1. Baran B, Nguyen QTH, Mylonas D, Santangelo SL, Manoach DS. Increased resting-state thalamocortical functional connectivity in children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

There is converging evidence that abnormal thalamocortical interactions contribute to attention deficits and sensory sensitivities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous functional MRI studies of thalamocortical connectivity in ASD have produced inconsistent findings in terms of both the direction (hyper vs. hypoconnectivity) and location of group differences. This may reflect, in part, the confounding effects of head motion during scans. In the present study, we investigated resting-state thalamocortical functional connectivity in 8-25 year-olds with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers. We used pre-scan training, on-line motion correction, and rigorous data quality assurance protocols to minimize motion confounds. ASD participants showed increased thalamic connectivity with temporal cortex relative to TD. Both groups showed similar age-related decreases in thalamic connectivity with occipital cortex, consistent with a process of circuit refinement. Findings of thalamocortical hyperconnectivity in ASD are consistent with other evidence that decreased thalamic inhibition leads to increase and less filtered sensory information reaching the cortex where it disrupts attention and contributes to sensory sensitivity. This literature motivates studies of mechanisms, functional consequences, and treatment of thalamocortical circuit dysfunction in ASD.

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2. Carter BC, Koch L. Swimming Lessons for Children With Autism: Parent and Teacher Experiences. OTJR : occupation, participation and health. 2022: 15394492221143048.

The occupation of swimming for children with autism is an unexplored field of research in the South African context. This study explores the experiences of swimming teachers and parents of children with autism in the context of swimming lessons. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were utilized with a qualitative, descriptive-phenomenological design. Data analysis utilized Colaizzis’s seven-step method. Parents first sought swimming lessons for their children as a survival skill. Although facing barriers to accessing this service, parents experienced swimming as a meaningful occupation with unexpected benefits. Swimming teachers also derived meaning from providing lessons, despite a lack of knowledge. They expressed a need for greater support and training. Swimming is a meaningful occupation for children with autism and their families, but swimming teachers in South Africa are not always equipped to provide this service. Occupational therapists could play a variety of roles in supporting participation for all stakeholders.

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3. Cornell E, Blanchard A, Chihuri S, DiGuiseppi CG, Li G. Poisoning-related emergency department visits in children with autism spectrum disorder. Injury epidemiology. 2022; 9(Suppl 1): 41.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition, and its prevalence has increased markedly in the past two decades. Research indicates that people with ASD are at increased risk for premature mortality from injuries. Often, children with ASD are prescribed multiple medications, increasing their risk for intentional and unintentional poisonings. We examined the epidemiologic patterns of emergency department (ED)-treated poisonings in children with ASD and the association of ED-treated poisonings with ASD according to common co-occurring conditions. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample for 2016-2018 to estimate the frequencies of ED-treated poisonings among autistic children aged 1-20 years and adjusted odds ratios of ED-treated poisoning associated with ASD in the presence or absence of co-occurring attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or intellectual disability (ID). The ICD-10-CM external cause-of-injury matrix was utilized to identify poisoning cases. RESULTS: During 2016-2018, there were an estimated 523,232 ED visits in children with ASD aged 1-20 years, including 12,152 (2.3%) visits for poisoning. Of ED-treated poisonings in children with ASD, 73.6% were related to pharmaceutical drugs, such as psychotropic medications and prescription opioids, 16.6% were intentional, 36.5% were unintentional, and 47.0% were undetermined. Among children with ASD, those aged 5-9 had the highest odds of poisoning-related ED visits compared to all other age-groups (adjusted OR = 3.41; 95% CI 3.15, 3.68). The odds of poisoning for children with ASD were 59.0% greater than for their peers (adjusted OR = 1.59; 95% CI 1.53, 1.66) and varied significantly with age and co-occurring ADHD or ID. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ASD are at a significantly increased risk of poisoning, particularly among those aged 5-9 years. Co-occurring ADHD or ID with ASD further increases the risk of poisoning. Interventions to reduce poisoning in children with ASD should prioritize the safety of prescription medications.

