Risk of autism in further children - study findings

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Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 20 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Risk of autism in further children - study findings

A large population-based study from Denmark has followed siblings for the risk for autism spectrum disorders, finding different likelihoods depending on birth year, and also whether brothers or sisters were half- or full-siblings.

The study uses records of all children born in Denmark between 1980 and 2004. It is the first study of its kind, say the authors, to follow such a large number of children - around 1.5 million - and to consider the "recurrence risk" of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for both full- and half-siblings.

The study - published online in JAMA Pediatrics by researchers from Aarhus University - compared children who had an older sibling with ASD against those whose older sibling did not have ASD.

According to the authors, 30% of all ASD cases are childhood autism, and the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders has increased over the past 20 years.

The study shows that between 1980 and 2004, the recurrence risks for ASDs ranged between 4.5% and 10.5%, higher than the risk of autism spectrum disorders found across the Danish population, of 1.18%.

Additionally, the researchers found there was an almost seven-fold greater risk for an autism spectrum disorder if an older sibling had an ASD diagnosis, compared with families in which the older sibling did not have a disorder.

For children with the same mother, the recurrence risk was 7.5% for full-siblings and 2.4% for half-siblings.

For children with the same father, the recurrence risk was 7.4% for full-siblings, but the researchers not that there was "no statistically significant increased risk" among half-siblings.

The authors note that the reason the risk is higher for half-siblings who share a mother may be due to the fact that they share genes from their mother, and they also share "exposures derived from their mother's intrauterine environment and perinatal history" across her different pregnancies.

An important issue to address from the study, say the researchers, is that parents who have a child with an ASD may choose not to have any more children. This phenomenon is known as stoppage, and they say it may result in an underestimate of the recurrence risk.

The authors conclude the study by saying:

"The difference in the recurrence risk between full- and half-siblings supports the role of genetics in ASDs, while the significant recurrence risk in maternal half-siblings may support the role of factors associated with pregnancy and the maternal intrauterine environment in ASDs."

The results should be reassuring to parents who have a child with an ASD if they are thinking of having other children, note the researchers, because the recurrence risk they found is "substantially lower than recent reports from smaller clinic-based populations."

?Researchers from Duke University recently linked induced labor and autism risk.

How do parents navigate care for their children with disabilities and other needs? Here's a detailed analysis: Getting support for children with disabilities.

Written by Marie Ellis

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our autism section for the latest news on this subject.

“Recurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Fulland Half-Siblings and Trends Over Time,” Therese K. Grønborg, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2259, 19 August 2013.

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Oxytocin may make the brain take notice of faces in autism

Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Endocrinology
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Oxytocin may make the brain take notice of faces in autism

Difficulty in registering and responding to the facial expressions of other people is a hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Relatedly, functional imaging studies have shown that individuals with ASD display altered brain activations when processing facial images.

The hormone oxytocin plays a vital role in the social interactions of both animals and humans. In fact, multiple studies conducted with healthy volunteers have provided evidence for beneficial effects of oxytocin in terms of increased trust, improved emotion recognition, and preference for social stimuli.

This combination of scientific work led German researchers to hypothesize about the influence of oxytocin in ASD. Dr. Gregor Domes, from the University of Freiburg and first author of the new study, explained: "In the present study, we were interested in the question of whether a single dose of oxytocin would change brain responses to social compared to non-social stimuli in individuals with autism spectrum disorder."

They found that oxytocin did show an effect on social processing in the individuals with ASD, "suggesting that oxytocin may help to treat a basic brain function that goes awry in autism spectrum disorders," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

To conduct this study, they recruited fourteen individuals with ASD and fourteen control volunteers, all of whom completed a face- and house-matching task while undergoing imaging scans. Each participant completed this task and scanning procedure twice, once after receiving a nasal spray containing oxytocin and once after receiving a nasal spray containing placebo. The order of the sprays was randomized, and the tests were administered one week apart.

Using two sets of stimuli in the matching task, one of faces and one of houses, allowed the researchers to not only compare the effects of the oxytocin and placebo administrations, but also allowed them to discriminate findings between specific effects to only social stimuli and non-specific effects to more general brain processing.

What they found was intriguing. The data indicate that oxytocin specifically increases responses of the amygdala to social stimuli in individuals with ASD. The amygdala, the authors explain, "has been associated with processing of emotional stimuli, threat-related stimuli, face processing, and vigilance for salient stimuli".

This finding suggests oxytocin might promote the salience of social stimuli in ASD. Increased salience of social stimuli might support behavioral training of social skills in ASD.

These data support the idea that oxytocin may be a promising approach in the treatment of ASD and could stimulate further research, even clinical trials, on the exploration of oxytocin as an add-on treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

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The article is "Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on the Neural Basis of Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder" by Gregor Domes, Markus Heinrichs, Ekkehardt Kumbier, Annette Grossmann, Karlheinz Hauenstein, and Sabine C. Herpertz (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.02.007). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 74, Issue 3 (August 1, 2013), published by Elsevier.

