Search

This study investigates (a) group differences in parent-reported infant temperament and observed parent-child interaction between infant siblings of children on the autism spectrum (‘siblings’) and prematurely born infants (‘preterms’) and their mothers, and (b) associations between temperament and parent-child interaction, at 5 and 10 months of child’s (corrected) age. Both siblings and preterms are at elevated likelihood (EL) of autism (Agrawal et al., 2018; Laverty et al., 2021; Messinger et al., 2015; Szatmari et al., 2016; Vermeirsch et al., 2021), but – to our knowledge – these two groups have never been investigated together in a published peer-reviewed study on parent-child interaction and temperament in light of emergent autism. For a more detailed description of our study, we refer to the first step of this pre-registration (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/MF4H3).

This study explores whether maternal well-being and group status predict change in reported parenting behaviours among mothers of young children at elevated likelihood (EL) of autism. Two groups of children at EL of autism are included in our sample: (a) infant siblings of children with an established autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis (Messinger et al., 2015; Ozonoff et al., 2011), (b) children born prematurely, at a gestational age of less than 30 weeks (Agrawal et al., 2018; Laverty et al., 2021). Research findings indicate that lower maternal well-being (i.e., reports of low well-being or more symptoms of depression or parenting stress) is associated with fewer sensitive and responsive parenting behaviours and more disciplinary and critical parenting behaviours, both in the general population (Goodman et al., 2020) and among mothers of autistic children (Boonen et al., 2015; Likhitweerawong et al., 2020; Madarevic et al., 2022; Osborne & Reed, 2010) and children born pre-term (Feldman et al., 2007; Korja et al., 2008; Zengin Akkus et al., 2020). Moreover, parenting behaviours were found to mediate the relationships between well-being and child functioning (Goodman et al., 2020). According to the differential susceptibility theory (Belsky et al., 2007), children who seem most vulnerable to adverse environments, may also benefit the most from enriched environments. Several studies indicate that children at EL of autism may be especially susceptible to their environment, due to their genetic disposition or temperamental reactivity (e.g., Caplan et al., 2021; Gueron-Sela et al., 2015, 2016; Poehlmann et al., 2011, Poehlmann et al., 2012), and may thus benefit the most from sensitive and responsive parenting and be most vulnerable to critical and intrusive parenting. Given that mothers of young children at EL of autism may experience low levels of well-being (e.g., Feldman et al., 2007; Hayes & Watson, 2013; Kersting et al., 2004; Pace et al., 2016; Singer et al., 1999; Tint & Weiss, 2016), an investigation of the role that well-being plays in the course of parenting behaviours is needed. As the determinants of well-being and parenting behaviours may differ between mothers of siblings and pre-terms, an exploration of the influence of EL group could provide a better understanding of the strengths and vulnerabilities in this specific population and may open windows for intervention.

Additional file 3. Informed consent

Additional file 1. SPIRIT Checklist

Additional file 2. WHO items

Additional file 4. Informed consent

Additional file 1: Supplementary Methods. Supplementary Results. Figure S1. Screening for changes in mood states. Figure S2. Effects of oxytocin treatment on attachment and quality of life. Table S1. Detailed information on comorbidities and medication use for participants of the oxytocin and placebo treatment groups. Table S2. Side effect screening. Table S3. Assessment of baseline differences between groups. Table S4. Baseline attachment comparison between individuals with ASD and typically developing control subjects (data adopted from (19)) using SAAM and IPPA.

Additional file 2. Parents’ experiences prior to their child’s diagnostic assessment. Themes and subthemes resulting from the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the interview data.

Additional file 1. COREQ Checklist. Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative research Checklist.

