1. Barlati S, Deste G, Gregorelli M, Vita A. {{Autistic traits in a sample of adult patients with schizophrenia: prevalence and correlates}}. {Psychological medicine}. 2018: 1-9.
BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are currently conceptualized as distinct disorders. However, the relationship between these two disorders has been revisited in recent years due to evidence that they share phenotypic and genotypic expressions. This study aimed to identify ASD traits in patients with schizophrenia, and to define their demographic, psychopathological, cognitive and functional correlates. METHOD: Seventy-five schizophrenia patients (20 females, mean age 42 +/- 12) were evaluated with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). Participants were also assessed with clinical, neuropsychological, and psychosocial functioning measures. RESULTS: Of the 75 patients, 47 were negative to all the autism scales administered (ADOS-TOT-NEG), 21 patients were positive to the ADOS Language sub-domain (ADOS-L-POS), 21 patients were positive to the ADOS Reciprocal Social Interaction (RSI) sub-domain (ADOS-RSI-POS), 14 patients were positive to the ADOS Total scale (ADOS-TOT-POS), and nine patients were positive to the ADI-R scale (ADI-R-POS). Demographic (duration of illness), psychopathological (negative symptoms and general psychopathology), and cognitive (working memory and processing speed) differences emerged between schizophrenic patients with and without ASD traits, while no differences in psychosocial functioning were detected. Results of this study indicate the existence, in a sample of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, of a distinct group of subjects with ASD features, characterized by specific symptomatological and cognitive profile. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may contribute to better characterize patients with schizophrenia in order to develop new procedures and therapeutic tools in a more personalized perspective.
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2. Caballero C, Mistry S, Vero J, Torres EB. {{Characterization of Noise Signatures of Involuntary Head Motion in the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange Repository}}. {Frontiers in integrative neuroscience}. 2018; 12: 7.
The variability inherently present in biophysical data is partly contributed by disparate sampling resolutions across instrumentations. This poses a potential problem for statistical inference using pooled data in open access repositories. Such repositories combine data collected from multiple research sites using variable sampling resolutions. One example is the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange repository containing thousands of imaging and demographic records from participants in the spectrum of autism and age-matched neurotypical controls. Further, statistical analyses of groups from different diagnoses and demographics may be challenging, owing to the disparate number of participants across different clinical subgroups. In this paper, we examine the noise signatures of head motion data extracted from resting state fMRI data harnessed under different sampling resolutions. We characterize the quality of the noise in the variability of the raw linear and angular speeds for different clinical phenotypes in relation to age-matched controls. Further, we use bootstrapping methods to ensure compatible group sizes for statistical comparison and report the ranges of physical involuntary head excursions of these groups. We conclude that different sampling rates do affect the quality of noise in the variability of head motion data and, consequently, the type of random process appropriate to characterize the time series data. Further, given a qualitative range of noise, from pink to brown noise, it is possible to characterize different clinical subtypes and distinguish them in relation to ranges of neurotypical controls. These results may be of relevance to the pre-processing stages of the pipeline of analyses of resting state fMRI data, whereby head motion enters the criteria to clean imaging data from motion artifacts.
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3. Chaplin AV, Polyakova SI, Kochetkova TO, Sokolova SR, Goltsov AY, Trofimov DY, Efimov BA. {{Noncontiguous finished genome sequence of Megasphaera sp. ASD88, isolated from faeces of a child with autism spectrum disorder}}. {New microbes and new infections}. 2018; 22: 13-6.
We report here a draft genome sequence of Megasphaera sp. ASD88, a strain from the intestinal microbiota of a child with autism spectrum disorder, representing a previously undescribed species of the genus Megasphaera. The assembled sequence consists of 88 scaffolds, and the total size is 2.59 Mb.
