1. Cox AR, McDowell S. {{A response to the article on the association between paracetamol/acetaminophen: use and autism by Stephen T. Schultz}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):123-124; author reply 124-125.
2. Dissanayake C, Bui Q, Bulhak-Paterson D, Huggins R, Loesch DZ. {{Behavioural and cognitive phenotypes in idiopathic autism versus autism associated with fragile X syndrome}}. {J Child Psychol Psychiatry};2009 (Mar);50(3):290-299.
BACKGROUND: In order to better understand the underlying biological mechanism/s involved in autism, it is important to investigate the cognitive and behavioural phenotypes associated with idiopathic autism (autism without a known cause) and comorbid autism (autism associated with known genetic/biological disorders such as fragile X syndrome). Parental effects associated with each type of autism also serve to cast light on the biological underpinnings of autism. METHOD: Forty-nine participants with idiopathic autism (AD; Mean age: 11.16; SD: 6.08) and their parents (45 mothers; 34 fathers), and 48 participants with fragile X syndrome and co-morbid autism (FXS/AD; Mean age: 17.30; SD: 10.22) and their parents (32 mothers; 30 fathers) were administered the ADOS-G and the age-appropriate Wechsler test to ascertain autism and cognitive profiles respectively. RESULTS: The AD and FXS/AD groups showed a similar profile on the ADOS domains, with slightly higher scores on the Communication domain in the FXS/AD group, after adjusting for full-scale IQ. Marked differences between the groups in their cognitive abilities were apparent, with the FXS/AD group showing significantly lower scores on all subtests except Comprehension. While no parental effects were found for the FXS/AD group, a paternal effect was apparent on the combined ADOS score for the AD group. Moreover, midparental effects were found in this group for full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and verbal IQ (VIQ). Analyses also revealed parental effects for the subtests of Similarities, Vocabulary, and Information with predominantly maternal effect, and Digit Span with predominantly paternal effect. Both parents contributed to the midparental effect for Processing Speed. CONCLUSIONS: The results, together with our previous findings, suggest that the postulated combination of susceptibility genes for autism may primarily involve cognitive rather than behavioural processes.
3. Gomez JC. {{Embodying meaning: insights from primates, autism, and Brentano}}. {Neural Netw};2009 (Mar);22(2):190-196.
In this paper I offer an analysis of social meaning in terms of coding intentional relations between agents and objects. This analysis is amenable to embodied interpretations of intentionality and Theory of mind and may prove of help for the task of simulating the attribution of intentionality with neural networks. Work with non-human primates suggests that evolution first dealt with the problem domain of social meaning by selecting specific adaptations for coding behaviour as intentional in the sense of Brentano, i.e., as directed to or being about objects (for example, gaze following behaviours). Work with autism suggests that alterations in these basic mechanisms of intentional attribution may explain some of the most prevalent problems with social meaning in this condition. Brentanian mechanisms for encoding intentional relations between agents and objects are more basic and evolutionarily more primitive than representational theories of mind. However, some of the key components of representational theories of mind may be already present in the intentional abilities of primates, suggesting that the decisive evolutionary step may have consisted of a re-organization of existing abilities rather than the creation of new skills. Neural network models and models of the evolution and development of primitive mechanisms for intentional encoding may benefit from mutual cross-fertilization.
4. Hubert BE, Wicker B, Monfardini E, Deruelle C. {{Electrodermal reactivity to emotion processing in adults with autistic spectrum disorders}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):9-19.
Although alterations of emotion processing are recognized as a core component of autism, the level at which alterations occur is still debated. Discrepant results suggest that overt assessment of emotion processing is not appropriate. In this study, skin conductance response (SCR) was used to examine covert emotional processes. Both behavioural responses and SCRs of 16 adults with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) were compared to those of 16 typical matched adults. Participants had to judge emotional facial expressions, the age of faces or the direction of a moving object. Although behavioural performance was similar in the two populations, individuals with an ASD exhibited lower SCRs than controls in the emotional judgement task. This suggests that such individuals may rely on different strategies due to altered autonomic processing. Furthermore, failure to produce normal physiological reactions to emotional faces may be related to social impairments in individuals with an ASD.
5. Orsmond GI, Kuo HY, Seltzer MM. {{Siblings of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder: sibling relationships and wellbeing in adolescence and adulthood}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):59-80.
We investigated sibling relationships and wellbeing in adolescents and adults with a sibling with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Adolescents engaged in more shared activities than did adults. Adolescents reported greater social support, greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies, and less use of problem-focused coping than adults. In adulthood, females with a sister with ASD reported the most positive affect in the sibling relationship and men with a sister with ASD the least. Adolescents engaged in more shared activities and reported more positive affect in their sibling relationship when their sibling with ASD had fewer behavior problems; greater use of problem-focused coping buffered the negative effects of behavior problems on sibling engagement. For adults, more shared activities were observed when the sibling with ASD was younger in age and had fewer behavior problems; greater positive affect in sibling relationships was predicted by greater parental support.