Genetische factoren spelen een belangrijke rol in het ontstaan van psychotische stoornissen. Met toenemende evidentie worden verschillende zeldzame copy number variants (cnv’s) geïdentificeerd als risicofactoren. We beschrijven een patiënt die in de adolescentie twee psychotische episodes had. Bij hem werd een 16p11.2-duplicatie vastgesteld, een terugkerende cnv die geassocieerd wordt met verschillende somatische en psychiatrische fenotypes waaronder psychose en schizofrenie. We bespreken de mogelijke klinische relevantie van deze bevinding. Genetic factors play an important role in the development of psychotic disorders. With increasing evidence, several rare copy number variants (cnvs) have been identified as risk factors. We describe a patient who had two psychotic episodes during his adolescence. In this patient, a 16p11.2 duplication was detected. This duplication is a recurrent cnv associated with various somatic and psychiatric phenotypes including psychosis and schizophrenia. The potential clinical relevance of this finding is discussed. ispartof: Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie vol:61 issue:6 pages:421-425 ispartof: location:Netherlands status: published

ispartof: TOKK: Tijdschrift voor Orthopedagogiek, Kinderpsychiatrie en Klinische Kinderpsychologie vol:43 issue:3-4 pages:151-161 status: published

Pearson (partial) correlations between ASD characteristics, visual processing measures and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the white matter tracts. (DOCX 19Â kb)

Scatter plots displaying the association between individual differences in FA in right ILF (depicted on the X axis) and individual differences in quantitative ASD characteristics and visual processing measures (depicted on the Y axis). First row: Associations with (square root transformed) scores on the SRS questionnaire, the SRS Social and Communication subscale, the SRS RRBI subscale, and the RBS-R questionnaire. Second row: Associations with reaction time on the Fragmented Object Outlines task, (log-transformed) percentage coherence threshold on the Coherent Motion Task, (log-transformed) reaction time on the visual search task, and (square root transformed) fragmentation score on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure task. ASD subjects are depicted by empty squares, TD subjects by filled diamonds. (PPTX 130Â kb)

Supplemental material, AUT702559_Lay_Abstract for Change detection of meaningful objects in real-world scenes in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder by Steven Vanmarcke, Ilse Noens, Jean Steyaert and Johan Wagemans in Autism

Supplemental material, AUT702559_supplementary_material for Change detection of meaningful objects in real-world scenes in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder by Steven Vanmarcke, Ilse Noens, Jean Steyaert and Johan Wagemans in Autism

International audience; We study, in this paper, a model for the core of the system of the Glycerophospholipid metabolism in the murine cells. It comprises the simple and enzymatic reactions of PhosphatidylEthanolamine and the PhosphatidylCholine. The model's general structure is taken from a number of books and articles. We translate this model into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), to propose a quantitative explanation of the experimental experiences and the observed results. In order to make it usable as a basis for simulations and mathematical analysis we need to make precise the various constants present in the equations but which are usually not directly accessible in the literature. In a first step we considered experimental data of rat's liver cells obtained by NMR spectroscopy: given the values of metabolite concentrations we find appropriate parameter values which allow us to describe the system with ODEs. We have then performed several analyses using the developed model such as stability analysis. A first interesting result is the global stability of the system which was observed by simulation and then proved by mathematical arguments. A second important result is that we observe on the diagrams that the steady state for normal cells is precisely a singular point of order two, whereas tumoral cells present different characteristics; this fact has been proved for PhosphatidylEthanolamine N-Methyl transferase (PEMT), an enzyme which seems to be identified for the first time as a crucial element in the tumoral process. In a second step we applied our model to experimental data of proton HRMAS NMR spectroscopy for solid B16 melanoma and Lewis lung (3LL) 3LL carcinoma cells treated by Chloroethyl Nitrosourea (CENU). We performed a complete comparative analysis of parameters in order to learn the predictive statements to explain increases and decreases which one can observe in concentrations.; Ce papier modélise le cœur du métabolisme des Glycerophospholipides dans les cellules de murine. Il fournit une analyse comparative complète des paramètres permettant d'apprendre des relations prédictives expliquant la croissance ou la décroissance que l'on observe dans les concentrations.

