Follow-up of expressive language and general development at 12, 18 and 36 months for children with no canonical babbling at 10 months.

Little is known about the developmental trajectories in children who do not use canonical babbling (CB) at 10 months. The aim was to examine how speech, language, cognitive and motor abilities developed in children without CB. For 15 children identified as not having CB, consonant production, expressive vocabulary and general development were assessed at 12, 18 and 36 months from audio-video recordings.

A High Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Preschool Children in an Immigrant, Multiethnic Population in Sweden: Challenges for Health Care.

This study examines the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in preschool children in an immigrant population. Possible risk factors for ASD and individual needs for the children and their families are described, as well as implications for health care. The estimated minimum prevalence for ASD in the area was 3.

Normative biometry of the fetal brain using magnetic resonance imaging.

The fetal brain shows accelerated growth in the latter half of gestation, and these changes can be captured by 2D and 3D biometry measurements. The aim of this study was to quantify brain growth in normal fetuses using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and to produce reference biometry data and a freely available centile calculator ( https://www.developingbrain.

Young children who screen positive for autism: Stability, change and "comorbidity" over two years.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder with a wide variety of clinical phenotypes and co-occurrences with other neurodevelopmental conditions. Symptoms may change over time.

Aims: The aim of the present study was to prospectively follow 96 children, initially assessed for suspected ASD at an average age of 2.

Aspects of Sexuality in Adolescents and Adults Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Childhood.

The literature concerning sexuality in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is limited regarding inappropriate sexual behaviours and paraphilias and its relation to age, verbal ability, symptom severity, intellectual ability, or adaptive functioning. A cohort of 184 adolescents and young adults (ages 15-39 years) with ASD diagnosed in childhood, including both low and high functioning individuals, was examined. The large majority were found to have a sexual interest and showed interest towards the opposite sex.

Understanding Very Old Age: Looking Back and Thinking Forward.

Understanding human development among the oldest old is a sequential building process taking into account building-block data, theories, and models from childhood, adulthood, and old age toward a new territory of oldest-old survivors who have lived way beyond the average life-span. A central question is whether the oldest-old survivors have developed specific survival techniques and/or protective environments that nurture survival. Or are the oldest old statistical outliers who by happenstance continue to survive further into old age? This commentary provides a historical framework on the papers in this series that describe challenges confronted by the oldest-old survivors in order to advance our understanding of survival of the oldest old.

ICC-dementia (International Centenarian Consortium - dementia): an international consortium to determine the prevalence and incidence of dementia in centenarians across diverse ethnoracial and sociocultural groups.

Background: Considerable variability exists in international prevalence and incidence estimates of dementia. The accuracy of estimates of dementia in the oldest-old and the controversial question of whether dementia incidence and prevalence decline at very old age will be crucial for better understanding the dynamics between survival to extreme old age and the occurrence and risk for various types of dementia and comorbidities. International Centenarian Consortium - Dementia (ICC-Dementia) seeks to harmonise centenarian and near-centenarian studies internationally to describe the cognitive and functional profiles of exceptionally old individuals, and ascertain the trajectories of decline and thereby the age-standardised prevalence and incidence of dementia in this population.

Altered white matter and cortical structure in neonates with antenatally diagnosed isolated ventriculomegaly.

Ventriculomegaly (VM) is the most common central nervous system abnormality diagnosed antenatally, and is associated with developmental delay in childhood. We tested the hypothesis that antenatally diagnosed isolated VM represents a biological marker for altered white matter (WM) and cortical grey matter (GM) development in neonates. 25 controls and 21 neonates with antenatally diagnosed isolated VM had magnetic resonance imaging at 41.

Asperger syndrome and nonverbal learning difficulties in adult males: self- and parent-reported autism, attention and executive problems.

A specific overlap between Asperger syndrome (AS) and nonverbal learning difficulties (NLD) has been proposed, based on the observation that, as a group, people with AS tend to have significantly higher verbal IQ (VIQ) than performance IQ (PIQ), one of the core features of NLD. The primary aim was to assess the longer term outcome of NLD--broken down into persistent and transient forms. The present study of 68 individuals was performed in the context of a larger prospective longitudinal study to late adolescence/early adult life of 100 boys with AS.

The distribution of homogeneously grafted nanoparticles in polymer thin films and blends.

Polymer nanocomposites are an important and growing class of materials where nanoparticles are mixed in a polymer matrix. Much of the interest in polymer nanocomposites is derived from the nanoparticles' ability to impart properties to the polymer not commonly found in polymer materials, such as tunable optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. Grafting polymer chains to the surface of a nanoparticle is one of the most common routes towards promoting dispersion of nanoparticles in a polymer matrix.

Asperger syndrome and "non-verbal learning problems" in a longitudinal perspective: neuropsychological and social adaptive outcome in early adult life.

Co-existence of Asperger syndrome (AS) and non-verbal learning disability (NLD) has been proposed based on the observation that people with AS tend to have significantly higher verbal than performance IQ (VIQ > PIQ by ≥ 15 points), one of the core features of NLD. In the present study we examined neuropsychological and social adaptive profiles with "non-verbal learning problems" associated with NLD in a group of individuals with AS followed from childhood into early adult life. The group was divided into three subgroups: (i) persistent NLD (P-NLD), i.

