Profiling executive dysfunction in adults with autism and comorbid learning disability.

Executive dysfunction is thought to be primary to autism. We examined differences in executive function between 20 adults with autism and learning disability and 23 individuals with learning disabilities outside the autistic spectrum. All participants were matched for chronological age and full-scale IQ, and were given a battery of tasks assessing fluency, planning, set-shifting, inhibition and working memory.

Increase in nonfatal digestive perforations and haemorrhages following introduction of selective NSAIDs: a public health concern.

Background And Objective: This article documents the impact of the introduction of selective NSAIDs on overall prescription patterns of NSAIDs and associated gastroprotective agents (GPAs), and on the rate of nonfatal digestive perforations and haemorrhages.

Methods: A retrospective, closed cohort study was conducted using the Quebec Health Insurance Board databases, for a 3-year period overlapping the introduction of selective NSAIDs. All adult subjects who were continuously registered with the Public Prescription Drug Program (PPDP) between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001 (n = 2 052 231) were included.

Presentation of depression in autism and Asperger syndrome: a review.

Depression is common in autism and Asperger syndrome, but despite this, there has been little research into this issue. This review considers the current literature on the prevalence, presentation, treatment and assessment of depression in autism and Asperger syndrome. There are diagnostic difficulties when considering depression in autism and Asperger syndrome, as the characteristics of these disorders, such as social withdrawal and appetite and sleep disturbance, are also core symptoms of depression.

Absence of auditory 'global interference' in autism.

There has been considerable recent interest in the cognitive style of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). One theory, that of weak central coherence, concerns an inability to combine stimulus details into a coherent whole. Here we test this theory in the case of sound patterns, using a new definition of the details (local structure) and the coherent whole (global structure).