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4. Gao X, Su X, Han X, Wen H, Cheng C, Zhang S, Li W, Cai J, Zheng L, Ma J, Liao M, Ni W, Liu T, Liu D, Ma W, Han S, Zhu S, Ye Y, Zeng FF. Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Mental Disorders: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md). 2022; 13(6): 2217-36.

Unsaturated fatty acids might be involved in the prevention of and improvement in mental disorders, but the evidence on these associations has not been comprehensively assessed. This umbrella review aimed to appraise the credibility of published evidence evaluating the associations between unsaturated fatty acids and mental disorders. In this umbrella review, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies comparing unsaturated fatty acids (including supplementation, dietary intake, and blood concentrations) in participants with mental disorders with healthy individuals were included. We reanalyzed summary estimates, between-study heterogeneity, predictive intervals, publication bias, small-study effects, and excess significance bias for each meta-analysis. Ninety-five meta-analyses from 29 systematic reviews were included, encompassing 43 studies on supplementation interventions, 32 studies on dietary factors, and 20 studies on blood biomarkers. Suggestive evidence was only observed for dietary intake, in which higher intake of fish was associated with reduced risk of depression (RR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.89) and Alzheimer disease (RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.87), and higher intake of total PUFAs might be associated with a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment (RR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.84). Evidence showed that PUFA supplementation was favorable but had weak credibility in anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Huntington’s disease, and schizophrenia (P-random effects <0.001-0.040). There was also weak evidence on the effect of decreased circulating n-3 (ɷ-3) PUFAs among patients on risk of ADHD, ASD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia (P-random effects <10-6-0.037). Our results suggest that higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids may relieve symptoms or reduce the risk of various mental disorders; however, the strength of the associations and credibility of the evidence were generally weak. Future high-quality research is needed to identify whether PUFA interventions should be prioritized to alleviate mental disorders.

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5. Higuchi Y, Tachigori SI, Arakawa H. Faded neural projection from the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis to the lateral habenula contributes to social signaling deficit in male BTBR mice as a mouse model of autism. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022; 149: 106004.

BTBR T(+) Itpr3(tf)/J (BTBR) mice display several behavioral characteristics, including social deficits resembling the core symptoms of human autism. Atypical social behaviors include sequential processes of assembled cognitive-behavior components, such as recognition, investigatory assessment, and signaling response. This study aimed to elucidate the neural circuits responsible for the regulation of the social signaling response, as shown by scent marking behavior in male mice. We first assessed the recognition and investigatory patterns of male BTBR mice compared to those of C57BL/6 J (B6) mice. Next, we examined their scent-marking behavior as innate social signaling responses adjusted to a confronted feature of social stimuli and situations, along with the expression of c-Fos as a marker of neuronal activity in selected brain areas involved in the regulation of social behavior. The function of the targeted brain area was confirmed by chemogenetic manipulation. We also examined the social peptides, oxytocin and vasopressin neurons of the major brain regions that are associated with the regulation of social behavior. Our data indicate that male BTBR mice are less responsive to the presentation of social stimuli and the expression of social signaling responses, which is paralleled by blunted c-Fos responsivity and vasopressin neurons morphological changes in selected brain areas, including the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (pBnST) and lateral habenula (LHb) in BTBR mice. Further investigation of LHb function revealed that chemogenetic inhibition and activation of LHb activity can induce a change in scent marking responses in both B6 and BTBR mice. Our elucidation of the downstream LHb circuits controlling scent marking behavior indicates intact function in BTBR mice. The altered morphological characteristics of oxytocin neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and vasopressin-positive neurons and axonal projections in the pBnST and LHb appear to underlie the dysfunction of scent marking responses in BTBR mice. (300/300 words).

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6. Ismail E, Gad W, Hashem M. HEC-ASD: a hybrid ensemble-based classification model for predicting autism spectrum disorder disease genes. BMC bioinformatics. 2022; 23(1): 554.

