探花直播 of Cambridge - Asperger syndrome

Men and women with autism have 鈥榚xtreme male鈥� scores on the 鈥楨yes test鈥� of mindreading

cjb250 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 09:21:28 +0000

Scientists at the 探花直播 of Cambridge 探花直播 have published new results in the journal PLoS ONE from the largest ever study of people with autism taking the 鈥楻eading the Mind in the Eyes鈥� test. Whilst typical adults showed the predicted and now well-established sex difference on this test, with women on average scoring higher than men, in adults with autism this typical sex difference was conspicuously absent. Instead, both men and women with autism showed an extreme of the typical male pattern on the test, providing strong support for the 鈥榚xtreme male brain鈥� theory of autism.

探花直播study was led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) at the 探花直播 of Cambridge. Almost 400 men and women with autism or Asperger Syndrome took the test online, which entails looking at a series of photographs of just the eye region of the face, and picking which of four聽words best describe what the person in the photo is thinking or feeling.

探花直播鈥楻eading the Mind in the Eyes鈥� test is known as an advanced 鈥榯heory of mind鈥� or empathy test, designed to reveal subtle individual differences in social sensitivity. It particularly measures the 鈥榗ognitive鈥� component of empathy, that is, the ability to recognize or infer someone else鈥檚 state of mind. 探花直播test has been used in hundreds of studies worldwide, showing reliable sex differences in typical individuals, with women on average scoring higher than men, and showing that people with autism score lower on average than people without autism.

探花直播team investigated whether men and women with autism perform differently on this test, and used it to evaluate the 鈥榚xtreme male brain鈥� theory of autism, in the largest study to date. This theory predicts that on tests of empathy, typical females will score higher than typical males, who in turn will score higher than people with autism. 探花直播results confirmed this pattern.

Professor Baron-Cohen commented: 鈥淲e are seeing this pattern not just on the Eyes test but on a number of measures. Last year we saw it on the Empathy Quotient, a self-report measure of social sensitivity, and on the Systemizing Quotient, a self-report measure of one鈥檚 interest and aptitude in understanding systems. This year we saw it in prenatal testosterone levels, where boys with autism had elevated levels of this hormone compared to typically developing boys, who in turn have higher levels than typically developing girls. And a decade ago聽we found how much prenatal testosterone you have influences your scores on the Eyes test. Future research needs to delve into what is giving rise to this pattern.鈥�

Dr Carrie Allison, Research Manager at the ARC and another member of the team, said: 鈥淚magine looking at people鈥檚 eyes and not being able to 鈥榬ead鈥� them effortlessly and intuitively for what the other person may be thinking or feeling. This research has the potential to explain why children with autism, from the earliest point in development, avoid looking at people鈥檚 eyes, and become confused in rapidly changing social situations, where people are exchanging glances without words all the time. This disability may be both a marker of the early-onset empathy difficulties in autism, and contribute to exacerbating them. Teaching children with autism how to read emotional expressions non-verbally should become an important clinical focus for future research and practice. 鈥�

Dr Meng-Chuan Lai, the William Binks Autism Neuroscience Fellow at the ARC and senior author of the study, added: 鈥淭here are substantial individual differences in terms of how well a person with autism performs on the Eyes test, but the social difficulties of both men and women are reflected on their test scores. In addition, women with autism differ more from typical women than men with autism differ from typical men. 探花直播relationship between autism and sex and gender is becoming an important topic for autism research.鈥�

Reference:

Baron-Cohen, S et al.聽探花直播鈥淩eading the Mind in the Eyes鈥� Test: Complete Absence of Typical Sex Difference in ~400 Men and Women with Autism. PLoS ONE; 27 August 2015.

New results published by researchers at the Autism Research Centre (ARC)聽show both men and women with autism show an extreme of the typical male pattern on the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test.

Imagine looking at people鈥檚 eyes and not being able to 鈥榬ead鈥� them effortlessly and intuitively for what the other person may be thinking or feeling.

