1. {{Antenatal ultrasound and autism}}. {Arch Dis Child}. 2018.
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2. Askari E, Setarehdan SK, Sheikhani A, Mohammadi MR, Teshnehlab M. {{Modeling the connections of brain regions in children with autism using cellular neural networks and electroencephalography analysis}}. {Artificial intelligence in medicine}. 2018.
The brain connections in the different regions demonstrate the characteristics of brain activities. In addition, in various conditions and with neuropsychological disorders, the brain has special patterns in different regions. This paper presents a model to show and compare the connection patterns in different brain regions of children with autism (53 boys and 36 girls) and control children (61 boys and 33 girls). The model is designed by cellular neural networks and it uses the proper features of electroencephalography. The results show that there are significant differences and abnormalities in the left hemisphere, (p<0.05) at the electrodes AF3, F3, P7, T7, and O1 in the children with autism compared with the control group. Also, the evaluation of the obtained connections values between brain regions demonstrated that there are more abnormalities in the connectivity of frontal and parietal lobes and the relations of the neighboring regions in children with autism. It is observed that the proposed model is able to distinguish the autistic children from the control subjects with an accuracy rate of 95.1% based on the obtained values of CNN using the SVM method. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
3. Doostparast Torshizi A, Duan J, Wang K. {{Transcriptional network analysis on brains reveals a potential regulatory role of PPP1R3F in autism spectrum disorders}}. {BMC research notes}. 2018; 11(1): 489.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims at identifying master regulators of transcriptional networks in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). RESULTS: With two sets of independent RNA-Seq data generated on cerebellum from patients with ASDs and control subjects (N = 39 and 45 for set 1, N = 24 and 38 for set 2, respectively), we carried out a network deconvolution of transcriptomic data, followed by virtual protein activity analysis. We identified PPP1R3F (Protein Phosphatase 1 Regulatory Subunit 3F) as a candidate master regulator affecting a large body of downstream genes that are associated with the disease phenotype. Pathway analysis on the identified targets of PPP1R3F in both datasets indicated alteration of endocytosis pathway. Despite a limited sample size, our study represents one of the first applications of network deconvolution approach to brain transcriptomic data to generate hypotheses that may be further validated by large-scale studies.
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4. Friedman C, Feldner HA. {{Physical Therapy Services for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: The Role of Medicaid Home and Community Based Service Waivers}}. {Physical therapy}. 2018.
Background: Care and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in natural community contexts are increasing. Many people with IDD use physical therapy services to support their community participation. Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) 1915(c) waivers are the largest providers of long-term services and supports for people with IDD. However, little is known about physical therapy provision under this program. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the operational definitions of physical therapy service under the HBCS 1915(c) waiver system and to describe projected physical therapy service utilization, spending, and reimbursement for people with IDD across states. Design: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Methods: This study analyzed fiscal year 2015 HCBS IDD waivers from across the nation (N = 111), focusing on physical therapy utilization (total projected spending, total participants, reimbursement rates, and average annual service provision per participant). Service definitions were also analyzed to determine trends across waivers. Results: Fifty-one waivers (45.9%) provided 61 different types of physical therapy services in fiscal year 2015. States utilized waivers to provide long-term remedial care rather than the acute short-term physical therapy. HCBS waiver physical therapy services were often provided in participants’ homes and communities to expand physical therapy access and secure the benefits of providing physical therapy services in natural environments. Although most states have adopted similar definitions of physical therapy service, procedures and services vary. Limitations: Medicaid HCBS waivers are state projections made to the federal government rather than actual utilization data. Conclusions: Physical therapy service definitions, projected service utilization, spending, and reimbursement for people with IDD who use Medicaid HCBS waivers varies greatly between states. Physical therapy may be utilized less than expected given the reported benefits for people with IDD.
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5. Garbarino VR, Gilman TL, Daws LC, Gould GG. {{Extreme Enhancement or Depletion of Serotonin Transporter Function and Serotonin Availability in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Pharmacological research}. 2018.