PURPOSE: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most prevalent disease today. The causes of its infection may be attributed to genetic causes by 80% and environmental causes by 20%. In spite of this, the majority of the current research is concerned with environmental causes, and the least proportion with the genetic causes of the disease. Autism is a complex disease, which makes it difficult to identify the genes that cause the disease. METHODS: Hybrid ensemble-based classification (HEC-ASD) model for predicting ASD genes using gradient boosting machines is proposed. The proposed model utilizes gene ontology (GO) to construct a gene functional similarity matrix using hybrid gene similarity (HGS) method. HGS measures the semantic similarity between genes effectively. It combines the graph-based method, such as Wang method with the number of directed children’s nodes of gene term from GO. Moreover, an ensemble gradient boosting classifier is adapted to enhance the prediction of genes forming a robust classification model. RESULTS: The proposed model is evaluated using the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) gene database. The experimental results are promising as they improve the classification performance for predicting ASD genes. The results are compared with other approaches that used gene regulatory network (GRN), protein to protein interaction network (PPI), or GO. The HEC-ASD model reaches the highest prediction accuracy of 0.88% using ensemble learning classifiers. CONCLUSION: The proposed model demonstrates that ensemble learning technique using gradient boosting is effective in predicting autism spectrum disorder genes. Moreover, the HEC-ASD model utilized GO rather than using PPI network and GRN.

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7. Kang E, Lerner MD, Gadow KD. The Importance of Parent-Teacher Informant Discrepancy in Characterizing Autistic Youth: A Replication Latent Profile Analysis. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53. 2022: 1-11.

OBJECTIVE: Research about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) supports variation in symptom presentations across settings, and there is a growing literature that explicates how this variability may improve characterization of the autism phenotype. Capitalizing on a well-established literature on informant discrepancy as an index of contextual variability, research suggests that differing parent and teacher perceptions may impact treatment or education-related outcomes. A prior investigation by Lerner and colleagues suggests that parent-teacher discrepancies in ASD symptom ratings define discrete and clinically meaningful subgroups. However, replication in a larger sample is important to support the validity and utility of the subgroups for use in research and practice. METHOD: The present paper used latent profile analysis (LPA) to (1) replicate the previous study by Lerner and colleagues in a larger sample of 514 clinic-referred autistic youth (aged 6-18, 83.2% male, 90.4% White, IQ 19-140) and (2) determine if parent-teacher informant discrepancies relate to clinical and functional correlates. We hypothesized that parent-teacher discrepancies in ASD symptom severity ratings would validly characterize ASD subgroups and predict clinical and functional correlates. RESULTS: The results of the LPA supported a 4-profile solution made up of two parent-teacher agreement groups (high parent-teacher, 21.2%, and low parent-teacher, 34.2%) and two parent-teacher discrepancy groups (high parent-low teacher, 18.1%, and moderate parent-high teacher, 26.5%), replicating findings from Lerner and colleagues. Latent profile membership differentially predicted IQ, age, and educational outcomes of participants. CONCLUSIONS: Unique, clinically useful information about the taxonomy and impact of ASD is obtained by considering informant discrepancies in symptom severity ratings, which underscores the importance of considering contextual variability assessed through multiple informants.

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8. Klomp AJ, Plumb A, Mehr JB, Madencioglu DA, Wen H, Williams AJ. Neuronal deletion of Ca(V)1.2 is associated with sex-specific behavioral phenotypes in mice. Scientific reports. 2022; 12(1): 22152.

The gene CACNA1C, which encodes the pore forming subunit of the L-type calcium channel Ca(V)1.2, is associated with increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, major depression, and bipolar disorder. Previous rodent work identified that loss or reduction of Ca(V)1.2 results in cognitive, affective, and motor deficits. Most previous work has either included non-neuronal cell populations (haploinsufficient and Nestin-Cre) or investigated a discrete neuronal cell population (e.g. CaMKII-Cre, Drd1-Cre), but few studies have examined the effects of more broad neuron-specific deletion of Ca(V)1.2. Additionally, most of these studies did not evaluate for sex-specific effects or used only male animals. Here, we sought to clarify whether there are sex-specific behavioral consequences of neuron-specific deletion of Ca(V)1.2 (neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO) using Syn1-Cre-mediated conditional deletion. We found that neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO mice have normal baseline locomotor function but female cKO mice display impaired motor performance learning. Male neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO display impaired startle response with intact pre-pulse inhibition. Male neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO mice did not display normal social preference, whereas female neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO mice did. Neuronal Ca(V)1.2 cKO mice displayed impaired associative learning in both sexes, as well as normal anxiety-like behavior and hedonic capacity. We conclude that deletion of neuronal Ca(V)1.2 alters motor performance, acoustic startle reflex, and social behaviors in a sex-specific manner, while associative learning deficits generalize across sexes. Our data provide evidence for both sex-specific and sex-independent phenotypes related to neuronal expression of Ca(V)1.2.

