1. Abdallah MW, Larsen N, Mortensen EL, Atladottir HO, Norgaard-Pedersen B, Bonefeld-Jorgensen EC, Grove J, Hougaard DM. {{Neonatal levels of cytokines and risk of autism spectrum disorders: An exploratory register-based historic birth cohort study utilizing the Danish Newborn Screening Biobank}}. {J Neuroimmunol}. 2012; 252(1-2): 75-82.
The aim of the study was to analyze cytokine profiles in neonatal dried blood samples (n-DBSS) retrieved from The Danish Newborn Screening Biobank of children developing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) later in life and controls. Samples of 359 ASD cases and 741 controls were analyzed using Luminex xMAP technology and clinical data were retrieved from nationwide registers. Findings showed that children developing ASD were more likely to have decreased levels of both T helper-1(Th-1)-like cytokines (i.e. IFN-gamma) and Th-2like cytokines (i.e. IL-4, IL-10) which may suggest a depressed or hypoactive immune cell activity during neonatal period in ASD.
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2. Ahmadlou M, Adeli H, Adeli A. {{Fuzzy Synchronization Likelihood-wavelet methodology for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder}}. {J Neurosci Methods}. 2012; 211(2): 203-9.
This paper presents a methodology for investigation of functional connectivity in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using Fuzzy Synchronization Likelihood (Fuzzy SL). Fuzzy SLs between and within brain regions are calculated in all EEG sub-bands produced by the wavelet decomposition as well as in the full-band EEG. Then, discriminative Fuzzy SLs between and within different regions and different EEG sub-bands or full-band EEG for distinguishing autistic children from healthy control children are determined based on Analysis of Variation (ANOVA). Finally, the selected features are used as input to an Enhanced Probabilistic Neural Network classifier to make an accurate diagnosis of ASD based on the detected differences in the regional functional connectivity of autistic and healthy EEGs. The methodology is validated using EEG data obtained from 9 autistic and 9 healthy children. The ANOVA test showed high ability of the regional Fuzzy SLs in low frequency bands, delta and theta, as well as alpha band for discriminating the two groups. A high classification accuracy of 95.5% was achieved for distinguishing autistic EEGs from healthy EEGs. It is concluded that the methodology presented in this paper can be used as an effective tool for diagnosis of the autism. Further, the regional Fuzzy SLs discovered in this research can be used as reliable markers in neurofeedback treatments to improve neuronal plasticity and connectivity in autistic patients.
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3. Braunschweig D, Golub MS, Koenig CM, Qi L, Pessah IN, Van de Water J, Berman RF. {{Maternal autism-associated IgG antibodies delay development and produce anxiety in a mouse gestational transfer model}}. {J Neuroimmunol}. 2012; 252(1-2): 56-65.
A murine passive transfer model system was employed to ascertain the effects of gestational exposure to a single, intravenous dose of purified, brain-reactive IgG antibodies from individual mothers of children with autism (MAU) or mothers with typically developing children (MTD). Growth and behavioral outcomes in offspring were measured from postnatal days 8 to 65 in each group. Comparisons revealed alterations in early growth trajectories, significantly impaired motor and sensory development, and increased anxiety. This report demonstrates for the first time the effects of a single, low dose gestational exposure of IgG derived from individual MAU on their offspring’s physical and social development.
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4. Jones R. {{Neurodevelopmental disorders: Tackling fragile X by curbing translation}}. {Nat Rev Neurosci}. 2012.
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5. Stanutz S, Wapnick J, Burack J. {{Pitch discrimination and melodic memory in children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism}. 2012.