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4. Chen CT, Chen YL, Lin YC, Hsieh CL, Tzeng JY, Chen KL. {{Item-saving assessment of self-care performance in children with developmental disabilities: A prospective caregiver-report computerized adaptive test}}. {PLoS One}. 2018; 13(3): e0193936.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to construct a computerized adaptive test (CAT) for measuring self-care performance (the CAT-SC) in children with developmental disabilities (DD) aged from 6 months to 12 years in a content-inclusive, precise, and efficient fashion. METHODS: The study was divided into 3 phases: (1) item bank development, (2) item testing, and (3) a simulation study to determine the stopping rules for the administration of the CAT-SC. A total of 215 caregivers of children with DD were interviewed with the 73-item CAT-SC item bank. An item response theory model was adopted for examining the construct validity to estimate item parameters after investigation of the unidimensionality, equality of slope parameters, item fitness, and differential item functioning (DIF). In the last phase, the reliability and concurrent validity of the CAT-SC were evaluated. RESULTS: The final CAT-SC item bank contained 56 items. The stopping rules suggested were (a) reliability coefficient greater than 0.9 or (b) 14 items administered. The results of simulation also showed that 85% of the estimated self-care performance scores would reach a reliability higher than 0.9 with a mean test length of 8.5 items, and the mean reliability for the rest was 0.86. Administering the CAT-SC could reduce the number of items administered by 75% to 84%. In addition, self-care performances estimated by the CAT-SC and the full item bank were very similar to each other (Pearson r = 0.98). CONCLUSION: The newly developed CAT-SC can efficiently measure self-care performance in children with DD whose performances are comparable to those of TD children aged from 6 months to 12 years as precisely as the whole item bank. The item bank of the CAT-SC has good reliability and a unidimensional self-care construct, and the CAT can estimate self-care performance with less than 25% of the items in the item bank. Therefore, the CAT-SC could be useful for measuring self-care performance in children with DD in clinical and research settings.
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5. Cuesta Gomez JL, Manzone LA. {{Argentine adaptation of the Quality of Life Indicators guide for organizations that support people with autistic spectrum disorders}}. {Archivos argentinos de pediatria}. 2018; 116(2): e257-e66.
This article describes the adaptation process of the Quality of Life Indicators guide for organizations that support people with autistic spectrum disorders which has taken place in Argentina (Cuesta, J. L., 2009) using the Delphi method, and with the participation of a group of autism-related experts from different fields and domestic institutions. The result is an instrument based on a quality-of-life model which is adjusted to the Argentine setting, helps planning and assessing centers and programs for people with autistic spectrum disorders, and responds to the increasing number of specific services which cover the needs of this population.
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6. Davis PE, Simon H, Meins E, Robins DL. {{Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
One of the deficits observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired imaginative play. One form of imaginative play common in many typically developing (TD) children is having an imaginary companion (IC). The occurrence of ICs has not been investigated extensively in children with ASD. We examined differences in parent report of IC between TD and ASD populations in 215 (111 with ASD) gender-matched children aged between 2 and 8 years. Findings indicate that significantly fewer children with ASD created ICs, although there were many between-group similarities in IC forms and functions. Results are discussed in terms of qualitative differences in play, social attributions, and how children with ASD conceptualize their ICs’ minds.
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7. Ewing L, Pellicano E, King H, Lennuyeux-Comnene L, Farran EK, Karmiloff-Smith A, Smith ML. {{Atypical information-use in children with autism spectrum disorder during judgments of child and adult face identity}}. {Developmental neuropsychology}. 2018; 43(4): 370-84.
Unusual patterns of fixation behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder during face tasks hint at atypical processing strategies that could contribute to diminished face expertise in this group. Here, we use the Bubbles reverse correlation technique to directly examine face-processing strategies during identity judgments in children with and without autism, and typical adults. Results support a qualitative atypicality in autistic face processing. We identify clear differences not only in the specific features relied upon for face judgments, but also more generally in the extent to which they demonstrate a flexible and adaptive profile of information use.
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8. Lovrecic L, Rajar P, Volk M, Bertok S, Gnidovec Strazisar B, Osredkar D, Jekovec Vrhovsek M, Peterlin B. {{Diagnostic efficacy and new variants in isolated and complex autism spectrum disorder using molecular karyotyping}}. {Journal of applied genetics}. 2018.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of the neurodevelopment disorders presenting as an isolated ASD or more complex forms, where a broader clinical phenotype comprised of developmental delay and intellectual disability is present. Both the isolated and complex forms have a significant causal genetic component and submicroscopic genomic copy number variations (CNV) are the most common identifiable genetic factor in these patients. The data on microarray testing in ASD cohorts are still accumulating and novel loci are often identified; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the method and the relevance of implementing it into routine genetic testing in ASD patients. A genome-wide CNV analysis using the Agilent microarrays was performed in a group of 150 individuals with an isolated or complex ASD. Altogether, 11 (7.3%) pathogenic CNVs and 15 (10.0%) variants of unknown significance (VOUS) were identified, with the highest proportion of pathogenic CNVs in the subgroup of the complex ASD patients (14.3%). An interesting case of previously unreported partial UPF3B gene deletion was identified among the pathogenic CNVs. Among the CNVs with unknown significance, four VOUS involved genes with possible correlation to ASD, namely genes SNTG2, PARK2, CADPS2 and NLGN4X. The diagnostic efficacy of aCGH in our cohort was comparable with those of the previously reported and identified an important proportion of genetic ASD cases. Despite the continuum of published studies on the CNV testing in ASD cohorts, a considerable number of VOUS CNVs is still being identified, namely 10.0% in our study.
