scholarly journals Evaluation of the first-night effect of polysomnographic recording on cardiac autonomic activity in children with autism spectrum disorder

Salud Mental ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 307-314
Author(s):  
Erik Leonardo Mateos Salgado ◽  
Fructuoso Ayala Guerrero ◽  
Alexis de Jesús Rueda Santos ◽  
Beatriz Eugenia del Olmo Alcántara
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Sleep Stages ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Autonomic Activity ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Polysomnographic Recording ◽  
First Night Effect

Introduction. The first night effect (FNE) is the tendency to have lower than usual sleep quality and quantity during the first polysomnography (PSG) recording, which alters sleep architecture. The FNE occurs in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with studies suggesting that cardiac autonomic dysregulation is altered in patients with this illness. Objective. To determine whether the FNE influences the autonomic activity of ASD and typically developing (TD) children. Method. Two PSGs were recorded in 13 ASD and 13 TD children. The FNE was evaluated with eight sleep variables and autonomic activity through respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and low frequency (LF). Statistical analyses included intra- and inter-subject comparisons. Results. The FNE was present in both groups and affected more sleep variables in the ASD group. There were no significant differences between both recordings in RSA and LF. Inter-subject comparison showed significant differences in certain sleep variables, mainly during the first night. A comparison of RSA and LF between N2 and N3 stages and REM sleep showed that the TD group had significant differences in both measures whereas the ASD group only did so in the LF the first night. Discussion and conclusion. The influence of the FNE on the quantitative characteristics of sleep is corroborated in ASD and TD children, but not in RSA or LF. When the activity of the RSA and LF between sleep stages was considered, a different pattern was observed between the two PSG recordings.

Profiles of Autonomic Activity in Autism Spectrum Disorder with and without Anxiety

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Parma ◽  
Nicola Cellini ◽  
Lisa Guy ◽  
Alana McVey ◽  
Keiran Rump ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Physiological Activity ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Parasympathetic Activity ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Physiological Profile ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Advance Research

Objective: Anxiety disorders are common among youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both anxiety and ASD are associated with differences in physiological activity. To date, few studies have investigated the physiological profile of youth with ASD and even fewer have systematically assessed how the co-occurrence of anxiety disorders and ASD modulates resting physiological activity.Method: The aim of the present study was to evaluate sympathetic and parasympathetic activity at rest in 75 school-aged children and adolescents with ASD, with (ASD+Anxiety = 22, 6F) and without co-occurring anxiety (ASD Alone =15, 6F) and to compare their physiological profile with that of matched typically developing controls (TDC) with (Anxiety Alone = 16, 6F) and without co-occurring anxiety disorders (TDC = 22, 8F).Results: Results indicated reduced sympathetic and parasympathetic activity at rest in ASD as compared to TDC youth without anxiety. The ASD+Anxiety and Anxiety Alone groups showed different sympathetic, but similar parasympathetic, activity. Correlational, multivariate, and regression analyses indicated that the four groups differed among several physiological and subjective measures.Conclusion: These findings suggest that ASD and anxiety are associated with distinct profiles of autonomic nervous system activity that cannot be reduced to either the sympathetic or parasympathetic branch alone. An autonomic profile-based approach is more likely to advance research, diagnosis, and treatment of ASD and anxiety than unidimensional, single-modality approaches.

scholarly journals Developmental Language Disorder and Autism: Commonalities and Differences on Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 589
Author(s):  
Natasa Georgiou ◽  
George Spanoudis
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Autism Group ◽  
Developmental Conditions

Language and communication deficits characterize both autism spectrum disorder and developmental language disorder, and the possibility of there being a common profile of these is a matter of tireless debate in the research community. This experimental study addresses the relation of these two developmental conditions in the critical topic of language. Α total of 103 children (79 males, 24 females) participated in the present study. Specifically, the study’s sample consisted of 40 children with autism, 28 children with developmental language disorder, and 35 typically developing children between 6 and 12 years old. All children completed language and cognitive measures. The results showed that there is a subgroup inside the autism group of children who demonstrate language difficulties similar to children with developmental language disorder. Specifically, two different subgroups were derived from the autism group; those with language impairment and those without. Both autism and language-impaired groups scored lower than typically developing children on all language measures indicating a common pathology in language ability. The results of this study shed light on the relation between the two disorders, supporting the assumption of a subgroup with language impairment inside the autism spectrum disorder population. The common picture presented by the two developmental conditions highlights the need for further research in the field.

