At least 78 million people worldwide are affected by autism,a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions,and repetitive behaviors and/or interests.Autism typically manifests in early ...At least 78 million people worldwide are affected by autism,a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions,and repetitive behaviors and/or interests.Autism typically manifests in early childhood,and affects social communications and behaviors throughout the lifespan of the individual.Under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder,it is a highly heterogeneous disorder,with some individuals profoundly affected and needing care every day,while others can live highly independent lives,with some adjustments.The past 60 years has seen a major influx of interest in autism,and significant advances in many areas.However,a large gap remains between current scientific knowledge and the help and support that people with autism and their families need.To address these concerns,the Lancet commissioned a report on the“future of care and clinical research in autism”.The Commission calls for government coordination between health-care,education and social sectors,as well as active participation from people with autism and their families.The Commission proposes personalized,evidence-based assessments and intervention,that is accessible and affordable to all,and call for increased appreciation of neurodiversity and prioritization of research that can improve the lives of people with autism and their families.How to support each and every autistic individual and their families is highly challenging.The 64-page Lancet Commission Report,published on December 2021,was written jointly by 32 authors from 6 continents and 13 disciplines,including clinicians,other health-care providers,researchers,advocates,autistic individuals and their parents.展开更多
Background:Autism spectrum disorder(ASD)is associated with altered brain development,but it is unclear which specific structural changes may serve as potential diagnostic markers,particularly in young children at the ...Background:Autism spectrum disorder(ASD)is associated with altered brain development,but it is unclear which specific structural changes may serve as potential diagnostic markers,particularly in young children at the age when symptoms become fully estab-lished.Furthermore,such brain markers need to meet the requirements of precision medicine and be accurate in aiding diagnosis at an individual rather than only a group level.Objective:This study aimed to identify and model brain-wide differences in structural connectivity using diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in young ASD and typically developing(TD)children.Methods:A discovery cohort including 93 ASD and 26 TD children and two independent validation cohorts including 12 ASD and 9 TD children from three different cities in China were included.Brain-wide(294 regions)structural connectivity was measured using DTI(fractional anisotropy,FA)together with symptom severity and cognitive development.A connection matrix was constructed for each child for comparisons between ASD and TD groups.Pattern classification was performed on the discovery dataset and the resulting model was tested on the two independent validation datasets.Results:Thirty-three structural connections showed increased FA in ASD compared to TD children and associated with both autistic symptom severity and impaired general cognitive development.The majority(29/33)involved the frontal lobe and comprised five different networks with functional relevance to default mode,motor control,social recognition,language and reward.Overall,clas-sification achieved very high accuracy of 96.77%in the discovery dataset,and 91.67%and 88.89%in the two independent validation datasets.Conclusions:Identified structural connectivity differences primarily involving the frontal cortex can very accurately distinguish novel individual ASD from TD children and may therefore represent a robust early brain biomarker which can address the requirements of precision medicine.展开更多
Most infants who are later diagnosed with autism show delayed speech and language and/or atypical language profile.There is a large body of research on abnormal speech and language in children with autism.However,audi...Most infants who are later diagnosed with autism show delayed speech and language and/or atypical language profile.There is a large body of research on abnormal speech and language in children with autism.However,auditory development has been relatively under-investigated in autism research,despite its inextricable relationship with language development and despite researchers'ability to detect abnormalities in brain development and behavior in early infancy.In this review,we synthesize research on auditory processing in the prenatal period through infancy and childhood in typically developing children,children at high risk for autism,and children diagnosed with autism.We conclude that there are clear neurobiological and behavioral links between abnormal auditory development and the deficits in social communication seen in autism.We then offer perspectives on the need for a systematic characterization of early auditory development in autism,and identified questions to be addressed in future research on the development of autism.展开更多
Dear Editor,Autistic people often show enhaneed pitch-processing skills involving complex tones and musical tones.However,when it comes to tones that carry linguistic meaning such as lexical tones in tonal languages a...Dear Editor,Autistic people often show enhaneed pitch-processing skills involving complex tones and musical tones.However,when it comes to tones that carry linguistic meaning such as lexical tones in tonal languages and speech intonation.展开更多
By now,the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all corners of the world for over two years.Two years constitutes 4%of the life experience of a 50-year-old,or 50%of the life experience of a 4-year-old.Thus,in terms of the s...By now,the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all corners of the world for over two years.Two years constitutes 4%of the life experience of a 50-year-old,or 50%of the life experience of a 4-year-old.Thus,in terms of the sheer proportion of total life experience,the pandemic has affected children much more than adults.展开更多
文摘At least 78 million people worldwide are affected by autism,a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions,and repetitive behaviors and/or interests.Autism typically manifests in early childhood,and affects social communications and behaviors throughout the lifespan of the individual.Under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder,it is a highly heterogeneous disorder,with some individuals profoundly affected and needing care every day,while others can live highly independent lives,with some adjustments.The past 60 years has seen a major influx of interest in autism,and significant advances in many areas.However,a large gap remains between current scientific knowledge and the help and support that people with autism and their families need.To address these concerns,the Lancet commissioned a report on the“future of care and clinical research in autism”.The Commission calls for government coordination between health-care,education and social sectors,as well as active participation from people with autism and their families.The Commission proposes personalized,evidence-based assessments and intervention,that is accessible and affordable to all,and call for increased appreciation of neurodiversity and prioritization of research that can improve the lives of people with autism and their families.How to support each and every autistic individual and their families is highly challenging.The 64-page Lancet Commission Report,published on December 2021,was written jointly by 32 authors from 6 continents and 13 disciplines,including clinicians,other health-care providers,researchers,advocates,autistic individuals and their parents.
