Desarrollo de la comprensión emocional. ¿Qué tipo de tecnología para qué alumno con trastorno del espectro autista? Revisión sistemática / Development of emotional understanding. What type of technology for which student with autism spectrum disorder? Systematic review

La falta de información sobre el uso de la tecnología en niños con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) de diferentes perfiles puede dificultar que docentes y alumnos se estén beneficiando del apoyo tecnológico más eficaz y ajustado a sus necesidades. El objetivo de esta revisión fue analizar y sintetizar la evidencia científica sobre la eficacia de los recursos tecnológicos en la mejora de la comprensión emocional de estudiantes con TEA con perfiles de alto y bajo funcionamiento. Para ello se realizó una revisión sistemática de las publicaciones científicas indexadas en algunas de las bases de datos de mayor relevancia siguiendo los criterios establecidos en la declaración PRISMA. En total se analizaron 38 artículos que cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión preestablecidos. Los resultados muestran la importancia de diseñar sistemas versátiles que puedan personalizarse y adaptarse en tiempo real y en contextos naturales con un enfoque claramente inclusivo. Pero también sugieren que la tecnología puede no ser una herramienta de intervención complementaria adecuada para todos los niños con TEA. Lo que subraya la necesidad de ensayos adicionales bien controlados sobre las características que permitan identificar qué estudiantes podrían o no beneficiarse de diferentes modalidades de tecnología. (AU)

The lack of information on the use of technology in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) of different profiles can make it difficult for teachers and students to benefit from the most effective technology support tailored to their needs. The aim of this review was to analyze and synthesize scientific evidence on the effectiveness of technological resources in improving the emotional understanding of students with high and low functioning ASD profiles. A systematic review of the scientific publications indexed in some of the most relevant databases was carried out following the criteria established in the PRISMA declaration. A total of 38 articles that met the pre-established inclusion criteria were analyzed. The results show the importance of designing versatile systems that can be customized and adapted in real time and in natural contexts with a clearly inclusive approach. But they also suggest that technology may not be an appropriate complementary intervention tool for all children with ASD. This underlines the need for additional well-controlled tests on the characteristics that would allow identifying which students might or might not benefit from different technology modalities. (AU)

Desarrollo de la comprensión emocional. ¿Qué tipo de tecnología para qué alumno con trastorno del espectro autista? Revisión sistemática / Development of emotional understanding. What type of technology for which student with autism spectrum disorder? Systematic review

La falta de información sobre el uso de la tecnología en niños con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) de diferentes perfiles puede dificultar que docentes y alumnos se estén beneficiando del apoyo tecnológico más eficaz y ajustado a sus necesidades. El objetivo de esta revisión fue analizar y sintetizar la evidencia científica sobre la eficacia de los recursos tecnológicos en la mejora de la comprensión emocional de estudiantes con TEA con perfiles de alto y bajo funcionamiento. Para ello se realizó una revisión sistemática de las publicaciones científicas indexadas en algunas de las bases de datos de mayor relevancia siguiendo los criterios establecidos en la declaración PRISMA. En total se analizaron 38 artículos que cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión preestablecidos. Los resultados muestran la importancia de diseñar sistemas versátiles que puedan personalizarse y adaptarse en tiempo real y en contextos naturales con un enfoque claramente inclusivo. Pero también sugieren que la tecnología puede no ser una herramienta de intervención complementaria adecuada para todos los niños con TEA. Lo que subraya la necesidad de ensayos adicionales bien controlados sobre las características que permitan identificar qué estudiantes podrían o no beneficiarse de diferentes modalidades de tecnología. (AU)

The lack of information on the use of technology in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) of different profiles can make it difficult for teachers and students to benefit from the most effective technology support tailored to their needs. The aim of this review was to analyze and synthesize scientific evidence on the effectiveness of technological resources in improving the emotional understanding of students with high and low functioning ASD profiles. A systematic review of the scientific publications indexed in some of the most relevant databases was carried out following the criteria established in the PRISMA declaration. A total of 38 articles that met the pre-established inclusion criteria were analyzed. The results show the importance of designing versatile systems that can be customized and adapted in real time and in natural contexts with a clearly inclusive approach. But they also suggest that technology may not be an appropriate complementary intervention tool for all children with ASD. This underlines the need for additional well-controlled tests on the characteristics that would allow identifying which students might or might not benefit from different technology modalities. (AU)