Narrative retelling in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: is there a role for nonverbal temporal-sequencing skills?

Oral narrative retelling is often problematic for children with communicative and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, beyond a suggested role of language level, little is known about the basis of narrative performance. In this study we examine whether oral narrative retelling might be associated not just with language level but also with skills related to nonverbal narrative temporal sequencing.

Early infantile onset ''congenital'' Rett syndrome variants: Swedish experience through four decades and mutation analysis.

The early infantile onset ''congenital'' variant of Rett syndrome presents with deviations of behavior from very early infancy. Here, we report on a clinical-genetic study in a collected series of 14 Swedish girls with early infantile onset Rett syndrome phenotype. The clinical diagnosis was based on symptom onset before the age of 6 months and the patients fulfilled 3 or more Rett variant criteria and 5 or more supportive criteria.

The relation between personality and the realism in confidence judgements in older adults.

This study investigated the relation between personality factors, as measured by the Swedish version of the NEO-FFI questionnaire, and the realism in older adults' (aged 60-93 years,  = 1,384) probability confidence judgements of their answers to general knowledge questions. The results showed very small effect sizes for the contribution of the personality variables to the fit between the proportion correct answers and the level of one's confidence judgements. Although personality differed somewhat within the age span studied and between the genders no differences were found in the relation between the dimensions of the NEO-FFI and the degree of realism in the confidence judgements as a function of age or gender.

Asperger syndrome in adolescent and young adult males. Interview, self- and parent assessment of social, emotional, and cognitive problems.

Descriptive and comparative follow-up studies of young adult males with Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosed in childhood, using both interview, self- and parent assessment instruments for the study of aspects of emotional well-being, social functioning, and cognitive-practical skills have not been performed in the past. One-hundred males with AS diagnosed in childhood were approached for the assessment using the Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Interview (ASDI), (personal and parent interview), the Leiter-R-Questionnaires, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX). About 75% of the targeted group participated.

Clinic attenders with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: cognitive profile at school age and its relationship to preschool indicators of language delay.

Many studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have had early indicators of language delay. The aim of the present study was to examine the cognitive profile of school age children referred to a specialist clinic for ASD, ADHD, or both, and relate this profile specifically to the age at which these children were first flagged up (or not) as suspected from language delay during the preschool years. Forty clinic children with ASD, ADHD, or the combination of the two (without clinical suspicion of learning disability) were assessed cognitively and as regards language development and language function at a mean age of 7.

The realism in older people's confidence judgments of answers to general knowledge questions.

The study investigated 2 aspects of the accuracy (i.e., realism) of confidence judgments of persons age 60-93 years (N = 1,384) regarding their answers to general knowledge questions.

The Swedish version of the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO-10). Psychometric properties.

Psychometric properties of the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders schedule (DISCO) have only been studied in the UK. The authorised Swedish translation of the tenth version of the DISCO (DISCO-10) was used in interviews with close relatives of 91 Swedish patients referred for neuropsychiatrical assessment. Validity analysis compared DISCO-10-algorithm diagnoses with clinical diagnoses and with Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised (ADI-R) algorithm diagnoses in 57 cases.

Survival after 100 years of age: a multivariate model of exceptional survival in Swedish centenarians.

Background: Most survival studies of the elderly population have set their baselines for first examinations between 60 and 80 years. The rapidly increasing numbers of exceptionally old persons call for knowledge about determinants of exceptional survival.

Methods: The Swedish Centenarian Study followed 100 centenarians from the age of 100 to death of the entire cohort, by age 111 years.

Plasma homocysteine in 80-year-olds: relationships to medical, psychological and social variables.

Plasma homocysteine concentrations in a group of 80-year-old persons were related to symptoms and signs. Plasma homocysteine concentrations higher than 15 micromol/l were associated with lower total life satisfaction (P<0.01), mood (P<0.

Subjective health and illness, coping and life satisfaction in an 80-year-old Swedish population-implications for mortality.

Background: Multimorbidity and illness will become more common due to increased life expectancy.

Purpose: This study describes various combinations of diseases and symptoms and explores implications for mortality in a sample of 80-year-olds followed up to 95 years of age. Furthermore, reported subjective health, coping, and life satisfaction is explored.

Narrative skills, cognitive profiles and neuropsychiatric disorders in 7-8-year-old children with late developing language.

Background: A community-representative sample of screened and clinically examined children with language delay at 2.5 years of age was followed up at school age when their language development was again examined and the occurrence of neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorder (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) was documented.

Aims: (1) To determine whether these 7-8-year-old children with a history of language delay have deficits in narrative skills compared with the age norms of standardized tests; and (2) to analyse if there is a relationship between narrative outcome, cognitive profile, and neuropsychiatric diagnosis.

Asperger syndrome and autism: a comparative longitudinal follow-up study more than 5 years after original diagnosis.

Prospective follow-up study of 70 males with Asperger syndrome (AS), and 70 males with autism more than 5 years after original diagnosis. Instruments used at follow-up included overall clinical assessment, the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders, Wechsler Intelligence Scales, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and Global Assessment of Functioning Scale. Specific outcome criteria were used.