Autism Spectrum Disorder is a complex neurodevelopmental syndrome that profoundly affects social interactions, communication, and sensory perception. The research traced the evolution of autism ...research from 2011-2022, specifically focusing on the screening and diagnosis of children and students.
Through an analysis of 12,262 publications using the PRISMA framework, bibliographic coupling, science mapping, and citation analysis, this study illuminates the growth trajectory of ASD research and significant disparities in diagnosis and services.
The study indicates an increasing trend in autism research, with a strong representation of female authorship. Open Access journals show a higher average citation impact compared to their closed counterparts. A keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed four central research themes: Child Development and Support Systems, Early Identification and Intervention, Prevalence and Etiology, and Mental Health. The pandemic's onset has prioritized research areas like mental health, telehealth, and service accessibility.
Recommendations on a global level stress the importance of developing timely biological markers for ASD, amplifying Disability Inclusion research, and personalizing mental health services to bridge these critical service gaps. These strategies, underpinned by interdisciplinary collaboration and telehealth innovation, particularly in low-resource settings, can offer a roadmap for inclusive, context-sensitive interventions at local levels that directly support SDG3's aim for health and well-being for all.
Abstract There is evidence emerging from Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) research that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with greater impairment in the left hemisphere. Although this has ...been quantified with volumetric region of interest analyses, it has yet to be tested with white matter integrity analysis. In the present study, tract based spatial statistics was used to contrast white matter integrity of 12 participants with high-functioning autism or Aspergers syndrome (HFA/AS) with 12 typically developing individuals. Fractional Anisotropy (FA) was examined, in addition to axial, radial and mean diffusivity (AD, RD and MD). In the left hemisphere, participants with HFA/AS demonstrated significantly reduced FA in predominantly thalamic and fronto-parietal pathways and increased RD. Symmetry analyses confirmed that in the HFA/AS group, WM disturbance was significantly greater in the left compared to right hemisphere. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature suggestive of reduced FA in ASD, and provide preliminary evidence for RD impairments in the left hemisphere.
Alveolar macrophages (AM) play pivotal roles in modulating host defense, pulmonary inflammation, and tissue injury following respiratory viral infections. However, the transcriptional regulation of ...AM function during respiratory viral infections is still largely undefined. Here we have screened the expression of 84 transcription factors in AM in response to influenza A virus (IAV) infection. We found that the transcription factor PPAR-γ was downregulated following IAV infection in AM through type I interferon (IFN)-dependent signaling. PPAR-γ expression in AM was critical for the suppression of exaggerated antiviral and inflammatory responses of AM following IAV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. Myeloid PPAR-γ deficiency resulted in enhanced host morbidity and increased pulmonary inflammation following both IAV and RSV infections, suggesting that macrophage PPAR-γ is vital for restricting severe host disease development. Using approaches to selectively deplete recruiting monocytes, we demonstrate that PPAR-γ expression in resident AM is likely important in regulating host disease development. Furthermore, we show that PPAR-γ was critical for the expression of wound healing genes in AM. As such, myeloid PPAR-γ deficiency resulted in impaired inflammation resolution and defective tissue repair following IAV infection. Our data suggest a critical role of PPAR-γ expression in lung macrophages in the modulation of pulmonary inflammation, the development of acute host diseases, and the proper restoration of tissue homeostasis following respiratory viral infections.
Respiratory viral infections, like IAV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections, impose great challenges to public health. Alveolar macrophages (AM) are lung-resident immune cells that play important roles in protecting the host against IAV and RSV infections. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms by which AM modulate host inflammation, disease development, and tissue recovery are not very well understood. Here we identify that PPAR-γ expression in AM is crucial to suppress pulmonary inflammation and diseases and to promote fast host recovery from IAV and RSV infections. Our data suggest that targeting macrophage PPAR-γ may be a promising therapeutic option in the future to suppress acute inflammation and simultaneously promote recovery from severe diseases associated with respiratory viral infections.
Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease White, Andrew A; Stevenson, Donald D
The New England journal of medicine,
12/2018, Letnik:
379, Številka:
23
Journal Article
This paper reviews current understanding of deglaciation in North, Central and South America from the Last Glacial Maximum to the beginning of the Holocene. Together with paleoclimatic and ...paleoceanographic data, we compare and contrast the pace of deglaciation and the response of glaciers to major climate events. During the Global Last Glacial Maximum (GLGM, 26.5-19 ka), average temperatures decreased 4° to 8°C in the Americas, but precipitation varied strongly throughout this large region. Many glaciers in North and Central America achieved their maximum extent during the GLGM, whereas others advanced even farther during the subsequent Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS-1). Glaciers in the Andes also expanded during the GLGM, but that advance was not the largest, except on Tierra del Fuego. HS-1 (17.5-14.6 ka) was a time of general glacier thickening and advance throughout most of North and Central America, and in the tropical Andes; however, glaciers in the temperate and subpolar Andes thinned and retreated during this period. During the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (B-A, 14.6-12.9 ka), glaciers retreated throughout North and Central America and, in some cases, completely disappeared. Many glaciers advanced during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR, 14.6-12.9 ka) in the tropical Andes and Patagonia. There were small advances of glaciers in North America, Central America and in northern South America (Venezuela) during the Younger Dryas (12.9-11.7 ka), but glaciers in central and southern South America retreated during this period, except on the Altiplano where advances were driven by an increase in precipitation. Taken together, we suggest that there was a climate compensation effect, or ‘seesaw’, between the hemispheres, which affected not only marine currents and atmospheric circulation, but also the behavior of glaciers. This seesaw is consistent with the opposing behavior of many glaciers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Past research has shown how fires, heat and hot substances are important causes of health loss globally. Detailed estimates of the morbidity and mortality from these injuries could help drive ...preventative measures and improved access to care.
We used the Global Burden of Disease 2017 framework to produce three main results. First, we produced results on incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, deaths, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life years from 1990 to 2017 for 195 countries and territories. Second, we analysed these results to measure mortality-to-incidence ratios by location. Third, we reported the measures above in terms of the cause of fire, heat and hot substances and the types of bodily injuries that result.
Globally, there were 8 991 468 (7 481 218 to 10 740 897) new fire, heat and hot substance injuries in 2017 with 120 632 (101 630 to 129 383) deaths. At the global level, the age-standardised mortality caused by fire, heat and hot substances significantly declined from 1990 to 2017, but regionally there was variability in age-standardised incidence with some regions experiencing an increase (eg, Southern Latin America) and others experiencing a significant decrease (eg, High-income North America).
The incidence and mortality of injuries that result from fire, heat and hot substances affect every region of the world but are most concentrated in middle and lower income areas. More resources should be invested in measuring these injuries as well as in improving infrastructure, advancing safety measures and ensuring access to care.
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There is an increasingly urgent and unmet medical need for novel antibiotic drugs that tackle infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. Novel bacterial type II ...topoisomerase inhibitors (NBTIs) are of high interest due to limited cross-resistance with fluoroquinolones, however analogues with Gram-negative activity often suffer from hERG channel inhibition. A novel series of bicyclic-oxazolidinone inhibitors of bacterial type II topoisomerase were identified which display potent broad-spectrum anti-bacterial activity, including against MDR strains, along with an encouraging in vitro safety profile. In vivo proof of concept was achieved in a A. baumannii mouse thigh infection model.
Neuronal pentraxins (NPs) define a family of proteins that are homologous to C-reactive and acute-phase proteins in the immune system and have been hypothesized to be involved in activity-dependent ...synaptic plasticity. To investigate the role of NPs in vivo, we generated mice that lack one, two, or all three NPs. NP1/2 knock-out mice exhibited defects in the segregation of eye-specific retinal ganglion cell (RGC) projections to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, a process that involves activity-dependent synapse formation and elimination. Retinas from mice lacking NP1 and NP2 had cholinergically driven waves of activity that occurred at a frequency similar to that of wild-type mice, but several other parameters of retinal activity were altered. RGCs cultured from these mice exhibited a significant delay in functional maturation of glutamatergic synapses. Other developmental processes, such as pathfinding of RGCs at the optic chiasm and hippocampal long-term potentiation and long-term depression, appeared normal in NP-deficient mice. These data indicate that NPs are necessary for early synaptic refinements in the mammalian retina and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. We speculate that NPs exert their effects through mechanisms that parallel the known role of short pentraxins outside the CNS.
Physical inactivity impairs insulin sensitivity, which is exacerbated with aging. We examined the impact of 2 wk of acute inactivity and recovery on glycemic control, and integrated rates of muscle ...protein synthesis in older men and women.
Twenty-two overweight, prediabetic older adults (12 men, 10 women, 69 ± 4 y) undertook 7 d of habitual activity (baseline; BL), step reduction (SR; <1,000 steps.d-1 for 14 d), followed by 14 d of recovery (RC). An oral glucose tolerance test was used to assess glycemic control and deuterated water ingestion to measure integrated rates of muscle protein synthesis.
Daily step count was reduced (all p < .05) from BL at SR (7362 ± 3294 to 991 ± 97) and returned to BL levels at RC (7117 ± 3819). Homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance increased from BL to SR and Matsuda insulin sensitivity index decreased and did not return to BL in RC. Glucose and insulin area under the curve were elevated from BL to SR and did not recover in RC. Integrated muscle protein synthesis was reduced during SR and did not return to BL in RC.
Our findings demonstrate that 2 wk of SR leads to lowered rates of muscle protein synthesis and a worsening of glycemic control that unlike younger adults is not recovered during return to normal activity in overweight, prediabetic elderly humans.
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03039556.
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