Pubmed du 29/03/21
1. Brennan D, Wu T, Fan J. Morphometrical Brain Markers of Sex Difference. Cerebral cortex (New York, NY : 1991). 2021; 31(8): 3641-9.
Many major neuropsychiatric pathologies, some of which appear in adolescence, show differentiated prevalence, onset, and symptomatology across the biological sexes. Therefore, mapping differences in brain structure between males and females during this critical developmental period may provide information about the neural mechanisms underlying the dimorphism of these pathologies. Utilizing a large dataset collected through the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, we investigated the differences of adolescent (9-10 years old) male and female brains (n = 8325) by using a linear Support-Vector Machine Classifier to predict sex based on morphometry and image intensity values of structural brain imaging data. The classifier correctly classified the sex of 86% individuals with the insula, the precentral and postcentral gyri, and the pericallosal sulcus as the most discernable features. These results demonstrate the existence of complex, yet robustly measurable morphometrical brain markers of sex difference.
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2. García-González S, Lugo-Marín J, Setien-Ramos I, Gisbert-Gustemps L, Arteaga-Henríquez G, Díez-Villoria E, Ramos-Quiroga JA. Transcranial direct current stimulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021; 48: 89-109.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that has gained relevance in recent years as an alternative treatment for neuropsychiatric conditions. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the use of tDCS in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Both electronic and manual searches were conducted to identify studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals addressing the use of tDCS in ASD population. A total of 16 studies fulfilled the criteria to be included in the review. Studies were conducted both in child and adult population. Anodal stimulation on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was the most commonly chosen methodology. Outcomes addressed ASD symptoms and neuropsychological functions. Meta-analytic synthesis identified improvements in social, health, and behavioral problem domains of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist. Limitations included high heterogeneity in the methodology and low-efficacy study designs (pre-post and single-case studies). Recent controlled trials shed promising results for the use of tDCS in ASD. A standardized stimulation protocol and a consensus in the measures used in the evaluation of the efficacy are imperative.
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3. Jorgensen AR, Whitehouse AJO, Fox AM, Maybery MT. Delayed cortical processing of auditory stimuli in children with autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis of electrophysiological studies. Brain and cognition. 2021; 150: 105709.
Several researchers have hypothesised that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show encoding delays in their obligatory event-related potentials (ERPs)/ event-related fields (ERFs) for low-level auditory information compared to neurotypical (NT) samples. However, empirical research has yielded varied findings, such as low-level auditory processing in ASD samples being unimpaired, superior, or impaired compared to NT samples. Diverse outcomes have also been reported for studies investigating ASD-NT differences in functional lateralisation of delays. The lack of consistency across studies has prevented a comprehensive understanding of the overall effects in the autistic population. Therefore, this meta-analysis compared long-latency ERPs and ERFs produced by autistic and NT individuals to non-linguistic auditory stimuli to test, firstly, the robustness of auditory processing differences and, secondly, whether these differences are observed in one or both hemispheres. Nine articles meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analytic results indicated that autistic individuals demonstrate bilaterally delayed P1/ M50 peaks and lateralised delays in the right but not left hemisphere N1/ M100 peak. These results further inform our understanding of auditory processing and lateralisation across the autism spectrum.
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4. Juvale IIA, Che Has AT. The Potential Role of miRNAs as Predictive Biomarkers in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN. 2021; 71(7): 1338-55.
Neurodevelopmental disorders are defined as a set of abnormal brain developmental conditions marked by the early childhood onset of cognitive, behavioral, and functional deficits leading to memory and learning problems, emotional instability, and impulsivity. Autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and Down’s syndrome are a few known examples of neurodevelopmental disorders. Although they are relatively common in both developed and developing countries, very little is currently known about their underlying molecular mechanisms. Both genetic and environmental factors are known to increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. Current diagnostic and screening tests for neurodevelopmental disorders are not reliable; hence, individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders are often diagnosed in the later stages. This negatively affects their prognosis and quality of life, prompting the need for a better diagnostic biomarker. Recent studies on microRNAs and their altered regulation in diseases have shed some light on the possible role they could play in the development of the central nervous system. This review attempts to elucidate our current understanding of the role that microRNAs play in neurodevelopmental disorders with the hope of utilizing them as potential biomarkers in the future.
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5. Mantua V, Farchione T. Regulatory considerations in drug development for autism spectrum disorders. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021; 48: 47-8.
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6. Schwartzman JM, Millan ME, Uljarevic M, Gengoux GW. Resilience Intervention for Parents of Children with Autism: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial of the AMOR Method. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022; 52(2): 738-57.
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience elevated stress, yet parent-specific interventions are sparse. Thirty-five parents of children with ASD were randomized to the novel 8-week AMOR (Acceptance, Mindfulness, Optimism, Resilience) Method parent group or waitlist control group. Significant gains in resilience were reported by AMOR parents only (d = 1.42, p < 0.001, 95% CI [2.152, 10.083]). AMOR parents exhibited significant gains in stress management and reductions in mental health symptoms, along with parent-reported improvements in martial, family, and child functioning. AMOR group follow-up data showed some maintenance of treatment gains. Findings demonstrate promise for resilience interventions in parents of children with ASD. The trial was registered (clinicaltrials.gov; NCT03513419; May 1, 2018) and approved by the Stanford University Institutional Review Board.
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7. Whelan SO, Moriarty F, Lawlor L, Gorman KM, Beamish J. Vaccine hesitancy and reported non-vaccination in an Irish pediatric outpatient population. European journal of pediatrics. 2021; 180(9): 2839-47.
Vaccine hesitancy is defined as a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines, despite availability. It is a complex and context specific phenomenon and identified as a global health priority. The « Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines » (PACV) questionnaire is a validated tool for identifying vaccine hesitancy. Our aim was to use the PACV to assess vaccine hesitancy and its relationship with reported non-vaccination in an Irish population, for the first time. Our participants were parents or caregivers of children attending general pediatric clinics in a tertiary pediatric hospital in Dublin, Ireland, between September and December 2018. In total, 436 participants completed the questionnaire. 5.5% of our population reported non-vaccination. Human papilloma virus and measles, mumps, rubella vaccines were the most commonly cited vaccines of concern (11.5% and 6.7%, respectively), and autism spectrum disorder was the most commonly side effect of concern (4.3%). Mean PACV score was 26.9 (SD 19.1), with a significant difference between non-vaccinators and vaccinators (53.2 vs 25.3, p<0.001). Safety and efficacy concerns were the major contributor to non-vaccination. 14.4% of our population were vaccine-hesitant using the conventional cut-off score, which increased to 22% when using an optimal cut-off which maximized sensitivity and specificity. The accuracy of the PACV score to identify non-vaccination was good (area under the ROC curve = 0.827), and the optimal cut-off had a high negative predictive value (98.5%).Conclusion: PACV identified reported non-vaccination with high accuracy in our population. It may be useful to screen vaccine-hesitant parents who could benefit from interventions to improve uptake. What is Known: • Vaccine hesitancy is a leading threat to global health, with falls in vaccine uptake associated with disease outbreaks worldwide. • The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire is a validated measure of vaccine hesitancy and correlates with non-vaccination in many populations. What is New: • This large study in a pediatric outpatient clinic setting represents the first use of the PACV in a Western European population to assess vaccination hesitancy. • The PACV may be an effective way of screening a pediatric clinic population to identify vaccine-hesitant parents or caregivers for targeted vaccine promotion.