Carrie Allison

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Speaking with eyes

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Presence or absence of early language delay alters anatomy of the brain in autism

sc604 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 08:43:37 +0000

A new study led by researchers from the 探花直播 of Cambridge has found that a common characteristic of autism 鈥� language delay in early childhood 鈥� leaves a 鈥榮ignature鈥� in the brain. 探花直播results are published today (23 September) in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

探花直播researchers studied 80 adult men with autism: 38 who had delayed language onset and 42 who did not. They found that language delay was associated with differences in brain volume in a number of key regions, including the temporal lobe, insula, ventral basal ganglia, which were all smaller in those with language delay; and in brainstem structures, which were larger in those with delayed language onset.

Additionally, they found that current language function is associated with a specific pattern of grey and white matter volume changes in some key brain regions, particularly temporal, frontal and cerebellar structures.

探花直播Cambridge researchers, in collaboration with King鈥檚 College London and the 探花直播 of Oxford, studied participants who were part of the MRC Autism Imaging Multicentre Study (AIMS).

Delayed language onset 鈥� defined as when a child鈥檚 first meaningful words occur after 24 months of age, or their first phrase occurs after 33 months of age 鈥� is seen in a subgroup of children with autism, and is one of the clearest features triggering an assessment for developmental delay in children, including an assessment of autism.

鈥淎lthough people with autism share many features, they also have a number of key differences,鈥� said Dr Meng-Chuan Lai of the Cambridge Autism Research Centre, and the paper鈥檚 lead author. 鈥淟anguage development and ability is one major source of variation within autism. This new study will help us understand the substantial variety within the umbrella category of 鈥榓utism spectrum鈥�. We need to move beyond investigating average differences in individuals with and without autism, and move towards identifying key dimensions of individual differences within the spectrum.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭his study shows how the brain in men with autism varies based on their early language development and their current language functioning. This suggests there are potentially long-lasting effects of delayed language onset on the brain in autism.鈥�

Last year, the American Psychiatric Association removed Asperger Syndrome (Asperger鈥檚 Disorder) as a separate diagnosis from its diagnostic manual (DSM-5), and instead subsumed it within 鈥榓utism spectrum disorder.鈥� 探花直播change was one of many controversial decisions in DSM-5, the main manual for diagnosing psychiatric conditions.

鈥淭his new study shows that a key feature of Asperger Syndrome, the absence of language delay, leaves a long lasting neurobiological signature in the brain,鈥� said Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, senior author of the study. 鈥淎lthough we support the view that autism lies on a spectrum, subgroups based on developmental characteristics, such as Asperger Syndrome, warrant further study.鈥�

鈥淚t is important to note that we found both differences and shared features in individuals with autism who had or had not experienced language delay,鈥� said Dr Lai. 鈥淲hen asking: 鈥業s autism a single spectrum or are there discrete subgroups?鈥� - the answer may be both.鈥�

This study was supported by the Waterloo Foundation, the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), the Autism Research Trust, the Wellcome Trust, the William Binks Autism Neuroscience Fellowship, and the European Autism Interventions鈥攁 Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications (EU-AIMS).

Individual differences in early language development, and in later language functioning, are associated with changes in the anatomy of the brain in autism.

We need to move beyond investigating average differences in individuals with and without autism, and move towards identifying key dimensions of individual differences within the spectrum

Meng-Chuan Lai

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Neural Connections In the Human Brain

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Adults with Asperger Syndrome at greater risk of suicidal thoughts

cjb250 — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:00:01 +0000

探花直播study, published in 探花直播Lancet Psychiatry, surveyed 374 individuals (256 men and 118 women) diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome as adults between 2004 and 2013 at the Cambridge Lifetime Asperger Syndrome Service (CLASS) clinic in Cambridge UK. It revealed a significantly higher rate of suicidal thoughts among adults with Asperger Syndrome (66%), compared with the rate found in the general population (17%), and patients with psychosis (59%) taken from other data sources.

探花直播research, led by Dr Sarah Cassidy and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen from the Autism Research Centre at the 探花直播 of Cambridge and the CLASS clinic in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, found that two-thirds (66%) of adults with Asperger Syndrome had contemplated suicide and a third (35%) had planned or attempted suicide during their lifetime. Suicidal thoughts and behaviours were significantly more common in adults with Asperger Syndrome and a history of depression.

Among adults with Asperger Syndrome, those with depression were four times more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, and twice as likely to plan or attempt suicide, compared to individuals with Asperger Syndrome but without a history of depression. A second risk factor for suicide plans or attempts was a higher level of autistic traits.

