Ophthalmological findings in children with autism spectrum disorder.

PURPOSE: Eye pathology could be related to atypical visual behaviours and impaired social communication through visual cues in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The main purpose of this prospective study was to assess ophthalmological disorders in children with ASD and to investigate the relationships with intellectual disability (ID) and ASD severity. METHODS: In this prospective study, comprehensive ophthalmological and oculomotor examinations were performed. ASD severity and verbal and performance intelligence quotients were determined using adapted scales. These clinical data were compared between groups of children based on the presence or absence of ophthalmological disorders and the achievement or not of visual acuity (VA) testing by using non-parametric statistical tests. RESULTS: Amongst a sample of 51 children, ophthalmological disorders were found in 39% of cases, with 35% having significant refractive errors and 10% presenting with strabismus. Children with ASD and ophthalmological disorders had significantly lower verbal (29.8 ± 14.7 compared with 44.3 ± 21.5; p = 0.010) and performance quotients (57.8 ± 18.3 compared with 67.59 ± 20; p = 0.049) but no significant result was found between the presence of ophthalmological disorders and ASD severity, level of communication and social contact, or modulating behaviour when changes occur. Children who did not achieve monocular VA testing (39%) had significantly lower verbal (25.1 ± 9.7 compared with 46.1 ± 20.9; p < 0.001) and performance quotients (52.7 ± 17 compared with 69.8 ± 18.8; p = 0.001), also presented higher social interaction impairment (p = 0.002), and expressed more important behavioural signs (p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Ophthalmological disorders are frequently found in children with ASD, especially in those with ID. Ophthalmologists and child psychiatrists should pay attention to perform ophthalmological examination in children with ASD since eye disorders might remain undetected. A comprehensive examination by a paediatric ophthalmologist would help to improve the individual clinical description and the global intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trial registration number: NCT02444117.

A novel male Japanese quail structural connectivity atlas using ultra-high field diffusion MRI at 11.7 T.

The structural connectivity of animal brains can be revealed using post-mortem diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Despite the existence of several structural atlases of avian brains, few of them address the bird's structural connectivity. In this study, a novel atlas of the structural connectivity is proposed for the male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), aiming at investigating two lines divergent on their emotionality trait: the short tonic immobility (STI) and the long tonic immobility (LTI) lines. The STI line presents a low emotionality trait, while the LTI line expresses a high emotionality trait. 21 male Japanese quail brains from both lines were scanned post-mortem for this study, using a preclinical Bruker 11.7 T MRI scanner. Diffusion-weighted MRI was performed using a 3D segmented echo planar imaging (EPI) pulsed gradient spin-echo (PGSE) sequence with a 200 [Formula: see text]m isotropic resolution, 75 diffusion-encoding directions and a b-value fixed at 4500 s/mm2. Anatomical MRI was likewise performed using a 2D anatomical T2-weighted spin-echo (SE) sequence with a 150 [Formula: see text]m isotropic resolution. This very first anatomical connectivity atlas of the male Japanese quail reveals 34 labeled fiber tracts and the existence of structural differences between the connectivity patterns characterizing the two lines. Thus, the link between the male Japanese quail's connectivity and its underlying anatomical structures has reached a better understanding.

Faster eye movements in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Atypical visual exploration of both social and nonsocial scenes is often reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with less precise and longer saccades, potentially reflecting difficulties in oculomotor control. To assess a subset of oculomotor functions in ASD, 20 children with ASD and 21 age-matched typically developing (TD) children (2.6-11.5 years) partook in three tasks of increasing complexity, while no explicit instruction was provided: a prosaccade gap task, a color and a "categorical" visual search tasks (a face among butterflies and vice-versa). In addition to classical saccade metrics, we measured Distance error, (the distance between the target and the closest gaze position) and Time-to-target (the time taken to reach the target). In the prosaccade task, children with ASD were as accurate as TD children, yet faster to reach the stimulus. In the color visual search task, children with ASD were faster but less precise than TD children. In the categorical visual search, while TD children were more precise in orienting their gaze towards the face, children with ASD performed similarly in the two conditions; Time-to-target did not differ. Our results provide contradictory evidence regarding enhanced visual search ability in ASD: when considering response times, enhanced visual search performance was found in one task only, while when considering gaze precision no advantage was found. These three experiments demonstrate that the automatic saccadic system may function more rapidly in children with ASD. Nonetheless, a diminished sensitivity to bottom-up saliency and top-down influence might suppress this advantage in more complex visual environments. Autism Res 2019, 12: 212-224 © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Three experiments with no instructions were designed to assess oculomotor functions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In a saccade task, children with ASD were faster than but as accurate as control children. In visual search tasks, accuracy and speed decreased with increasing complexity of visual environment. Children with ASD showed faster automatic visual orientation, but this might hinder exploratory behaviors, leading to difficulties in complex and social situations.