Background: Pitch perception is enhanced among persons with autism. We extended this finding to memory for pitch and melody among school-aged children.Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate pitch memory in musically untrained children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 7-13 years, and to compare it to that of age- and IQ-matched typically developing children.Methods: The children were required to discriminate isolated tones in two differing contexts as well to remember melodies after a period of 1 week. The tasks were designed to employ both short- and long-term memory for music. For the pitch discrimination task, the children first had to indicate whether two isolated tones were the same or different when the second was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Second, the children discriminated the tones within the context of melody. They were asked whether two melodies were the same or different when the leading tone of the second melody was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Long-term memory for melody was also investigated, as the children attempted to recall four different two-bar melodies after 1 week.Results: The children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrated elevated pitch discrimination ability in the single-tone and melodic context as well as superior long-term memory for melody. Pitch memory correlated positively with scores on measures of nonverbal fluid reasoning ability.Conclusion: Superior short- and long-term pitch memory was found among children with autism spectrum disorders. The results indicate an aspect to cognitive functioning that may predict both enhanced nonverbal reasoning ability and atypical language development.
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6. Wojcik DZ, Moulin CJ, Souchay C. {{Metamemory in Children With Autism: Exploring « Feeling-of-Knowing » in Episodic and Semantic Memory}}. {Neuropsychology}. 2012.
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily affecting social function and communication. Recently, there has been an interest in whether people with ASD also show memory deficits. Studies in ASD have revealed subtle impairments on tasks requiring participants to learn new information (episodic memory), but intact performance on general knowledge tasks (semantic memory). The novelty of this study was to explore metamemory (i.e., awareness of memory performance) and to examine whether children with ASD suffer from a generalized metamemory deficit common to all forms of memory, or would only present deficits on episodic metamemory tasks. Method: To assess metamemory functioning we administered 2 feeling-of-knowing (FOK) tasks, 1 for episodic and 1 for semantic materials. In these tasks, participants are asked to predict the likelihood of subsequently recognizing currently unrecalled information. Results: It was found that children with autism made inaccurate FOK predictions, but only for episodic materials. Conclusion: A specific deficit in meta-cognition emerges for only one set of materials. We argue that this deficit can be conceived of as reflecting a deficit in recollection, stemming from an inability to cast the self in the past and retrieve information about the study episode. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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7. Wong LM, Goodrich-Hunsaker NJ, McLennan Y, Tassone F, Harvey D, Rivera SM, Simon TJ. {{Young adult male carriers of the Fragile X premutation exhibit genetically modulated impairments in visuospatial tasks controlled for psychomotor speed}}. {J Neurodev Disord}. 2012; 4(1): 26.
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: A previous study reported enhanced psychomotor speed, and subtle but significant cognitive impairments, modulated by age and by mutations in the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene in adult female fragile X premutation carriers (fXPCs). Because male carriers, unlike females, do not have a second, unaffected FMR1 allele, male fXPCs should exhibit similar, if not worse, impairments. Understanding male fXPCs is of particular significance because of their increased risk of developing Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). METHODS: Male fXPCs (n = 18) and healthy control (HC) adults (n = 26) aged less than 45 years performed two psychomotor speed tasks (manual and oral) and two visuospatial tasks (magnitude comparison and enumeration). In the magnitude comparison task, participants were asked to compare and judge which of two bars was larger. In the enumeration task, participants were shown between one and eight green bars in the center of the screen, and asked to state the total number displayed. Enumeration typically proceeds in one of two modes: subitizing, a fast and accurate process that works only with a small set of items, and counting, which requires accurate serial-object detection and individuation during visual search. We examined the associations between the performance on all tasks and the age, full-scale intelligent quotient, and CGG repeat length of participants. RESULTS: We found that in the magnitude comparison and enumeration tasks, male fXPCs exhibited slower reaction times relative to HCs, even after controlling for simple reaction time. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that male fXPCs as a group show impairments (slower reaction times) in numerical visuospatial tasks, which are consistent with previous findings. This adds to a growing body of literature characterizing the phenotype in fXPCs who are asymptomatic for FXTAS. Future longitudinal studies are needed to determine how these impairments relate to risk of developing FXTAS.
