Women with autistic-spectrum disorder: magnetic resonance imaging study of brain anatomy.

Background: Our understanding of anatomical differences in people with autistic-spectrum disorder, is based on mixed-gender or male samples.

Aims: To study regional grey-matter and white-matter differences in the brains of women with autistic-spectrum disorder.

Method: We compared the brain anatomy of 14 adult women with autistic-spectrum disorder with 19 controls using volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry.

People with learning disabilities in a low secure in-patient unit: comparison of offenders and non-offenders.

Background: People with learning disability who exhibit challenging behaviour are frequently segregated from services and local teams are often reluctant to receive them back into their care. This situation is worse in those whose challenging behaviour includes a forensic history, but the difference between those labelled as challenging and those treated as offenders is not clear, and there is a lack of evidence about treatment effectiveness.

Aims: To test between-group differences in aggression and treatment outcome in people with learning disability and challenging behaviour, with and without a forensic history.