Project description:Background: This paper aimed to review the literature on the factors associated with parenting stress and resilience among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the South East Asia (SEA) region. Methods: An extensive search of articles in multiple online databases (PsycNET, ProQuest, PudMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) resulted in 28 papers that met the inclusion criteria (i.e., conducted in the SEA region, specific to ASD only, published in a peer-reviewed journal, full text in English). Studies found were conducted in the following countries: Brunei, n = 1; Indonesia, n = 2; Malaysia, n = 12; Philippines, n = 5; Singapore, n = 5, Thailand, n = 2; and Vietnam, n = 1, but none from Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, and Myanmar were identified. Results: Across the studies, six main factors were found to be associated with parenting stress: social support, severity of autism symptoms, financial difficulty, parents' perception and understanding toward ASD, parents' anxiety and worries about their child's future, and religious beliefs. These six factors could also be categorized as either a source of parenting stress or a coping strategy/resilience mechanism that may attenuate parenting stress. Conclusion: The findings suggest that greater support services in Western countries may underlie the cultural differences observed in the SEA region. Limitations in the current review were identified. The limited number of studies yielded from the search suggests a need for expanded research on ASD and parenting stress, coping, and resilience in the SEA region especially in Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, and Myanmar. The identified stress and resilience factors may serve as sociocultural markers for clinicians, psychologists, and other professionals to consider when supporting parents of children with ASD.
Project description:Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex heterogeneous developmental disease with a significant genetic background that is frequently caused by rare copy number variants (CNV). The aim of the study was to identify new candidate genes for ASD in the studied cohort of ASD-diagnosed patients. We used chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) - a Cytoscan HD (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA) to detect CNV in 87 ASD patients and their relatives and evaluated their clinical significance. Pathogenic and likely pathogenic mutations were identified by CMA in 8 and 9 ASD patients, respectively. CMA revealed 89 rare CNV: 8 pathogenic, 12 designated VOUS - likely pathogenic, 12 VOUS - uncertain, and 57 VOUS - likely benign or benign. CNV (pathogenic/VOUS-likely pathogenic/VOUS - uncertain) overlapping the same gene in more than one patient were observed in DOCK8 gene and PARK2 gene. This work presents new evidence about the possible roles of PARK2 and DOCK8 in the etiology of ASD, and suggests CTNNA2 as a candidate gene for ASD risk.
Project description:In the current work, saliva samples were collected from children with different degrees of ASD and healthy children and proteomics approaches were applied to generate data on differentially expressed proteins between groups which will serve as a basis for future validation studies as protein markers.
Project description:Gene expression in blood of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was studied. Transcriptional profiles were compared with age and gender matched, typically developing children from the general population (GP) or IQ matched children with mental retardation or developmental delay (MR/DD). Experiment Overall Design: Transcriptional profiles were compared with age and gender matched, typically developing children from the general population (GP) or IQ matched children with mental retardation or developmental delay (MR/DD)
Project description:Gene expression in blood of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was studied. Transcriptional profiles were compared with age and gender matched, typically developing children from the general population (GP) or IQ matched children with mental retardation or developmental delay (MR/DD). Keywords: autism analysis
Project description:Studies on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have largely focused on children in specific settings. The current scenario of research in ASDs is limited largely to clinic-based case reports, case series, and retrospective chart reviews. The present study is the first population-based prevalence study conducted across rural, urban, and tribal populations in India.A cross-sectional two-phase study was conducted covering children in the age group of 1-10 years of age across geographical regions representing rural, urban, and tribal populations. The first phase (screening phase) involved administration of the Hindi version of the Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism. Those identified as suspected of ASD and 10% of all classified as nonsuspects for autism were also evaluated by the clinical team in second phase (evaluation phase).Forty-three children out of a total of 28,070 children in rural, urban, and tribal area in the age group of 1-10 years were diagnosed as cases of ASD yielding a prevalence of 0.15% (95% confidence interval [CI] =0.15-0.25). Logistic regression analysis showed a two times significantly higher risk of diagnosing ASD in rural area as compared to tribal (odds ratio [OR]; 95% CI = 2.17 [1.04-4.52], P = 0.04). Male sex and upper socioeconomic group of head of family/father had a higher risk of getting diagnosed as autism as compared to lower socioeconomic group (OR; 95% CI - 3.23; 0.24-44.28, P = 0.38).Estimation of true prevalence of ASD in India is going to improve policies on developmental disabilities.