Sex differences during development in cortical temporal processing and event related potentials in wild-type and fragile X syndrome model mice.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently diagnosed in approximately 1 in 44 children in the United States, based on a wide array of symptoms, including sensory dysfunction and abnormal language development. Boys are diagnosed ~ 3.8 times more frequently than girls. Auditory temporal processing is crucial for speech recognition and language development. Abnormal development of temporal processing may account for ASD language impairments. Sex differences in the development of temporal processing may underlie the differences in language outcomes in male and female children with ASD. To understand mechanisms of potential sex differences in temporal processing requires a preclinical model. However, there are no studies that have addressed sex differences in temporal processing across development in any animal model of ASD. METHODS: To fill this major gap, we compared the development of auditory temporal processing in male and female wildtype (WT) and Fmr1 knock-out (KO) mice, a model of Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a leading genetic cause of ASD-associated behaviors. Using epidural screw electrodes, we recorded auditory event related potentials (ERP) and auditory temporal processing with a gap-in-noise auditory steady state response (ASSR) paradigm at young (postnatal (p)21 and p30) and adult (p60) ages from both auditory and frontal cortices of awake, freely moving mice. RESULTS: The results show that ERP amplitudes were enhanced in both sexes of Fmr1 KO mice across development compared to WT counterparts, with greater enhancement in adult female than adult male KO mice. Gap-ASSR deficits were seen in the frontal, but not auditory, cortex in early development (p21) in female KO mice. Unlike male KO mice, female KO mice show WT-like temporal processing at p30. There were no temporal processing deficits in the adult mice of both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: These results show a sex difference in the developmental trajectories of temporal processing and hypersensitive responses in Fmr1 KO mice. Male KO mice show slower maturation of temporal processing than females. Female KO mice show stronger hypersensitive responses than males later in development. The differences in maturation rates of temporal processing and hypersensitive responses during various critical periods of development may lead to sex differences in language function, arousal and anxiety in FXS.

Unraveling the immunogenetic landscape of autism spectrum disorder: a comprehensive bioinformatics approach.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disease characterized by social disorder. Recently, the population affected by ASD has gradually increased around the world. There are great difficulties in diagnosis and treatment at present. Methods: The ASD datasets were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and the immune-relevant genes were downloaded from a previously published compilation. Subsequently, we used WGCNA to screen the modules related to the ASD and immune. We also choose the best combination and screen out the core genes from Consensus Machine Learning Driven Signatures (CMLS). Subsequently, we evaluated the genetic correlation between immune cells and ASD used GNOVA. And pleiotropic regions identified by PLACO and CPASSOC between ASD and immune cells. FUMA was used to identify pleiotropic regions, and expression trait loci (EQTL) analysis was used to determine their expression in different tissues and cells. Finally, we use qPCR to detect the gene expression level of the core gene. Results: We found a close relationship between neutrophils and ASD, and subsequently, CMLS identified a total of 47 potential candidate genes. Secondly, GNOVA showed a significant genetic correlation between neutrophils and ASD, and PLACO and CPASSOC identified a total of 14 pleiotropic regions. We annotated the 14 regions mentioned above and identified a total of 6 potential candidate genes. Through EQTL, we found that the CFLAR gene has a specific expression pattern in neutrophils, suggesting that it may serve as a potential biomarker for ASD and is closely related to its pathogenesis. Conclusions: In conclusion, our study yields unprecedented insights into the molecular and genetic heterogeneity of ASD through a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis. These valuable findings hold significant implications for tailoring personalized ASD therapies.

Dietary flavonoids modulate the gut microbiota: A new perspective on improving autism spectrum disorder through the gut-brain axis.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an unknown etiology. It is associated with various factors and causes great inconvenience to the patient's life. The gut-brain axis (GBA), which serves as a bidirectional information channel for exchanging information between the gut microbiota and the brain, is vital in studying many neurodegenerative diseases. Dietary flavonoids provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits, as well as regulating the structure and function of the gut microbiota. The occurrence and development of ASD are associated with dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Modulation of gut microbiota can effectively improve the severity of ASD. This paper reviews the links between gut microbiota, flavonoids, and ASD, focusing on the mechanism of dietary flavonoids in regulating ASD through the GBA.