A variety of human and animal studies support the hypothesis that serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) system dysfunction is a contributing factor to the development of autism in some patients. However, many questions remain about how developmental manipulation of various components that influence 5-HT signaling (5-HT synthesis, transport, metabolism) persistently impair social behaviors. This review will summarize key aspects of central 5-HT function important for normal brain development, and review evidence implicating perinatal disruptions in 5-HT signaling in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder. We discuss the importance, and relative dearth, of studies that explore the possible correlation to autism in the interactions between important intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may disrupt 5-HT homeostasis during development. In particular, we focus on exposure to 5-HT transport altering mechanisms such as selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors or genetic polymorphisms in primary or auxiliary transporters of 5-HT, and how they relate to neurological stores of serotonin and its precursors. A deeper understanding of the many mechanisms by which 5-HT signaling can be disrupted, alone and in concert, may contribute to an improved understanding of the etiologies and heterogeneous nature of this disorder. We postulate that extreme bidirectional perturbations of these factors during development likely compound or synergize to facilitate enduring neurochemical changes resulting in insufficient or excessive 5-HT signaling, that could underlie the persistent behavioral characteristics of autism spectrum disorder.
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6. Harlalka V, Raju BS, Vinod PK, Roy D. {{Age, disease and their interaction effects on intrinsic connectivity of children and adolescents in Autism Spectrum Disorder using functional connectomics}}. {Brain Connect}. 2018.
Brain connectivity analysis has provided crucial insights to pinpoint the differences between autistic and typically developing (TD) children during development. The aim of this study is to investigate the functional connectomics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) versus TD and underpin the effects of development, disease, and their interactions on the observed atypical brain connectivity patterns. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset, which is stratified into two cohorts: children (9-12 years) and adolescents (13-16 years), is used for the analysis. Differences in various graph-theoretical network measures are calculated between ASD and TD in each group. Further, two-factor ANOVA test is used, to study the effect of age, disease and their interaction on the network measures and the network edges. Further, the differences in connection strength between TD and ASD subjects are assessed using Network Based Statistics. The results showed that ASD exhibits increased functional integration at the expense of decreased functional segregation. In ASD adolescents, there is significant decrease in modularity suggesting a less robust modular organization and an increase in participation coefficient suggesting more random integration and widely distributed connection edges. Further, there is significant hypoconnectivity observed in the adolescent group especially in the Default Mode Network while the children group shows both hyper and hypoconnectivity. This study lends support to a model of global atypical connections and further identifies functional networks and areas that are independently affected by age, disease and their interaction.
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7. Huijnen C, Lexis MAS, Jansens R, de Witte LP. {{Roles, Strengths and Challenges of Using Robots in Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
The aim of this research was to study roles, strengths and challenges of robot-mediated interventions using robot KASPAR for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twelve focus group sessions were organized in which 70 ASD care and/or education professionals participated. Six roles for KASPAR were identified: provoker, reinforcer, trainer, mediator, prompter, and diagnostic information provider. Strengths of KASPAR are related to personalisation possibilities, its playfulness, the action-reaction principle, its neutral expression, consistent and repetitive application of actions, possibilities to vary behaviour in a controlled manner and having an extra hand. Challenges of working with KASPAR were: limited reaction possibilities, possibility of children being scared of KASPAR, difficulties with generalisation or transfer and finally potential dependence on KASPAR.
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8. Ide M, Yaguchi A, Sano M, Fukatsu R, Wada M. {{Higher Tactile Temporal Resolution as a Basis of Hypersensitivity in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have symptoms of sensory hypersensitivity. Several studies have shown high individual variations in temporal processing of tactile stimuli. We hypothesized that these individual differences are linked to differences in hyper-reactivity among individuals with ASD. Participants performed two tasks as to vibrotactile stimuli: One is a temporal order judgement task, and another is a detection task. We found that individuals with ASD with higher temporal resolution tended to have more severe hypersensitivity symptoms. In contrast, the tactile detection threshold/sensitivity were related to the severities of stereotyped behaviour and restricted interests, rather than to hypersensitivity. Our findings demonstrate that higher temporal resolution to sensory stimuli may contribute to sensory hypersensitivity in individuals with ASD.