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9. Moore A, Wozniak M, Yousef A, Barnes CC, Cha D, Courchesne E, Pierce K. {{The geometric preference subtype in ASD: identifying a consistent, early-emerging phenomenon through eye tracking}}. {Mol Autism}. 2018; 9: 19.
Background: The wide range of ability and disability in ASD creates a need for tools that parse the phenotypic heterogeneity into meaningful subtypes. Using eye tracking, our past studies revealed that when presented with social and geometric images, a subset of ASD toddlers preferred viewing geometric images, and these toddlers also had greater symptom severity than ASD toddlers with greater social attention. This study tests whether this « GeoPref test » effect would generalize across different social stimuli. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-seven toddlers (76 ASD) watched a 90-s video, the Complex Social GeoPref test, of dynamic geometric images paired with social images of children interacting and moving. Proportion of visual fixation time and number of saccades per second to both images were calculated. To allow for cross-paradigm comparisons, a subset of 126 toddlers also participated in the original GeoPref test. Measures of cognitive and social functioning (MSEL, ADOS, VABS) were collected and related to eye tracking data. To examine utility as a diagnostic indicator to detect ASD toddlers, validation statistics (e.g., sensitivity, specificity, ROC, AUC) were calculated for the Complex Social GeoPref test alone and when combined with the original GeoPref test. Results: ASD toddlers spent a significantly greater amount of time viewing geometric images than any other diagnostic group. Fixation patterns from ASD toddlers who participated in both tests revealed a significant correlation, supporting the idea that these tests identify a phenotypically meaningful ASD subgroup. Combined use of both original and Complex Social GeoPref tests identified a subgroup of about 1 in 3 ASD toddlers from the « GeoPref » subtype (sensitivity 35%, specificity 94%, AUC 0.75.) Replicating our previous studies, more time looking at geometric images was associated with significantly greater ADOS symptom severity. Conclusions: Regardless of the complexity of the social images used (low in the original GeoPref test vs high in the new Complex Social GeoPref test), eye tracking of toddlers can accurately identify a specific ASD « GeoPref » subtype with elevated symptom severity. The GeoPref tests are predictive of ASD at the individual subject level and thus potentially useful for various clinical applications (e.g., early identification, prognosis, or development of subtype-specific treatments).
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10. Morton RC, Gadke DL. {{A Comparison of Math Cover, Copy, Compare Intervention Procedures for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Behavior analysis in practice}. 2018; 11(1): 80-4.
Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) and Copy, Cover, Compare (MCCC) procedures are effective interventions for improving math fluency. However, there is a gap in literature exploring the use of these interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of the current study was to compare the use of CCC and MCCC for children with ASD using a multi-component single-case experimental design. The results showed no notable difference between the interventions. Implications and limitations, particularly surrounding experimental control, are discussed in detail.
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11. Nguyen AT, Mattiassi S, Loeblein M, Chin E, Ma D, Coquet P, Viasnoff V, Teo EHT, Goh EL, Yim EKF. {{Human Rett-derived neuronal progenitor cells in 3D graphene scaffold as an in vitro platform to study the effect of electrical stimulation on neuronal differentiation}}. {Biomedical materials (Bristol, England)}. 2018; 13(3): 034111.
Studies of electrical stimulation therapies for the treatment of neurological disorders, such as deep brain stimulation, have almost exclusively been performed using animal-models. However, because animal-models can only approximate human brain disorders, these studies should be supplemented with an in vitro human cell-culture based model to substantiate the results of animal-based studies and further investigate therapeutic benefit in humans. This study presents a novel approach to analyze the effect of electrical stimulation on the neurogenesis of patient-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neural progenitor cell (NPC) lines, in vitro using a 3D graphene scaffold system. The iPSC-derived hNPCs used to demonstrate the system were collected from patients with Rett syndrome, a debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder. The graphene scaffold readily supported both the wild-type and Rett NPCs. Electrical stimulation parameters were optimized to accommodate both wild-type and Rett cells. Increased cell maturation and improvements in cell morphology of the Rett cells was observed after electrical stimulation. The results of the pilot study of electrical stimulation to enhance Rett NPCs neurogenesis were promising and support further investigation of the therapy. Overall, this system provides a valuable tool to study electrical stimulation as a potential therapy for neurological disorders using patient-specific cells.
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12. Price R, Marsh AJ, Fisher MH. {{Teaching Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Community-Based Navigation Skills to Take Public Transportation}}. {Behavior analysis in practice}. 2018; 11(1): 46-50.