Metabolic network analysis of pre-ASD newborns and 5-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder.

Classical metabolomic and new metabolic network methods were used to study the developmental features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in newborns (n = 205) and 5-year-old children (n = 53). Eighty percent of the metabolic impact in ASD was caused by 14 shared biochemical pathways that led to decreased anti-inflammatory and antioxidant defenses, and to increased physiologic stress molecules like lactate, glycerol, cholesterol, and ceramides. CIRCOS plots and a new metabolic network parameter, V ° net, revealed differences in both the kind and degree of network connectivity. Of 50 biochemical pathways and 450 polar and lipid metabolites examined, the developmental regulation of the purine network was most changed. Purine network hub analysis revealed a 17-fold reversal in typically developing children. This purine network reversal did not occur in ASD. These results revealed previously unknown metabolic phenotypes, identified new developmental states of the metabolic correlation network, and underscored the role of mitochondrial functional changes, purine metabolism, and purinergic signaling in autism spectrum disorder.

Interactions between circulating inflammatory factors and autism spectrum disorder: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study in European population.

Background: Extensive observational studies have reported an association between inflammatory factors and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but their causal relationships remain unclear. This study aims to offer deeper insight into causal relationships between circulating inflammatory factors and ASD. Methods: Two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis method was used in this study. The genetic variation of 91 circulating inflammatory factors was obtained from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) database of European ancestry. The germline GWAS summary data for ASD were also obtained (18,381 ASD cases and 27,969 controls). Single nucleotide polymorphisms robustly associated with the 91 inflammatory factors were used as instrumental variables. The random-effects inverse-variance weighted method was used as the primary analysis, and the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was applied. Sensitivity tests were carried out to assess the validity of the causal relationship. Results: The forward MR analysis results suggest that levels of sulfotransferase 1A1, natural killer cell receptor 2B4, T-cell surface glycoprotein CD5, Fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand, and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand are positively associated with the occurrence of ASD, while levels of interleukin-7, interleukin-2 receptor subunit beta, and interleukin-2 are inversely associated with the occurrence of ASD. In addition, matrix metalloproteinase-10, caspase 8, tumor necrosis factor-related activation-induced cytokine, and C-C motif chemokine 19 were considered downstream consequences of ASD. Conclusion: This MR study identified additional inflammatory factors in patients with ASD relative to previous studies, and raised a possibility of ASD-caused immune abnormalities. These identified inflammatory factors may be potential biomarkers of immunologic dysfunction in ASD.

Relationship between affiliate stigma and family quality of life among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: The mediating role of parenting self-efficacy.

BACKGROUND: The parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are under great pressure and experience discrimination in their daily lives, which affects their family quality of life (FQOL). OBJECTIVE: METHODS: A total of 237 parents of children with ASD were recruited in a university-affiliated hospital in Guangzhou, China, from October 2020 to April 2021 by convenience sampling. The Affiliate Stigma Scale, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale and Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale were employed for data collection. RESULTS: The results showed that affiliate stigma negatively predicts total FQOL and the dimensions of FQOL through both a direct effect and an indirect effect through parenting self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that affiliate stigma is an important predictor of FQOL, and interventions to reduce affiliate stigma and strengthen parenting self-efficacy might be effective in improving FQOL in the parents of children with ASD.

Atopic Dermatitis: Disease Background and Risk Factors.

Multiple risk factors have been associated with the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). Recent advances in understanding the role of genetics in this disease have been made, with discovery of the filaggrin (FLG) gene as the most notable so far. In addition to FLG gene mutations as a risk factor for AD, a positive family history of atopic or allergic disease in either parent has been shown to confer a greater risk of developing AD. Atopic dermatitis usually presents early in life and is thought to represent the initial step in the "atopic march," which is characterized by the development of other atopic diseases later in life such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and/or rhinoconjunctivitis, food allergies, and hay fever. Other comorbid diseases that have been associated with AD include increase risk of viral and bacterial skin infections, neuropsychiatric diseases such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Patients with AD have also been found to have worse sleep quality overall compared to patients without AD. In this chapter, we will discuss the risk factors associated with development of atopic dermatitis as well as the most commonly reported comorbidities in patients with this disease.

The relationship between gamma-band neural oscillations and language skills in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their first-degree relatives.

