1. Burrell TL, Sharp WG, Gillespie S, Pickard K, Brasher S, Buckley D, Scahill L. Correction: A Survey of Community Providers on Feeding Problems in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord;2023 (Aug 17)

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2. Coley-O’Rourke EJ, Hsiao EY. Microbiome alterations in autism spectrum disorder. Nat Microbiol;2023 (Aug 17)

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3. Kuschner ES, Sivathasan S, McQueen E, Berry RC, Pulver SL, Sharp WG, Klaiman C. Screening for Caregiver-Reported Feeding Concerns in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Tertiary-Care Clinic. J Dev Behav Pediatr;2023 (Aug 17)

OBJECTIVE: Feeding concerns, primarily food selectivity, are commonly observed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Prevalence rates suggest that at least half of autistic youth have feeding difficulties. METHODS: A retrospective chart review examining records of a large cohort of autistic children (N = 746) referred for ASD evaluation was conducted. Families completed a survey regarding feeding concerns in their children before a diagnostic evaluation. RESULTS: Post hoc analyses based on retrospective chart review revealed approximately 30% of caregivers reported significant difficulty feeding their child. Young age, food selectivity, and concerns about weight were associated with increased likelihood of reported feeding difficulties. There was clear overlap between overall feeding difficulties and specific food selectivity; however, 1 in 5 children whose caregivers did not report feeding difficulties endorsed food selectivity. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the need for multipronged approaches to screening to facilitate service prioritization by pediatric providers.

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4. Lin HH, Jung CR, Lin CY, Chang YC, Hsieh CY, Hsu PC, Chuang BR, Hwang BF. Prenatal and postnatal exposure to heavy metals in PM(2.5) and autism spectrum disorder. Environ Res;2023 (Aug 17);237(Pt 1):116874.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders, and its incidence is increasing over time. Although several environmental factors have been suspected to be risk factors for ASD, studies on the effects of airborne heavy metals on newly developed ASD are still limited. We conducted a large birth cohort study of 168,062 live term births in Taichung during 2004-2011 to assess the association of heavy metals in particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM(2.5)) with ASD, and identify sensitive time windows during prenatal and postnatal periods. Heavy metals, including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) in PM(2.5), were estimated using the Weather Research and Forecasting/Chem (WRF/Chem), inserted from the top 75 emission sources for the module. The association between childhood ASD and 4 metals were analyzed from pregnancy to 9 months after birth. The Cox proportional hazard model with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) was used to estimate the association between heavy metals in PM(2.5) and ASD. We identified 666 incident ASD cases in 168,062 participants. A positive association between Hg and ASD was found at 9 months after birth (Hazard Ratio: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.13-2.36). According to the DLNM, there was an increased risk of exposure to Hg during 10-25 weeks after birth, and decreased risk of exposure to Hg during gestational weeks 4-6. Exposure to As and Hg on the risk of ASD were significantly stronger in low birth weight infants (<2500 g) than in those of birth weight ≥2500 g during postnatal period. Postnatal exposure to Hg in PM(2.5) may associate with increased ASD incidence. Infants with low birth weight and exposure to As and Hg in PM(2.5) are more likely to develop ASD.

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5. Peterle L, Sanfilippo S, Tonacci A, Li Pomi F, Borgia F, Gangemi S. Common pathogenetic traits of atopic dermatitis and autism spectrum disorders, potential connections and treatments: trivial Th2 inflammation or much more?. Front Immunol;2023;14:1201989.

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6. Rabie AH, Saleh AI. A new diagnostic autism spectrum disorder (DASD) strategy using ensemble diagnosis methodology based on blood tests. Health Inf Sci Syst;2023 (Dec);11(1):36.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disease that impacts a child’s way of behavior and social communication. In early childhood, children with ASD typically exhibit symptoms such as difficulty in social interaction, limited interests, and repetitive behavior. Although there are symptoms of ASD disease, most people do not understand these symptoms and therefore do not have enough knowledge to determine whether or not a child has ASD. Thus, early detection of ASD children based on accurate diagnosis model based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques is a critical process to reduce the spread of the disease and control it early. Through this paper, a new Diagnostic Autism Spectrum Disorder (DASD) strategy is presented to quickly and accurately detect ASD children. DASD contains two layers called Data Filter Layer (DFL) and Diagnostic Layer (DL). Feature selection and outlier rejection processes are performed in DFL to filter the ASD dataset from less important features and incorrect data before using the diagnostic or detection method in DL to accurately diagnose the patients. In DFL, Binary Gray Wolf Optimization (BGWO) technique is used to select the most significant set of features while Binary Genetic Algorithm (BGA) technique is used to eliminate invalid training data. Then, Ensemble Diagnosis Methodology (EDM) as a new diagnostic technique is used in DL to quickly and precisely diagnose ASD children. In this paper, the main contribution is EDM that consists of several diagnostic models including Enhanced K-Nearest Neighbors (EKNN) as one of them. EKNN represents a hybrid technique consisting of three methods called K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Naïve Bayes (NB), and Chimp Optimization Algorithm (COA). NB is used as a weighed method to convert data from feature space to weight space. Then, COA is used as a data generation method to reduce the size of training dataset. Finally, KNN is applied on the reduced data in weight space to quickly and accurately diagnose ASD children based on new training dataset with small size. ASD blood tests dataset is used to test the proposed DASD strategy against other recent strategies [1]. It is concluded that the DASD strategy is superior to other strategies based on many performance measures including accuracy, error, recall, precision, micro_average precision, macro_average precision, micro_average recall, macro_average recall, F1-measure, and implementation-time with values equal to 0.93, 0.07, 0.83, 0.82, 0.80, 0.83, 0.79, 0.81, 0.79, and 1.5 s respectively.

