1. Dardas LA, Ahmad MM. {{Psychometric properties of the Parenting Stress Index with parents of children with autistic disorder}}. {J Intellect Disabil Res}. 2013 May 22.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and the theoretical structure of the Parenting Stress Index-short form (PSI-SF) with Jordanian parents of children with autistic disorder. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design for data collection, the convenience sample of the study was composed of 184 Jordanian parents of children with autistic disorder. The factor structure for the PSI-SF was examined using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. RESULTS: We found that the modified three-factor model (30 items) fits the data significantly better than the 36-item model. The results showed that the 12 items of the Parental Distress sub-scale support the original scale structure. However, items in the Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child sub-scales did not show stability in their structure. The results in this study showed that the PSI-SF in its 30-item model has endorsed the necessary validity of the scale with parents of children with autistic disorder. The study provides information on the effects of Arab culture on the validity of PSI-SF. CONCLUSION: It is recommended to use the new factors structure of the PSI-SF with the 30 items in the studies that intend to examine the stress among parents with children with autistic disorder in the Arab world.
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2. Dotson WH, Richman DM, Abby L, Thompson S, Plotner A. {{Teaching skills related to self-employment to adults with developmental disabilities: An analog analysis}}. {Research in developmental disabilities}. 2013 May 20;34(8):2336-50.
Employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities (DD) have improved in the last several decades. There is increasing focus on helping people with DD sample more diverse employment options, including running their own businesses. The present study (1) evaluated the effects of a well-established behavioral teaching procedure on the acquisition of a sample of three broad classes of skills related to self-employment (worker, supervisor, and clerical work) in young adults with DD within an analog recycling business, and (2) investigated the extension of that treatment to the natural environment while working in isolation or in peer pairs. Results suggest that the teaching procedure was effective in teaching three broad classes of skills related to many self-employment possibilities, the skills generalized to the natural environment, and peer pairs supported each other to complete tasks with a high degree of accuracy required to run a recycling business. This study represents an initial demonstration that adults with DD can learn skills required to run their own business.
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3. Howlin P, Moss P, Savage S, Rutter M. {{Social Outcomes in Mid- to Later Adulthood Among Individuals Diagnosed With Autism and Average Nonverbal IQ as Children}}. {Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry}. 2013 Jun;52(6):572-81 e1.
OBJECTIVE: To describe current social functioning in a clinical sample of 60 adults with autism (mean age = 44 years) who were all of average nonverbal IQ (70+) when first diagnosed (mean age = 6.75 years). METHOD: Outcome measures included standardized diagnostic and cognitive assessments and questionnaires on social functioning. Child and adult variables related to current outcomes were explored. RESULTS: All individuals continued to meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), but severity of autism symptoms declined over time. Nevertheless, only 10 individuals (17%) were rated as having a « good » or « very good » outcome; the majority (60%) were assessed as having « poor » or « very poor » outcomes. The strongest predictor of adult outcome was the Reciprocal Social Interaction domain score on the ADI at diagnostic confirmation. Change over time was further examined in a subgroup (n = 44) previously assessed 20 years ago earlier (mean age = 26 years). Although severity of autism had continued to decrease during the adult period, social outcomes were poorer than in younger adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of adults first diagnosed with autism, on average, 37 years previously, social inclusion remains very limited, despite general improvements in autism symptomatology with age. Whether these findings will be replicated in future generations of children with autism, who now have the benefits of earlier diagnosis and wider access to specialist provision, needs to be the focus of further longitudinal research.
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4. Konerding U. {{What does Cronbach’s alpha tell us about the EQ-5D? A methodological commentary to « Psychometric properties of the EuroQol Five-Dimensional Questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L) in caregivers of autistic children »}}. {Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation}. 2013 May 25.
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5. McDougle CJ. {{Sounding a wake-up call: improving the lives of adults with autism}}. {Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry}. 2013 Jun;52(6):566-8.
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6. Mosconi MW, Luna B, Kay-Stacey M, Nowinski CV, Rubin LH, Scudder C, Minshew N, Sweeney JA. {{Saccade Adaptation Abnormalities Implicate Dysfunction of Cerebellar-Dependent Learning Mechanisms in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)}}. {PLoS One}. 2013;8(5):e63709.
