Examining the Boundary Sharpness Coefficient as an Index of Cortical Microstructure in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with atypical brain development. However, the phenotype of regionally specific increased cortical thickness observed in ASD may be driven by several independent biological processes that influence the gray/white matter boundary, such as synaptic pruning, myelination, or atypical migration. Here, we propose to use the boundary sharpness coefficient (BSC), a proxy for alterations in microstructure at the cortical gray/white matter boundary, to investigate brain differences in individuals with ASD, including factors that may influence ASD-related heterogeneity (age, sex, and intelligence quotient).

Large-scale analyses of the relationship between sex, age and intelligence quotient heterogeneity and cortical morphometry in autism spectrum disorder.

Significant heterogeneity across aetiologies, neurobiology and clinical phenotypes have been observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Neuroimaging-based neuroanatomical studies of ASD have often reported inconsistent findings which may, in part, be attributable to an insufficient understanding of the relationship between factors influencing clinical heterogeneity and their relationship to brain anatomy. To this end, we performed a large-scale examination of cortical morphometry in ASD, with a specific focus on the impact of three potential sources of heterogeneity: sex, age and full-scale intelligence (FIQ).

Default Mode Hypoconnectivity Underlies a Sex-Related Autism Spectrum.

Background: Females and males differ significantly in the prevalence and presentation of autism spectrum conditions. One theory of this effect postulates that autistic traits lie on a sex-related continuum in the general population, and autism represents the extreme male end of this spectrum. This theory predicts that any feature of autism in males should 1) be present in autistic females, 2) differentiate between the sexes in the typical population, and 3) correlate with autistic traits.

Autism spectrum disorder in Chinese populations: a brief review.

This review summarizes the published work on the prevalence and incidence rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Chinese populations. The authors searched MEDLINE, Web of Science and the PsycINFO database and identified seven studies that were published in the English language. In mainland China, Li and colleagues reported an autism prevalence rate of 2.

Failure to deactivate the default mode network indicates a possible endophenotype of autism.

Background: Reduced activity during cognitively demanding tasks has been reported in the default mode network in typically developing controls and individuals with autism. However, no study has investigated the default mode network (DMN) in first-degree relatives of those with autism (such as siblings) and it is not known whether atypical activation of the DMN is specific to autism or whether it is also present in unaffected relatives. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the pattern of task-related deactivation during completion of a visual search task, the Embedded Figures Task, in teenagers with autism, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls.

Psychological correlates of handedness and corpus callosum asymmetry in autism: the left hemisphere dysfunction theory revisited.

Rightward cerebral lateralization has been suggested to be involved in the neuropathology of autism spectrum conditions. We investigated functional and neuroanatomical asymmetry, in terms of handedness and corpus callosum measurements in male adolescents with autism, their unaffected siblings and controls, and their associations with executive dysfunction and symptom severity. Adolescents with autism did not differ from controls in functional asymmetry, but neuroanatomically showed the expected pattern of stronger rightward lateralization in the posterior and anterior midbody based on their hand-preference.

Atypical activation during the Embedded Figures Task as a functional magnetic resonance imaging endophenotype of autism.

Atypical activation during the Embedded Figures Task has been demonstrated in autism, but has not been investigated in siblings or related to measures of clinical severity. We identified atypical activation during the Embedded Figures Task in participants with autism and unaffected siblings compared with control subjects in a number of temporal and frontal brain regions. Autism and sibling groups, however, did not differ in terms of activation during this task.

Evaluation of a screening instrument for autism spectrum disorders in prisoners.

Unlabelled: There have been concerns that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are over-represented but not recognised in prison populations. A screening tool for ASDs in prisons has therefore been developed.

Aims: We aimed to evaluate this tool in Scottish prisoners by comparing scores with standard measures of autistic traits (Autism Quotient (AQ)), neurodevelopmental history (Asperger Syndrome (and High-Functioning Autism) Diagnostic Interview (ASDI)), and social cognition (Ekman 60 Faces test).

Facial emotion recognition in Scottish prisoners.

Background: Studies of antisocial populations have found that they show deficits in recognition of facial affect. Such deficits are also found in other populations with clinical conditions such as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Aims: We aimed to investigate the hypothesis that facial affect recognition in the Scottish prison population would differ from matched controls.

Health status in the TORCH study of COPD: treatment efficacy and other determinants of change.

Background: Little is known about factors that determine health status decline in clinical trials of COPD.

Objectives: To examine health status changes over 3 years in the TORCH study of salmeterol+fluticasone propionate (SFC) vs. salmeterol alone, fluticasone propionate alone or placebo.

Prevalence of airflow obstruction in patients attending a rapid access chest pain clinic.

Background: Many UK hospitals have set-up specialised chest pain clinics to deal promptly and efficiently with cases of possible cardiac chest pain. It is possible that a proportion of patients attending these clinics will have a respiratory cause for their chest pain, or respiratory disease in addition to their cardiac pain. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of airflow obstruction, ischaemic heart disease and dual pathology in such patients.

