Sleep and emotionality in adolescents with anorexia nervosa during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The recent Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdown measures raised concerns about people's mental health, leading to an increased interest in identifying vulnerable groups especially at risk for mental distress. This cross-sectional study investigated the impact of this unprecedented situation on sleeping patterns and emotionality in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN).

Methods: Variations in sleeping patterns and emotionality of two groups of adolescents with AN, assessed before (N = 50) and during (N = 51) the Covid-19 lockdown were analysed.

Gender differences in psychosocial function and self-reported health status in late-diagnosed autistic adults: results from the FACE-ASD national cohort.

Background: While adult outcome in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is generally measured using socially valued roles, it could also be understood in terms of aspects related to health status - an approach that could inform on potential gender differences.

Methods: We investigated gender differences in two aspects of outcome related to health-status, i.e.

Dissociable effects of positive feedback on the capture and inhibition of impulsive behavior in adolescents with ADHD versus typically developing adolescents.

The present study investigated how enhancing motivation by delivering positive feedback (a smiley) after a successful trial could affect interference control in adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and in their typically developing (TD) peers. By using a Simon task within the theoretical framework of the "activation-suppression" model, we were able to separately investigate the expression and the inhibition of impulsive motor behavior. The experiment included 19 adolescents with ADHD and 20 TD adolescents in order to explore whether data found in adolescents with ADHD were similar to those found in TD adolescents.

Comparing executive functions profiles in anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum disorder in adolescence.

Objective: Executive functions (EFs) inefficiencies in anorexia nervosa (AN), especially in set-shifting and central coherence, suggest a link between AN and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study aimed at comparing EF profiles in AN and ASD, and investigating clinical variables associated with the identified EF difficulties.

Method: One hundred and sixty-two adolescents with AN or ASD completed self-report questionnaires assessing depression, anxiety and autism symptoms.

Cohort profile: demographic and clinical characteristics of the MILESTONE longitudinal cohort of young people approaching the upper age limit of their child mental health care service in Europe.

Purpose: The presence of distinct child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult mental health services (AMHS) impacts continuity of mental health treatment for young people. However, we do not know the extent of discontinuity of care in Europe nor the effects of discontinuity on the mental health of young people. Current research is limited, as the majority of existing studies are retrospective, based on small samples or used non-standardised information from medical records.

Differential response to pharmacological intervention in ADHD furthers our understanding of the mechanisms of interference control.

The deficit in "interference control" found in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) could be due to two distinct processes, which are not disentangled in most studies: a larger susceptibility to activating prepotent response impulses and a deficit in suppressing them. Here, we investigated the effect of 1/ADHD and 2/ methylphenidate (MPH), on these two components of interference control. We compared interference control between untreated children with ADHD, children with ADHD under MPH, and typically developing children performing a Simon task.

Clinical features of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa and problematic physical activity.

Purpose: Problematic physical activity (PPA) is a symptom commonly present in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). This study aims to refine the clinical description of children with early-onset AN and adolescents with standard-onset AN and associated PPA, in order to better understand their associated features, and to offer them adapted care and physical activity programs.

Methods: 107 participants treated at the Salvator University Hospital Centre of Marseille for AN were retrospectively evaluated by the Exercise Dependence Scale Revised concerning PPA.

Sleep disturbances in anorexia nervosa subtypes in adolescence.

Purpose: This retrospective study investigated, for the first time, sleep characteristics in anorexia nervosa (AN) subtypes and the clinical profile in adolescents, as well as the quality of life (QoL) and emotionality in these patients with poor sleep.

Methods: The sample included 111 adolescents with AN. First, restrictive AN (ANR) and binge eating/purging AN (ANB/P) groups were compared in terms of self-reported sleep characteristics, sleepiness and chronotype.

Acting on observed social exclusion and pro-social behaviour in autism spectrum disorder.

Humans are commonly motivated towards cooperation and prosociality. In this study, we examined this motivational predisposition in autistic individuals. Using an adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm, we investigated subsequent pro-social behaviour after witnessing social exclusion.

Comparison of body image evaluation by virtual reality and paper-based figure rating scales in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: retrospective study.

Purpose: Assessment of the symptoms of body image disorder (BID) is crucial in anorexia nervosa (AN). Recent technological advancements such as virtual reality (VR) have improved the visual perception with 3D avatars and the feeling to be the avatar with the immersive conditions. This retrospective study examines the hypothesis that VR with standardized 3D avatars would improve body image perception and then body image evaluation by adolescents with AN, compared to the paper-based figure rating scales (FRS).

The quality of life and the future of young adults with Asperger syndrome.

This pilot study describes the socio-professional development and quality of life of young adults with Asperger syndrome in France. Those young adults, between 18 and 30 years old, receiving care in a child psychiatry department for autistic spectrum disorder, were requested to respond to the Ad Hoc, World Health Organization Quality Of Life - Bref and Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaires regarding their socio-professional background and feelings about their future. Of the 79 eligible subjects, 24 were selected to participate in our study.

