Learning in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parallels with Frontal Lobe Damage or Further Evidence of Diminished Relational Processing?}} {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (Aug 13)
To test the effects of providing relational cues at encoding and/or retrieval on multi-trial, multi-list free recall in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 16 adults with ASD and 16 matched typical adults learned a first followed by a second categorised list of 24 words. Category labels were provided at encoding, retrieval, both or not at all. Both groups showed enhanced recall when labels were available during encoding or throughout the task. ASD individuals showed reduced recall of the second list and reduced clustering. Clustering and recall were correlated in both groups, which also showed similar levels of subjective organisation. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of frontal and medial temporal lobe contributions to memory in ASD.
4. Couture SM, Penn DL, Losh M, Adolphs R, Hurley R, Piven J. {{Comparison of social cognitive functioning in schizophrenia and high functioning autism: more convergence than divergence}}. {Psychol Med};2009 (Aug 12):1-11.
BACKGROUND: Individuals with schizophrenia and individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) seem to share some social, behavioral and biological features. Although marked impairments in social cognition have been documented in both groups, little empirical work has compared the social cognitive functioning of these two clinical groups.MethodForty-four individuals with schizophrenia, 36 with HFA and 41 non-clinical controls completed a battery of social cognitive measures that have been linked previously to specific brain regions. RESULTS: The results indicate that the individuals with schizophrenia and HFA were both impaired on a variety of social cognitive tasks relative to the non-clinical controls, but did not differ from one another. When individuals with schizophrenia were divided into negative symptom and paranoid subgroups, exploratory analyses revealed that individuals with HFA may be more similar, in terms of the pattern of social cognition impairments, to the negative symptom group than to the paranoia group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide further support for similarities in social cognition deficits between HFA and schizophrenia, which have a variety of implications for future work on gene-brain-behavior relationships.
5. Ecker C, Rocha-Rego V, Johnston P, Mourao-Miranda J, Marquand A, Daly EM, Brammer MJ, Murphy C, Murphy DG. {{Investigating The Predictive Value Of Whole-Brain Structural MR Scans In Autism: A Pattern Classification Approach}}. {Neuroimage};2009 (Aug 13)
6. Jackson PB, Boccuto L, Skinner C, Collins JS, Neri G, Gurrieri F, Schwartz CE. {{Further evidence that the rs1858830 C variant in the promoter region of the MET gene is associated with Autistic disorder}}. {Autism Res};2009 (Aug 13)
Previous studies in three independent cohorts have shown that the rs1858830 C allele variant in the promoter region of the MET gene on chromosome 7q31 is associated with autism. Another study has found correlations between other alterations in the MET gene and autism in two unrelated cohorts. This study screened two cohorts, an Autistic Disorder cohort from South Carolina and a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) cohort from Italy, for the presence of the C allele variant in rs1858830. A significant increase in the C allele variant frequency was found in the South Carolina Autistic Disorder patients as compared to South Carolina Controls (chi(2)=5.8, df=1, P=0.02). In the South Carolina cohort, a significant association with Autistic Disorder was found when comparing the CC and CG genotypes to the GG genotype (odds ratio (OR)=1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.12-2.40; chi(2)=6.5, df=1, P=0.01) in cases and controls. In the Italian cohort, no significant association with PDD was found when comparing the CC or CG genotype to the GG genotype (OR=1.20; 95% CI=0.56-2.56; chi(2)=0.2, df=1, P=0.64). This study is the third independent study to find the rs1858830 C variant in the MET gene promoter to be associated with autism.
