Autism spectrum disorder and severe social impairment associated with elevated plasma interleukin-8

The assessment and diagnosis phase of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a very difficult time for the parent. You will likely feel completely bewildered. You will be filled with many mixed emotions such as love for your child and fear for your child’s future. You may feel like your heart is breaking. But I can tell you, you are going to make it through this—just like I have. You will likely have to overcome significant denial to even discuss the unusual signs or symptoms that you have noticed in your young child. You may be afraid to hear the term “autism” come from your pediatrician’s mouth. However, you are about to start a very important journey with your child. You have to be strong in order to obtain for your child vital treatments and therapies that can dramatically improve your child’s life and future. Theoretically, ASD is not difficult to recognize and diagnose. However, in practice, it can be challenging. The full spectrum of symptoms included in ASD is quite wide. One child may appear quite typical with only minor eccentricities while another has significant intellectual disability, social impairment, self-injurious behavior, and aggression. No two individuals with ASD are exactly alike. In fact, individuals with autism are often more different than similar. We cannot easily pigeonhole or stereotype our children. Further complicating diagnosis, professionals often have little training in ASD, even in fields that have autism within their scope of practice. Furthermore, children with more subtle ASD symptoms or those who are “high-functioning” (more verbal and with more capabilities in general) do not always have symptoms that are evident at a very young age. At times, autism symptoms may not be identifiable until social problems become more significant as the child grows older. Primary care physicians are not typically able to spend long enough with your child during visits to pick up on the sometimes subtle signs needed to alert them to a possible ASD diagnosis.

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C-65 Transdiagnostic Factors of Social Impairment in Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acz034.227 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 1094-1094

Author(s):

A Garagozzo ◽

L Katz ◽

M Scott ◽

S Hunter

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Motor Skills ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Motor Dysfunction ◽

Social Impairment ◽

Motor Deficits ◽

Social Deficits ◽

Functional Communication ◽

Children With Adhd

Abstract Objective Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD are associated with greater symptom severity, including social impairment. Furthering work by Lerner, Pothoff, and Hunter (2015), we sought to identify unique and shared factors that contribute to parent-reported social deficits in children with ADHD, ASD, and ADHD+ASD. We hypothesized attention, hyperactivity, and motor skills would predict social deficits in ADHD, while functional communication and motor skills would predict social deficits in ASD; and additively, all factors would predict social deficits in ADHD+ASD. Method Utilizing a clinical database, we identified 236 participants (4-21 years; Mage = 10.6; 71% male; 28% African American; FSIQ M = 94.31) with diagnoses of ADHD, ASD, and ADHD+ASD. We examined FSIQ from the WISC-4/5, WPPSI-3, or DAS-2, motor skills and social impairment from the SIB-R and attention, hyperactivity, and functional communication from the BASC-2/3. Results Using hierarchical linear regression and controlling for FSIQ, hypotheses were partially supported. FSIQ was controlled for in each group. For ADHD, hyperactivity, functional communication, and motor skills contributed significantly to the model (p < .001), while for ASD, motor skills contributed significantly to the model (p < .001). For ASD + ADHD, functional communication and motor skills contributed significantly to the model (p < .001) Conclusion Results support previous findings that motor deficits and functional communication are associated with social impairment in children with ADHD and ASD, independently and comorbidly. This suggests that targeting motor dysfunction and functional communication concurrently may be effective for improving social interaction skills in children with ADHD +ASD.

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Evidence-based treatment and conceptualization of autism spectrum disorder: Emotion regulation, social impairment, and anxiety as targets

Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic ◽

10.1521/bumc.2019.83.3.199 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 83 (3) ◽

pp. 199-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michelle A. Patriquin

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Impairment ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Evidence Based Treatment ◽

Evidence Based Treatments ◽

Adults With Asd

The goal of this special issue is to highlight innovative evidence-based treatments and conceptualizations of emotion regulation difficulties, social impairment, and anxiety in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The issue is organized into these three highly linked constructs. Targeting these constructs effectively will help to ensure positive outcomes for youth and adults with ASD. It is clear that continued research is needed that creatively addresses emotion regulation problems, social impairment, and anxiety in ASD.