BACKGROUND: Most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have co-occurring language impairments and some of these autism-specific language difficulties are also present in their non-autistic first-degree relatives. One of the possible neural mechanisms associated with variability in language functioning is alterations in cortical gamma-band oscillations, hypothesized to be related to neural excitation and inhibition balance. METHODS: We used a high-density 128-channel electroencephalography (EEG) to register brain response to speech stimuli in a large sex-balanced sample of participants: 125 youth with ASD, 121 typically developing (TD) youth, and 40 unaffected siblings (US) of youth with ASD. Language skills were assessed with Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. RESULTS: First, during speech processing, we identified significantly elevated gamma power in ASD participants compared to TD controls. Second, across all youth, higher gamma power was associated with lower language skills. Finally, the US group demonstrated an intermediate profile in both language and gamma power, with nonverbal IQ mediating the relationship between gamma power and language skills. LIMITATIONS: We only focused on one of the possible neural contributors to variability in language functioning. Also, the US group consisted of a smaller number of participants in comparison to the ASD or TD groups. Finally, due to the timing issue in EEG system we have provided only non-phase-locked analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Autistic youth showed elevated gamma power, suggesting higher excitation in the brain in response to speech stimuli and elevated gamma power was related to lower language skills. The US group showed an intermediate pattern of gamma activity, suggesting that the broader autism phenotype extends to neural profiles.

Impact of reading intervention on the phonological awareness of children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: To review studies that have intervention in reading with impacts on phonological awareness in children with autism spectrum disorder. RESEARCH STRATEGIES: Searches took place until February 2021 in Cochrane, Embase, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature), PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and gray literature databases. SELECTION CRITERIA: The review included experimental studies with preschoolers and schoolchildren with ASD. Two independent reviewers selected the studies and, in case of disagreement, a third reviewer was consulted. DATA ANALYSIS: Joanna Briggs Institute checklists were used for risk of bias. A random effects meta-analysis was performed and the certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE tool. RESULTS: Eight studies with some impact on phonological awareness were reviewed. The risk of bias was low and moderate. The certainty of the evidence was low for randomized trials and very low for non-randomised trials. Comparison of pre- and post-therapy on the Preschool Literacy Test (TOPEL) showed that children with ASD improved phonological awareness, with a mean difference between baseline and post-therapy of 6.21 (95% CI = 3.75-8.67; I2 = 0%). CONCLUSION: Shared reading and software activities with words and phrases can alter phonological awareness. These results support further research with larger samples and a detailed description of the intervention to observe its effectiveness in phonological awareness.

Effect of Ketamine Treatment on Social Withdrawal in Autism and Autism-Like Conditions.

OBJECTIVE: Ketamine and esketamine have been used in the field of psychiatry to alleviate conditions such as major depressive disorder. Our objective was to evaluate the current literature on the use of ketamine for symptoms of social withdrawal in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism-like conditions. METHODS: A comprehensive search of PubMed and Web of Science was conducted to identify literature involving the use of ketamine to treat symptoms of autism and social withdrawal. Patients with comorbid disorders were also included. RESULTS: Two original studies were found, showing mixed results on the use of ketamine for ASD. The use of esketamine found no statistically significant results, whereas the use of intravenous ketamine was shown to alleviate symptoms of social withdrawal especially in the short term. Neither study reported a significant amount of serious adverse events. Five case reports were also included, showing decreased depressive symptoms and evidence of increased social condition. CONCLUSIONS: Research on the use of ketamine for ASD and ASD-related conditions is limited. Evidence of improved social condition exists, but further studies should be conducted to increase sample power and test various doses and methods of administration.

A hybrid CNN-SVM model for enhanced autism diagnosis.