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7. Rama L, Steffen I, Carron PN, Bilancioni S, Beysard N. [Emergency management of patients with autism spectrum disorder]. Rev Med Suisse;2023 (Aug 16);19(837):1440-1442.

People with autism spectrum disorder visit emergency departments more frequently than the rest of the population. Their ability to communicate with their environment may not only be limited but also different from the interactions of non-autistic people. In addition, the multiple sensory stimulations present in the emergency departments are likely to make interactions, and therefore the care of patients with an autism spectrum disorder more difficult. Understanding these difficulties and the special attentions to consider will allow better care for them. This article highlights the various points of attention to be had in order to offer quality welcoming and care to patients with an autism spectrum disorder.

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8. Sergio M, Gabriella L, Mario T, Francesco R, Marialaura O, Maria S, Angela TS, Antonio A, Daniela AC, Maria L, Fatima-Zahra A, Agostino P, Sestina S, Francesca B, Gaetano C, Tilman F, Alena S, Edward C, Uwe W, Vittorio C. Antioxidants, Hormetic Nutrition, and Autism. Curr Neuropharmacol;2023 (Aug 17)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes a heterogeneous group of complex neurodevel opmental disorders characterized by atypical behaviors with two core pathological manifestations: deficits in social interaction/communication and repetitive behaviors, which are associated with disturbed redox homeostasis. Modulation of cellular resilience mechanisms induced by low levels of stressors represents a novel approach for the development of therapeutic strategies, and in this context, neuroprotective effects of a wide range of polyphenol compounds have been demonstrated in several in vitro and in vivo studies and thoroughly reviewed by [2, 3]. Mushrooms have been used in traditional medicine for many years and have been associated with a long list of therapeutic properties, including antitumor, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and hepatoprotective effects [4]. Our recent studies on neuroprotection have strikingly indicated the presence of polyphenols in nutritional mushrooms and demonstrated their protective effects in different models of neurodegenerative disorders in humans and rats [5, 6]. Although their therapeutic effects are exerted through multiple mechanisms, increasing attention is focusing on their capacity to induce endogenous defense systems by modulating cellular signaling processes, such as nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathways. Here we discuss the protective role of hormesis and its modulation by hormetic nutrients in ASD.

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9. Soref B, Robinson GL, Bart O. The Effect of a Short-Term Occupational Therapy Intervention on the Participation and Personal Factors of Preschoolers with Developmental Disabilities. Children (Basel);2023 (Aug 17);10(8)

BACKGROUND: Preschoolers with developmental disabilities are referred to occupational therapy due to their decreased participation in daily life occupations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the improvement in preschoolers’ participation and sensory-motor abilities following an occupational therapy intervention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective cohort study of 38 preschoolers and their parents was conducted using an interrupted time-series design, including assessments at three time points: base line (upon referral to an occupational therapy assessment), pre-intervention, and post-intervention after 9-12 sessions of occupational therapy interventions. Children were evaluated with the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, as well as the balance and fine motor precision sub tests of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Parents completed the Children’s Participation Questionnaire and the Child Performance Skills Questionnaire. Each intervention session was documented by the therapists using the Documentation of Occupational Therapy Session Intervention form. RESULTS: Significant improvement in children’s sensory-motor abilities were found in balance, visual integration, and fine motor precision post-intervention. There were also improvements in the measures of diversity, children’s independence, and parental satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: A short-term occupational therapy intervention applied to preschoolers with developmental disabilities is effective in improving their sensory-motor abilities, as well as in promoting their participation in daily activities.

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10. Wan B, Hong SJ, Bethlehem RAI, Floris DL, Bernhardt BC, Valk SL. Diverging asymmetry of intrinsic functional organization in autism. Mol Psychiatry;2023 (Aug 16)

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition involving atypical sensory-perceptual functions together with language and socio-cognitive deficits. Previous work has reported subtle alterations in the asymmetry of brain structure and reduced laterality of functional activation in individuals with autism relative to non-autistic individuals (NAI). However, whether functional asymmetries show altered intrinsic systematic organization in autism remains unclear. Here, we examined inter- and intra-hemispheric asymmetry of intrinsic functional gradients capturing connectome organization along three axes, stretching between sensory-default, somatomotor-visual, and default-multiple demand networks, to study system-level hemispheric imbalances in autism. We observed decreased leftward functional asymmetry of language network organization in individuals with autism, relative to NAI. Whereas language network asymmetry varied across age groups in NAI, this was not the case in autism, suggesting atypical functional laterality in autism may result from altered developmental trajectories. Finally, we observed that intra- but not inter-hemispheric features were predictive of the severity of autistic traits. Our findings illustrate how regional and patterned functional lateralization is altered in autism at the system level. Such differences may be rooted in atypical developmental trajectories of functional organization asymmetry in autism.

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