Mélodie Proteau-Lemieux, Inga Sophia Knoth, Saeideh Davoudi, Charles-Olivier Martin, Anne-Marie Bélanger, Valérie Fontaine, Valérie Côté, Kristian Agbogba, Keely Vachon, Kerri Whitlock, Hazel Maridith Barlahan Biag, Angela John Thurman, Cory Rosenfelt, Flora Tassone, Julia Frei, Lucia Capano, Leonard Abbeduto, Sébastien Jacquemont, David Hessl, Randi Jenssen Hagerman, Andrea Schneider, Francois Bolduc, Evdokia Anagnostou, Sarah Lippe
{"title":"Specific EEG resting state biomarkers in FXS and ASD","authors":"Mélodie Proteau-Lemieux, Inga Sophia Knoth, Saeideh Davoudi, Charles-Olivier Martin, Anne-Marie Bélanger, Valérie Fontaine, Valérie Côté, Kristian Agbogba, Keely Vachon, Kerri Whitlock, Hazel Maridith Barlahan Biag, Angela John Thurman, Cory Rosenfelt, Flora Tassone, Julia Frei, Lucia Capano, Leonard Abbeduto, Sébastien Jacquemont, David Hessl, Randi Jenssen Hagerman, Andrea Schneider, Francois Bolduc, Evdokia Anagnostou, Sarah Lippe","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09570-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-024-09570-9","url":null,"abstract":"Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions that often have a substantial impact on daily functioning and quality of life. FXS is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability (ID) and the most common monogenetic cause of ASD. Previous literature has shown that electrophysiological activity measured by electroencephalogram (EEG) during resting state is perturbated in FXS and ASD. However, whether electrophysiological profiles of participants with FXS and ASD are similar remains unclear. The aim of this study was to compare EEG alterations found in these two clinical populations presenting varying degrees of cognitive and behavioral impairments. Resting state EEG signal complexity, alpha peak frequency (APF) and power spectral density (PSD) were compared between 47 participants with FXS (aged between 5–20), 49 participants with ASD (aged between 6–17), and 52 neurotypical (NT) controls with a similar age distribution using MANCOVAs with age as covariate when appropriate. MANCOVAs controlling for age, when appropriate, and nonverbal intelligence quotient (NVIQ) score were subsequently performed to determine the impact of cognitive functioning on EEG alterations. Our results showed that FXS participants manifested decreased signal complexity and APF compared to ASD participants and NT controls, as well as altered power in the theta, alpha and low gamma frequency bands. ASD participants showed exaggerated beta power compared to FXS participants and NT controls, as well as enhanced low and high gamma power compared to NT controls. However, ASD participants did not manifest altered signal complexity or APF. Furthermore, when controlling for NVIQ, results of decreased complexity in higher scales and lower APF in FXS participants compared to NT controls and ASD participants were not replicated. These findings suggest that signal complexity and APF might reflect cognitive functioning, while altered power in the low gamma frequency band might be associated with neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly FXS and ASD.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142227461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Blake Vuocolo, Roberta Sierra, Daniel Brooks, Christopher Holder, Lauren Urbanski, Keila Rodriguez, Jose David Gamez, Surya Narayan Mulukutla, Ana Hernandez, Alberto Allegre, Humberto Hidalgo, Sarah Rodriguez, Sandy Magallan, Jeremy Gibson, Juan Carlos Bernini, Melanie Watson, Robert Nelson, Lizbeth Mellin-Sanchez, Nancy Garcia, Lori Berry, Hongzheng Dai, Claudia Soler-Alfonso, Kent Carter, Brendan Lee, Seema R. Lalani
{"title":"Project GIVE: using a virtual genetics service platform to reduce health inequities and improve access to genomic care in an underserved region of Texas","authors":"Blake Vuocolo, Roberta Sierra, Daniel Brooks, Christopher Holder, Lauren Urbanski, Keila Rodriguez, Jose David Gamez, Surya Narayan Mulukutla, Ana Hernandez, Alberto Allegre, Humberto Hidalgo, Sarah Rodriguez, Sandy Magallan, Jeremy Gibson, Juan Carlos Bernini, Melanie Watson, Robert Nelson, Lizbeth Mellin-Sanchez, Nancy Garcia, Lori Berry, Hongzheng Dai, Claudia Soler-Alfonso, Kent Carter, Brendan Lee, Seema R. Lalani","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09560-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-024-09560-x","url":null,"abstract":"The utilization of genomic information to improve health outcomes is progressively becoming more common in clinical practice. Nonetheless, disparities persist in accessing genetic services among ethnic minorities, individuals with low socioeconomic status, and other vulnerable populations. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) at the Texas-Mexico border is predominantly Hispanic/Latino with a high poverty rate and very limited access to genetic services. Funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Project GIVE (Genetic Inclusion by Virtual Evaluation) was launched in 2022 to reduce the time to diagnosis and increase provider knowledge of genomics in this region, with the goal of improving pediatric health outcomes. We describe our experience of establishing a virtual pediatric genomic service in this region to expeditiously identify, recruit, and evaluate pediatric patients with undiagnosed diseases. We have utilized an innovative electronic health record (EHR) agnostic virtual telehealth and educational platform called Consultagene to receive referrals from healthcare providers in the RGV. Using this portal, genetic services, including virtual evaluation and genome sequencing (GS), are being delivered to children with rare diseases. The study has also integrated effective