1. {{Become an ‘autism-friendly’ practice}}. {British dental journal}. 2018; 225(2): 192.
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2. Crane L, Wilcock R, Maras KL, Chui W, Marti-Sanchez C, Henry LA. {{Mock Juror Perceptions of Child Witnesses on the Autism Spectrum: The Impact of Providing Diagnostic Labels and Information About Autism}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
Research suggests that autistic children can provide accurate and forensically useful eyewitness evidence. However, members of a jury also rely on non-verbal behaviours when judging the credibility of a witness, and this could determine the verdict of a case. We presented mock jurors with videos (from an experimental study) of one of two child witnesses on the autism spectrum being interviewed about a mock minor crime. Results demonstrated that providing jurors with generic information about autism and/or informing them of the child’s diagnostic label differentially affected credibility ratings, but not for both children. Implications for how to present information about child witnesses with autism to a jury-highlighting the need for approaches tailored to individual children-are discussed.
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3. Holt R, Upadhyay J, Smith P, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Chakrabarti B. {{The Cambridge Sympathy Test: Self-reported sympathy and distress in autism}}. {PLoS One}. 2018; 13(7): e0198273.
BACKGROUND: Difficulties with aspects of social interaction, including empathy, comprise a core symptom of autism spectrum conditions (autism). Sympathy is a specific form of empathy and involves both cognitive and affective empathy. Data are presented from a new task of self-reported sympathy and personal distress. METHODS: Participants with autism (93 males; 161 females) and controls (40 males, 93 females) took part in an online survey via the Autism Research Centre or Cambridge Psychology websites. Participants completed a task where they were asked to rate photographic images that were either of distressing, neutral or happy scenes, according to the amount of sympathy they had for the individual in the photo and the degree of personal distress they felt. All participants also completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ). RESULTS: Significant differences were found between the autism and control groups for both self-reported sympathy and personal distress, with participants with autism giving lower ratings than controls. Control females scored significantly higher than control males in both sympathy and distress. Sympathy and distress ratings in the autism group did not differ significantly by sex. EQ showed positive correlations with sympathy and distress scores. CONCLUSIONS: Using a new measure of self-reported sympathy, we found that both males and females with autism gave lower ratings of sympathy when viewing people in distressing scenarios, compared to controls.
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4. Lampi A, Fitzpatrick P, Romero V, Amaral J, Schmidt RC. {{Understanding the Influence of Social and Motor Context on the Co-occurring Frequency of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Autism}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
The social and motor context in which restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) occur in autism and their relationship to social traits are not well-understood. Participants with and without autism completed tasks that varied in social and motor engagement and RRB frequency was measured. Motor and verbal RRBs were most common, RRBs varied based on motor and social context for participants with autism, and social engagement was associated with lower motor and verbal RRBs. Significant correlations between RRBs and autism severity, social synchrony, and nonverbal mental age were also found. This research confirms the importance of context for understanding RRBs during on-going tasks and raises questions about whether the factors that elicit vocal and motor RRBs are unique for individual children.
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5. Lunsky Y, Balogh R, Durbin A, Selick A, Volpe T, Lin E. {{The Mental Health of Adults with Developmental Disabilities in Ontario: Lessons from Administrative Health Data}}. {Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont)}. 2018; 21(1): 6-9.
Adults with developmental disabilities have increased rates of mental illness and addiction, in addition to being more likely to experience physical health issues. This can lead to high rates of hospital and community-based healthcare. Population-based administrative health data can help in identifying the extent of problems experienced and target areas for policy and practice changes.
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6. Margari L, De Giacomo A, Craig F, Palumbi R, Peschechera A, Margari M, Picardi F, Caldarola M, Maghenzani MA, Dicuonzo F. {{Frontal lobe metabolic alterations in autism spectrum disorder: a (1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy study}}. {Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat}. 2018; 14: 1871-6.
