The effect of anxiety and autism symptom severity on restricted and repetitive behaviors over time in children with fragile X syndrome.

Background: Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) are highly prevalent and reduce function in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS). As transdiagnostic features of intellectual disability, elevated rates of RRBs in FXS could represent various underlying known co-occurring conditions in FXS such as anxiety or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet this distinction has not been investigated. Further, delineating whether RRBs are more indicative of anxiety or ASD in FXS may clarify phenotypic profiles within FXS and improve differential assessment.

Developmental associations between motor and communication outcomes in Fragile X syndrome: Variation in the context of co-occurring autism.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading heritable cause of intellectual disability, has a co-occurrence rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) estimated at ~60%. Children with FXS experience delayed achievement and slower development of key motor abilities, which happens to an even greater extent for children with both FXS and ASD. A multitude of studies have demonstrated that motor abilities are foundational skills related to later communication outcomes in neurotypical development, as well as in the context of ASD.

Similar Gap-Overlap Profiles in Children with Fragile X Syndrome and IQ-Matched Autism.

Purpose: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a single-gene disorder characterized by moderate to severe cognitive impairment and a high association with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Atypical visual attention is a feature of FXS, ASD, and ADHD. Thus, studying early attentional patterns in young children with FXS can offer insight into early emerging neurocognitive processes underlying challenges and contribute to our understanding of common and unique features of ASD and ADHD in FXS.

Neural correlates of face processing among preschoolers with fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, autism siblings, and typical development.

The current study examined patterns of event-related potential (ERP) responses during a face processing task in groups of preschoolers uniquely impacted by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including (1) children with ASD; (2) children with fragile X syndrome (FXS); (3) children with familial risk for ASD, but without a diagnosis (i.e., ASIBs); and (4) a low-risk control (LRC) group.

Business-nonprofit hybrid organizing: a dynamic approach to balancing benefits and costs.

Introduction: Efforts to address complex public health challenges can benefit from cross-sector collaboration, while also fostering growing business sector engagement in promoting health equity. What form business-nonprofit collaboration should take, however, is a difficult question for managers and leaders. Hybrid organizational forms, which combine for-profit and nonprofit elements within a single organization in unconventional ways, offer an innovative and potentially promising approach.

Negative affect and respiratory sinus arrhythmia are differentially related to social anxiety and autism features in autistic preschoolers contrasted to fragile X syndrome.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous and complex disorder with co-occurring disorders commonplace. This presents tremendous diagnostic challenges given the phenotypic overlap between autism and other diagnoses, including social anxiety, as well as variance in specific genetic disorders like fragile X syndrome (FXS). Biobehavioral measurement approaches integrate behavioral and biological data, and by so doing have the potential to address diagnostic challenges and shed light on the mechanisms underlying social impairments.

Predictors, Parental Views, and Concordance Across Diagnostic Sources of Autism in Male Youth with Fragile X Syndrome: Clinical Best Estimate and Community Diagnoses.

Persons with fragile X syndrome (FXS) with cooccurring autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for poorer educational, medical, employment, and independent living outcomes. Thus, the identification of ASD in those with FXS is fundamental to ensuring access to appropriate supports to achieve good quality of life. Yet, optimal diagnostic methods and the exact rate of ASD comorbidity remains controversial, and description of ASD identification in the community in FXS has been limited.

Distinct social attention profiles in preschoolers with autism contrasted to fragile X syndrome.

Social attention is a critical skill for learning and development. Social attention difficulties are present in both non-syndromic autism spectrum disorder (nsASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), and our understanding of these difficulties is complicated by heterogeneity in both disorders, including co-occurring diagnoses like intellectual disability and social anxiety. Existing research largely utilizes a single index of social attention and rarely includes children with intellectual impairment or uses a cross-syndrome approach.

Cortical Source Analysis of the Face Sensitive N290 ERP Component in Infants at High Risk for Autism.

Appropriate head models for cortical source analysis were investigated and applied to source analyses examining the neural bases of the face-sensitive N290 event-related potential (ERP) component in infants at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This included infant siblings of children with ASD (ASIBs) and infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS). First, alternative head models for use with ASIBs and FXS were investigated.

ADHD and ASD symptoms in young males with fragile X syndrome: associations with early trajectories of inhibitory control.

Inhibitory control (IC), the ability to suppress inappropriate responses, emerges late in the first year of life and improves across typical development, concurrent with brain maturation. The development of IC is critical to various social-emotional and behavioral functions, with IC difficulties being linked to numerous neurodevelopmental disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a single-gene disorder characterized by IC difficulties, and elevated rates of ADHD and ASD, making it a useful model for understanding the early development and consequences of IC.

Backgrounds and Trainings in Cannabis Therapeutics of Dispensary Personnel.

Purpose: A growing body of scientific research indicates that oncology teams tend to offer individuals with cancer little clinical advice regarding medicinal cannabis (MC) and that individuals with cancer instead turn to cannabis dispensaries for MC guidance. Our objective was to investigate dispensary personnel's backgrounds and trainings in MC advising.