鈥淥ur findings confirm anecdotal reports that adults with Asperger Syndrome have a significantly higher risk of suicide in comparison to other clinical groups, and that depression is a key risk factor in this,鈥� said Dr Cassidy.

According to Professor Baron-Cohen, 鈥淎dults with Asperger Syndrome often suffer with secondary depression due to social isolation, loneliness, social exclusion, lack of community services, under-achievement, and unemployment. Their depression and risk of suicide are preventable with the appropriate support. This study should be a wake-up call for the urgent need for high quality services, to prevent the tragic waste of even a single life.鈥�

Autism spectrum conditions are a group of developmental brain conditions that cause difficulties in communication and social interaction, alongside the presence of unusually narrow interests and difficulties in adapting to change. In Asperger Syndrome, people show the key symptoms but without delayed language or intellectual disability. In the UK, one in 100 people (around 700,000) has an autism spectrum condition.

探花直播study was funded by 探花直播Three Guineas Trust, the Baily Thomas Foundation, the Medical Research Council, NIHR-CLAHRCEoE, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, and the Autism Research Trust.

Adults with the autism spectrum condition known as Asperger Syndrome are significantly more likely to experience suicidal thoughts than people from the UK general population, according to the first large-scale clinical study of its kind.

This study should be a wake-up call for the urgent need for high quality services, to prevent the tragic waste of even a single life

Simon Baron-Cohen

Khan Mohammad Irteza

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Children with autism have elevated levels of steroid hormones in the womb

cjb250 — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 08:00:00 +0000

探花直播team of researchers, led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Dr Michael Lombardo in Cambridge and Professor Bent N酶rgaard-Pedersen in Denmark, utilized approximately 19,500 amniotic fluid samples stored in a Danish biobank from individuals born between 1993-1999. Amniotic fluid surrounds the baby in the womb during pregnancy and is collected when some women choose to have an amniocentesis around 15-16 weeks of pregnancy. This coincides with a critical period for early brain development and sexual differentiation, and thus allows scientists access into this important window in fetal development. 探花直播researchers identified amniotic fluid samples from 128 males later diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition and matched these up with information from a central register of all psychiatric diagnoses in Denmark.

Within the amniotic fluid the researchers looked at four key 鈥榮ex steroid鈥� hormones that are each synthesized, step-by-step from the preceding one*. They also tested the steroid hormone cortisol that lies outside this pathway. 探花直播researchers found that levels of all steroid hormones were highly associated with each other and most importantly, that the autism group on average had higher levels of all steroid hormones, compared to a typically developing male comparison group. 探花直播results of the study, which was funded by the Medical Research Council, are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Professor Baron-Cohen said: 鈥淭his is one of the earliest non-genetic biomarkers that has been identified in children who go on to develop autism. We previously knew that elevated prenatal testosterone is associated with slower social and language development, better attention to detail, and more autistic traits. Now, for the first time, we have also shown that these steroid hormones are elevated in children clinically diagnosed with autism. Because some of these hormones are produced in much higher quantities in males than in females, this may help us explain why autism is more common in males.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭hese new results are particularly striking because they are found across all the subgroups on the autism spectrum, for the first time uniting those with Asperger Syndrome, classic autism, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not-Otherwise-Specified. We now want to test if the same finding is found in females with autism.鈥�

Dr Michael Lombardo said: 鈥淭his result potentially has very important implications about the early biological mechanisms that alter brain development in autism and also pinpoints an important window in fetal development when such mechanisms exert their effects.鈥�

Steroid hormones are particularly important because they exert influence on the process of how instructions in the genetic code are translated into building proteins. 探花直播researchers believe that altering this process during periods when the building blocks for the brain are being laid down may be particularly important in explaining how genetic risk factors for autism get expressed.