Autism is a representative disorder of pervasive developmental disorder. It exerts influence upon an individual's behavior and performance, potentially co-occurring with other mental illnesses. Consequently, an effective diagnostic approach proves to be invaluable in both therapeutic interventions and the timely provision of medical support. Currently, most scholars' research primarily relies on neuroimaging techniques for auxiliary diagnosis and does not take into account the distinctive features of autism's social impediments. In order to address this deficiency, this paper introduces a novel convolutional neural network-support vector machine model that integrates resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data with the social responsiveness scale metrics for the diagnostic assessment of autism. We selected 821 subjects containing the social responsiveness scale measure from the publicly available Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange dataset, including 379 subjects with autism spectrum disorder and 442 typical controls. After preprocessing of fMRI data, we compute the static and dynamic functional connectivity for each subject. Subsequently, convolutional neural networks and attention mechanisms are utilized to extracts their respective features. The extracted features, combined with the social responsiveness scale features, are then employed as novel inputs for the support vector machine to categorize autistic patients and typical controls. The proposed model identifies salient features within the static and dynamic functional connectivity, offering a possible biological foundation for clinical diagnosis. By incorporating the behavioral assessments, the model achieves a remarkable classification accuracy of 94.30%, providing a more reliable support for auxiliary diagnosis.

Unraveling the Endocannabinoid System: Exploring Its Therapeutic Potential in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The salient features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompass persistent difficulties in social communication, as well as the presence of restricted and repetitive facets of behavior, hobbies, or pursuits, which are often accompanied with cognitive limitations. Over the past few decades, a sizable number of studies have been conducted to enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of ASD. Preclinical rat models have proven to be extremely valuable in simulating and analyzing the roles of a wide range of established environmental and genetic factors. Recent research has also demonstrated the significant involvement of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the pathogenesis of several neuropsychiatric diseases, including ASD. In fact, the ECS has the potential to regulate a multitude of metabolic and cellular pathways associated with autism, including the immune system. Moreover, the ECS has emerged as a promising target for intervention with high predictive validity. Particularly noteworthy are resent preclinical studies in rodents, which describe the onset of ASD-like symptoms after various genetic or pharmacological interventions targeting the ECS, providing encouraging evidence for further exploration in this area.

Mothers' evaluations of fathers' contributions to raising children with autism spectrum disorder in the United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurological condition which results in social skill deficits, communication difficulties, and restrictive and repetitive behaviour. The difficulties associated with parenting children with ASD have been studied extensively, mainly from the perspectives of mothers. The extent of involvement of fathers in the raising of children with ASD has received limited scholarly attention, especially in non-Western contexts such as the United Arab Emirates. OBJECTIVES: This study asked mothers to evaluate the involvement of fathers in the development of children with ASD. METHODS: In all, 240 mothers completed the Fathers' Involvement in Development and Rehabilitation Scale, designed based on a review of literature on the construct of involvement, namely attitude, participation in training, and support domains. The data were subjected to computation of mean scores, multivariate analysis of variance, hierarchical regression, and moderation analyses. RESULTS: The results suggested that fathers held positive attitudes and provided substantial support to their children with ASD. However, mothers were ambivalent regarding the participation of fathers in training to support the development of their children. Differences were also observed between participants according to marital status, location, child gender, and ASD severity. CONCLUSION: Recommendations for targeted training for fathers and other study implications are discussed.

Visual scanning of social stimuli in preterm and autism spectrum disorder children.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the pattern of eye-gaze of preterm (PT), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (Ty) children. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with eight preterm (born with ≤2000 g weight), nine ASD and five Ty male children, between six and nine years old, was performed. The eye gaze was evaluated presenting a board with a couple in social interaction, and a video with four children playing with blocks, projected in a screen computer, successively, evaluating the time that the children looked at each stimulus. RESULTS: Although all the groups focus on the central social figure with no significant differences, ASD presented significant differences in time fixation of the objects (p=0.021), while premature children fixated more time in the central social interaction than in the whole scene than typical children. CONCLUSIONS: Although this study found noteworthy differences in the eye-gaze patterns among the three groups, additional research with a more extensive participant pool is necessary to validate these preliminary results.

Increased number of excitatory synapsis and decreased number of inhibitory synapsis in the prefrontal cortex in autism.

Previous studies in autism spectrum disorder demonstrated an increased number of excitatory pyramidal cells and a decreased number of inhibitory parvalbumin+ chandelier interneurons in the prefrontal cortex of postmortem brains. How these changes in cellular composition affect the overall abundance of excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the cortex is not known. Herein, we quantified the number of excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the prefrontal cortex of 10 postmortem autism spectrum disorder brains and 10 control cases. To identify excitatory synapses, we used VGlut1 as a marker of the presynaptic component and postsynaptic density protein-95 as marker of the postsynaptic component. To identify inhibitory synapses, we used the vesicular gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter as a marker of the presynaptic component and gephyrin as a marker of the postsynaptic component. We used Puncta Analyzer to quantify the number of co-localized pre- and postsynaptic synaptic components in each area of interest. We found an increase in the number of excitatory synapses in upper cortical layers and a decrease in inhibitory synapses in all cortical layers in autism spectrum disorder brains compared with control cases. The alteration in the number of excitatory and inhibitory synapses could lead to neuronal dysfunction and disturbed network connectivity in the prefrontal cortex in autism spectrum disorder.

