1. Editorial. Autism. {Autism};2009 (Sep);13(5):467-469.
2. Badoe EV. {{Classical Rett Syndrome in a Ghanaian child: a case report}}. {West Afr J Med};2009 (Mar);28(2):134-136.
BACKGROUND: Although Rett Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder in females is thought to be relatively common from worldwide studies. There are few or probably no reports from the West African sub region. OBJECTIVE: To report a case of Rett Syndrome in a Ghanaian. METHODS: Using International Diagnostic criteria for Rett syndrome, a 21-month old female presenting with mental retardation and autistic features was followed up for nearly two years and all clinical features and relevant investigations recorded. RESULTS: Pregnancy and delivery were uneventful, child developed normally till age 12 years when her development began to decline. She exhibited handwriting and bruxism was underweight with microcephaly investigations were normal except for epileptiform discharges on EEG and prolonged QT interval on ECG. She was treated with melatonin and dompor for her sleep and reflect problems respectively. The patient met the criteria for a diagnosis of classical Rett Syndrome. CONCLUSION: This report shows that Rett syndrome does exist in the West African sub-region. It is possible to identify the condition in girls presenting with mental retardation or autistic features if they are appropriately followed up.
3. David N, Aumann C, Bewernick BH, Santos NS, Lehnhardt FG, Vogeley K. {{Investigation of Mentalizing and Visuospatial Perspective Taking for Self and Other in Asperger Syndrome}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (Sep 10)
Mentalizing refers to making inferences about other people’s mental states, whereas visuospatial perspective taking refers to inferring other people’s viewpoints. Both abilities seem vital for social functioning; yet, their exact relationship is unclear. We directly compared mentalizing and visuospatial perspective taking in nineteen adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) and fifteen control participants with the same stimulus material. Stimuli depicted virtual characters surrounded by two different objects. Virtual characters expressed a preference for one of the objects indicated by facial expression, gestures or head/body orientation. Compared to controls, participants with AS showed significantly increased reaction times and decreased accuracy for mentalizing (i.e., when inferring the virtual character’s preference from the character’s nonverbal bodily cues). By contrast, there were no significant group differences in perspective taking (i.e., by mental own-body transformations). These findings demonstrate, first, specific deficits in AS when mental states have to be inferred from nonverbal social cues. Second, visuospatial perspective taking may not necessarily be related to social impairments occurring in autism spectrum disorders.
4. Golan O, Ashwin E, Granader Y, McClintock S, Day K, Leggett V, Baron-Cohen S. {{Enhancing Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Intervention Using Animated Vehicles with Real Emotional Faces}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (Sep 11)
This study evaluated The Transporters, an animated series designed to enhance emotion comprehension in children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). n = 20 children with ASC (aged 4-7) watched The Transporters everyday for 4 weeks. Participants were tested before and after intervention on emotional vocabulary and emotion recognition at three levels of generalization. Two matched control groups of children (ASC group, n = 18 and typically developing group, n = 18) were also assessed twice without any intervention. The intervention group improved significantly more than the clinical control group on all task levels, performing comparably to typical controls at Time 2. We conclude that using The Transporters significantly improves emotion recognition in children with ASC. Future research should evaluate the series’ effectiveness with lower-functioning individuals.
5. Spek AA, Scholte EM, Van Berckelaer-Onnes IA. {{Theory of Mind in Adults with HFA and Asperger Syndrome}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (Sep 10)
Theory of mind was assessed in 32 adults with HFA, 29 adults with Asperger syndrome and 32 neurotypical adults. The HFA and Asperger syndrome groups were impaired in performance of the Strange stories test and the Faux-pas test and reported more theory of mind problems than the neurotypical adults. The three groups did not differ in performance of the Eyes test. Furthermore, correlations between the Eyes test and the three other theory of mind tests were low or absent. Therefore one can question the ability of the Eyes test to measure theory of mind. Of all theory of mind tests used, the self-report questionnaire had the largest discriminating power in differentiating the two disorder groups from the neurotypical group.
6. Yuan Q, Wu ZF, Wang RC, Deng JJ, Zhou HL, Lang JY. {{[Observation on the therapeutic effect of acupuncture treatment of autism children]}}. {Zhen Ci Yan Jiu};2009 (Jun);34(3):183-187.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture (« Jin’s Sanzhen ») treatment for autism patients with different severity. METHODS: A total of 202 autism children were divided into treatment group (n=118) and control group (n=84) according to their parents’ will. Autism children in the treatment group were treated with « Jin’s Sanzhen » therapy [for example, Niesanzhen: the point 2 cun superior to the ear tip, and those at the same level 1 cun apart on the left and right sides; Naosanzhen: Naohu (GV 17), bilateral Naokong (GB 19), etc.], while those of control group accepted special training: behavior education (cognition, speech, communication ability, life self-care ability, etc.) and sensory integration training. The treatment was given to the patients in both groups once per day, six times a week for 4 months. RESULTS: Of the 78 and 58 severe patients in the treatment and control groups, 63 (80.8%) and4 (6.9%) experienced marked improvement, 9 (11.5%) and 33 (56.9%) experienced improvement, 6 (7.7%) and 21 (36.2%) failed, with the effective rates being 92.3% and 63.8% respectively. Of the 118 and 84 patients in the treatment and control groups, after the treatment, the no symptoms, mild, moderate and severe cases were 12 (10.2%) and 3 (3.6%), 56 (47.5%) and 25 (29.8%), 45 (38.1%) and 23 (27.4%), 5 (4.2%) and 33 (39.3%), respectively. The total score of Childhood Autism Rating Scale of treatment group was significantly lower than that of control group after the treatment in severe cases (P < 0.01), showing a better therapeutic effect of the treatment group. CONCLUSION: « Jin’s Sanzhen » therapy has a better therapeutic effect for improving the autism patients symptoms at different severity.