6. Shu BC. {{Quality of life of family caregivers of children with autism: The mother’s perspective}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):81-91.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the quality of life (QOL) and feeling of mothers of a child with autism. The QOL instrument was also used. A total of 104 participants completed all questionnaires, which included the Taiwan version of the WHOQOL-BREF. A final robust parsimonious structural model showed a positive correlation between the four domains of QOL. Mother’s feeling was positively related to the physical and psychological domains. History of chronic disease was negatively related to mother’s feeling and the physical domain. Religion was negatively correlated with the psychological and environmental domains. The study provided evidence that the WHOQOL-BREF is an adequate and appropriate instrument in the assessment of caregivers of children with autism in Taiwan. Mother’s feeling, history of chronic disease and religion were related to QOL in these mothers of children with autism.
7. Tsuji H, Miyawaki D, Kawaguchi T, Matsushima N, Horino A, Takahashi K, Suzuki F, Kiriike N. {{Relationship of hypersensitivity to anxiety and depression in children with high-functioning pervasive developmental disorders}}. {Psychiatry Clin Neurosci};2009 (Apr);63(2):195-201.
AIMS: Sensory-perceptual abnormalities, which include hyper- and hyposensitivity, have been identified by numerous researchers as prevalent in individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). Hypersensitivity has a greater impact on PDD patients’ daily lives than hyposensitivity. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the relationship of hypersensitivity to anxiety, depression and other psychopathology in children with PDD. METHODS: Sixty-four children were divided into a hypersensitivity group (HG; n = 43) and a non-hypersensitivity group (non-HG; n = 21), and compared for anxiety, depression and other psychopathology on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). RESULTS: The HG group had significantly higher scores than the non-HG group in Total, Internalizing, and Somatic complaints on the CBCL. On STAIC, the mean sore of Total Score, State Score and Trait Score in the HG group tended to be higher than in the non-HG group, but the difference was not significant. The score on the CDI in the HG group was significantly higher than that in the non-HG group. CONCLUSION: PDD children with hypersensitivity have more serious psychopathologies, especially internalizing symptoms including depression.
8. Vismara LA, Colombi C, Rogers SJ. {{Can one hour per week of therapy lead to lasting changes in young children with autism?}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):93-115.
Deficits in attention, communication, imitation, and play skills reduce opportunities for children with autism to learn from natural interactive experiences that occur throughout the day. These developmental delays are already present by the time these children reach the toddler period. The current study provided a brief 12 week, 1 hour per week, individualized parent-child education program to eight toddlers newly diagnosed with autism. Parents learned to implement naturalistic therapeutic techniques from the Early Start Denver Model, which fuses developmental- and relationship-based approaches with Applied Behavior Analysis into their ongoing family routines and parent-child play activities. Results demonstrated that parents acquired the strategies by the fifth to sixth hour and children demonstrated sustained change and growth in social communication behaviors. Findings are discussed in relation to providing parents with the necessary tools to engage, communicate with, and teach their young children with autism beginning immediately after the diagnosis.
9. Wilbarger JL, McIntosh DN, Winkielman P. {{Startle modulation in autism: positive affective stimuli enhance startle response}}. {Neuropsychologia};2009 (Apr);47(5):1323-1331.
Behavioral evidence suggests that emotion processing deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may occur at the level of basic (early, rapid, automatic) affective processes. Consistently, neurological evidence indicates that key brain areas associated with basic affective processing are atypical in ASD. The current study sought to better specify these deficits by comparing different components of basic affective processing in 14 adolescents and adults with ASD and 14 typical controls matched for age and verbal ability. Participants viewed affective pictures, and their responses were assessed with (i) affective eyeblink startle modulation, an indicator of the brain’s aversive motivational system; (ii) facial electromyography, an online indicator of implicit valence appraisal; and (iii) self-report, an indicator of overt valence appraisal. The results show that in contrast to the typical pattern, in which exposure to negative stimuli increases startle whereas exposure to positive stimuli decreases startle, individuals with ASD showed startle potentiation to both positive and negative stimuli. Atypical potentiation during positive stimuli occurred despite individuals with ASD demonstrating appropriate implicit valence appraisals, reflected in their facial EMG responses, and appropriate overt appraisals, reflected in their self-reported ratings of the stimuli. Potentiation of startle to both positive and negative stimuli suggests a disruption in basic affective processes in ASD at the level of the early motivational response. This atypical pattern of responses has implications for understanding social and emotion deficits in ASD and calls for further investigation of basic affective processes.
10. Yildiz S, Aktas S, Uzun G. {{Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in autism: is there evidence?}}. {Undersea Hyperb Med};2008 (Nov-Dec);35(6):453-455.
11. Zandt F, Prior M, Kyrios M. {{Similarities and differences between children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and those with obsessive compulsive disorder: executive functioning and repetitive behaviour}}. {Autism};2009 (Jan);13(1):43-57.
In order to examine hypothesized underlying neurocognitive processes in repetitive behaviour, children and adolescents (7-16 years) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) were compared on a range of executive function (EF) measures. Performance on neuropsychological tests assessing executive functioning showed a trend for children with ASD to perform poorly on tasks requiring generation of multiple responses, while children with OCD tended to demonstrate impairments on a task requiring inhibition. Parental ratings on a questionnaire measure of EF indicated impairments in both groups relative to controls. Relationships between questionnaire and performance measures of EF were generally weak. There was some limited support for a relationship between EF and repetitive behaviour, but effects tended to be small and variable across groups and measures.
