Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have lower serum vitamin D and higher serotonin and interleukin (IL)-6 levels compared with healthy children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ...effect of vitamin D on core symptoms and serum levels of serotonin and IL-6 in these children.
This parallel randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with 43 children with ASD (7 girls and 36 boys; 8.91 ± 2.87 y of age). Children were randomly allocated to receive either vitamin D drop (300 IU/kg up to a maximum of 6000 IU daily) or placebo for 15 wk. Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin (OH)D, IL-6, and serotonin were measured at baseline and at the end of the trial. Also, the severity of autism and the social and individual maturity of the children were measured by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the Autism Treatment Assessment Checklist (ATEC), and Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC-C) questionnaires before and after intervention. Randomization and allocation to groups were done using computer-generated numbers.
More than 86% of patients had vitamin D deficiency at the beginning of the study. Serum levels of 25(OH)D increased significantly in the vitamin D group (P = 0.001). The clinical symptoms of autism measured by CARS and ATEC scales were alleviated significantly (P = 0.021 and P = 0.020, respectively); however, the serum levels of serotonin and IL-6 and the scale of ABC-C remained without a significant change.
These findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation may improve ASD symptoms; however, more studies with longer duration are indispensable to confirm our results.
•In this randomized controlled trial, 86% of patients with autism had the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency.•After vitamin D supplementation, the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D increased.•Clinical symptoms of autism (Childhood Autism Rating Scale and Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist) were alleviated.•The serum serotonin and interleukin-6 remained without a significant change.
•The understanding of sleep quality and aspects of functional skills remain unexplored in children with ASD.•Sleep problems impact the performance of functional skills (mobility, self-care, and ...social function).•Sleep problems impact the performance of communication in children with ASD.•Disorders/Alterations in sleep quality impact the development and severity of ASD.
This study aimed to correlate sleep quality, the performance of functional skills (mobility, self-care, and social function), communication, independence, and severity of ASD in children with ASD.
58 children between 3 and 5 years and 11 months old were investigated. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale was applied to determine the severity of autism; the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children was used to investigate sleep quality, and the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory to investigate functional abilities and independence of the children.
68.9 % of the children showed indicative of sleep disorders. There was no correlation between the different sleep disorders and communication. Sleep disorders showed a negative correlation with functional performance and a positive correlation with ASD severity.
The current study offers an exploration between sleep and functional skills in children with ASD. These findings provide important clinical implications in the diagnosis and intervention process of children with ASD and also stimulate reflections on the importance in minimize the impact of sleep disorders and functional abilities on the quality of life of these individuals and their families.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have different cognitive and intelligence profiles than typical developing individuals. Some of these children need cognitive rehabilitation. This study's ...main purpose is to provide a systematic review about applying computerized cognitive games for autistic children and to determine the effectiveness of such interventions.
A thorough search of the ISI Web of Science, Medline (through PubMed), Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and APA PsycInfo databases was performed for articles published from inception to May 17, 2022.
Of 1746 papers, 28 studies were found to be eligible in this systematic review. Fifteen studies (53.57%) compared a Control Group (CG) with Experimental Groups (EGs), while 13 papers (46.42%) evaluated only the impact of the applied intervention in an experimental group. Major domains of cognitive functions are divided into five main categories: 1. Executive functions, 2. Social cognition/emotions, 3. Attention/concentration, 4. Learning and memory, and 5. Language. In 42.85% (12 studies) of the screened papers, social cognition and emotions were assessed after cognitive rehabilitation. The highest rate of effects reported by studies were related to social cognition enhancement. Of the total number of included studies, 17 studies reported a positive effect at all scales, of which nine were quasi-experimental, and seven were fully experimental.
