ATN blood biomarkers are related to digital cognitive assessment in type 1 diabetes.

Introduction: Associations between amyloid-tau-neurodegeneration (ATN) plasma biomarkers and cognition have not been characterized in adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Methods: Using data from participants in the Glycemic Variability and Fluctuations in Cognitive Status in Adults with T1D (GluCog) study ( = 114), we evaluated associations between phosphorylated tau (pTau)181, pTau217, β-amyloid 42/40 ratio, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL) and self-administered digital cognitive tests, adjusting for age, sex, education, comorbidities (e.g.

Nocturnal hypoglycemia is associated with next day cognitive performance in adults with type 1 diabetes: Pilot data from the GluCog study.

Objective:  Individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have increased risk for cognitive dysfunction and high rates of sleep disturbance. Despite associations between glycemia and cognitive performance using cross-sectional and experimental methods few studies have evaluated this relationship in a naturalistic setting, or the impact of nocturnal versus daytime hypoglycemia. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) may provide insight into the dynamic associations between cognition, affective, and physiological states.

Accurate Prediction of Momentary Cognition From Intensive Longitudinal Data.

Background: Deficits in cognitive performance are implicated in the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Emerging evidence further suggests that within-person fluctuations in cognitive performance may represent sensitive early markers of neuropsychiatric decline. Incorporating routine cognitive assessments into standard clinical care-to identify between-person differences and monitor within-person fluctuations-has the potential to improve diagnostic screening and treatment planning.

Social motivation in infancy is associated with familial recurrence of ASD.

Pre-diagnostic deficits in social motivation are hypothesized to contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a heritable neurodevelopmental condition. We evaluated psychometric properties of a social motivation index (SMI) using parent-report item-level data from 597 participants in a prospective cohort of infant siblings at high and low familial risk for ASD. We tested whether lower SMI scores at 6, 12, and 24 months were associated with a 24-month ASD diagnosis and whether social motivation's course differed relative to familial ASD liability.

Infant Visual Brain Development and Inherited Genetic Liability in Autism.

Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is heritable, and younger siblings of ASD probands are at higher likelihood of developing ASD themselves. Prospective MRI studies of siblings report that atypical brain development precedes ASD diagnosis, although the link between brain maturation and genetic factors is unclear. Given that familial recurrence of ASD is predicted by higher levels of ASD traits in the proband, the authors investigated associations between proband ASD traits and brain development among younger siblings.

A Prospective Evaluation of Infant Cerebellar-Cerebral Functional Connectivity in Relation to Behavioral Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on social impairment, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors. Contemporary theories posit that cerebellar pathology contributes causally to ASD by disrupting error-based learning (EBL) during infancy. The present study represents the first test of this theory in a prospective infant sample, with potential implications for ASD detection.

Inter- and intra-tract analysis of white matter abnormalities in individuals with early-treated phenylketonuria (PKU).

Even with early and continuous treatment, individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU) may exhibit abnormalities of cortical white matter (WM). The present study utilizes a new analysis approach called Automated Fiber-Tract Quantification (AFQ) to advance our understanding of the tract-specific patterns of change in WM abnormalities in individuals with early-treated PKU (ETPKU). Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data from a sample of 22 individuals with ETPKU and a demographically-matched sample of 21 healthy individuals without PKU was analyzed using AFQ.

Brain function distinguishes female carriers and non-carriers of familial risk for autism.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by high population-level heritability and a three-to-one male-to-female ratio that occurs independent of sex linkage. Prior research in a mixed-sex pediatric sample identified neural signatures of familial risk elicited by passive viewing of point light motion displays, suggesting the possibility that both resilience and risk of autism might be associated with brain responses to biological motion. To confirm a relationship between these signatures and inherited risk of autism, we tested them in families enriched for genetic loading through undiagnosed ("carrier") females.

Timing of the Diagnosis of Autism in African American Children.

Objectives: African American (AA) children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience delays in diagnosis and obstacles to service access, as well as a disproportionate burden of intellectual disability (ID) as documented in surveillance data recently published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Our objective in this study was to analyze data from the largest-available repository of diagnostic and phenotypic information on AA children with ASD, and to explore the wide variation in outcome within the cohort as a function of sociodemographic risk and specific obstacles to service access for the purpose of informing a national approach to resolution of these disparities.

