Why are only some children with autism spectrum disorder misclassified by the social communication questionnaire? An empirical investigation of individual differences in sensitivity and specificity in a clinic-referred sample.

Background: The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is a checklist for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly used in research and clinical practice. While the original validation study suggested that the SCQ was an accurate ASD screener with satisfactory sensitivity and specificity, subsequent studies have yielded mixed results, with some revealing low sensitivity, low specificity, and low utility in some settings.

Method: The present study examined the psychometric properties of the SCQ as well as the individual difference characteristics of 187 individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who were misclassified or accurately classified by the SCQ in a clinic-referred sample.

Face perception predicts affective theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder but not schizophrenia or typical development.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SCZ) have overlapping symptomatology related to difficulties with social cognition. Yet, few studies have directly compared social cognition in ASD, SCZ, and typical development (TD). The current study examined individual differences in face recognition and its relation to affective theory of mind (ToM) in each diagnostic group.

Cataloguing and characterizing interests in typically developing toddlers and toddlers who develop ASD.

Intense interests are common in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and little research has characterized aspects of interests that are unique to or shared among children with and without ASD. We aimed to characterize interests in a sample of infants at high-familial-risk (HR) and low-familial-risk (LR) for ASD using a novel interview. Participants included HR siblings who were diagnosed with ASD at 24 months (HR-ASD, n = 56), HR siblings who did not receive an ASD diagnosis at 24 months (HR-Neg, n = 187), and a LR comparison group (n = 109).

Brief Report: Test-Retest Reliability of Cognitive, Affective, and Spontaneous Theory of Mind Tasks Among School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The present study evaluates the test-retest reliability of six theory of mind (ToM) tasks that measured cognitive, affective, and spontaneous ToM in 7 to 11 year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Our results revealed considerable variation in test-retest reliability depending on the type of ToM task, which ranged from poor to good with the majority of the measures exhibiting moderate reliability. Results inform which common measures of cognitive ToM should be selected versus avoided in future intervention work, suggest our measure of spontaneous ToM should be used more widely in intervention and ToM research more broadly, and indicate more work is needed to develop reliable measures of affective ToM.

A meta-analysis on the relationship between interoceptive awareness and alexithymia: Distinguishing interoceptive accuracy and sensibility.

Alexithymia-a trait associated with difficulties understanding one's own emotions-is theorized to stem from deficits in , or the ability to detect, accurately monitor, and regulate internal bodily processes. The present meta-analysis analyzed all studies that empirically examined the relationship between alexithymia and interoceptive awareness. Across 66 independent samples ( = 7,146), alexithymia had a small, negative correlation with interoceptive awareness ( = -.

Temporal negative priming.

Negative priming provides one useful measure of attentional focus and cognitive control, requirements of most domains of life (driving, work, play, etc.). Until now, 2 types of negative priming have been identified: identity negative priming and location negative priming.

Measuring Individual Differences in Cognitive, Affective, and Spontaneous Theory of Mind Among School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The present study examined individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) among a group of 60 children (7-11 years-old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and average intelligence. Using open-ended and structured tasks to measure affective ToM, cognitive ToM, and spontaneous social attribution, we explored the nature of ToM and assessed whether ToM predicts the phenotypic heterogeneity in ASD through structural equation modeling. Affective ToM uniquely predicted social symptom severity, whereas no ToM types predicted parent reported social functioning.

A heterogeneous optimization algorithm for reacted singlet oxygen for interstitial PDT.

Singlet oxygen (O) is the major cytotoxic agent for type II photodynamic therapy (PDT). The production of O involves the complex reactions among light, oxygen molecule, and photosensitizer. From universal macroscopic kinetic equations which describe the photochemical processes of PDT, the reacted O concentration, [O], with cell target can be expressed in a form related to time integration of the product of O quantum yield and the PDT dose rate.

A heterogeneous algorithm for PDT dose optimization for prostate.

The object of this study is to develop optimization procedures that account for both the optical heterogeneity as well as photosensitizer (PS) drug distribution of the patient prostate and thereby enable delivery of uniform photodynamic dose to that gland. We use the heterogeneous optical properties measured for a patient prostate to calculate a light fluence kernel (table). PS distribution is then multiplied with the light fluence kernel to form the PDT dose kernel.

Optimization of light source parameters in the photodynamic therapy of heterogeneous prostate.

The three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous distributions of optical properties in a patient prostate can now be measured in vivo. Such data can be used to obtain a more accurate light-fluence kernel. (For specified sources and points, the kernel gives the fluence delivered to a point by a source of unit strength.

Optimized interstitial PDT prostate treatment planning with the Cimmino feasibility algorithm.