Project description:ObjectivesThis study aimed to (1) provide an update on the prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and new information about teacher-reported ASD in two nationally representative Australian cohorts at ages 10-11 years, (2) examine differences in cohort demographic and clinical profiles and (3) compare the prevalence of teacher-reported ASD and any changes in categorisation over time across the cohorts.DesignSecondary analyses were undertaken using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC).ParticipantsChildren were recruited at kindergarten age (K cohort; birth year 1999/2000) and birth (B cohort; birth year 2003/2004), with follow-up of every 2 years for six waves.Primary outcome measuresParent-reported and teacher-reported ASD diagnosis was ascertained at three time points (waves 4-6).ResultsAt age 10-11 years, the adjusted prevalence of parent-reported ASD diagnosis was 3.9% (95% CI 3.2 to 4.5) and 2.4% (95% CI 1.6 to 2.9) in the B and K cohorts, respectively. Teacher-reported prevalence of ASD was 1.7% (95% CI 1.2 to 2.1) in the B cohort and 0.9% (95% CI 0.56 to 1.14) in the K cohort. Parents reported fewer conduct and peer problems and teachers more pro-social behaviour in B relative to K cohort ASD children. Children reported only by parents in the later-born B cohort had milder behaviour problems than parent-agreed and teacher-agreed cases. Although individual switching to ASD from other categories from 8-9 to 10-11 years was low (K cohort n=5, B cohort n=6), teachers reported more children with ASD in the B than K cohort at 10-11 years and fewer children with emotional/ behavioural problems.ConclusionsThe higher prevalence of parent-reported and teacher-reported ASD diagnosis in the later-born cohort may be partially explained by identifying children with milder behavioural problems as ASD and a change in the use of diagnostic categories in schools.
Project description:BackgroundThe economic burden of autism is substantial and includes a range of costs, including healthcare, education, productivity losses, informal care and respite care, among others. In India, approximately, 2 million children aged 2-9 years have autism. Given the likely substantial burden of illness and the need to identify effective and cost-effective interventions, this research aimed to produce a comprehensive cost of illness inventory (COII) suitable for children with autism in South Asia (India) to support future research.MethodsA structured and iterative design process was followed to create the COII, including literature reviews, interviews with caregivers, pilot testing and translation. Across the development of the COII, thirty-two families were involved in the design and piloting of the tool. The COII was forward translated (from English to Hindi) and back translated. Each stage of the process of development of the COII resulted in the further refinement of the tool.ResultsDomains covered in the final COII include education, childcare, relocation, healthcare contacts (outpatient, inpatient, medical emergencies, investigations and medication), religious retreats and rituals, specialist equipment, workshops and training, special diet, support and care, certification, occupational adjustments and government rebates/schemes. Administration and completion of the COII determined it to be feasible to complete in 35 minutes by qualified and trained researchers. The final COII is hosted by REDCap Cloud and is a bilingual instrument (Hindi and English).ConclusionsThe COII was developed using experiences gathered from an iterative process in a metropolitan area within the context of one low- and middle-income country (LMIC) setting, India. Compared to COII tools used for children with autism in high-income country settings, additional domains were required, such as complimentary medication (e.g. religious retreats and homeopathy). The COII will allow future research to quantify the cost of illness of autism in India from a broad perspective and will support relevant economic evaluations. Understanding the process of developing the questionnaire will help researchers working in LMICs needing to adapt the current COII or developing similar questionnaires.
Project description:Affymetrix single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array data were collected to study genome-wide patterns of genomic variation across a broad geographical range of Island Southeast Asian populations. This region has experienced an extremely complex admixture history. Initially settled ~50,000 years ago, Island Southeast Asia has since been the recipient of multiple waves of population movements, most recently by Austronesian-speaking groups ultimately from Neolithic mainland Asia and later arrivals during the historic era from India and the Middle East. We have genotyped SNPs in ~500 individuals from 30 populations spanning this entire geographical region, from communities close to mainland Asia through to New Guinea. Particular attention has been paid to genomic data that are informative for population history, including the role of recent arrivals during the historic era and admixture with archaic hominins.
Project description:Autism is known to be associated with major perceptual atypicalities. We have recently proposed a general model to account for these atypicalities in Bayesian terms, suggesting that autistic individuals underuse predictive information or priors. We tested this idea by measuring adaptation to numerosity stimuli in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After exposure to large numbers of items, stimuli with fewer items appear to be less numerous (and vice versa). We found that children with ASD adapted much less to numerosity than typically developing children, although their precision for numerosity discrimination was similar to that of the typical group. This result reinforces recent findings showing reduced adaptation to facial identity in ASD and goes on to show that reduced adaptation is not unique to faces (social stimuli with special significance in autism), but occurs more generally, for both parietal and temporal functions, probably reflecting inefficiencies in the adaptive interpretation of sensory signals. These results provide strong support for the Bayesian theories of autism.