Mental health correlates and potential childhood predictors for the wish to be of the opposite sex in young autistic adults

Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132110240
Author(s):  
Jung-Chi Chang ◽  
Meng-Chuan Lai ◽  
Yueh-Ming Tai ◽  
Susan Shur-Fen Gau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Item Endorsement ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Autistic Adults

Cross-sectional research has demonstrated the overrepresentation of gender dysphoria in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder. However, the predictors and underlying mechanisms of this co-occurrence remain unclear. This follow-up study aimed to explore baseline (childhood/adolescence) predictors for the follow-up (adulthood) self-reported wish to be of the opposite sex and to investigate its mental health correlates in a sample of 88 autistic individuals as compared with 42 typically developing controls. An item on the Adult Self-Report Inventory-4, “I wish I was the opposite sex,” was used. We compared mental health symptoms between adults with and without this item endorsement. We used prediction models to explore family and autism-related predictors in childhood/adolescence to endorse this item in adulthood. There were more adults endorsing the item in the autism spectrum disorder group compared with the typically developing group. Autistic adults who endorsed the item experienced more mental health challenges, more bullying victimization, more suicidal ideations, and worse quality of life. Lower parent-reported family support and more stereotyped/repetitive behaviors during childhood/adolescence predicted the self-reported wish to be of the opposite sex in adulthood in autistic individuals. It is necessary to raise more attention to gender development and related mental health impact in autistic individuals. Lay abstract Autistic people/people with autism spectrum disorder are more likely to experience gender dysphoria. However, the possible longitudinal predictors and underlying mechanisms of this co-occurrence are unclear. To fill this knowledge gap, we assessed 88 people with autism spectrum disorder and 42 typically developing individuals at their average ages of 13.0 (baseline, childhood/adolescence) and 20.2 years old (follow-up, adulthood). At follow-up, their endorsement on the item “I wish I was the opposite sex” was used to evaluate gender dysphoric symptoms. We compared mental health symptoms between adults with and without this item endorsement at the follow-up assessment. We explored parent-reported family and autism characteristics-related predictors in childhood/adolescence to this item endorsement in adulthood. We found that more autistic adults reported the wish to be of the opposite sex than did typically developing individuals. Autistic adults who endorsed this item experienced more mental health challenges, more school bullying and cyberbullying, more suicidal ideation, and worse quality of life. Moreover, parent-reported lower family support and more stereotyped/repetitive behaviors during childhood/adolescence predicted the self-reported wish to be of the opposite sex in adulthood in autistic individuals. More attention and support should be provided to autistic people regarding gender development and related mental health and quality of life impact, especially during the transition period to young adulthood.

scholarly journals Early screening of autism spectrum disorder using cry features

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Khozaei ◽  
Hadi Moradi ◽  
Reshad Hosseini ◽  
Hamidreza Pouretemad ◽  
Bahareh Eskandari
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Early Screening ◽  
Classification Approach ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

AbstractDue to the importance of automatic and early autism screening, in this paper, a cry-based screening approach for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is introduced. During the study, we realized that the ASD specific features are not necessarily observable among all children with ASD and among all instances of each child. Therefore, we proposed a new classification approach to be able to find such features and their corresponding instances. We tested the proposed approach and found two features that can be used to distinguish groups of children with ASD from Typically Developing (TD) children. In other words, these features are present in subsets of children with ASD not all of them. The approach has been tested on a dataset including 14 boys and 7 girls with ASD and 14 TD boys and 7 TD girls, between 18 to 53 months old. The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of the proposed approach for boys were 85.71%, 100%, and 92.85%, respectively. These measures were 71.42%, 100%, and 85.71% for girls, respectively.

Erratum: Stanish et al. (2015)

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 326
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Activity Enjoyment

In the article Stanish, H., Curtin, C., Must, A., Phillips, S., Maslin, M., and Bandini, L. (2015). Enjoyment, barriers, and beliefs about physical activity in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 32(4), 302-317. doi:10.1123/APAQ.2015-0038, the authors omitted acknowledgment that the study was an extension of a larger (parent) study that compared physical activity levels and correlates among adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) and typically developing (TD) adolescents. Some of the methods for the study published in this journal are identical to those in the parent study, and the same comparison group of TD adolescents was used for both disability groups (ID and autism spectrum disorder). The online version of the article has been corrected.The parent study was published as Stanish, H.I., Curtin, C., Must, A., Phillips, S., Maslin, M., & Bandini, L. (2016). Physical activity enjoyment, perceived barriers, and beliefs among adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 13(1), 102–110. doi:10.1123/jpah.2014-0548.

Functional changes during visuo-spatial working memory in autism spectrum disorder: 2-year longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa M Vogan ◽  
Benjamin R Morgan ◽  
Mary Lou Smith ◽  
Margot J Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Functional Changes

This study examined functional changes longitudinally over 2 years in neural correlates associated with working memory in youth with and without autism spectrum disorder, and the impact of increasing cognitive load. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a visuo-spatial 1-back task with four levels of difficulty. A total of 14 children with autism spectrum disorder and 15 typically developing children (ages 7–13) were included at baseline and followed up approximately 2 years later. Despite similar task performance between groups, differences were evident in the developmental trajectories of neural responses. Typically developing children showed greater load-dependent activation which intensified over time in the frontal, parietal and occipital lobes and the right fusiform gyrus, compared to those with autism spectrum disorder. Children with autism spectrum disorder showed minimal age-related changes in load-dependent activation, but greater longitudinal load-dependent deactivation in default mode network compared to typically developing children. Results suggest inadequate modulation of neural activity with increasing cognitive demands in children with autism spectrum disorder, which does not mature into adolescence, unlike their typically developing peers. Diminished ability for children with autism spectrum disorder to modulate neural activity during this period of maturation suggests that they may be more vulnerable to the increasing complexity of social and academic demands as they progress through adolescence than their peers.

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