Heaps constitute a well-known data structure allowing the implementation of an efficient O(n log n) sorting algorithm as well as the design of fast priority queues. Although heaps have been known for long, their combinatorial properties are still partially worked out: exact summation formulae have been stated, but most of the asymptotic behaviors are still unknown. In this paper, we present a number of general (not restricting to special subsequences) asymptotic results that give insight on the difficulties encountered in the asymptotic study of the number of heaps of a given size and of the cost of heap construction. In particular, we exhibit the influence of arithmetic functions in the apparently chaotic behavior of these quantities and study their extremal and average properties. It is also shown that the distribution function of the cost of heap construction using Floyd’s algorithm and other variants is asymptotically normal.

BackgroundPrior evidence points towards lower cardiac vagal modulation in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to control groups. A cross-sectional phase in this study will gather more evidence concerning this topic. A longitudinal phase will explore the efficacy of a biofeedback intervention based on Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) in adolescents with ASD. Finally, a feasibility study will focus on a non-supervised RSA biofeedback intervention in this population.MethodsThe cross-sectional phase includes the comparison of adolescents with ASD (n=38) and age and gender matched typically developing peers. A standardized assessment will be used which contains physiological, cortisol and behavioral measurements. The longitudinal phase contains a randomized, single-blinded and sham-controlled design to determine the efficacy of supervised RSA biofeedback in adolescents with ASD (n=128). A follow-up phase of 5 weeks is included to evaluate the presence of retention effects. During the latter, a feasibility study will focus on a non-supervised intervention (n=62). Assessments as described previously are scheduled after the intervention and the follow-up phase.DiscussionFirst, more conclusive evidence will be provided for the presence of lower cardiac vagal modulation in adolescents with ASD as well as the association between these lower values and physiological and behavioral indices. Second, the supervised intervention in adolescents with ASD is hypothesized to upregulate this cardiac vagal modulation and positively change behavioral and physiological parameters. Third, evidence regarding the feasibility and acceptability of a non-supervised intervention may open novel avenues for home-based interventions in this population.Study registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04628715. Registered on 13 November 2020.DeclarationsFundingFunding is provided by the Marguerite-Marie Delacroix foundation with grant number GV/B-363. The funder will not have any role in any part of this study.Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.Availability of data and materialAll data from the participants will be de-identified and provided with a unique code. The coded data will be stored for 20 years in secured databases of the Research Group for Adapted Physical Activity and Psychomotor Rehabilitation, protected by the KU Leuven and will only be accessible by researchers of collaborating labs. The key to the coded data will be stored securely and confidentially in a separate electronic file. The saliva samples will be stored under appropriate conditions during the study at the biobank of the KU Leuven and will be destroyed afterwards. Participants waive any intellectual property rights on findings that might result from the analysis of their saliva samples.Code availabilityNot applicable.Author’s contributionsAll authors contributed to the writing of this manuscript and the grant proposal. Anoushka Thoen leads the study and data management under supervision of Tine Van Damme, who provided facilities and equipment. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.Ethics approvalEthical approval for this study was granted by both the Ethics Committee UPC KU Leuven on July 2nd 2020 (ref. EC2020-541, version 2.0) and the Ethics Committee Research UZ/KU Leuven on October 20th2020 (ref: S64219, version 1.0).Consent to participateParents of the participants should provide informed consent in addition to the informed assent provided by the participants themselves. Participants may withdraw consent and participation at any time. The participant’s request to withdraw from the study will always be respected and reasons to withdraw are not obliged to be mentioned. The sponsor of this study is KU Leuven (Oude Markt 13, 3000 Leuven, Belgium) and will have no role in any part of this study.Consent for publicationAuthorship to publications will be determined in accordance with the requirements published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and in accordance with the requirements of the respective peer-reviewed medical journal.AmendmentsEvery substantial adjustment to the protocol will be communicated to the Ethics Committee UPC KU Leuven and the Ethics Committee Research UZ/KU Leuven as an amendment to the protocol. Only after approval of this amendment, the adjustments can be implemented and communicated to the researchers and participants.AuditingThe researchers will permit study-related monitoring, audits, Ethical Committee review and regulatory inspection, providing direct access to all related source data/documents.Dissemination of study resultsThe results of this study will be used for publication in peer-reviewed journals. There will also be a general dissemination of the study results for the participants and personal results will be provided upon request.