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Job training results in competitive employment for youth with autism

Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Job training results in competitive employment for youth with autism

A Virginia Commonwealth University study¹ shows intensive job training benefits youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), one of the most challenging disabilities in the world where only 20 percent find employment. Published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the study demonstrates that nine months of intensive internship training, in conjunction with an engaged hospital, can lead to high levels of competitive employment in areas such as cardiac care, wellness, ambulatory surgery and pediatric intensive care units.

"This is the first study of its kind to demonstrate the skills and abilities youth with ASD have and the success they can experience at work," said Paul H. Wehman, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Director of the VCU Autism Center at the VCU School of Education. "Previous research in this area showed that youth with ASD were employed at lower rates than even their peers with other disabilities."

Traditionally, youth with autism between the ages of 18 and 22 remain unemployed after leaving school at rates of over 80 percent. But VCU researchers reported that those who completed a program called "Project SEARCH with Autism Supports" achieved employment at 87 percent. This study also showed that youth with ASD required less intense support as they became more competent at their work task.

VCU partnered on the study with Bon Secours Richmond Health System St. Mary's Hospital in Henrico County, Va., St. Francis Medical Center in Chesterfield County, Va.; Henrico County Public Schools; Chesterfield County Public Schools; and the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS).

"Bon Secours has participated in Project SEARCH since 2010 and each year we find the students add a tremendous value to our team of caregivers," said Michael Spine, Bon Secours Health System Senior Vice President of Business Development. "Project SEARCH graduates are permanent and important members of our staff, working throughout the hospitals in a variety of areas including labor and delivery, our cardiac units and wellness."

"Witnessing how these 'disabled students' are transformed into valued employees and colleagues during their Project SEARCH year is the best example of how our system can be successful when our collaboration is employed," said DARS Commissioner James A. Rothrock.kara

te "Getting a job is the central accomplishment in life for all 20-year-olds," said study co-investigator Carol M. Schall, Ph.D., Director of Technical Assistance for the VCU Autism Center for Excellence and Virginia Autism Resource Center. "For far too long, youth with ASD have been left out of that elated feeling that adults have when they get their first real employment. Through this study, we were able to demonstrate that youth with ASD can be successful employees."

Youth with autism were employed in jobs not typically considered for those with disabilities in a hospital setting. They worked 20 to 40 hours per week and were paid 24 percent more than the minimum wage.

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Competitive Employment for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Early Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial:

Paul H. Wehman, Carol M. Schall, Jennifer McDonough, John Kregel, Valerie Brooke, Alissa Molinelli, Whitney Ham, Carolyn W. Graham, J. Erin Riehle, Holly T. Collins, Weston Thiss

1. Wehman PH et al. (2013). Competitive employment for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Early results from a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

2. The study was funded by the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP) grant #H133B080027 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), and by the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services.

Abstract: For most youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), employment upon graduation from high school or college is elusive. Employment rates are reported in many studies to be very low despite many years of intensive special education services. This paper presented the preliminary results of a randomized clinical trial of Project SEARCH plus ASD Supports on the employment outcomes for youth with ASD between the ages of 18–21 years of age. This model provides very promising results in that the employment outcomes for youth in the treatment group were much higher in non-traditional jobs with higher than minimum wage incomes than for youth in the control condition. Specifically, 21 out of 24 (87.5 %) treatment group participants acquired employment while 1 of 16 (6.25 %) of control group participants acquired employment.

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Functional role in the cerebellum suggested by analysis of 26 networked autism genes

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 29 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Functional role in the cerebellum suggested by analysis of 26 networked autism genes

A team of scientists has obtained intriguing insights into two groups of autism candidate genes in the mammalian brain that new evidence suggests are functionally and spatially related. The newly published analysis identifies two networked groupings from 26 genes associated with autism that are overexpressed in the cerebellar cortex, in areas dominated by neurons called granule cells.

The team, composed of neuroscientists and computational biologists, worked from a database providing expression levels of individual genes throughout the mouse brain, as complied in the open-source Allen Mouse Brain Atlas. To promote reproducibility, the scientists surveyed expression data of over 3000 genes, about three-fourths of all the genes listed in the Atlas for which two independent sets of data have been complied.

The work was led by Professor Partha Mitra of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and scientists from MindSpec, a nonprofit research organization, founded by Dr. Sharmila Banerjee-Basu.

Despite obvious genetic and neuroanatomical differences between mouse and human, the team explains, mouse models are extremely effective in dissecting out the role of specific genes, pathways, neuronal subtypes and brain regions in specific abnormal behaviors manifested in both mice and people.