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9. Kraft C, Chamanadjian C, Aylward BS. Autism Spectrum Disorder: The New Asthma?. Clinical pediatrics. 2022: 99228221144146.

While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has traditionally been diagnosed in specialty care, rising prevalence rates have strained specialist capacity and created significant diagnostic bottlenecks. With long wait times for specialist evaluations, pediatricians are increasingly being asked to play a greater role in identifying, diagnosing, and managing ASD within the medical home. In this commentary we draw parallels between the challenges pediatricians faced two decades ago learning how to manage pediatric asthma in the medical home, to those faced today in the field of primary care ASD management. Reflecting on the lessons learnt in primary care asthma management may help us construct a roadmap towards a higher and more consistent standard of ASD primary care for patients and their families.

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10. Lloyd M, Temple VA, Foley JT, Yeatman S, Lunsky Y, Huang A, Balogh R. Young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who participate in Special Olympics are less likely to be diagnosed with depression. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology. 2022.

PURPOSE: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience high rates of depression. Evidence indicates that physical activity, or participation in a sports club, in a supportive social environment has mental and physical health benefits. Adults with IDD, on average, engage in low levels of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to compare the rates of depression among young adult Special Olympics participants with IDD compared to non-participants with IDD. METHODS: This was a 20-year retrospective cohort study of young adults (19-29 years) with IDD in the province of Ontario, Canada that compared rates of depression among Special Olympics participants (n = 8710) to non-participants (n = 42,393) using administrative health databases housed at ICES (formerly the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences). Using cox proportional hazard models, the crude hazard ratios were calculated for the association between each independent variable and the dependent variable. RESULTS: After controlling for other variables, the hazard rate for depression among Special Olympics participants compared to the hazard rate for depression among non-participants generated an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.51. Over the 20-year follow-up, the participants were 0.51 times as likely to develop depression as non-participants; this represents a 49% reduction in risk among Special Olympics participants. This result was statistically significant and represents a medium effect size. CONCLUSION: Future research is needed on how much of this risk reduction is related to a physiological response to physical activity/exercise, and how much is related to the social connectedness of being part of a group participating in Special Olympics.

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11. Lynch FL, Bulkley JE, Varga A, Crawford P, Croen LA, Daida YG, Fombonne E, Hatch B, Massolo M, Dickerson JF. The impact of autism spectrum disorder on parent employment: Results from the r-Kids study. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other chronic health conditions often face exceptional caregiving demands that can lead to challenges related to maintaining and succeeding in employment. Detailed information on the specific ways in which these health conditions impact parent employment could aid in designing equitable, effective policies to support families. The r-Kids study used electronic health records to identify three groups of children: those with ASD, asthma, or neither condition (control), from several health care systems. We oversampled racial and ethnic minorities and matched the asthma and control groups to the age and sex distribution of the ASD group. Parents completed three online surveys over the course of a year to measure annual employment outcomes. Surveys included the Family Economic Impact Inventory (measuring employment impacts) and measures of quality of life and symptom severity. All materials were provided in English and Spanish. The study enrolled 1461 families (564 ASD, 468 asthma, 429 control). Youth were 3-16.5 years old and predominantly male (79%). The sample was diverse (43% non-Hispanic White; 35% non-Hispanic Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, or Other; and 21% Hispanic ethnicity). Parents of children with ASD were significantly less likely to be employed than parents of youth with asthma and control combined (OR: 14.2, p < 0.001), and were more likely to have other difficulties with employment and productivity while at work. Public and employer policies to help mitigate these impacts could aid families in managing care for youth with ASD.