Low birthweight and preterm birth in young people with special educational needs: a magnetic resonance imaging analysis.

Background: Although neuroanatomical and cognitive sequelae of low birthweight and preterm birth have been investigated, little is understood as to the likely prevalence of a history of low birthweight or preterm birth, or neuroanatomical correlates of such a history, within the special educational needs population. Our aim was to address these issues in a sample of young people receiving additional learning support.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-seven participants aged 13-22 years, receiving additional learning support, were recruited via their schools or colleges and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Autistic traits and cognitive performance in young people with mild intellectual impairment.

Cognitive performance and the relationship between theory of mind (TOM), weak central coherence and executive function were investigated in a cohort of young people with additional learning needs. Participants were categorized by social communication questionnaire score into groups of 10 individuals within the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) range, 14 within the pervasive developmental disorder range and 18 with few autistic traits. The ASD group were significantly poorer than the other groups on a test of cognitive flexibility.

Schizotypal cognitions as a predictor of psychopathology in adolescents with mild intellectual impairment.

Background: There is evidence to suggest that among young people with mild intellectual disability there are those whose cognitive difficulties may predict the subsequent manifestation of a schizophrenic phenotype. It is suggested that they may be detectable by simple means.

Aims: To gain adequate cooperation from educational services, parents and students so as to recruit a sufficiently large sample to test the above hypothesis, and to examine the hypothesis in the light of the findings.

Towards a neuroanatomy of autism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies.

Background: Structural brain abnormalities have been described in autism but studies are often small and contradictory. We aimed to identify which brain regions can reliably be regarded as different in autism compared to healthy controls.

Method: A systematic search was conducted for magnetic resonance imaging studies of regional brain size in autism.

Grey matter correlates of early psychotic symptoms in adolescents at enhanced risk of psychosis: a voxel-based study.

A three-fold enhanced risk of schizophrenia is conferred by learning disability. Here we use voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate grey matter correlates of early psychotic and related symptoms in 137 adolescents at enhanced risk of this disorder because of intellectual disability. Anxiety, hallucinations, incoherence of speech and delusions were assessed at clinical interview, and VBM was used to examine linear associations between symptom severity and grey matter density (GMD).

Structural correlates of intellectual impairment and autistic features in adolescents.

Intellectual disability, a common but under-researched condition, is strongly associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although studies have investigated the neural correlates of intelligence quotient (IQ) and ASD in intellectually unimpaired subjects, these issues have not been addressed in intellectually impaired subjects. We studied 63 intellectually disabled adolescents receiving additional learning support and 72 controls using whole brain tissue volumes extracted from native space and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in normalised space.

Estimating the cost-effectiveness of fluticasone propionate for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the presence of missing data.

Objectives: To explore the cost-effectiveness of fluticasone propionate (FP) for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we estimated costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) over 3 years, based on an economic appraisal of a previously reported clinical trial (Inhaled Steroids in Obstructive Lung Disease in Europe [ISOLDE]).

Methods: Seven hundred forty-two patients enrolled in the ISOLDE trial who received either FP or placebo had data available on health-care costs and quality of life over the period of the study. The SF-36-based utility scores for quality of life were used to calculate QALYs.

Economic evaluation of treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta2-agonists in a health maintenance organization.

Objectives: In light of recent results from observational studies showing prolonged survival in subjects taking long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) and/or inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we investigated their cost-effectiveness (CE).

Methods: Costs and survival data were collected for a sample of members enrolled in a large Health Maintenance Organization in the United States. An observational study design was used to evaluate cumulative costs and health benefits of LABA, ICS, ICS+LABA, or comparison drugs.

Qualitative assessment of brain anomalies in adolescents with mental retardation.

Background And Purpose: The neural basis of mental retardation is poorly understood. This study aimed to characterize structural anomalies of the brain in mental retardation and the relationship between them and the degree of mental retardation.

Methods: Eighty adolescents receiving educational support and 40 controls underwent MR brain imaging and intelligence quotient (IQ) assessment.

Predicting the costs of managing patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The economic consequences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are considerable, although the factors that best predict costs are largely unknown. This study used a population-based cohort to identify the clinical factors during an index year that were most predictive of increased direct medical costs in the subsequent year, and to develop a predictive model that described the cost variations in COPD. The medical records of 2116 patients enrolled in one regional health system who had COPD and health-care resource utilisation data for 1998 and 1999, were abstracted for information about symptoms, smoking history, chronic illnesses, and pulmonary function data.

Empirical comparison of maximal voxel and non-isotropic adjusted cluster extent results in a voxel-based morphometry study of comorbid learning disability with schizophrenia.

We present an empirical comparison of cluster extent and maximal voxel results in a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study of brain structure. The cluster extents are adjusted for underlying deviation from uniform smoothness. We implement this comparison on a four-group cohort that has previously shown evidence of a neuro-developmental component in schizophrenia (Moorhead, T.