Dr Lombardo adds: 鈥淥ur discovery here meshes nicely with other recent findings that highlight the prenatal period around 15 weeks gestation as a key period when important genetic risk mechanisms for autism are working together to be expressed in the developing brain.鈥�

Professor Baron-Cohen said: 鈥淭hese results should not be taken as a reason to jump to steroid hormone blockers as a treatment as this could have unwanted side effects and may have little to no effect in changing the potentially permanent effects that fetal steroid hormones exert during the early foundational stages of brain development.鈥�

He cautioned further: 鈥淣or should these results be taken as a promising prenatal screening test. There is considerable overlap between the groups and our findings showed differences found at an average group level, rather than at the level of accurately predicting diagnosis for individuals. 探花直播value of the new results lies in identifying key biological mechanisms during fetal development that could play important roles in atypical brain development in autism.鈥�

*Within the amniotic fluid the researchers looked at 4 key 鈥榮ex steroid鈥� hormones that are each synthesized, step-by-step from the preceding one, in the 鈥樜�4 sex steroid鈥� pathway: progesterone, 17伪-hydroxy-progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone.

Children who later develop autism are exposed to elevated levels of steroid hormones (for example testosterone, progesterone and cortisol) in the womb, according to scientists from the 探花直播 of Cambridge and the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. 探花直播finding may help explain why autism is more common in males than females. However, the researchers caution it should not be used to screen for the condition.

This is one of the earliest non-genetic biomarkers that has been identified in children who go on to develop autism

Simon Baron-Cohen

John "Jay" Glenn

I Think... therefore I am more than a diagnosis. (Cropped image)

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Study confirms a gene linked to Asperger Syndrome and empathy

amb206 — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 08:00:00 +0000

A study聽published this month聽in the journal Molecular Autism confirms previous research that people with Asperger Syndrome (AS) are more likely to carry specific variations in a particular gene. More strikingly, the study supports existing findings that the same gene is also linked to how much empathy typically shown by individuals in the general population.

探花直播research was carried out by a team of researchers led by Professor Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge 探花直播. Asperger Syndrome is an autism spectrum condition. 探花直播researchers looked for sequence variations (called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) in the gene known as GABRB3 in a total of 530 adults - 118 people diagnosed with AS and 412 people without a diagnosis.

探花直播team found that certain SNPs in GABRB3 were significantly more common in people with AS. They also discovered that additional genetic variations in the same gene were linked to scores on an empathy measure called the Empathy Quotient (EQ) in the general population.

AS is diagnosed when a person struggles with social relationships and communication, and shows unusually narrow interests and resistance to change, but has good intelligence and language skills. Most genetic studies of autistic spectrum conditions treat autism as if they are all very similar, whereas in reality there is considerable variation (e.g., in language level and intellectual ability).

Rather than studying people on the autistic condition spectrum, this new study looked only people with AS, as a well-defined subgroup of individuals within this range.聽探花直播researchers examined the gene GABRB3 which regulates the functioning of a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and which contains a number of SNPs that vary across the population.

探花直播volunteers were tested for 45 SNPs within this key gene. 探花直播team had previously found that SNPs in this gene were more common in adults with AS and also showed a relationship with empathy levels and tactile sensitivity (how sensitive people are to being touched) in the general population.

Testing a new sample of volunteers who had not taken part in previous studies, the researchers found that three of the SNPs were again more common in adults with AS, and two different SNPs in the same gene were again related to empathy levels in the general population, confirming that the gene is involved in autism spectrum conditions.

Professor Baron-Cohen said: 鈥淲e are excited that this study confirms that variation in GABRB3 is linked not just to AS but to individual differences in empathy in the population. Many candidate genes do not replicate across studies and across different samples, but this genetic finding seems to be a solid result. Research now needs to focus on where this gene is expressed in the brain in autism, and how it interacts with other genetic and non-genetic factors that cause AS.鈥�

探花直播team was co-led by Dr Bhismadev Chakrabarti from the Department of Psychology at Reading 探花直播. He commented: 鈥淕enes play an important role in autism and Asperger Syndrome. This new study adds to evidence that GABRB3 is a key gene underlying these conditions. This gene is involved in the functioning of a neurotransmitter that regulates excitation and inhibition of nerve cell activity so the research gives us vital additional information about how the brain may develop differently in people with Asperger Syndrome.鈥�

Varun Warrier, who carried out the study as part of his graduate research at Cambridge 探花直播, added: 鈥� 探花直播most important aspect of this research is that it points to common genetic variants in GABRB3 being involved in both AS and in empathy as a dimensional trait. Although GABRB3 is not the only gene to be involved in this condition and in empathy levels, we are confident that we have identified one of the key players. We are following this up by testing how much protein GABRB3 produces in the brain in autism, since a genetic finding of this kind becomes more explanatory when we can also measure its function.鈥�

Scientists have confirmed that variations in a particular gene play a key role in the autism spectrum condition known as Asperger Syndrome. They have also found that variations in the same gene are also linked to differences in empathy levels in the general population.聽

This study confirms that variation in GABRB3 is linked not just to Asperger Syndrome but to individual differences in empathy in the population.

