Sensorische Auffälligkeiten bei Autismus-Spektrum-Störung: Validierung und Adaptation des englischsprachigen "Sensory Perception Quotient" (SPQ) von Tavassoli und Kollegen.

Although the DSM-5 has emphasised the relevance of sensory abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), there are hardly any measures to assess them in German speaking countries. The present study translated the "Sensory Perception Questionnaire" (SPQ) by Tavassoli et al. (2014) to German and validated this scale. The SPQ is a self-rating scale for adults which focuses on perceptual aspects rather than cognitive or motivational antecedents or consequences of such perceptual processes. A total of 188 subjects participated in this study, including n=85 participants with ASD and n=103 neurotypical controls. The autism spectrum quotient (AQ) and the empathy quotient (EQ) were also administered, the IQ was measured using the CFT20-R, and participants were clinically evaluated using the SKID-I. Alternative items were generated to improve the semantic and psychometric properties of the SPQ. Of the 92 original SPQ items, 33 separated the clinical groups significantly and linguistically clearly in the sense of sensory hyper-sensitivity. These items covered primarily the sensory modalities of hearing, touch and vision. Increased sensory hyper-sensitivity was associated with greater scores in the AQ and increased slightly with increasing age. Sensory hyper-sensitivity in participants with ASD was, however, not significantly correlated with the EQ and the IQ. Due to the item-analytical rather than dimensional item selection, the short versions presented here exhibit a clearly better group separation with comparable concurrent validities when compared to Tavassoli's short version of the scale. Pending replication and proper norming, the SPQ short version presented here can be employed for screening purposes and supplement the clinical diagnostic process.

[Thymoma--incidence, classification and therapy]. / Thymome--Inzidenz, Klassifikation und Therapie.

Thymomas are a rare tumor entity. However, they represent 50 % of all tumors of the anterior mediastinum. There are no specific early symptoms. Overall in 10 - 15 % of patients with myasthenia gravis a thymoma is evident. Two major classifications are relevant in clinical practise: the Masaoka-classification and the WHO-classification. For their clinical and prognostic significance both classifications should be used for patients with thymomas. Additional, only resection status (RO) is known as a significant prognostic factor. Thymomas are compulsory malignant tumors. Distant metastasis is found as well as local recurrence in all stages of the disease. The 5-year-mortality rate constitutes about 80 %, not meaning any healing because local recurrences occur as late as five years after surgery. 60 % of all patients die from tumor-independent reasons making a clear prognostic statement difficult. Surgical treatment remains the gold standard and must be performed whenever possible. The most common approach is a median sternotomy. When dealing with a thymuscarcinoma, radical lymph node dissection is advisable. With respect of treatment only adjuvant radiation can possibly improve long term survival and reduces local recurrence rates for incomplete resected patients. There is no evidence for a benefit in patients with thymoma receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. A neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in combination with an adjuvant radiotherapy improves outcome after surgical resection in stage III and IV and goes along with better survival rates. Larger studies have not been performed so far. A multimodal therapy strategy is advised when dealing with thymomas in stage III and IV.