Efficacy of Children Neuropsychological and Behavioral Scale in Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorders through a Combination of Developmental Surveillance

Objective This study aimed to explore the clinical value of Children Neuropsychological and Behavioral Scale-Revision 2016(CNBS-R2016)for Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)screening in the presence of developmental surveillance.Methods All participants were evaluated by the CNBS-R2016 and Gesell Developmental Schedules(GDS).Spearman’s correlation coefficients and Kappa values were obtained.Taking GDS as a reference assessment,the performance of the CNBS-R2016 for detecting the developmental delays of children with ASD was analyzed with receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.The efficacy of the CNBS-R2016 to screen for ASD was explored by comparing Communication Warning Behavior with Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule,Second Edition(ADOS-2).Results In total,150 children aged 12–42 months with ASD were enrolled.The developmental quotients of the CNBS-R2016 were correlated with those of the GDS(r=0.62–0.94).The CNBS-R2016 and GDS had good diagnostic agreement for developmental delays(Kappa=0.73–0.89),except for Fine Motor.There was a significant difference between the proportions of Fine Motor,delays detected by the CNBS-R2016 and GDS(86.0%vs.77.3%).With GDS as a standard,the areas under the ROC curves of the CNBS-R2016 were above 0.95 for all the domains except Fine Motor,which was 0.70.In addition,the positive rate of ASD was 100.0%and 93.5%when the cut-off points of 7 and 12 in the Communication Warning Behavior subscale were used,respectively.Conclusion The CNBS-R2016 performed well in developmental assessment and screening for children with ASD,especially by Communication Warning Behaviors subscale.Therefore,the CNBS-R2016 is worthy of clinical application in children with ASD in China.

Neuropsychological Profile Related with Executive Function of Chinese Preschoolers with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder： Neuropsychological Measures and Behavior Rating Scale of Executive Function-Preschool Version

Previous studies have found that schoolchildren with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder （ADHD） showed difficulties in neuropsychologicat function. This study aimed to assess neuropsychological function in Chinese preschoolers with ADHD using broad neuropsychological measures and rating scales and to test whether the pattern and severity of neuropsyehological weakness differed among ADH D presentations in preschool children. Methods： The 226 preschoolers （163 with ADHD and 63 controls） with the age of 4-5 years were included and assessed using the Behavior Rating Scale of Executive Function-Preschool Version （BRIEF-P） and a series of tests to investigate neuropsychological function. Results： Preschoolers with ADHD showed higher scorns in all domains of the BRIEF-P （inhibition： 30.64 ± 5.78 vs.20.69 ± 3.86, P 〈 0.001; shift： 13.40 ±3.03 vs. 12.41 ±2.79, P = 0.039; emotional control：15.10 ±3.53 vs.12.20 ±2.46, P 〈 0.001; working memory： 28.41± 4.99 vs.20.95± 4.60, P 〈 0.001 ; plan/organize： 17.04 ±3.30 vs. 13.29± 2.40, P 〈 0.001 ） and lower scores of Statue （23.18± 7.84 vs.28.27 ± 3.18, P = 0.001 ）, Word Generation （ 15.22 ± 6.52 vs. 19.53 ± 7.69, P = 0.025）, Comprehension of Instructions （ 14.00 ±4.44 vs. 17.02± 3.39, P = 0.016）, Visuomotor Precision （P 〈 0.050）, Toy delay （P = 0.048）, and Matrices tasks （P = 0.011）, compared with normal control. In terms of the differences among ADHD subtypes, all ADHD presentations had higher scores in several domains of the BRIEF-P （P 〈 0.001 ）, and the ADHD-combined symptoms （ADHD-C） group had the poorest ratings on inhibition and the ability to Plan/Organize. For neuropsychological measures, the results suggested that the ADHD-C group had poorer pertbrmances than the ADHD-predominantly inattentive symptoms （ADHD-I） group on Statue tasks （F = 7.34, η2= 0.12, P 〈 0.001 ）. Furthermore, the ADHD-hyperactive/impulsive symptoms group had significantly poorer perforulances compared to the ADHD-C group in the Block Construction task （F = 4.89, η2 = 0.067, P = 0.003）. However, no significant group differences were found between the ADHD-I group and normal control. Conclusion： Based on the combined evaluation of performance-based neuropsychological tests and the BRIEF-P, preschoolers with ADHD show difficulties of neuropsychological function in many aspects.

Clinical study on Jin's three-needle therapy for post-stroke cognitive impairment

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Jin's three-needle therapy on post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)and the effect on neuroelectrophysiology(event-related potentials).Methods:A total of 60 PSCI patients were selected and divided into a treatment group and a control group according to the method of random number table,with 30 cases in each group.The patients in the control group received routine treatment while the patients in the treatment group received additional Jin's three-needle therapy.The treatment for both groups lasted four weeks.Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)scores as well as amplitude and latency of potential 300(P300)were adopted to compare the between-group results before and after treatment.Results:Before treatment,there were no significant differences(all P>0.05)in MMSE and MoCA scores,P300 latency and P300 amplitude between the two groups.After 4 weeks of treatment,the MMSE and MoCA scores and P300 amplitudes were improved in both groups,and the P300 latencies became shorter.The results showed significant intra-group and between-group differences(all P<0.05).Conclusion:Based on the routine treatment,Jin's three-needle therapy is effective for PSCI.The mechanism is probably through its regulation on the patients'neuroelectrophysiology.