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9. Kennedy PJ, Sinfield P, Tweedlie L, Nixon C, Martin A, Edwards K. {{Brief Report: Using the Social Communication Questionnaire to Identify Young People Residing in Secure Children’s Homes with Symptom Complexes Compatible with Autistic Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects approximately 1% of the general population. The prevalence of ASD, or symptom complexes compatible with ASD, amongst young people residing within Secure Children’s Homes (SCH’s) remains ill understood. There are critical implications for the resourcing and understanding of the management of young people with social/communication difficulties. This paper describes a preliminary investigation of the prevalence of ASD within SCH’s in the UK. The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was completed with support workers for 113 adolescents admitted to two SCH’s in England as a screen for ASD. The SCQ identified 15 (13.3%) young people with symptoms compatible with an ASD presentation; differences in gender, legal status and a history of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) are discussed.
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10. Kernbach JM, Satterthwaite TD, Bassett DS, Smallwood J, Margulies D, Krall S, Shaw P, Varoquaux G, Thirion B, Konrad K, Bzdok D. {{Shared endo-phenotypes of default mode dsfunction in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder}}. {Translational psychiatry}. 2018; 8(1): 133.
Categorical diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD) manuals are increasingly found to be incongruent with emerging neuroscientific evidence that points towards shared neurobiological dysfunction underlying attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, functional connectivity of the default mode network, the dorsal attention and salience network was studied in 1305 typically developing and diagnosed participants. A transdiagnostic hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework combining Indian Buffet Processes and Latent Dirichlet Allocation was proposed to address the urgent need for objective brain-derived measures that can acknowledge shared brain network dysfunction in both disorders. We identified three main variation factors characterized by distinct coupling patterns of the temporoparietal cortices in the default mode network with the dorsal attention and salience network. The brain-derived factors were demonstrated to effectively capture the underlying neural dysfunction shared in both disorders more accurately, and to enable more reliable diagnoses of neurobiological dysfunction. The brain-derived phenotypes alone allowed for a classification accuracy reflecting an underlying neuropathology of 67.33% (+/-3.07) in new individuals, which significantly outperformed the 46.73% (+/-3.97) accuracy of categorical diagnoses. Our results provide initial evidence that shared neural dysfunction in ADHD and ASD can be derived from conventional brain recordings in a data-led fashion. Our work is encouraging to pursue a translational endeavor to find and further study brain-derived phenotypes, which could potentially be used to improve clinical decision-making and optimize treatment in the future.
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11. Lagan NC, Balfe J. {{Does heavy metal chelation therapy improve the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder}}. {Arch Dis Child}. 2018.
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12. Laver K, Wilkes-Gillan S. {{Video modelling interventions improve social communication skills for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Australian occupational therapy journal}. 2018.
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13. Ofei SY, Fuchs GJ, 3rd. {{Constipation Burden in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Emergency Department and Healthcare Use}}. {The Journal of pediatrics}. 2018.
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14. Supekar K, Kochalka J, Schaer M, Wakeman H, Qin S, Padmanabhan A, Menon V. {{Deficits in mesolimbic reward pathway underlie social interaction impairments in children with autism}}. {Brain}. 2018.
Lack of interest in social interaction is a hallmark of autism spectrum disorder. Animal studies have implicated the mesolimbic reward pathway in driving and reinforcing social behaviour, but little is known about the integrity of this pathway and its behavioural consequences in children with autism spectrum disorder. Here we test the hypothesis that the structural and functional integrity of the mesolimbic reward pathway is aberrant in children with autism spectrum disorder, and these aberrancies contribute to the social interaction impairments. We examine structural and functional connectivity of the mesolimbic reward pathway in two independent cohorts totalling 82 children aged 7-13 years with autism spectrum disorder and age-, gender-, and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing children (primary cohort: children with autism spectrum disorder n = 24, typically developing children n = 24; replication cohort: children with autism spectrum disorder n = 17, typically developing children n = 17), using high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging and functional MRI data. We reliably identify white matter tracts linking-the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area-key subcortical nodes of the mesolimbic reward pathway, and provide reproducible evidence for structural aberrations in these tracts in children with autism spectrum disorder. Further, we show that structural aberrations are accompanied by aberrant functional interactions between nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area in response to social stimuli. Crucially, we demonstrate that both structural and functional circuit aberrations in the mesolimbic reward pathway are related to parent-report measures of social interaction impairments in affected children. Our findings, replicated across two independent cohorts, reveal that deficits in the mesolimbic reward pathway contribute to impaired social skills in childhood autism, and provide fundamental insights into neurobiological mechanisms underlying reduced social interest in humans.