The primary aim of this study was to determine whether optimized photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment planning (seeking optimized positions, lengths, and strengths of the light sources to satisfy a given dose prescription) can improve dose coverage to the prostate and the sparing of critical organs relative to what can be achieved by the standard PDT plan. The Cimmino algorithm and search procedures based on that algorithm were tested for this purpose. A phase I motexafin lutetium (MLu)-mediated photodynamic therapy protocol is ongoing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Optimization of light sources for prostate photodynamic therapy.

To deliver uniform photodynamic dose to the prostate gland, it is necessary to develop algorithms that optimize the location and strength (emitted power × illumination time) of each light source. Since tissue optical properties may change with time, rapid (almost real-time) optimization is desirable. We use the Cimmino algorithm because it is fast, linear, and always converges reliably.

Using the receiver operating characteristic curve to select pretreatment and pathologic predictors for early and late postprostatectomy PSA failure.

Objectives: Pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA), prostatectomy Gleason score, margin status, and pathologic T stage are known explanatory variables for the postprostatectomy PSA outcome. We used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to select those factors that were optimal for predicting early and late postoperative PSA failure.

Methods: We designed and implemented a clinical outcome prediction expert that performs, assesses, and optimizes the actuarial prediction on individual cases.

ROC optimization may improve risk stratification of prostate cancer patients.

Objectives: Rational treatment decision requires accurate projection of the clinical course of a patient. Current methods in clinical outcome analysis mostly focus on population data. We investigated the applicability and optimization of the widely used actuarial method to project individual clinical outcomes.

Beam spoilers versus bolus for 6 MV photon treatment of head and neck cancers.

When parallel opposed 6-MV x-ray beams are used for treatment of head and neck tumors, superficial tissues and lymphatics at shallow depths of < or =4 to 6 mm may be at cancer risk but receive less than full radiation dose. In these cases, the use of either a beam spoiler or bolus material can increase dose to superficial tissues. The potential benefit of a beam spoiler relative to bolus is preservation of skin-sparing characteristics for cases in which the skin surface does not require full dose.

A quality assurance device for the accuracy of the isocentres of teletherapy and simulation machines.

A new quality assurance device has been designed to measure the location and wobble of the radiation isocentre of linacs and simulation machines as a function of gantry rotation. The radiation isocentre is the intersection in space of the central x rays of a linac or simulation machine at different gantry angles. Six radio-opaque markers 1 mm in size are embedded in a radio-transparent calibration object (specifically, a hollowed cube) in such a way that the markers are non-coplanar and uniquely identifiable in radiographic projections.

Determining clinical photon beam spectra from measured depth dose with the Cimmino algorithm.

A method to determine the spectrum of a clinical photon beam from measured depth-dose data is described. At shallow depths, where the range of Compton-generated electrons increases rapidly with photon energy, the depth dose provides the information to discriminate the spectral contributions. To minimize the influence of contaminating electrons, small (6 x 6 cm2) fields were used.

Quality assurance of central axis dose data for photon beams by means of a functional representation of the tissue phantom ratio.

A recently proposed four-parameter functional representation for the tissue phantom ratio (TPR) in the domain of electronic equilibrium was tested for accuracy and applied to quality assurance of central axis dose data. The four parameters are energy dependent and are found for each beam by a minmax search. For photon energies of 4 MV and greater, the functional representation was accurate to within 1% of measured data for all depths and field sizes exceeding 10 cm.

Study to determine the ability of clinical laboratories to detect antimicrobial-resistant Enterococcus spp. in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Few reports of vancomycin-resistant enterococci have appeared outside the USA. Therefore, we evaluated the ability of five laboratories in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to perform susceptibility testing using the disk diffusion method. Laboratories had difficulty identifying the low- and intermediate-level vancomycin-resistant phenotypes.

Optimized lens-sparing treatment of retinoblastoma with electron beams.

Purpose: The ideal lens-sparing radiotherapy technique for retinoblastoma calls for 100% dose to the entire retina including the ora serrata and zero dose to the lens. Published techniques, most of which use photons, have not accomplished this ideal treatment. We describe here a technique that approaches this ideal configuration using electron beam therapy.

Automated matching of corresponding seed images of three simulator radiographs to allow 3D triangulation of implanted seeds.

To match corresponding seed images in different radiographs so that the 3D seed locations can be triangulated automatically and without ambiguity requires (at least) three radiographs taken from different perspectives, and an algorithm that finds the proper permutations of the seed-image indices. Matching corresponding images in only two radiographs introduces inherent ambiguities which can be resolved only with the use of non-positional information obtained with intensive human effort. Matching images in three or more radiographs is an 'NP (Non-determinant in Polynomial time)-complete' problem.

Detection of cleavage products from an in vivo transcribed cis hairpin ribozyme in turnips using the CaMV plant virus.

In order to examine ribozyme (Rz) activity in vivo, we have adapted a virus to deliver Rz to plants. DNA fragments that code for both active and mutant cis-hairpin Rz were cloned into the double-stranded DNA plant virus, cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). These Rz constructs successfully infected Brassica campestris rapa (turnip).