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12. Mikami M, Hirota T, Adachi M, Takahashi M, Nishimura T, Saito M, Nakamura K, Yamada J. Trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems in school-age children with coordination difficulties and their relationships to ASD/ADHD traits. Research in developmental disabilities. 2022; 133: 104394.

BACKGROUND: Although research has demonstrated associations between motor coordination difficulties and psychological problems in school-age children, including emotional and behavioral problems, longitudinal changes in these problems in children with motor coordination difficulties are not fully understood. AIMS: The current study aimed to identify patterns in the trajectory of emotional and behavioral problems in school-age children with motor coordination difficulties, and to elucidate the effect of co-existing neurodevelopmental traits on the occurrence and course of these problems. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Using the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, 773 children were defined as cases with motor coordination difficulties and followed for 4 years, from 6 to 10 years of age. Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire completed by children’s parents or guardians. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: We identified four trajectory patterns of emotional and behavioral problems. Children with higher autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder traits were more likely to be assigned to poor prognostic trajectory patterns. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our findings emphasize the importance of assessing emotional and behavioral problems and co-existing neurodevelopmental traits in children with motor coordination difficulties in early elementary school.

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13. Ong JH, Liu F. Frequent experience with face coverings for 10 months improves emotion perception among individuals with high autistic traits: A repeated cross-sectional study. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006). 2022: 17470218221135585.

Face coverings pose difficulties for emotion recognition, but it is unclear whether improvement in recognising emotions from the eyes is possible with experience and whether this might be dependent on one’s autistic traits, given the associations between high autistic traits and poorer emotion perception and reduced gaze to the eye region. In this preregistered study, participants completed a forced-choice emotion recognition task with photographs of eyes and demographic questionnaires that measure their autistic traits and their interaction frequency with others wearing face coverings at two time points: once at the start of the face covering mandate and again 10 months later. We found that after 10 months, individuals with high autistic traits as a cohort recognised emotions from just the eyes better as a function of their experience with others wearing face coverings, suggesting that emotion perception is malleable even for those who have difficulties with emotion perception.

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14. Pires G, Cruz A, Jesus D, Yasemin M, Nunes UJ, Sousa T, Castelo-Branco M. A new error-monitoring brain-computer interface based on reinforcement learning for people with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of neural engineering. 2022; 19(6).

Objective.Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are emerging as promising cognitive training tools in neurodevelopmental disorders, as they combine the advantages of traditional computerized interventions with real-time tailored feedback. We propose a gamified BCI based on non-volitional neurofeedback for cognitive training, aiming at reaching a neurorehabilitation tool for application in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).Approach.The BCI consists of an emotional facial expression paradigm controlled by an intelligent agent that makes correct and wrong actions, while the user observes and judges the agent’s actions. The agent learns through reinforcement learning (RL) an optimal strategy if the participant generates error-related potentials (ErrPs) upon incorrect agent actions. We hypothesize that this training approach will allow not only the agent to learn but also the BCI user, by participating through implicit error scrutiny in the process of learning through operant conditioning, making it of particular interest for disorders where error monitoring processes are altered/compromised such as in ASD. In this paper, the main goal is to validate the whole methodological BCI approach and assess whether it is feasible enough to move on to clinical experiments. A control group of ten neurotypical participants and one participant with ASD tested the proposed BCI approach.Main results.We achieved an online balanced-accuracy in ErrPs detection of 81.6% and 77.1%, respectively for two different game modes. Additionally, all participants achieved an optimal RL strategy for the agent at least in one of the test sessions.Significance.The ErrP classification results and the possibility of successfully achieving an optimal learning strategy, show the feasibility of the proposed methodology, which allows to move towards clinical experimentation with ASD participants to assess the effectiveness of the approach as hypothesized.