Using suitable computerized game-based solutions could enhance cognition indexes in autistic children. Hence, further investigation is needed to determine the real effectiveness of these novel technologies.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a set of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by a deficit in social behaviors and nonverbal interactions such as reduced eye contact, facial expression, and ...body gestures in the first 3 years of life. It is not a single disorder, and it is broadly considered to be a multi-factorial disorder resulting from genetic and non-genetic risk factors and their interaction. Genetic studies of ASD have identified mutations that interfere with typical neurodevelopment in utero through childhood. These complexes of genes have been involved in synaptogenesis and axon motility. Recent developments in neuroimaging studies have provided many important insights into the pathological changes that occur in the brain of patients with ASD in vivo. Especially, the role of amygdala, a major component of the limbic system and the affective loop of the cortico-striatothalamo-cortical circuit, in cognition and ASD has been proved in numerous neuropathological and neuroimaging studies. Besides the amygdala, the nucleus accumbens is also considered as the key structure which is related with the social reward response in ASD. Although educational and behavioral treatments have been the mainstay of the management of ASD, pharmacological and interventional treatments have also shown some benefit in subjects with ASD. Also, there have been reports about few patients who experienced improvement after deep brain stimulation, one of the interventional treatments. The key architecture of ASD development which could be a target for treatment is still an uncharted territory. Further work is needed to broaden the horizons on the understanding of ASD.
Autistic disorders (ADs) are heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorders arised by the interaction of genes and environmental factors. Dysfunctions in social interaction and communication skills, ...repetitive and stereotypic verbal and non-verbal behaviours are common features of ADs. There are no defined mechanisms of pathogenesis, rendering curative therapy very difficult. Indeed, the treatments for autism presently available can be divided into behavioural, nutritional and medical approaches, although no defined standard approach exists. Autistic children display immune system dysregulation and show an altered immune response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In this study, we investigated the involvement of cannabinoid system in PBMCs from autistic children compared to age-matched normal healthy developing controls (age ranging 3–9 years; mean age: 6.06 ± 1.52 vs. 6.14 ± 1.39 in autistic children and healthy subjects, respectively). The mRNA level for cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) was significantly increased in AD-PBMCs as compared to healthy subjects (mean ± SE of arbitrary units: 0.34 ± 0.03 vs. 0.23 ± 0.02 in autistic children and healthy subjects, respectively), whereas CB1 and fatty acid amide hydrolase mRNA levels were unchanged. mRNA levels of
N
-acylphosphatidylethanolamine-hydrolyzing phospholipase D gene were slightly decreased. Protein levels of CB-2 were also significantly increased in autistic children (mean ± SE of arbitrary units: 33.5 ± 1.32 vs. 6.70 ± 1.25 in autistic children and healthy subjects, respectively). Our data indicate CB2 receptor as potential therapeutic target for the pharmacological management of the autism care.
The goals were to study the association between neonatal jaundice and disorders of psychological development in a national, population-based cohort and to study whether gestational age, parity, and ...season of birth influenced that association.
A population-based, follow-up study of all children born alive in Denmark between 1994 and 2004 (N = 733,826) was performed, with data collected from 4 national registers. Survival analysis was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs).
Exposure to jaundice in neonates was associated with increased risk of disorders of psychological development for children born at term. The excess risk of developing a disorder in the spectrum of psychological development disorders after exposure to jaundice as a neonate was between 56% (HR: 1.56 95% confidence interval CI: 1.05-2.30) and 88% (HR: 1.88 95% CI: 1.17-3.02). The excess risk of infantile autism was 67% (HR: 1.67 95% CI: 1.03-2.71). This risk for infantile autism was higher if the child was conceived by a parous woman (HR: 2.71 95% CI: 1.57-4.66) or was born between October and March (HR: 2.21 95% CI: 1.24-3.94). The risk for infantile autism disappeared if the child was conceived by a primiparous woman (HR: 0.58 95% CI: 0.18-1.83) or was born between April and September (HR: 1.02 95% CI: 0.41-2.50). Similar risk patterns were found for the whole spectrum of autistic disorders.
Neonatal jaundice in children born at term is associated with disorders of psychological development. Parity and season of birth seem to play important roles.
Online communities are used as platforms by parents to verify developmental and health concerns related to their child. The increasing public awareness of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) leads more ...parents to suspect ASD in their child. Early identification of ASD is important for early intervention.
To characterize the symptoms mentioned in online queries posed by parents who suspect that their child might have ASD and determine whether they are age-specific. To test the efficacy of machine learning tools in classifying the child's risk of ASD based on the parent's narrative.