Based on years of studies in both species, scientists now know of mutations affecting more than 300 genes whose occurrence correlates with autism susceptibility; more are certain to be identified. Some of these candidate genes are more strongly correlated with the illness than others, although correlation is not the same thing as direct evidence of causation.

Nevertheless, "the key question as yet unanswered," notes Dr. Mitra, "concerns the way or ways in which particular mutations, singly or in combination, cause pathologies that result in the complex combination of symptoms that characterizes autism in children." It is assumed that autism pathologies are the result of insults - genetic, environmental, or most likely both - sustained at the time of conception and early in development.

Dr. Idan Menashe, now of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and Dr. Pascal Grange, a postdoctoral researcher in the Mitra lab, demonstrated that co-expression of 26 autism genes was "significantly higher" than would occur by chance. "This suggests that these 26 genes have common neuro-functional properties," says Dr. Menashe.

The team found two co-expressed networks or "cliques" of genes that are significantly enriched with autism genes. They then asked where in the mouse brain these cliques are expressed. Notably, genes in both groups showed significant overexpression in the cerebellar cortex, and particularly in regions in which granule cells predominate. "This result supports prior studies pointing to involvement of the cerebellum in autism," says Dr. Grange. Specifically, a recent neuroimaging study highlighted functional subregions in the cerebellum as playing a role in both motor and cognitive tasks. Other genes associated with autism have been shown in other studies to play a role in the development of this brain region.

"Our study provides insights into co-expression properties of genes associated with autism and suggests specific brain regions implicated in pathology. Complementing these findings with additional genomic and neuroimaging analyses from both mouse and human brains will help in obtaining a broader picture of the autistic brain," the team concludes.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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The research described in this release was made possible by grants from: NIH-NIDA (R21DA027644-01).

"Co-expression profiling of autism genes in the mouse brain" appears online head of print in PLOS Computational Biology. The authors are: Idan Menashe, Pascal Grange, Eric C. Larsen, Sharmila Banerjee-Basu and Partha P. Mitra. 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003128

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'Motion sensor' may aid autism diagnosis and treatment

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Academic Journal
Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 27 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
'Motion sensor' may aid autism diagnosis and treatment

Scientists have developed a new screening tool that could use an individual's movement to diagnose and treat autism, according to a series of studies published in the journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.

Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine and Rutgers University have developed the method, which presents individuals with various images while a sensitive tracker monitors their movements.

The researchers say that this method, which can be used in children over the age of three, could provide an earlier, more objective and more accurate diagnosis of autism.

The method was tested on 78 children and adults with autism, including non-verbal autistic children and those with mild forms of the disorder.

The researchers say that the tool correctly diagnosed all of the participants, and even diagnosed autism subtypes, identified gender differences and tracked individual progress in treatment and development.

A movement tracker is attached to the individual, which senses "systemic signatures," measuring each person's movement as they respond to various screen images from an advanced computer program, showing 240 images a second.

The researchers say that this tool analyzes the importance of changes in movement and movement sensing, enabling the identification of stable capabilities in each individual, as well as highlighting the impairments of a person's movement system.

They add that the screening tool can measure tiny fluctuations, determining exactly how an individual's movement differs to that of a more typically developing child or adult. Dr Jorge José, vice president of research at Indiana University, says:

"We can estimate the cognitive abilities of people just from the variability of how they move. This may lead to a complementary way to develop therapies for autistic children at an early age."

The researchers say this tool can change the way autistic children learn and communicate by helping them to develop self-motivation, as opposed to being told or conditioned in what to do.

As part of the screening method, 25 autistic children were presented with a variety of media visuals, including videos of themselves, cartoons and music videos, and were given games to play. The children communicated which visuals they liked in a single motion.

Dr Elizabeth Torres, assistant professor in psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University, explains:

"Every time the children cross a certain region in space, the media they like best goes on. They start out randomly exploring their surroundings. They seek where in space that interesting spot is which causes the media to play, and then they do so more systematically.

"Once they see a cause-and-effect connection, they move deliberately. The action becomes an intentional behavior."

She adds that through this method, the children independently learned that they could control their own bodies in order to communicate what they wanted to watch.

At present, there is no medical test to diagnose autism, and the disorder is diagnosed through specialists' opinions on an individual's behavior and communication.

The researchers say it is too early to see whether this research will lead to methods of therapy and diagnosis that are publicly available.

But Torres says she is confident that parents of autistic children would find it easy to adapt to her computer-aided technique and help their children.

Dr Jorge José adds:

"This research may open doors for the autistic community by offering the option of a dynamic diagnosis at a much earlier age and possibly enabling the start of therapy sooner in the child's development."

Written by Honor Whiteman

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Autism: the micro movement perspective, published in the journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, July 24, 2013

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