Atypical neural encoding of faces in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience pervasive difficulties in processing social information from faces. However, the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments of faces in ASD remain largely unclear. Here, we comprehensively addressed this question by employing functional neuroimaging and parametrically generated faces that vary in facial trustworthiness and dominance. Behaviorally, participants with ASD exhibited reduced specificity but increased inter-rater variability in social trait judgments. Neurally, participants with ASD showed hypo-activation across broad face-processing areas. Multivariate analysis based on trial-by-trial face responses could discriminate participant groups in the majority of the face-processing areas. Encoding social traits in ASD engaged vastly different face-processing areas compared to controls, and encoding different social traits engaged different brain areas. Interestingly, the idiosyncratic brain areas encoding social traits in ASD were still flexible and context-dependent, similar to neurotypicals. Additionally, participants with ASD also showed an altered encoding of facial saliency features in the eyes and mouth. Together, our results provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments in ASD.

Trajectory of depressive symptoms over adolescence in autistic and neurotypical youth.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence coincides with a dramatic rise in the onset of psychiatric conditions including depression. Depression symptoms may be particularly prevalent and impairing for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While prior research suggests adolescence is associated with worsening depression symptoms for typically developing (TD) and autistic youth, it is unclear if they follow a similar course. METHOD: The study examined the trajectory of depressive symptoms in autistic and neurotypical youth over a 4-year longitudinal study using linear and logistic mixed effects models. In youth with clinically relevant depressive scores (t-score > 65), moderating factors (i.e., diagnosis, age, puberty, sex) were explored. During Year 1, the sample included 244 youth 10-to-13 years: 140 in the ASD group (36 females) and 104 in the TD group (46 females). RESULTS: Autistic youth had elevated depression scores compared to TD peers (p < 0.001) and females were higher than males in both groups (p = 0.001). There was significant diagnosis by age (p < 0.001) and diagnosis by pubertal stage (p < 0.05) interactions. In the ASD group, elevated depressive scores presented in early adolescence and decreased during middle adolescence and puberty, whereas the TD group showed the opposite trend with an increase in depression symptoms with advancing development. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include an unequal sex distribution (fewer females), non-representative autistic sample (e.g., cognition and race/ethnicity), and potential confound of the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Autistic youth present with higher rates of depressive symptoms early in development; yet, approaching middle adolescence and puberty, the symptom trajectory in the autistic youth declines coinciding with an increase in the TD youth. While group trajectories are divergent, they lead to similar levels of depression in late adolescence with higher symptoms in females. Findings suggest a period of quiescence in depressive symptomology influenced by biopsychosocial factors impacting affective profiles.

Atypical functional connectivity between the amygdala and visual, salience regions in infants with genetic liability for autism.

The amygdala undergoes a period of overgrowth in the first year of life, resulting in enlarged volume by 12 months in infants later diagnosed with ASD. The overgrowth of the amygdala may have functional consequences during infancy. We investigated whether amygdala connectivity differs in 12-month-olds at high likelihood (HL) for ASD (defined by having an older sibling with autism), compared to those at low likelihood (LL). We examined seed-based connectivity of left and right amygdalae, hypothesizing that the HL and LL groups would differ in amygdala connectivity, especially with the visual cortex, based on our prior reports demonstrating that components of visual circuitry develop atypically and are linked to genetic liability for autism. We found that HL infants exhibited weaker connectivity between the right amygdala and the left visual cortex, as well as between the left amygdala and the right anterior cingulate, with evidence that these patterns occur in distinct subgroups of the HL sample. Amygdala connectivity strength with the visual cortex was related to motor and communication abilities among HL infants. Findings indicate that aberrant functional connectivity between the amygdala and visual regions is apparent in infants with genetic liability for ASD and may have implications for early differences in adaptive behaviors.