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Relations Between Executive Functions, Social Impairment, and Friendship Quality on Adjustment Among High Functioning Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders ◽

10.1007/s10803-017-3205-2 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 47 (9) ◽

pp. 2861-2872 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Rebecca W. Lieb ◽

Amy M. Bohnert

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Friendship Quality ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Impairment ◽

High Functioning

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Applications of Magnetoencephalography to Autism Spectrum Disorder

Fifty Years of Magnetoencephalography ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190935689.003.0021 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 317-346

Author(s):

Kristina Safar ◽

Margot J. Taylor ◽

Junko Matsuzaki ◽

Timothy P. L. Roberts

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Face Processing ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Gamma Band ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Impairment ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Sensory Sensitivity ◽

Neural Signals ◽

Auditory Responses

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) has a unique combination of attributes allowing the probing of brain function, with resolution of space, time, and spectral content. These attributes lend themselves to the study of disorders characterized by no conspicuous structural brain anomalies, but rather anomalies of neural signals and communication. This chapter reviews the use of diverse MEG techniques and paradigms to study one such disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The authors focus on MEG as a probe of auditory and face processing anomalies in ASD. Impairments in auditory processing in ASD have been identified as objective markers of language and communication ability, general cognitive ability, and abnormal sensory sensitivity. Most MEG studies have observed that atypical auditory responses such as components of the early auditory evoked field (i.e., M50, M100), mismatch fields, or gamma-band oscillatory activity occur in individuals with ASD compared with typically developing children. Maturational trajectories of such measures also deviate from neurotypical patterns. Similarly, impairments in face perception are characteristic of ASD and have been a large focus of MEG studies, as a model probe for the social impairment phenotype. MEG research has demonstrated atypical source localization of activity during face processing in children through adults as well as in executive functions, including working memory and inhibition. Interregional differences in synchrony of neural oscillations have been elaborated by MEG in emotional face processing tasks, with visual perceptual processing underscoring gamma-band atypicalities in ASD. We highlight MEG as a promising approach for establishing clinical biomarkers of ASD and informing mechanistic neuroscience.

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Elevated Plasma X-Linked Neuroligin 4 Expression Is Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Medical Principles and Practice ◽

10.1159/000507081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 480-485

Author(s):

Laila Y. Al-Ayadhi ◽

Hanan Y. Qasem ◽

Hend Ali M. Alghamdi ◽

Nadra E. Elamin

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Elevated Plasma

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Functional brain abnormalities associated with comorbid anxiety in autism spectrum disorder

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579420000772 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 1273-1286

Author(s):

James Bartolotti ◽

John A. Sweeney ◽

Matthew W. Mosconi

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Data Exchange ◽

Repetitive Behavior ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Social Impairment ◽

Comorbid Anxiety

AbstractAnxiety disorders are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and associated with social–communication impairment and repetitive behavior symptoms. The neurobiology of anxiety in ASD is unknown, but amygdala dysfunction has been implicated in both ASD and anxiety disorders. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared amygdala–prefrontal and amygdala–striatal connections across three demographically matched groups studied in the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE): ASD with a comorbid anxiety disorder (N = 25; ASD + Anxiety), ASD without a comorbid disorder (N = 68; ASD-NoAnx), and typically developing controls (N = 139; TD). Relative to ASD-NoAnx and TD controls, ASD + Anxiety individuals had decreased connectivity between the amygdala and dorsal/rostral anterior cingulate cortex (dACC/rACC). The functional connectivity of these connections was not affected in ASD-NoAnx, and amygdala connectivity with ventral ACC/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuits was not different in ASD + Anxiety or ASD-NoAnx relative to TD. Decreased amygdala–dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC)/rACC connectivity was associated with more severe social impairment in ASD + Anxiety; amygdala–striatal connectivity was associated with restricted, repetitive behavior (RRB) symptom severity in ASD-NoAnx individuals. These findings suggest comorbid anxiety in ASD is associated with disrupted emotion-monitoring processes supported by amygdala–dACC/mPFC pathways, whereas emotion regulation systems involving amygdala–ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are relatively spared. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for comorbid anxiety for parsing ASD neurobiological heterogeneity.

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