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Aim. The aim of this article is to assess fMRI activation during semantic tasks in adolescents with ASD. Material. 44 right-handed male adolescents aged 12-19 (mean 14.3 ± 2.0), 31 with autism spectrum disorder who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for Asperger syndrome and 13 neurotypical adolescents matched according to age and handiness. Method. Functional testing (fMRI) was performed during semantic decisions tasks and control phonological decisions in three categories of tasks: concrete nouns, verbs with multiple meanings, words describing states of mind, as a control condition. Statistical analyzes were performed at the level of p <0.05 with FWE (family-wise error) correction and p <0.001. Results. In the ASD group, lower BOLD signal was demonstrated in many brain areas (including the precuneus, the posterior cingulate gyrus, the angular gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus) regardless of task category and processing method. The smallest differences in semantic processing were found for concrete nouns and the greatest ones for words describing states of mind. Conclusions. The presence of different activation patterns in the ASD group suggests that far more than just the areas of the CNS traditionally attributed to language processing are involved in semantic deficits in ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. The aim of this article is to evaluate changes in the grey matter volume using the VBM method in a group of adolescents with ASD who met the criteria for Asperger syndrome. Material and methods. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was performed in 37 male adolescents, aged 12 to 19 (M = 14.3 ± 2.0), with autism spectrum disorder who met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for Asperger syndrome and 15 neurotypical adolescents matched by age. Significance was set at p < 0.05 with FWE (family-wise error) correction and p < 0.007 without FWE correction. Results. The decrease in the volume of grey matter was observed in ASD group including the pre - and postcentral gyrus, the superior and middle frontal gyrus, the inferior and superior parietal lobule, the precuneus, the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, the fusiform gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the lingual gyrus, the middle occipital region, the cuneus and the angular gyrus, the regions of calcarine sulcus, and the cerebellum. The majority of changes were localized bilaterally. Conclusions. The decrease in the volume of grey matter observed in ASD group, which can be functionally related to the characteristics of deficits observed in autism spectrum disorder, highlights the role of abnormal organization of numerous CNS structures in the genesis of symptoms observed in cognitive and behavioral domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Singapore Management University's first-year law curriculum was redesigned to concentrate all its legal research teaching in the Legal Research and Writing course, the Law Librarians were presented with a fresh opportunity to revisit and revamp how they taught legal research. Instead of using the previous lecture-style approach, a flipped classroom approach was used to encourage active learning. Online platforms were utilized for topics that students were able to learn independently, freeing up the time for in-class activities and discussions for more complicated topics. This paper will reflect on the changes made using the flipped classroom and blended learning methods and make recommendations for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]