Immediate effects of coloured overlays on the reading performance of preschool children with an autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking.

BACKGROUND: Coloured overlays have often been used to improve reading performance in preschool children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, previous evidence shows conflicts in its application. AIMS: To investigate the immediate effects of coloured overlays on reading performance using eye tracking in preschool children with ASD and their typical development (TD) counterparts closely matched by chronological age. METHODS: Forty participants with ASD (n = 20) or TD (n = 20) were recruited by convenience sampling and asked to read aloud numbers randomly arranged on paper. Participants' ocular performance (fixation duration, fixation count, total visit duration), reading speed and number of errors were recorded by eye tracker and digital stopwatch respectively throughout testing with and without coloured overlays. RESULTS: The findings show that coloured overlays had no significant immediate effect in improving ocular performance and reading speed of children with ASD or TD, although individual improvements were identified in some children with ASD. CONCLUSIONS: Use of coloured overlays may not be useful to improve reading and ocular performance in children with ASD in one single occasion. The potential effect on reading ability of using coloured overlays repetitively for a longer period needs further investigation.

HLA-B*38:02:01 predicts carbimazole/methimazole-induced agranulocytosis.

Thioamides antithyroid-drugs (ATDs) are important in hyperthyroid disease management. Identification of the susceptibility locus of ATD-induced agranulocytosis is important for clinical management. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 20 patients with ATD-induced agranulocytosis and 775 healthy controls. The top finding was further replicated. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs185386680, showed the strongest association with ATD-induced agranulocytosis in GWAS (odds ratio (OR) = 36.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 12.8-103.7; P = 1.3 × 10(-24)) and replication (OR = 37; 95% CI = 3.7-367.4; P = 9.6 × 10(-7)). HLA-B*38:02:01 was in complete linkage disequilibrium with rs185386680. High-resolution HLA typing confirmed that HLA-B*38:02:01 was associated with carbimazole (CMZ)/methimazole (MMI)-induced agranulocytosis (OR = 265.5; 95% CI = 27.9-2528.0; P = 2.5 × 10(-14)), but not associated with propylthiouracil (PTU). The positive and negative predictive values of HLA-B*38:02:01 in predicting CMZ/MMI-induced agranulocytosis were 0.07 and 0.999. Approximately 211 cases need to be screened to prevent one case. Screening for the risk allele will be useful in preventing agranulocytosis in populations in which the frequency of the risk allele is high.

Longitudinal study of Chinese patients with pernicious anaemia.

BACKGROUND: The survival of whites who have been treated for pernicious anaemia (PA) is unaffected, apart from incurring a greater risk of gastric cancers. The long term outcome of PA in Chinese is unknown. METHODS: A hospital based prospective longitudinal study of Chinese PA patients was conducted. Patients with known cancers were excluded. RESULTS: From 1994 to 2007, 199 intrinsic factor antibody (IFA) positive and 168 IFA negative patients were recruited. Both cohorts had similar baseline characteristics, except the IFA positive patients had more severe haematological findings and more thyrogastric immune features; also more IFA negative patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus and gastrointestinal (GI) disease or GI surgery. Both cohorts had a good haematological response but an unsatisfactory neurological response to treatment. Hypothyroidism developed in patients of both cohorts during follow-up. 24 IFA positive patients and 7 IFA negative patients developed cancers (p = 0.007) during follow-up. 20% of all cancers were gastric carcinoma. Mean survival of both cohorts was similar. Mean survival of IFA positive patients with and without cancers was 64 and 129 months, respectively (p<0.001), and that of IFA negative patients 36 and 126 months, respectively (p<0.001). Death rates were 31% in the IFA positive cohort and 21% in the IFA negative cohort (p = 0.028). Cancer related death rates of IFA positive and IFA negative cohorts were 37% and 14%, respectively (p = 0.014). CONCLUSION: The survival period of Chinese with PA who have received treatment is good, but there is an increased risk of gastric cancers. IFA positive patients have a higher risk of developing all types of cancers and cancer related deaths than IFA negative patients.