Altered sleep architecture during the first months of life in infants born to depressed mothers.

Objective: This study investigated sleep architecture in newborn and six-month-old infants who were born to depressed mothers.

Method: Sixty-four healthy full-term infants (32 males and 32 females) participated in the study. Of these, 32 were high-risk infants who were born to mothers diagnosed with depression, and 32 were low-risk infants born to mothers without a personal history of depression.

Behavioral characterization of prediction and internal models in adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders.

Autism has been considered as a deficit in prediction of the upcoming event or of the sensory consequences of our own movements. To test this hypothesis, we recorded eye movements from high-functioning autistic adolescents and from age-matched controls during a blanking paradigm. In this paradigm, adolescents were instructed to follow a moving target with their eyes even during its transient disappearance.

Localized Misfolding Within Broca's Area as a Distinctive Feature of Autistic Disorder.

Background: Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that autism spectrum disorder results from abnormalities in the cortical folding pattern. Usual morphometric measurements have failed to provide reliable neuroanatomic markers. Here, we propose that sulcal pits, which are the deepest points in each fold, are suitable candidates to uncover this atypical cortical folding.

Attachment style impacts behavior and early oculomotor response to positive, but not negative, pictures.

The present study investigated whether oculomotor behavior is influenced by attachment styles. The Relationship Scales Questionnaire was used to assess attachment styles of forty-eight voluntary university students and to classify them into attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing). Eye-tracking was recorded while participants engaged in a 3-seconds free visual exploration of stimuli presenting either a positive or a negative picture together with a neutral picture, all depicting social interactions.

Effects of motor action on affective preferences in autism spectrum disorders: different influences of embodiment.

In the embodied cognition framework, sensory, motor and emotional experiences are encoded along with sensorimotor cues from the context in which information was acquired. As such, representations retain an initial imprint of the manner in which information was acquired. The current study reports results indicating a lack of embodiment effects in ASD and, further, an association between embodiment differences and ASD symptomatology.

Anthropomorphic bias found in typically developing children is not found in children with autistic spectrum disorder.

The anthropomorphic bias describes the finding that the perceived naturalness of a biological motion decreases as the human-likeness of a computer-animated agent increases. To investigate the anthropomorphic bias in autistic children, human or cartoon characters were presented with biological and artificial motions side by side on a touchscreen. Children were required to touch one that would grow while the other would disappear, implicitly rewarding their choice.

Mental Disorders among Children and Adolescents Admitted to a French Psychiatric Emergency Service.

The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of children and adolescents admitted to the psychiatric emergency department (ED) of a French public teaching hospital over a six-year study period (2001-2006). Data for all episodes of care in the psychiatric ED from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2006, delivered to adolescents aged less than 18 years were retrospectively analyzed. During the six-year study period, 335 episodes of care in the psychiatric ED were experienced by 264 different adolescents.

How do we think machines think? An fMRI study of alleged competition with an artificial intelligence.

Mentalizing is defined as the inference of mental states of fellow humans, and is a particularly important skill for social interactions. Here we assessed whether activity in brain areas involved in mentalizing is specific to the processing of mental states or can be generalized to the inference of non-mental states by comparing brain responses during the interaction with an intentional and an artificial agent. Participants were scanned using fMRI during interactive rock-paper-scissors games while believing their opponent was a fellow human (Intentional agent, Int), a humanoid robot endowed with an artificial intelligence (Artificial agent, Art), or a computer playing randomly (Random agent, Rnd).

Just another social scene: evidence for decreased attention to negative social scenes in high-functioning autism.

The adaptive threat-detection advantage takes the form of a preferential orienting of attention to threatening scenes. In this study, we compared attention to social scenes in 15 high-functioning individuals with autism (ASD) and matched typically developing (TD) individuals. Eye-tracking was recorded while participants were presented with pairs of scenes, either emotional positive-neutral, emotional negative-neutral or neutral-neutral scenes.

Do children perceive features of real and cartoon faces in the same way? Evidence from typical development and autism.

In the current study, typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were presented with a facial-feature discrimination task including both real and cartoon faces, displayed either upright or inverted. Results demonstrated that typically developing children were more accurate at discriminating facial features from upright than from inverted faces and that this effect was specific to real faces. By contrast, children with ASD failed to show such a specific pattern of performance for processing facial features displayed in real faces.

[Effect of physical activity on anxiety and depression].

The advantages of physical activity are widely recognised from both a physiological and a psychological perspective. Evidence seems to demonstrate that physical activity is associated with decreases in depression and anxiety in clinical and non-clinical populations. There are a number of physiological, biochemical and psychological explanations which should be considered to understand the psychological effects of exercise.

When depression mediates the relationship between entity beliefs and performance.

The aim of this study was to determine whether depression can explain the negative relationship between academic performance and the belief that intelligence is a fixed trait, i.e., entity belief.