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15. Rahman MM, Carter SA, Lin JC, Chow T, Yu X, Martinez MP, Chen Z, Chen JC, Rud D, Lewinger JP, van Donkelaar A, Martin RV, Eckel SP, Schwartz J, Lurmann F, Kleeman MJ, McConnell R, Xiang AH. Associations of Autism Spectrum Disorder with PM(2.5) Components: A Comparative Study Using Two Different Exposure Models. Environmental science & technology. 2022.

This retrospective cohort study examined associations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with prenatal exposure to major fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) components estimated using two independent exposure models. The cohort included 318 750 mother-child pairs with singleton deliveries in Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals from 2001 to 2014 and followed until age five. ASD cases during follow-up (N = 4559) were identified by ICD codes. Prenatal exposures to PM(2.5), elemental (EC) and black carbon (BC), organic matter (OM), nitrate (NO(3)(-)), and sulfate (SO(4)(2-)) were constructed using (i) a source-oriented chemical transport model and (ii) a hybrid model. Exposures were assigned to each maternal address during the entire pregnancy, first, second, and third trimester. In single-pollutant models, ASD was associated with pregnancy-average PM(2.5), EC/BC, OM, and SO(4)(2-) exposures from both exposure models, after adjustment for covariates. The direction of effect estimates was consistent for EC/BC and OM and least consistent for NO(3)(-). EC/BC, OM, and SO(4)(2-) were generally robust to adjustment for other components and for PM(2.5). EC/BC and OM effect estimates were generally larger and more consistent in the first and second trimester and SO(4)(2-) in the third trimester. Future PM(2.5) composition health effect studies might consider using multiple exposure models and a weight of evidence approach when interpreting effect estimates.

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16. Ramachandra V, Longacre H. Unmasking the psychology of recognizing emotions of people wearing masks: The role of empathizing, systemizing, and autistic traits. Personality and individual differences. 2022; 185: 111249.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people around the world have been wearing masks. This has negatively affected the reading of facial emotions. In the current study, the ability of participants’ emotional recognition of faces and the eye region alone (similar to viewing masked faces) was analyzed in conjunction with psychological factors such as their capacity to empathize, systemize and the degree of autistic traits. Data from 403 healthy adults between 18 and 40 years revealed a significant difference between faces and eyes-only conditions for accuracy of emotion recognition as well as emotion intensity ratings, indicating a reduction in the capacity to recognize emotions and experience the emotion intensities of individuals wearing masks. As expected, people who were more empathetic were better at recognizing both ‘facial’ and ‘eyes-only’ emotions. This indicates that empathizers might have an upper hand in recognizing emotions of masked faces. There was a negative correlation between the degree of autistic traits and emotion recognition in both faces and eyes-only conditions. This suggests that individuals with higher levels of autistic traits would have greater difficulty recognizing emotions of both faces with and without masks. None of the psychological factors had a significant relationship with emotion intensity ratings. Finally, systemizing tendencies had no correlation with either emotion recognition or emotion intensity ratings.

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17. Shen L, Zhang J, Fan S, Ping L, Yu H, Xu F, Cheng Y, Xu X, Yang C, Zhou C. Cortical thickness abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder. European child & adolescent psychiatry. 2022.

The pathological mechanism of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unclear. Nowadays, surface-based morphometry (SBM) based on structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) techniques have reported cortical thickness (CT) variations in ASD. However, the findings were inconsistent and heterogeneous. This current meta-analysis conducted a whole-brain vertex-wise coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) on CT studies to explore the most noticeable and robust CT changes in ASD individuals by applying the seed-based d mapping (SDM) program. A total of 26 investigations comprised 27 datasets were included, containing 1,635 subjects with ASD and 1470 HC, along with 94 coordinates. Individuals with ASD exhibited significantly altered CT in several regions compared to HC, including four clusters with thicker CT in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG.R), the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG.L), the left anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyri, the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG.R, medial orbital parts), as well as three clusters with cortical thinning including the left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG.L), the right precentral gyrus (PCG.R) and the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG.L). Adults with ASD only demonstrated CT thinning in the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG.R), revealed by subgroup meta-analyses. Meta-regression analyses found that CT in STG.R was positively correlated with age. Meanwhile, CT in MFG.L and PHG.L had negative correlations with the age of ASD individuals. These results suggested a complicated and atypical cortical development trajectory in ASD, and would provide a deeper understanding of the neural mechanism underlying the cortical morphology in ASD.

