Publications by authors named "Lisa A Nowinski"

Article Synopsis
  • Oxytocin (OT) is a crucial neuropeptide linked to social behavior and motivation, and its effectiveness in treating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown mixed results.
  • A study examined the relationship between genetic and epigenetic factors and OT levels in 290 ASD participants involved in an OT clinical trial.
  • The researchers found new genetic connections to OT levels, linked to known ASD risk genes, and significant associations between OT levels and genetic expression or epigenetic changes, potentially aiding future research on ASD and OT therapy.
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Background: Experimental studies and small clinical trials have suggested that treatment with intranasal oxytocin may reduce social impairment in persons with autism spectrum disorder. Oxytocin has been administered in clinical practice to many children with autism spectrum disorder.

Methods: We conducted a 24-week, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial of intranasal oxytocin therapy in children and adolescents 3 to 17 years of age with autism spectrum disorder.

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Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the prototypical psychiatric disorder of social impairment, several if not most psychiatric disorders are characterized by prominent impairments in social functioning. A challenge in clinically assessing and describing social impairment is that it has been variably defined and can be difficult to measure. In this article we consider the psychiatric differential diagnosis of social impairment within the DSM-5 framework.

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Background And Objectives: Families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience challenges navigating multiple systems to access services. Family navigation (FN) is a model to provide information and support to access appropriate services. Few studies have been used to examine FN's effectiveness for families of children with ASD.

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Although substance use disorder (SUD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are highly comorbid with other mental disorders and commonly have onset during childhood, little attention has been paid to their overlap. Despite limited data suggesting that up to 4% of patients with ASD also have substance-related problems, there are no existing guidelines, protocols, or tailored resources focused on SUD in young people with co-occurring ASD. This is concerning given that the simultaneous presence of these disorders presents unique challenges that complicate clinical care.

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Clinicians and educators are increasingly using technology within the context of existing therapies and teaching methodologies. The growing use of mobile clinical tools is particularly exciting for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as technologically based interventions have been shown to be both efficacious (to target academics, adaptive behavior, disruptive behavior, etc.) and accepted in this population (Odom et al.

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Wagner's (2001) Logical Rorschach (LR) was designed to be a simple but reliable and valid system for assessing psychological distress and cognitive slippage using the Rorschach Inkblot Method (Exner, 2003). In this investigation, we administered the Rorschach to 50 adults with and without trauma histories. Scoring of the test followed both the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) and the LR guidelines.

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The present study is the first independent investigation of the Comprehensive Trail Making Test (CTMT; Reynolds, 2002) with both clinical and non-clinical samples. We examined convergent and divergent validity by exploring relationships between the CTMT and other measures. Discriminant validity was examined by comparing CTMT scores of non-clinical and clinical groups.

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