methods to involve and educate community providers through in-person meetings and Continuing Professional Education (CPE) events. The recruitment efforts have proven highly successful with the utilization of Consultagene in this medically underserved region. The project’s ongoing engagement efforts with local healthcare providers have resulted in progressively more referrals to the study over time, thus improving inclusion and access to genomic care in the RGV. Additionally, the curated CPE content has been well received by healthcare providers in the region. Project GIVE study has allowed advanced genetic evaluation and delivery of GS through the virtual Consultagene portal, effectively circumventing the recognized socioeconomic and logistical barriers to accessing genetic services within this border community.","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142218886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emma Finkel, Eric Sah, McKenna Spaulding, John D Herrington, Liza Tomczuk, Aaron Masino, Xueqin Pang, Anushua Bhattacharya, Darren Hedley, Yelena Kushleyeva, Phoebe Thomson, Natalie Doppelt, Jessica Tan, Jeffrey Pennington, Cheryl Dissanayake, Christopher P Bonafide, Heather J Nuske
{"title":"Physiological and communicative emotional disconcordance in children on the autism spectrum.","authors":"Emma Finkel, Eric Sah, McKenna Spaulding, John D Herrington, Liza Tomczuk, Aaron Masino, Xueqin Pang, Anushua Bhattacharya, Darren Hedley, Yelena Kushleyeva, Phoebe Thomson, Natalie Doppelt, Jessica Tan, Jeffrey Pennington, Cheryl Dissanayake, Christopher P Bonafide, Heather J Nuske","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09567-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09567-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Individuals on the autism spectrum commonly have differences from non-autistic people in expressing their emotions using communicative behaviors, such as facial expressions. However, it is not yet clear if this reduced expressivity stems from reduced physiological reactivity in emotional contexts or if individuals react internally, but do not show these reactions externally to others. We hypothesized that autism is characterized by a discordance between in-the-moment internal psychophysiological arousal and external communicative expressions of emotion.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Forty-one children on the autism spectrum and 39 non-autistic, typically developing (TD) children of two age groups (2-4 and 8-12 years) participated in a low-level stress task whilst wearing a wireless electrocardiogram. Children's negative emotional expressions (facial, vocal, bodily) were coded following standardized protocols. Alexithymia traits were assessed using the Children's Alexithymia Measure with school-aged children only. Data analyses involved ANOVAs, correlations, and sensitivity analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were no group differences in physiological arousal (heart rate) or in communicative expressions of stress to the stress task. For TD preschoolers, physiological arousal during the stress task was associated with vocal expressions and for TD school-aged children, they were associated with facial and bodily expressions. By contrast, for children on the autism spectrum, physiological arousal during the stress tasks was not associated with communicative expressions across age groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings suggest that children on the autism spectrum might experience emotional disconcordance, in that their physiological arousal does not align with their communicative expressions. Therefore, the internally experienced stress of children on the autism spectrum may be inadvertently missed by teachers and caregivers and, consequently, learning opportunities for teaching emotional communication and regulation may be also missed. Our results support the use of wearable biosensors to facilitate such interventions in children on the autism spectrum.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"51"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11373183/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142132982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesca Foti, Floriana Costanzo, Carlo Fabrizio, Andrea Termine, Deny Menghini, Tiziana Iaquinta, Stefano Vicari, Laura Petrosini, Peter R Blake
{"title":"The role of social motivation in sharing and fairness: insights from Williams syndrome.","authors":"Francesca Foti, Floriana Costanzo, Carlo Fabrizio, Andrea Termine, Deny Menghini, Tiziana Iaquinta, Stefano Vicari, Laura Petrosini, Peter R Blake","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09568-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09568-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Sharing and fairness are important prosocial behaviors that help us navigate the social world. However, little is known about how and whether individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) engage in these behaviors. The unique phenotype of individuals with WS, consisting of high social motivation and limited social cognition, can also offer insight into the role of social motivation in sharing and fairness when compared to typically developing (TD) individuals. The current study used established experimental paradigms to examine sharing and fairness in individuals with WS and TD individuals.