The cerebellar vermis (lobules VI-VII) has been implicated in both postmortem and neuroimaging studies of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This region maintains the consistent accuracy of saccadic eye movements and plays an especially important role in correcting systematic errors in saccade amplitudes such as those induced by adaptation paradigms. Saccade adaptation paradigms have not yet been used to study ASD. Fifty-six individuals with ASD and 53 age-matched healthy controls performed an intrasaccadic target displacement task known to elicit saccadic adaptation reflected in an amplitude reduction. The rate of amplitude reduction and the variability of saccade amplitude across 180 adaptation trials were examined. Individuals with ASD adapted slower than healthy controls, and demonstrated more variability of their saccade amplitudes across trials prior to, during and after adaptation. Thirty percent of individuals with ASD did not significantly adapt, whereas only 6% of healthy controls failed to adapt. Adaptation rate and amplitude variability impairments were related to performance on a traditional neuropsychological test of manual motor control. The profile of impaired adaptation and reduced consistency of saccade accuracy indicates reduced neural plasticity within learning circuits of the oculomotor vermis that impedes the fine-tuning of motor behavior in ASD. These data provide functional evidence of abnormality in the cerebellar vermis that converges with previous reports of cellular and gross anatomic dysmorphology of this brain region in ASD.
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7. Occelli V, Esposito G, Venuti P, Arduino GM, Zampini M. {{The takete-maluma phenomenon in autism spectrum disorders}}. {Perception}. 2013;42(2):233-41.
It has been reported that people tend to preferentially associate phonemes like /m/, /l/, /n/ to curvilinear shapes and phonemes like /t/, /z/, /r/, /k/ to rectilinear shapes. Here we evaluated the performance of children/adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurotypical controls in this audiovisual congruency phenomenon. Pairs of visual patterns (curvilinear vs rectilinear) were presented to a group of ASD participants (low- or high-functioning) and a group of age-matched neurotypical controls. Participants were asked to associate each item to non-meaningful phoneme clusters. ASD participants showed a lower proportion of expected association responses than the controls. Within the ASD group the performance varied as a function of the severity of the symptomatology. These data suggest that children/adolescents with ASD show, although at different degrees as a function of the severity of the ASD, lower phonetic-iconic congruency response patterns than neurotypical controls, pointing to poorer multisensory integration capabilities.
8. Panighini A, Duranti E, Santini F, Maffei M, Pizzorusso T, Funel N, Taddei S, Bernardini N, Ippolito C, Virdis A, Costa M. {{Vascular dysfunction in a mouse model of rett syndrome and effects of curcumin treatment}}. {PLoS One}. 2013;8(5):e64863.
Mutations in the coding sequence of the X-linked gene MeCP2 (Methyl CpG-binding protein) are present in around 80% of patients with Rett Syndrome, a common cause of intellectual disability in female and to date without any effective pharmacological treatment. A relevant, and so far unexplored feature of RTT patients, is a marked reduction in peripheral circulation. To investigate the relationship between loss of MeCP2 and this clinical aspect, we used the MeCP2 null mouse model B6.129SF1-MeCP2tm1Jae for functional and pharmacological studies. Functional experiments were performed on isolated resistance mesenteric vessels, mounted on a pressurized myograph. Vessels from female MeCP2(+/-) mice show a reduced endothelium-dependent relaxation, due to a reduced Nitric Oxide (NO) availability secondary to an increased Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation. Such functional aspects are associated with an intravascular increase in superoxide anion production, and a decreased vascular eNOS expression. These alterations are reversed by curcumin administration (5% (w/w) dietary curcumin for 21 days), which restores endothelial NO availability, decreases intravascular ROS production and normalizes vascular eNOS gene expression. In conclusion our findings highlight alterations in the vascular/endothelial system in the absence of a correct function of MeCP2, and uncover related cellular/molecular mechanisms that are rescued by an anti-oxidant treatment.
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9. R GK, S JC, Le Couteur A, Gould J, Wing L, Maljaars J, Noens I, van Berckelaer-Onnes I, S RL. {{Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder: who will get a DSM-5 diagnosis?}}. {J Child Psychol Psychiatry}. 2013 May 23.
