scholarly journals Nutritional status survey of children with autism and typically developing children aged 4–6 years in Heilongjiang Province, China

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caihong Sun ◽  
Wei Xia ◽  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Nannan Li ◽  
Dong Zhao ◽  
...  

AbstractAutism is a neurodevelopmental disability that may affect nutritional management of children with autism. This study aimed to compare the nutritional status of children with autism with that of typically developing children (aged 4–6 years) in China. Nutritional status was assessed by means of nutritional data, anthropometric data, biochemical assessment, physical examination for nutrient deficiencies and providing a questionnaire to parents. A total of fifty-three children with autism and fifty-three typically developing children were enrolled in this study. The parents were asked to complete the questionnaire regarding the eating behaviour and gastrointestinal symptoms of their children. They were also asked to provide a 3 d food diary. Children with autism exhibited several abnormalities in terms of eating behaviour and gastrointestinal symptoms. The levels of vitamins A and B6, Zn and Ca intakes were <80 % of the dietary reference intakes in both groups. In addition, the proportions of vitamin C and Ca intake deficiencies in the autism group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Serum Zn level was less than the normal reference range in both the groups. Serum Ca, vitamin A and folate levels in children with autism were significantly lower when compared with children without autism. According to the anthropometric data, the mean BMI, weight-for-height Z-score (ZWH) and BMI for age Z-score (ZBMIA) of children with autism were significantly higher than those of the typically developing children. Thus, nutritional inadequacies were observed in children with autism and typically developing children in China, which were, however, more pronounced among children with autism.

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-105
Author(s):  
Avni Gupta ◽  
Aakanksha Kharb ◽  
Sujata Sethi

INTRODUCTION: Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized mainly by deficits in social and communication patterns. Aberrant gene environment interactions during fetal development leads to formation of minor physical anomalies such as abnormal palmar creases commonly seen in autism spectrum disorder. AIM: To compare the prevalence of abnormal palmar creases in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children. METHODOLOGY:It was a case controlled cross sectional study conducted in departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics of Pt. B.D. Sharma, PGIMS Rohtak. Fifty children of age 4-16 years with diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (case group) and fifty typically developing children (control group) were recruited. A digital camera of 13 megapixels was used to click photographs of the palms of children. Palmar crease patterns of fifty children with diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder were compared with the control group. RESULTS:The prevalence of abnormal palmar creases in case group was higher (47%) than in control group (14%).The prevalence of Simian crease in case group was double (22%) as compared to one in control group i.e. 11%. The prevalence of Sydney crease in case group was 21%, while in control group it was only 3%. The prevalence of Suwon crease in case group was 4%,while it was not seen in control group. CONCLUSION:Children with abnormal palmar creases help in early screening of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder helping in early management of these children leading to better outcomes and alleviation of parental stress and burden


Autism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 670-679
Author(s):  
Simona Caldani ◽  
Sarah Steg ◽  
Aline Lefebvre ◽  
Paola Atzori ◽  
Hugo Peyre ◽  
...  

To identify quantitative indicators of social communication dysfunctions, we explored the oculomotor performances in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. Discordant findings in the literature have been reported for oculomotor behavior in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. This study aimed to explore reflexive and voluntary saccadic performance in a group of 32 children with autism spectrum disorders (mean age: 12.1 ± 0.5 years) compared to 32 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched typically developing children (control group). We used different types of reflexive and voluntary saccades: gap, step, overlap, and anti-saccades. Eye movements were recorded using an eye tracker (Mobile EBT®) and we measured latency, percentage of anticipatory and express saccades, errors of anti-saccades and gain. Children with autism spectrum disorders reported similar latency values with respect to typically developing children for reflexive and voluntary saccades; in contrast, they made more express and anticipatory saccades overall, as shown in paradigm testing (gap, step, overlap, and anti-saccades). Our findings support previous evidence of the atypicality of the cortical network, which is involved in saccade triggering and attentional processes in children with autism spectrum disorders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Cavallo ◽  
Luca Romeo ◽  
Caterina Ansuini ◽  
Francesca Battaglia ◽  
Lino Nobili ◽  
...  