Simon Baron-Cohen

John Hritz

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Amniocentesis: a key to identify autism in the womb?

bjb42 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:14:19 +0000

探花直播new research is based on a study that the Autism Research Centre lab has been engaged in for the last 10 years. That was when the lab started collecting the samples of amniotic fluid that are taken routinely in about six per cent of pregnancies. Usually these samples are analysed for chromosomal abnormalities that might predict the unborn child to be at risk for conditions such as Down Syndrome. After the cytogenetics lab has tested for such chromosomal abnormalities, the fluid is stored for up to a year before being disposed of. Researchers have taken the novel step of asking the biochemists at Addenbrooke鈥檚 Hospital to test these samples for the amount of the 鈥榤ale hormone鈥�, testosterone.

Of course, testosterone is not just a male hormone, as both sexes produce it. Male foetuses produce twice as much as females, and it is of interest because animal research suggests it is foetal testosterone (FT) that has an organising effect on brain development. It is well recognised that the average male brain differs from the average female brain, not just in overall size (males having the bigger brain) but in the size of specific structures in the brain. In the average female brain, structures like the corpus callosum (the connective tissue between the two hemispheres) is thicker, whilst in the average male brain, structures like the amgydala (the almond-shaped brain region deep beneath the cortex, sometimes thought of as the emotion centre) is bigger.

Testosterone is produced in males by the testes, and in females by the adrenal glands, and then is taken up in the blood to the brain. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds to Androgen Receptors. 探花直播regions of the brain that differ between the sexes also differ in the number of Androgen Receptors. 探花直播Androgen Receptors, bound with testosterone, affect neural connectivity in different ways.

探花直播significant issue is that even within one sex, there is substantial variation in how much FT is produced. Some girls produce as much as boys in the typical male range, and some boys produce as little as girls in the typical female range. 探花直播question the research has been testing is: does your FT level before you are born predict anything about your later psychological development?

探花直播answer is clear: yes it does. FT levels are negatively correlated with the amount of eye-contact the child makes at 12 months, how fast the child is developing language at 18 and 24 months, and social skills at 48 months of age. These results are found not just when boys and girls are combined, but also when just boys are studied. FT levels are also positively correlated with 鈥榥arrow interests鈥� at 48 months old. 探花直播research findings have recently been summarized in a monograph by the team (Prenatal Testosterone in Mind, MIT Press, 2005).

These studies have so far only followed children who are developing normally, but show that individual differences in sociability, language development, and narrow interests (even within the general population) are influenced to some extent by prenatal hormones. 探花直播lab is going on to test much larger samples (thousands, instead of hundreds) in order to see if children with a formal diagnosis of autism or Asperger鈥檚 syndrome had higher FT levels in the womb. Larger samples are needed because autism only occurs in about one per cent of children.

探花直播relevance of this study of FT to autism is two-fold. First, it might reveal an important cause of autism, opening the door to further basic biomedical research investigating genetic factors influencing FT. Related to this, it might help explain why autism is far more common among males. Second, a prenatal test could enable intervention to begin at birth, rather than waiting for years by which time valuable opportunities for special education or other kinds of learning may have been missed. 探花直播researchers are clear that they are not undertaking this kind of research in order to lead to termination of the pregnancy, simply because autism exists on a spectrum of severity, and at the milder end of the spectrum the condition is often associated with unusual talents: for example, the narrow interests might be channelled into fields such as mathematics or music, not just social or communication disability.

www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc/default.asp

Cambridge researchers are pioneering a new test for autism in the womb, by measuring the levels of testosterone produced by the foetus, which makes its way into the amniotic fluid. They hope to test if children who later develop autism have unusually high levels of testosterone between 12 and 20 weeks of pregnancy.

...it might help explain why autism is far more common among males.

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Children's building blocks

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