Objective: The objective of this study was to chart the developmental trajectories of high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from early childhood to adolescence using the presence and absence of structural language impairment (StrLI) as a way of differentiating autism from Asperger syndrome (AS).
Method: Sixty-four high-functioning children with ASD were ascertained at 4-6 years of age from several different regional diagnostic and treatment centers. At 6-8 years of age, the ADI-R and the Test of Oral Language Development were used to define an autism group (those with StrLI at 6-8 years of age) and an AS group (those without StrLI). Growth curve analysis was then used to chart the developmental trajectories of these children on measures of autistic symptoms, and adaptive skills in communication, daily living and socialization.
Results: Differentiating the ASD group in terms of the presence/absence of StrLI provided a better explanation of the variation in growth curves than not differentiating high-functioning ASD children. The two groups had similar developmental trajectories but the group without StrLI (the AS group) was functioning better and had fewer autistic symptoms than the group with StrLI (the autism group) on all measures across time. The differences in outcome could not be explained by non-verbal IQ or change in early language skills.
Conclusion: Distinguishing between autism and Asperger syndrome based on the presence or absence of StrLI appears to be a clinically useful way of classifying ASD sub-types.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02123.x | DOI Listing |
J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab
January 2025
Center of Prevention and Rehabilitation, UniReha, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Cologne, Germany.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate long-term bone development in children with cerebral palsy (CP) using longitudinal measurements of total body less head bone mineral content (TBLH-BMC) and bone mineral density (TBLH-BMD).
Methods: A retrospective longitudinal analysis was performed on 109 children with CP who participated in a rehabilitation programme from 2006 to 2018. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans were performed at the beginning of the programme and repeated as clinically indicated.
Front Cell Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Developmental Genetics and Behavioral Neuroscience, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social deficits and restricted behaviors, with developmental defects in GABAergic circuits proposed as a key underlying etiology. Here, we introduce the V-Y assay, a novel space preference test in which one arm of the Y-maze is initially hidden and later revealed as a novel space. Using an ASD mouse model with haploinsufficiency, which exhibits ASD-like social impairments that can be either exacerbated or ameliorated by GABAergic circuit manipulations, we observed impaired novel space preference and exploratory behavior in the V-Y assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug Alcohol Depend
January 2025
Department of Translational Neuroscience, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. Electronic address:
Adolescence is a developmental period marked by significant alterations to brain neurobiology and behavior. Adolescent nicotine use disrupts developmental trajectories and increases vulnerability to maladaptive drug-taking in adulthood. The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, including the nucleus accumbens core (NAc), mediates the reinforcing effects of nicotine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Youth Adolesc
January 2025
Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
Because educational attainment is associated with well-being in the long term, it is important to understand the developmental processes that enhance academic outcomes during adolescence. Also, although the importance of friends is well documented in adolescence, little is known about how close friends' characteristics work together with youth's own characteristics to shape adolescents' educational trajectories. This study fills an important gap in knowledge by focusing on how middle school students' academic achievement and externalizing problems are associated with their friends' achievement and externalizing problems over time, and how these variables predict educational attainment in adulthood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Immunol
January 2025
Department of Cardiology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
A comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the immune landscape in humans across the entire lifespan at single-cell transcriptional and protein levels, during development, maturation and senescence is currently lacking. We recruited a total of 220 healthy volunteers from the Shanghai Pudong Cohort (NCT05206643), spanning 13 age groups from 0 to over 90 years, and profiled their peripheral immune cells through single-cell RNA-sequencing coupled with single T cell and B cell receptor sequencing, high-throughput mass cytometry, bulk RNA-sequencing and flow cytometry validation experiments. We revealed that T cells were the most strongly affected by age and experienced the most intensive rewiring in cell-cell interactions during specific age.
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