Methods: The study design was semistructured interviews across 13 states with cannabis dispensary personnel in managerial or client-facing positions.

Attention/Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adolescent and Young Adult Males With Fragile X Syndrome.

This study characterized the rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adolescent and young adult males with fragile X syndrome (FXS) using a multi-method approach integrating a DSM-based parent interview (Children's Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes; P-ChIPS, Fristad et al., 1998) and a parent rating scale (Child Behavior Checklist; CBCL, Achenbach, 2001). Thirty-one males with FXS, aged 16-24 years, participated.

Daily Living Skills in Adolescent and Young Adult Males With Fragile X Syndrome.

By adulthood, most males with fragile X syndrome (FXS) require support to navigate day-to-day settings. The present study cross-sectionally: (1) characterized the profile of daily living skills in males with FXS and (2) examined associated participant characteristics (i.e.

Neural Correlates of Infant Face Processing and Later Emerging Autism Symptoms in Fragile X Syndrome.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading known genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with 60-74% of males with FXS meeting diagnostic criteria for ASD. Infants with FXS have demonstrated atypical neural responses during face processing that are unique from both typically developing, low-risk infants and infants at high familial risk for ASD (i.e.

Motor Influences on Communication: Comparisons Between Down Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome.

Motor skills, an important foundation for language and communication, are considerably delayed in children with Down syndrome (DS) and fragile X syndrome (FXS). However, the impact of these impairments on expressive and receptive communication and the phenotypic specificity of these associations remains unknown. Participants included 37 with DS and 37 age and developmentally matched children with FXS.

A single-session behavioral protocol for successful event-related potential recording in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) are an ideal tool for measuring neural responses in a wide range of participants, including children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). However, due to perceived barriers regarding participant compliance, much of this work has excluded children with low IQ and/or reduced adaptive functioning, significant anxiety symptoms, and/or sensory processing difficulties, including heterogeneous samples of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). We have developed a behavioral support protocol designed to obtain high-quality ERP data from children in a single session.

Emergence of Developmental Delay in Infants and Toddlers With an Mutation.

Background: Children with gene expansions are known to experience a range of developmental challenges, including fragile X syndrome. However, little is known about early development and symptom onset, information that is critical to guide earlier identification, more accurate prognoses, and improved treatment options.

Methods: Data from 8 unique studies that used the to assess children with an gene expansion were combined to create a data set of 1178 observations of >500 young children.

Early behavioral and physiological markers of social anxiety in infants with fragile X syndrome.

Background: Social anxiety is highly prevalent in neurotypical children and children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). FXS is a genetic syndrome that is characterized by intellectual disability and an increased risk for autism spectrum disorder. If social anxiety is left untreated, negative outcomes are highly prevalent later in life.

Attention Bias and Prodromal Anxiety Symptoms in Toddlers With Fragile X Syndrome and Down Syndrome.

Early identification of behavioral risk markers for anxiety is essential to optimize long-term outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study analyzed attentional avoidance and its relation to anxiety and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptomatology during social and nonsocial fear conditions in toddlers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS). Toddlers with FXS and DS exhibited increased nonsocial attentional avoidance relative to typically developing (TD) toddlers.

Emergence and rate of autism in fragile X syndrome across the first years of life.

Prospective longitudinal studies of idiopathic autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have provided insights into early symptoms and predictors of ASD during infancy, well before ASD can be diagnosed at age 2-3 years. However, research on the emergence of ASD in disorders with a known genetic etiology, contextualized in a developmental framework, is currently lacking. Using a biobehavioral multimethod approach, we (a) determined the rate of ASD in N = 51 preschoolers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) using a clinical best estimate (CBE) procedure with differential diagnoses of comorbid psychiatric disorders and (b) investigated trajectories of ASD symptoms and physiological arousal across infancy as predictors of ASD in preschoolers with FXS.

Autism Spectrum Disorder-Associated Behaviour in Infants with Down Syndrome.

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with ~20% of individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for ASD. Despite the high risk, there is no research documenting early signs of ASD in infants with DS or potential prodromal ASD-associated behaviors.

Aim: This preliminary case-control study described ASD-associated behaviors in infants with DS contrasted to typically developing (TD) infants.

Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Males and Females with Fragile X Syndrome: Developmental Trajectories in Toddlers Through Young Adults.

There is limited research on the trajectory of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in fragile X syndrome (FXS), with previous studies only examining males and/or examining RRBs as a unitary construct rather than delineating subtypes of RRBs. Thus, we described the trajectory of five subtypes of RRBs in 153 males and females with FXS (aged 1-18 years) with repeated measurement over time (445 total assessments). Multilevel modeling was used to test age-related differences in RRB subtypes between males and females with FXS, controlling for nonverbal IQ.

Face-sensitive brain responses in the first year of life.

Cortical areas in the ventral visual pathway become selectively tuned towards the processing of faces compared to non-face stimuli beginning around 3 months of age and continuing over the first year. Studies using event-related potentials in the EEG (ERPs) have found an ERP component, the N290, that displays specificity for human faces. Other components, such as the P1, P400, and Nc have been studied to a lesser degree in their responsiveness to human faces.