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We compared a sample of patients with WS to TD children (6-year-olds) matched by mental age (MA) on two experimental tasks: the Dictator Game (DG, Experiment 1, N = 17 WS, 20 TD) with adults modeling giving behaviors used to test sharing and the Inequity Game (IG, Experiment 2, N = 14 WS, 17 TD) used to test fairness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results showed that the WS group behaved similarly to the TD group for baseline giving in the DG and in the IG, rejecting disadvantageous offers but accepting advantageous ones. However, after viewing an adult model giving behavior, the WS group gave more than their baseline, with many individuals giving more than half, while the TD group gave less. Combined these results suggest that social motivation is sufficient for sharing and, in particular, generous sharing, as well as the self-focused form of fairness. Further, individuals with WS appear capable of both learning to be more generous and preventing disadvantageous outcomes, a more complex profile than previously known.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In conclusion, the present study provides a snapshot into sharing and fairness-related behaviors in WS, contributing to our understanding of the intriguing social-behavioral phenotype associated with this developmental disorder.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"50"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11365235/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142108282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unraveling neuronal and metabolic alterations in neurofibromatosis type 1.","authors":"Valentina Botero, Seth M Tomchik","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09565-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09565-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neurofibromatosis type 1 (OMIM 162200) affects ~ 1 in 3,000 individuals worldwide and is one of the most common monogenetic neurogenetic disorders that impacts brain function. The disorder affects various organ systems, including the central nervous system, resulting in a spectrum of clinical manifestations. Significant progress has been made in understanding the disorder's pathophysiology, yet gaps persist in understanding how the complex signaling and systemic interactions affect the disorder. Two features of the disorder are alterations in neuronal function and metabolism, and emerging evidence suggests a potential relationship between them. This review summarizes neurofibromatosis type 1 features and recent research findings on disease mechanisms, with an emphasis on neuronal and metabolic features.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"49"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11365184/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142108328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yanglei Cheng, Liping Lin, Weifeng Hou, Huaqiong Qiu, Chengfen Deng, Zi Yan, Long Qian, Wei Cui, Yanbing Li, Zhiyun Yang, Qiuli Chen, Shu Su
{"title":"Altered individual-level morphological similarity network in children with growth hormone deficiency.","authors":"Yanglei Cheng, Liping Lin, Weifeng Hou, Huaqiong Qiu, Chengfen Deng, Zi Yan, Long Qian, Wei Cui, Yanbing Li, Zhiyun Yang, Qiuli Chen, Shu Su","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09566-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09566-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Accumulating evidences indicate regional grey matter (GM) morphology alterations in pediatric growth hormone deficiency (GHD); however, large-scale morphological brain networks (MBNs) undergo these patients remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To investigate the topological organization of individual-level MBNs in pediatric GHD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Sixty-one GHD and 42 typically developing controls (TDs) were enrolled. Inter-regional morphological similarity of GM was taken to construct individual-level MBNs. Between-group differences of topological parameters and network-based statistics analysis were compared. Finally, association relationship between network properties and clinical variables was analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to TDs, GHD indicated a disturbance in the normal small-world organization, reflected by increased L<sub>p</sub>, γ, λ, σ and decreased C<sub>p</sub>, E<sub>glob</sub> (all P<sub>FDR</sub> < 0.017). Regarding nodal properties, GHD exhibited increased nodal profiles at cerebellum 4-5, central executive network-related left inferior frontal gyrus, limbic regions-related right posterior cingulate gyrus, left hippocampus, and bilateral pallidum, thalamus (all P<sub>FDR</sub> < 0.05). Meanwhile, GHD exhibited decreased nodal profiles at sensorimotor network -related bilateral paracentral lobule, default-mode network-related left superior frontal gyrus, visual network -related right lingual gyrus, auditory network-related right superior temporal gyrus and bilateral amygdala, right cerebellum 3, bilateral cerebellum 10, vermis 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (all P<sub>FDR</sub> < 0.05). Furthermore, serum markers and behavior scores in GHD group were correlated with altered nodal profiles (P ≤ 0.046, uncorrected).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>GHD undergo an extensive reorganization in large-scale individual-level MBNs, probably due to abnormal cortico-striatal-thalamo-cerebellum loops, cortico-limbic-cerebellum, dorsal visual-sensorimotor-striatal, and auditory-cerebellum circuitry. This study highlights the crucial role of abnormal morphological connectivity underlying GHD, which might result in their relatively slower development in motor, cognitive, and linguistic functional within behavior problem performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"48"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11346214/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142073098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aurora M Washington, Amanda H Mercer, Catherine A Burrows, Stephen R Dager, Jed T Elison, Annette M Estes, Rebecca Grzadzinski, Chimei Lee, Joseph Piven, John R Pruett, Mark D Shen, Benjamin Wilfond, Jason Wolff, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Katherine E MacDuffie