BACKGROUND: Introduction of proposed criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has raised concerns that some individuals currently meeting diagnostic criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD; DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10) will not qualify for a diagnosis under the proposed changes. To date, reports of sensitivity and specificity of the new criteria have been inconsistent across studies. No study has yet considered how changes at the ‘sub domain’ level might affect overall sensitivity and specificity, and few have included individuals of different ages and ability levels. METHODS: A set of DSM-5 ASD algorithms were developed using items from the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO). The number of items required for each DSM-5 subdomain was defined either according to criteria specified by DSM-5 (Initial Algorithm), a statistical approach (Youden J Algorithm), or to minimise the number of false positives while maximising sensitivity (Modified Algorithm). The algorithms were designed, tested and compared in two independent samples (Sample 1, N = 82; Sample 2, N = 115), while sensitivity was assessed across age and ability levels in an additional dataset of individuals with an ICD-10 PDD diagnosis (Sample 3, N = 190). RESULTS: Sensitivity was highest in the Initial Algorithm, which had the poorest specificity. Although Youden J had excellent specificity, sensitivity was significantly lower than in the Modified Algorithm, which had both good sensitivity and specificity. Relaxing the domain A rules improved sensitivity of the Youden J Algorithm, but it remained less sensitive than the Modified Algorithm. Moreover, this was the only algorithm with variable sensitivity across age. All versions of the algorithm performed well across ability level. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that good levels of both sensitivity and specificity can be achieved for a diagnostic algorithm adhering to the DSM-5 criteria that is suitable across age and ability level.
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10. Stosljevic M, Adamovic M. {{Dermatoglyphic characteristics of digito-palmar complex in autistic boys in serbia}}. {Vojnosanitetski pregled Military-medical and pharmaceutical review}. 2013 Apr;70(4):386-90.
INTRODUCTION/AIM: Dermatoglyphics is a science that ex amines dermal patterns on volar side of both palms and soles. Since dermatoglyphs are unique for each person, by examining them a number of parameters can be determined. These parameters could help to diagnose and treat exam ined individulas. The aim of this study was to determine possible differences of the dermathoglyphic characteristics of digito-palmar complex (DPC) comparing the autistic boys with the healthy examinees. METHODS: This study was conducted on a group of 182 boys with infantile autism, aged from 5 to 15 (average age 7.2 years) while the control group consisted of 182 healthy men from 30 to 50 years (average age 38.7 years). Within the digital scope of DPC we examined tree types of dermatoglyphic patterns on finger tips (arch, loop and whrol), as well as dermal ridge count on each finger separately (FRC – finger ridge count) and total dermal ridge count on all the ten fingers (TRC – total ridge count). Within the palmar DPC area we measured the an gles between the triradius (atd, dat, adt, atb, btc, ctd), as well as dermal ridge count (RC – ridge count) between the trira dius a-b, b-c and c-d. RESULTS: The autistic boys had a sig nificantely higher count of arches (9.17%) on fingertips of both hands when compared to the control group of exami nees (4.34%), and the lower count of loops (28.40%) com pared with the control group (32.42%). A higher count of arches was especially expressed on the fourth and fifth fin ger of both hands. Beside this characteristic, the autistic boys had a lower TRC and ab-RC as well as a wider atd an gle. CONCLUSION: Dermatoglyphic analysis could help in di agnosing autism but only as an additional method, never as a dominant diagnostic procedure.
11. Sudarov A. {{Defining the Role of Cerebellar Purkinje Cells in Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Cerebellum (London, England)}. 2013 May 25.
Understanding the contribution of cerebellar dysfunction to complex neurological diseases such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is an ongoing topic of investigation. In a recent paper, Tsai et al. (Nature 488:647-651, 2012) used a powerful combination of conditional mouse genetics, electrophysiology, behavioral tests, and pharmacological manipulations to address the role of Tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (Tsc1) in Purkinje cells and cerebellar function. The authors make the staggering discovery that morphological and electrophysiological defects in Purkinje cells are linked to system-wide ASD-like behavioral deficits. In this journal club, I discuss the major findings of this paper and critically assess the implications of this seminal work.
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12. Zuddas A. {{Autism assessment tools in the transition from DSM-IV to DSM-5}}. {European child & adolescent psychiatry}. 2013 May 24.