文摘Background:Autism spectrum disorder(ASD)is associated with altered brain development,but it is unclear which specific structural changes may serve as potential diagnostic markers,particularly in young children at the age when symptoms become fully estab-lished.Furthermore,such brain markers need to meet the requirements of precision medicine and be accurate in aiding diagnosis at an individual rather than only a group level.Objective:This study aimed to identify and model brain-wide differences in structural connectivity using diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in young ASD and typically developing(TD)children.Methods:A discovery cohort including 93 ASD and 26 TD children and two independent validation cohorts including 12 ASD and 9 TD children from three different cities in China were included.Brain-wide(294 regions)structural connectivity was measured using DTI(fractional anisotropy,FA)together with symptom severity and cognitive development.A connection matrix was constructed for each child for comparisons between ASD and TD groups.Pattern classification was performed on the discovery dataset and the resulting model was tested on the two independent validation datasets.Results:Thirty-three structural connections showed increased FA in ASD compared to TD children and associated with both autistic symptom severity and impaired general cognitive development.The majority(29/33)involved the frontal lobe and comprised five different networks with functional relevance to default mode,motor control,social recognition,language and reward.Overall,clas-sification achieved very high accuracy of 96.77%in the discovery dataset,and 91.67%and 88.89%in the two independent validation datasets.Conclusions:Identified structural connectivity differences primarily involving the frontal cortex can very accurately distinguish novel individual ASD from TD children and may therefore represent a robust early brain biomarker which can address the requirements of precision medicine.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31900775,31571136)the SCNU Young Faculty Research Award(18KJ09)the Key Realm R&D Program of Guangdong Province(2019B030335001)。
文摘Most infants who are later diagnosed with autism show delayed speech and language and/or atypical language profile.There is a large body of research on abnormal speech and language in children with autism.However,auditory development has been relatively under-investigated in autism research,despite its inextricable relationship with language development and despite researchers'ability to detect abnormalities in brain development and behavior in early infancy.In this review,we synthesize research on auditory processing in the prenatal period through infancy and childhood in typically developing children,children at high risk for autism,and children diagnosed with autism.We conclude that there are clear neurobiological and behavioral links between abnormal auditory development and the deficits in social communication seen in autism.We then offer perspectives on the need for a systematic characterization of early auditory development in autism,and identified questions to be addressed in future research on the development of autism.
基金This work was supported by a University of Minnesota Grand Challenges Research Grant,the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31728009,31900775)a College of Liberal Art Brain Imaging Research Project Award.
文摘Dear Editor,Autistic people often show enhaneed pitch-processing skills involving complex tones and musical tones.However,when it comes to tones that carry linguistic meaning such as lexical tones in tonal languages and speech intonation.
基金supported by Grants from the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province(2019B030335001)the Key Subject Construction Project of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission(shslczdzk02903)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2021ZD0202504).
文摘By now,the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all corners of the world for over two years.Two years constitutes 4%of the life experience of a 50-year-old,or 50%of the life experience of a 4-year-old.Thus,in terms of the sheer proportion of total life experience,the pandemic has affected children much more than adults.