{"title":"Parent attitudes towards predictive testing for autism in the first year of life.","authors":"Aurora M Washington, Amanda H Mercer, Catherine A Burrows, Stephen R Dager, Jed T Elison, Annette M Estes, Rebecca Grzadzinski, Chimei Lee, Joseph Piven, John R Pruett, Mark D Shen, Benjamin Wilfond, Jason Wolff, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Katherine E MacDuffie","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09561-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09561-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Emerging biomarker technologies (e.g., MRI, EEG, digital phenotyping, eye-tracking) have potential to move the identification of autism into the first year of life. We investigated the perspectives of parents about the anticipated utility and impact of predicting later autism diagnosis from a biomarker-based test in infancy.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Parents of infants were interviewed to ascertain receptiveness and perspectives on early (6-12 months) prediction of autism using emerging biomarker technologies. One group had experience parenting an older autistic child (n=30), and the other had no prior autism parenting experience (n=25). Parent responses were analyzed using inductive qualitative coding methods.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Almost all parents in both groups were interested in predictive testing for autism, with some stating they would seek testing only if concerned about their infant's development. The primary anticipated advantage of testing was to enable access to earlier intervention. Parents also described the anticipated emotions they would feel in response to test results, actions they might take upon learning their infant was likely to develop autism, attitudes towards predicting a child's future support needs, and the potential impacts of inaccurate prediction.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In qualitative interviews, parents of infants with and without prior autism experience shared their anticipated motivations and concerns about predictive testing for autism in the first year of life. The primary reported motivators for testing-to have more time to prepare and intervene early-could be constrained by familial resources and service availability. Implications for ethical communication of results, equitable early intervention, and future research are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"47"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11330042/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141995877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nadja Bednarczuk, Harriet Housby, Irene O Lee, Imagine Consortium, David Skuse, Jeanne Wolstencroft
{"title":"Behavioural and neurodevelopmental characteristics of SYNGAP1.","authors":"Nadja Bednarczuk, Harriet Housby, Irene O Lee, Imagine Consortium, David Skuse, Jeanne Wolstencroft","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09563-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s11689-024-09563-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>SYNGAP1 variants are associated with varying degrees of intellectual disability (ID), developmental delay (DD), epilepsy, autism, and behavioural difficulties. These features may also be observed in other monogenic conditions. There is a need to systematically compare the characteristics of SYNGAP1 with other monogenic causes of ID and DD to identify features unique to the SYNAGP1 phenotype. We aimed to contrast the neurodevelopmental and behavioural phenotype of children with SYNGAP1-related ID (SYNGAP1-ID) to children with other monogenic conditions and a matched degree of ID.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants were identified from the IMAGINE-ID study, a UK-based, national cohort study of neuropsychiatric risk in children with ID of known genetic origin. Thirteen children with SYNGAP1 variants (age 4-16 years; 85% female) were matched (2:1) with 26 controls with other monogenic causes of ID for chronological and mental age, sex, socio-economic deprivation, adaptive behaviour, and physical health difficulties. Caregivers completed the Development and Wellbeing Assessment (DAWBA) and physical health questionnaires.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our results demonstrate that seizures affected children with SYNGAP1-ID (84.6%) more frequently than the ID-comparison group (7.6%; p = < 0.001). Fine-motor development was disproportionally impaired in SYNGAP1-ID, with 92.3% of children experiencing difficulties compared to 50% of ID-comparisons(p = 0.03). Gross motor and social development did not differ between the two groups. Children with SYNGAP1-ID were more likely to be non-verbal (61.5%) than ID-comparisons (23.1%; p = 0.01). Those children able to speak, spoke their first words at the same age as the ID-comparison group (mean = 3.25 years), yet achieved lower language competency (p = 0.04). Children with SYNGAP1-ID compared to the ID-comparison group were not more likely to meet criteria for autism (SYNGAP1-ID = 46.2%; ID-comparison = 30.7%; p = .35), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (15.4%;15.4%; p = 1), generalised anxiety (7.7%;15.4%; p = .49) or oppositional defiant disorder (7.7%;0%; p = .15).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>For the first time, we demonstrate that SYNGAP1-ID is associated with fine motor and language difficulties beyond those experienced by children with other genetic causes of DD and ID. Targeted occupational and speech and language therapies should be incorporated early into SYNGAP1-ID management.</p>","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"16 1","pages":"46"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11325819/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141988163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peter Bang, Danait Kidane Andemichael, Johan F Pieslinger, Kajsa Igelström