To this end, we analyzed online queries posed by parents who were concerned that their child might have ASD and categorized the warning signs they mentioned according to ASD-specific and non-ASD-specific domains. We then used the data to test the efficacy with which a trained machine learning tool classified the degree of ASD risk. Yahoo Answers, a social site for posting queries and finding answers, was mined for queries of parents asking the community whether their child has ASD. A total of 195 queries were sampled for this study (mean child age=38.0 months; 84.7% 160/189 boys). Content text analysis of the queries aimed to categorize the types of symptoms described and obtain clinical judgment of the child's ASD-risk level.
Concerns related to repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests (RRBI) were the most prevalent (75.4%, 147/195), followed by concerns related to language (61.5%, 120/195) and emotional markers (50.3%, 98/195). Of the 195 queries, 18.5% (36/195) were rated by clinical experts as low-risk, 30.8% (60/195) as medium-risk, and 50.8% (99/195) as high-risk. Risk groups differed significantly (P<.001) in the rate of concerns in the language, social, communication, and RRBI domains. When testing whether an automatic classifier (decision tree) could predict if a query was medium- or high-risk based on the text of the query and the coded symptoms, performance reached an area under the receiver operating curve (ROC) curve of 0.67 (CI 95% 0.50-0.78), whereas predicting from the text and the coded signs resulted in an area under the curve of 0.82 (0.80-0.86).
Findings call for health care providers to closely listen to parental ASD-related concerns, as recommended by screening guidelines. They also demonstrate the need for Internet-based screening systems that utilize parents' narratives using a decision tree questioning method.
The aim of the study was to compare children with ASD from families with low and medium financial status in terms of quality of life and coping with stress during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the ...material status of the family related to their financial situation during the pandemic. The diagnostic survey method was used in the research study. A total of 120 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 11-14 years participated in the study. The following tools were used to achieve the goal: Quality of Life of Students by S. Kowalik, "Jak Sobie Radzisz" by Z. Juczy ' nski and N. Ogi' nska-Bulik and a proprietary questionnaire by the author. The research results indicate that during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, children with ASD from families with an average financial status are more satisfied with functioning in the family and more satisfied with themselves than children from families with a low financial status. Moreover, children with ASD from low-status families prefer strategies of focusing on emotions, which are not constructive and make functioning difficult, more often than their peers from families with average financial status. The results of the research show a positive correlation between the quality of life in the dimensions of satisfaction with the family, one's local environment and oneself and active coping (disposition) and seeking social support; and a negative correlation with the strategy of focusing on emotions (disposition). It is advised that families with children with ASD be supported during the pandemic.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of pecs training on social skills of children (boys) with autistic disorders. Study procedure was experimental with pretest-posttest ...design with control group. The statistical population of this research includes all children with autistic disorders in Shiraz in the academic year 2012- 2013. The sample size was 30 boys with autistic disorders that were selected in an available sampling method and assigned into experimental and control group, randomly. So each group consisted of 15 students. Both groups were assessed pre-test. The Experimental group received pecs training in 16 sessions while control group did not. After completion of intervention period for Experimental group the post-test was administered for both groups. The Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (Jackson, Volkmar & Minderaa, 1998) were administered to assess the social skills. The data analyses by ANCOVA showed that there were significantly increase in the mean scores of social skills and subscales (Not tune, Tendency to withdraw, Orientation problems, Not understanding, Stereotyped behavior, Fear of changes) in experimental group (P<0.01). Findings indicated that pecs training intervention lead to improve social skills of boys with autistic disorders. Therefore, it is suggested to design and implemen pecs training in order to increase children’s social skills with autistic disorders.
The CAST (Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test) Williams, Jo; Scott, Fiona; Stott, Carol ...
Autism : the international journal of research and practice,
02/2005, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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The Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test (CAST) is a parental questionnaire to screen for autism spectrum conditions. In this validation study, the CAST was distributed to 1925 children aged 5-11 in ...mainstream Cambridgeshire schools. A sample of participants received a full diagnostic assessment, conducted blind to screen status. The sensitivity of the CAST, at a designated cut-point of 15, was 100 percent, the specificity was 97 percent and the positive predictive value was 50 percent, using the group’s consensus diagnosis as the gold standard. The accuracy indices varied with the case definition used. The sensitivity of the accuracy statistics to case definition and to missing data was explored. The CAST is useful as a screening test for autism spectrum conditions in epidemiological research. There is not currently enough evidence to recommend the use of the CAST as a screening test within a public health screening programme in the general population.
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