Facilitating the use of public transportation enhances opportunities for independent living and competitive, community-based employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Four young adults with IDD were taught through total-task chaining to use the Google Maps application, a self-prompting, visual navigation system, to take the bus to locations around a college campus and the community. Three of four participants learned to use Google Maps to independently navigate public transportation. Google Maps may be helpful in supporting independent travel, highlighting the importance of future research in teaching navigation skills. Learning to independently use public transportation increases access to autonomous activities, such as opportunities to work and to attend postsecondary education programs on large college campuses.Individuals with IDD can be taught through chaining procedures to use the Google Maps application to navigate public transportation.Mobile map applications are an effective and functional modern tool that can be used to teach community navigation.
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13. Pulikkan J, Maji A, Dhakan DB, Saxena R, Mohan B, Anto MM, Agarwal N, Grace T, Sharma VK. {{Gut Microbial Dysbiosis in Indian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Microbial ecology}. 2018.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a term associated with a group of neurodevelopmental disorders. The etiology of ASD is not yet completely understood; however, a disorder in the gut-brain axis is emerging as a prominent factor leading to autism. To identify the taxonomic composition and markers associated with ASD, we compared the fecal microbiota of 30 ASD children diagnosed using Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score, DSM-5 approved AIIMS-modified INCLEN Diagnostic Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder (INDT-ASD), and Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism (ISAA) tool, with family-matched 24 healthy children from Indian population using next-generation sequencing (NGS) of 16S rRNA gene amplicon. Our study showed prominent dysbiosis in the gut microbiome of ASD children, with higher relative abundances of families Lactobacillaceae, Bifidobacteraceae, and Veillonellaceae, whereas the gut microbiome of healthy children was dominated by the family Prevotellaceae. Comparative meta-analysis with a publicly available dataset from the US population consisting of 20 ASD and 20 healthy control samples from children of similar age, revealed a significantly high abundance of genus Lactobacillus in ASD children from both the populations. The results reveal the microbial dysbiosis and an association of selected Lactobacillus species with the gut microbiome of ASD children.
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14. Reid DH, Rosswurm M, Rotholz DA. {{No Less Worthy: Recommendations for Behavior Analysts Treating Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities with Dignity}}. {Behavior analysis in practice}. 2018; 11(1): 71-9.
In this article, the authors offer recommendations for behavior analysts on how to treat adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) with dignity. Initially, the importance of treating adults with disabilities with dignity is emphasized in terms of the impact on people with IDD, their family members, behavior analysts and other service providers, and the behavior analysis field in general. The recommendations are based primarily on the authors’ professional and personal experiences along with similar experiences of others involved either personally or professionally in the disability field. The focus is on ways in which behavior analysts speak and behave that reflect dignity versus the lack thereof as perceived by others and, where relevant, consensus opinion within the professional field of IDD. Ways for behavior analysts to acquire and maintain awareness of manners of speaking and behaving that reflect dignity within the local settings in which they work are also provided.
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15. Sapmaz D, Baykal S, Akbas S. {{The Clinical Features of Comorbid Pediatric Bipolar Disorder in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
The aim of this study was to describe clinical features of PBD comorbidity in children with ASD. Forty children with ASD and PBD aged 6-18 years, and 40 age- and sex-matched ASD subjects with no affective episodes were included in the study. Autism Behavior CheckList, Abberant Behavior CheckList, and Young Mania Rating Scale-Parent Version were completed. This study shows that PBD comorbidity in children with ASD involves a highly episodic course, with manic episodes, subsyndromal symptoms and interepisodic periods commonly being described in the manic symptom profile of these children. These findings need to be repeated with large samples, together with controlled studies concerning therapeutic interventions directed toward PBD comorbidity in children with ASD.
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16. Vincent LB, Openden D, Gentry JA, Long LA, Matthews NL. {{Promoting Social Learning at Recess for Children with ASD and Related Social Challenges}}. {Behavior analysis in practice}. 2018; 11(1): 19-33.
The school playground provides an ideal opportunity for social inclusion; however, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to engage in appropriate social interactions in this unstructured environment. Thus, they may spend recess time alone. The FRIEND Playground Program is a structured, play-based intervention aimed at improving social interactions of children with ASD and other social challenges during recess. The current research study employed a multiple baseline across participant design to systematically evaluate whether this intervention yields increased social engagement and initiations with peers during recess. Seven participants with ASD or other social challenges received 20 min of direct intervention from trained playground facilitators during school recess each day. Results suggest that the FRIEND Playground Program produced meaningful increases in social engagement and social initiations from baseline among participants with ASD and other social challenges.