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18. Underhill JC, Clark J, Hansen RS, Adams H. Exploring Autistic College Students’ Perceptions and Management of Peer Stigma: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022.

Autistic college students are often forced to navigate stigma on campus, but little is known about how autistic college students manage communicated stigma. Semi-structured interviews with ten autistic college students were conducted to explore how they manage peer stigma. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to identify three themes from the data: First, participants seek to avoid peer stigma by concealing attributes associated with autism. Next, participants buffer against peer stigma by engaging in favorable social comparison. Finally, participants perceive the autism label as highly stigmatizing, necessitating limited disclosure on campus. These results can help researchers and practitioners focus efforts to promote neurodiversity to both autistic students and their peers on campus.

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19. Yılmaz Z, Al-Taie A. A cross-sectional study of community pharmacists’ self-reported disease knowledge and competence in the treatment of childhood autism spectrum disorder. International journal of clinical pharmacy. 2022.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioural challenges. Given the rising prevalence of autism and multiple medication use, healthcare professionals, including community pharmacists, are required to have sufficient ASD knowledge to affect positively the disease prognosis and related comorbidities. AIM: To assess community pharmacists’ knowledge of disease and pharmacotherapy of ASD, along with the provision of patient education and counselling provided by, community pharmacists in Turkey. METHOD: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted among community pharmacists in Turkey using a structured, validated questionnaire to assess ASD knowledge, awareness, and the provision of patient education and counselling by community pharmacists. RESULTS: 486 community pharmacists were included, with a mean age of 39.69 ± 13.10 years, and most (n = 151, 31.1%) in the age range between 20 and 29 years. 96.3% of community pharmacists never had training about ASD. 32.9% of the participants were aware of the medicines for ASD treatment, and 25.7% were aware of the drugs’ side effects. The mean overall knowledge about childhood autism among health workers questionnaire (KCAHW) score was 11.83 ± 3.91, and there was a statistically significant KCAHW score difference between other pharmacists and those with ASD training (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: There is a lack of disease and pharmacotherapy knowledge about childhood ASD among Turkish community pharmacists, particularly about communication impairment, type, onset, and comorbidities, as well as poor knowledge about drug pharmacotherapy and patient counselling services. This potentially creates a barrier to the adequate provision of healthcare to autistic patients.

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20. Zhang S, Lin T, Zhang Y, Liu X, Huang H. Effects of parental overweight and obesity on offspring’s mental health: A meta-analysis of observational studies. PloS one. 2022; 17(12): e0276469.

BACKGROUND: Children of parents who were overweight/obese prior to pregnancy face a variety of neurodevelopmental challenges. The goal of this meta-analysis is to compile evidence about the impact of parental overweight/obesity on their children’s mental health. METHODS: The databases Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Pubmed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science were searched until May 2022. The pooled effect size was calculated using the fixed and random effect models. We also performed I2 index, subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses, quality assessment, and publication bias analysis. The protocol was registered on the PROSPERO database (CRD42022334408). RESULTS: For maternal exposure (35 studies), both maternal overweight [OR 1.14 (95% CI 1.10,1.18)] and maternal obesity [OR 1.39 (95% CI (1.33, 1.45)] were significantly associated with offspring’s mental disorders. Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity increased the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [OR 1.55 (95% CI 1.42,1.70)], autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [OR 1.37 (95% CI 1.22,1.55)], cognitive/intellectual delay [OR 1.40 (95% CI 1.21,1.63)], behavioral problems [OR 1.50 (95% CI 1.35,1.66)] and other mental diseases [OR 1.30 (95% CI 1.23,1.37)]. For paternal exposure (6 studies), paternal obesity [OR 1.17 (95% CI 1.06, 1.30)] but not overweight [OR 1.03 (95% CI 0.95,1.11)] was significantly associated with offspring’s mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Parental overweight/obesity might have negative consequences on offspring’s mental health and pre-pregnancy weight control is advised.

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