Methods: Parents of 584 AA children with autism consecutively enrolled in the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange across 4 US data collection sites completed event history calendar interviews of the diagnostic odysseys for their children with ASD.

Accelerating Motor Skill Acquisition for Bicycle Riding in Children with ASD: A Pilot Study.

Motor impairment is common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and, as such, a potential target for interventions to improve adaptive functioning. This study investigated motor skill acquisition in children with ASD (n = 15, 12 males; ages 7-16 years) during iCan Bike Camp, a 1-week, community-based intervention (5 × 75-min sessions) to teach independent bicycle riding. After completing the camp's task-oriented, individualized training program, all participants demonstrated motor skill acquisition on the bicycle, and nine participants rode independently at least 70 feet.

White and gray matter brain development in children and young adults with phenylketonuria.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a recessive disorder characterized by disruption in the metabolism of the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). Prior research indicates that individuals with PKU have substantial white matter (WM) compromise. Much less is known about gray matter (GM) in PKU, but a small body of research suggests volumetric differences compared to controls.

Neuropsychiatric "Comorbidity" as Causal Influence in Autism.

Behavioral comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the co-occurrence of autistic traits with subclinical manifestations of other psychiatric syndromes (eg, anxiety, developmental coordination disorder) extends to the general population, where there is strong evidence for overlap in the respective genetic causes. An ASD "comorbidity" can have several fundamentally distinct causal origins: it can arise due to shared genetic risk between ASD and non-ASD phenotypes (eg, ASD and microcephaly in the context of the MECP2 mutation), as a "secondary symptom" of ASD when engendered by the same causal influence (eg, epilepsy in channelopathies associated with ASD), due to chance co-occurrence of ASD with a causally independent liability (eg, ASD and diabetes), or as the late manifestation of an independent causal influence on ASD (eg, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Here, we review evidence for the latter, that is, the role of nonspecific causal influences on the development of ASD itself.

Early Origins of Autism Comorbidity: Neuropsychiatric Traits Correlated in Childhood Are Independent in Infancy.

Previous research has suggested that behavioral comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception in autism. The present study aimed to trace the respective origins of autistic and general psychopathologic traits-and their association-to infancy. Measurements of autistic traits and early liability for general psychopathology were assessed in 314 twins at 18 months, ascertained from the general population using birth records.

Developmental Trajectories of Executive and Verbal Processes in Children with Phenylketonuria.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary disorder characterized by disrupted phenylalanine metabolism and cognitive impairment. However, the precise nature and developmental trajectory of this cognitive impairment remains unclear. The present study used a verbal fluency task to dissociate executive and verbal processes in children with PKU (n = 23; 7-18 years) and controls (n = 44; 7-19 years).

Pretreatment cognitive and neural differences between sapropterin dihydrochloride responders and non-responders with phenylketonuria.

Sapropterin dihydrochloride (BH) reduces phenylalanine (Phe) levels and improves white matter integrity in a subset of individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU) known as "responders." Although prior research has identified biochemical and genotypic differences between BH responders and non-responders, cognitive and neural differences remain largely unexplored. To this end, we compared intelligence and white matter integrity prior to treatment with BH in 13 subsequent BH responders with PKU, 16 subsequent BH non-responders with PKU, and 12 healthy controls.

Different levels of learning interact to shape the congruency sequence effect.

The congruency effect in distracter interference tasks is often reduced after incongruent relative to congruent trials. Moreover, this congruency sequence effect (CSE) is influenced by learning related to concrete stimulus and response features as well as by learning related to abstract cognitive control processes. There is an ongoing debate, however, over whether interactions between these learning processes are best explained by an episodic retrieval account, an adaptation by binding account, or a cognitive efficiency account of the CSE.

The congruency sequence effect emerges when the distracter precedes the target.

The congruency effect in distracter interference tasks is typically smaller when the previous trial was incongruent as compared to congruent, suggesting the operation of a control process that minimizes the influence of irrelevant stimuli on behavior. However, both the conditions under which this congruency sequence effect (CSE) can be most easily observed without the typical learning and memory confounds, and the control process underlying it, remain controversial. We therefore tested a recent hypothesis that the CSE is most easily observed without the typical confounds when the distracter is processed before the target.