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15. Wang Y, Xiao Y, Li Y, Chu K, Feng M, Li C, Qiu N, Weng J, Ke X. {{Exploring the relationship between fairness and ‘brain types’ in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder}}. {Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry}. 2018; 88: 151-8.
BACKGROUND: Existing research typically focuses on only one domain of cognition with regard to fairness-theory of mind or executive function. However, children with High-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) are cognitively impaired in both domains. Moreover, little is known about fairness characteristics in children with HF-ASD in relation to both domains of cognition. METHODS: Thirty children with HF-ASD as well as 39 children with typical development (TD) were evaluated in this study. We investigated the development of children’s fairness characteristics as a responder in a mini ultimatum game (UG). The different ‘brain types,’ i.e., with or without HF-ASD, were evaluated using the Empathy Questionnaire-Systemizing Questionnaire (E/SC-Q). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between fairness and brain types using Pearson correlation analyses. RESULTS: Children in the HF-ASD group were more likely to accept unfair offers than were children in the TD group (chi(2)=17.513, p=.025). In the HF-ASD group, the acceptance rate of unfair offers was correlated with the discrepancy score (r=0.363, p=.048), while there were no significant correlations in the TD group. In HF-ASD group, compared with Type S, acceptance rate of unfair offer was significant higher in Extreme Type S ‘brain type’ (F=28.584, p<.001). While dividing TD participants by 'brain type', there was no significant difference in acceptance rate of unfair offer among five difference 'brain types' (F=1.131, p=.358). Stepwise regression revealed that Extreme Type S positively predicted acceptance of unfair offers (F [1, 68]=8.695, p<.001). DISCUSSION: Our findings show that children with HF-ASD were more likely to accept an unfair offer; in particular, the more unbalanced the development of empathy and systemizing was, the more significant the unfairness preference observed. Extreme Type S positively predicted the acceptance of unfair offers by children with HF-ASD. REGISTRATION OF CLINICAL TRIALS: World Health Organization class I registered international clinical trial platform, ChiCTR-ROC-17012877. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
16. Waters CF, Amerine Dickens M, Thurston SW, Lu X, Smith T. {{Sustainability of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Community Setting}}. {Behav Modif}. 2018: 145445518786463.
This study examined whether outcomes in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) during a university-led multisite project could be replicated by the same community agency independently of the project. Participants, age 18 to 75 months at onset of intervention, were 48 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) enrolled in 35 hr per week of publicly funded, community-based EIBI for 3 years and 46 children who were matched on baseline characteristics and received early childhood services as usual (SAU) through local early childhood special education providers. Linear mixed models indicated that EIBI participants improved significantly more than SAU participants on standardized tests of IQ, nonverbal IQ, adaptive behavior, and academic achievement, administered by independent evaluators. Although limited by the use of a matched comparison group rather than random assignment, the study provides evidence for the sustainability of effective EIBI in community settings for children with ASD who start intervention at varying ages throughout early childhood.
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17. Williams ZJ, Failla MD, Gotham KO, Woynaroski TG, Cascio C. {{Psychometric Evaluation of the Short Sensory Profile in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
The Short Sensory Profile (SSP) is one of the most commonly used measures of sensory features in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but psychometric studies in this population are limited. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we evaluated the structural validity of the SSP subscales in ASD children. Confirmatory factor models exhibited poor fit, and a follow-up exploratory factor analysis suggested a 9-factor structure that only replicated three of the seven original subscales. Secondary analyses suggest that while reliable, the SSP total score is substantially biased by individual differences on dimensions other than the general factor. Overall, our findings discourage the use of the SSP total score and most subscale scores in children with ASD. Implications for future research are discussed.
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18. Zhang J, Meng Y, He J, Xiang Y, Wu C, Wang S, Yuan Z. {{McGurk Effect by Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Controls: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
By synthesizing existing behavioural studies through a meta-analytic approach, the current study compared the performances of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing groups in audiovisual speech integration and investigated potential moderators that might contribute to the heterogeneity of the existing findings. In total, nine studies were included in the current study, and the pooled overall difference between the two groups was significant, g = – 0.835 (p < 0.001; 95% CI - 1.155 to - 0.516). Age and task scoring method were found to be associated with the inconsistencies of the findings reported by previous studies. These findings indicate that individuals with ASD show weaker McGurk effect than typically developing controls. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