AbstractFailure to develop prospective motor control has been proposed to be a core phenotypic marker of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, whether genuine differences in prospective motor control permit discriminating between ASD and non-ASD profiles over and above individual differences in motor output remains unclear. Here, we combined high precision measures of hand movement kinematics and rigorous machine learning analyses to determine the true power of prospective movement data to differentiate children with autism and typically developing children. Our results show that while movement is unique to each individual, variations in the kinematic patterning of sequential grasping movements genuinely differentiate children with autism from typically developing children. These findings provide quantitative evidence for a prospective motor control impairment in autism and indicate the potential to draw inferences about autism on the basis of movement kinematics.


MANUSYA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jeamjai Jeeraumporn ◽  
Pattama Patpong

The objective of this study was to compare experiential grammar in the narrative discourse of thirty typically developing Thai children and thirty Thai children with autism in elementary grades 1 to 3. Data was compiled by asking subjects to tell a narrative discourse from a wordless storybook "A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog” (Mayer 1967). Data was analyzed based on the Systemic Functional Linguistics approach and focused on experiential mode of meaning concerned with the system of Transitivity. The results revealed that children with autism used fewer clause complexes and clause simplexes than typically developing children. For the system of Transitivity, it was found that children with autism used less modified nominal groups as the Participant especially in grade 2 and 3 and they used a smaller number and less variety of process types; used a lower percentage of mental, behavioral and verbal processes; and used a lower percentage of serial verb constructions. Children with autism, especially those in grades 2 and 3, used a smaller variety of circumstance types; and used a lower percentage of clauses with complex circumstances.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Tell ◽  
Denise Davidson ◽  
Linda A. Camras

Eye gaze direction and expression intensity effects on emotion recognition in children with autism disorder and typically developing children were investigated. Children with autism disorder and typically developing children identified happy and angry expressions equally well. Children with autism disorder, however, were less accurate in identifying fear expressions across intensities and eye gaze directions. Children with autism disorder rated expressions with direct eyes, and 50% expressions, as more intense than typically developing children. A trend was also found for sad expressions, as children with autism disorder were less accurate in recognizing sadness at 100% intensity with direct eyes than typically developing children. Although the present research showed that children with autism disorder are sensitive to eye gaze direction, impairments in the recognition of fear, and possibly sadness, exist. Furthermore, children with autism disorder and typically developing children perceive the intensity of emotional expressions differently.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hollowood-Jones ◽  
James B. Adams ◽  
Devon M. Coleman ◽  
Sivapriya Ramamoorthy ◽  
Stephan Melnyk ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Previous research studies have demonstrated abnormalities in the metabolism of mothers of young children with autism.Method: Metabolic analysis was performed on blood samples from 30 mothers of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD-M) and from 29 mothers of young typically-developing children (TD-M). Targeted metabolic analysis focusing on the folate one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and the transsulfuration pathway (TS) as well as broad metabolic analysis were performed. Statistical analysis of the data involved both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.Results: Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in 5 metabolites from the folate one-carbon metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway and differences in an additional 48 metabolites identified by broad metabolic analysis, including lower levels of many carnitine-conjugated molecules. Multivariate analysis with leave-one-out cross-validation allowed classification of samples as belonging to one of the two groups of mothers with 93% sensitivity and 97% specificity with five metabolites. Furthermore, each of these five metabolites correlated with 8-15 other metabolites indicating that there are five clusters of correlated metabolites. In fact, all but 5 of the 50 metabolites with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were associated with the five identified groups. Many of the abnormalities appear linked to low levels of folate, vitamin B12, and carnitine-conjugated molecules.Conclusions: Mothers of children with ASD have many significantly different metabolite levels compared to mothers of typically developing children at 2-5 years after birth.


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