{"title":"Sensory symptoms associated with autistic traits and anxiety levels in children aged 6–11 years","authors":"Peter Bang, Danait Kidane Andemichael, Johan F Pieslinger, Kajsa Igelström","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09562-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-024-09562-9","url":null,"abstract":"Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and quantitative autistic traits (QATs) are associated with sensory symptoms, which may contribute to anxiety and adversely affect social and cognitive development. Although sensory symptoms can occur across all senses, the relative roles of specific sensory modalities as contributors to the autistic phenotype and to anxiety are not well understood. The objective of this study was to examine which sensory symptoms were most predictive of high anxiety. We recruited 257 female primary caregivers of children aged 6 to 11 years (49% girls) to a questionnaire study comprising parent-report measures for classical QATs (social, communicative, and rigid), autism-related sensorimotor symptoms (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, proprioceptive, and motor), and anxiety symptoms. First, Bayesian stochastic search variable selection (SSVS) was used to identify the most probable sensorimotor predictors of specific QATs as well as diagnosed ASC. Then, the selected predictors were used in another SSVS, using anxiety symptoms as a dependent variable, to identify which of the autism-relevant sensorimotor symptoms were most robustly predictive of anxiety. Finally, the effect sizes of anxiety-related sensory symptoms were estimated with linear regressions. We found that auditory symptoms and motor difficulties were most predictive of ASC diagnosis. Developmental motor difficulties were also strongly related to all individual QATs, whereas auditory symptoms were more selectively predictive of rigid traits. Tactile symptoms robustly predicted social interaction QATs, and proprioceptive symptoms predicted communicative QATs. Anxiety outcomes were most strongly predicted by difficulties with auditory and olfactory processing. The results support the clinical importance of being alert to complaints about sounds and hearing in neurodevelopmental populations, and that auditory processing difficulties may be evaluated as an early marker of poor mental health in children with and without diagnosed autism. Olfactory processing differences appeared to be an anxiety marker less strongly associated with ASC or QATs, while motor difficulties were highly autism-relevant but not equally strongly associated with anxiety outcomes. We suggest that future studies may focus on the mechanisms and consequences of neurodevelopmental central auditory processing dysfunction and its potential relationship to anxiety disorders.","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141929966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the link between toxic metal exposure and ADHD: a systematic review of pb and hg","authors":"Reyhane Farmani, Omid Mehrpour, Alireza Kooshki, Samaneh Nakhaee","doi":"10.1186/s11689-024-09555-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-024-09555-8","url":null,"abstract":"Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a recognized neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex, multifactorial origin. Lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) are highly toxic substances that can potentially impair brain development and have been implicated in the development of ADHD. This systematic review aims to analyze the epidemiological literature regarding the association between Pb and Hg exposure and the diagnosis of ADHD. From November 1983 to June 2, 2023, a comprehensive search was conducted in multiple databases and search engines, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Observational studies (case-control, cohort, and cross-sectional) measuring Pb and Hg levels in various biological samples (blood, hair, urine, nail, saliva, teeth, and bone) of children with ADHD or their parents and their association with ADHD symptoms were included. Out of 2059 studies, 87 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Approximately two-thirds of the 74 studies investigating Pb levels in different biological samples reported associations with at least one subtype of ADHD. However, most studies examining Hg levels in various biological samples found no significant association with any ADHD subtype, although there were variations in exposure periods and diagnostic criteria. The evidence gathered from the included studies supports an association between Pb exposure and the diagnosis of ADHD, while no significant association was found with Hg exposure. Importantly, even low levels of Pb were found to elevate the risk of ADHD. Further research is needed to explore the comprehensive range of risk factors for ADHD in children, considering its significance as a neurodevelopmental disorder.","PeriodicalId":16530,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders","volume":"213 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141869543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}