Purpose: Recently, neuroimaging studies were performed using (1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS), revealing a quantitative alteration of neurochemicals (such as neurotransmitters and metabolites) in several brain regions of patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The involvement of the frontal lobe in the neurobiology of ASD has long been documented in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the alterations of N-acetylaspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr) and choline/Cr (Cho/Cr) ratios in the frontal lobe subcortical white matter (WM) in ASD patients, in order to reveal any alteration of metabolites that might be the expression of specific clinical features of the disorder. Patients and methods: An (1)H-MRS study of the frontal lobe subcortical WM was performed in 75 children with ASD and in 50 age-matched controls to evaluate the functional activity of this brain region. Results: NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios were significantly altered in ASD, compared to control subjects. Moreover, in the ASD group, NAA/Cr was significantly lower in patients with a cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Results from this study confirm the existence of brain metabolites’ alterations in frontal lobe WM in children with ASD, supporting the relevance of this brain region in the clinical expressions of this disorder, including its role in the cognitive impairment. Further (1)H-MRS investigations will allow to comprehensively explain the relationship between metabolic alteration in a specific brain region and specific clinical features of ASD.
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7. Neumeyer AM, Anixt J, Chan J, Perrin J, Murray D, Coury DL, Bennett A, Farmer J, Parker RA. {{Identifying Associations among Co-occurring Medical Conditions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Academic pediatrics}. 2018.
BACKGROUND: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have high prevalence of co-occurring medical conditions including speech, sleep, and gastrointestinal disorders (constipation and feeding difficulties), developmental delay, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, hypotonia, epilepsy, anxiety, disruptive behavior, pica, and eczema. Less is known about whether these commonly co-exist in the same children. We sought to determine clinically meaningful, statistically significant associations among co-occurring medical conditions in children with ASD that could lead to better identification, treatment or understanding of the disease process. METHODS: We studied 2114 children with ASD ages 17 months to 5 years and 1221 children 6-17 years at 15 Autism Speaks-Autism Treatment Network Registry sites. Clinician-reported diagnoses and problems were grouped into 12 core conditions. We determined observed prevalence (O) of co-occurring conditions and estimated expected prevalence (E) across the network, adjusting for site variability in the prevalence of individual conditions. P-values were calculated using a Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test stratified by site. We identified pairs of conditions co-occurring more frequently than expected (O/E > 1) and less frequently than expected (O/E < 1) and highlighted statistically significant differences. RESULTS: Among the 66 condition pairs for each age group, we confirmed previously identified associations such as sleep disorders and anxiety symptoms in older children. We found associations not previously described: feeding with sleep disorders (younger children only), constipation with sleep disorders, feeding with speech disorders, and constipation with speech disorders. CONCLUSIONS: We identified new associations among co-occurring medical conditions in children with ASD, offering the potential to examine common pathways. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
8. Russ V, Kovshoff H, Brown T, Abbott P, Hadwin JA. {{Exploring the Role of Empathy in Understanding the Social-Cognitive Profile for Individuals Referred for Autism Spectrum Disorders Assessment in Adulthood}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
This study explored the social-cognitive profile of 173 adults referred for an autism assessment. We considered key dimensional traits (autism, empathy and systemising) to understand social cognition in adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition compared with those who were referred for, but did not receive a diagnosis. There were no significant social cognitive differences between groups on measures of emotion recognition and social inference. Adults with a confirmed diagnosis, however, reported fewer empathising traits which were positively associated with social-cognitive understanding. Empathising partially mediated the relationship between diagnostic group and social-cognition. Lower empathising traits in individuals diagnosed in adulthood may be important in understanding challenges with social adaptability. The findings have implications for assessment and highlight the role of empathy in developing social understanding in autism.
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9. Saxena K, Webster J, Hallas-Potts A, Mackenzie R, Spooner PA, Thomson D, Kind P, Chattarji S, Morris RGM. {{Correction to ‘Experiential contributions to social dominance in a rat model of fragile-X syndrome’}}. {Proceedings Biological sciences}. 2018; 285(1881).
