Defining language impairments in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of core impairments in pragmatic language skills, which are found across all ages and subtypes. In contrast, there is significant heterogeneity in language phenotypes, ranging from nonverbal to superior linguistic abilities, as defined on standardized tests of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. The majority of children are verbal but impaired in language, relative to age-matched peers. One hypothesis is that this subgroup has ASD and co-morbid specific language impairment (SLI). An experiment was conducted comparing children with ASD to children with SLI and typically developing controls on aspects of language processing that have been shown to be impaired in children with SLI: repetition of nonsense words. Patterns of performance among the children with ASD and language impairment were similar to those with SLI, and contrasted with the children with ASD and no language impairment and typical controls, providing further evidence for the hypothesis that a subgroup of children with ASD has co-morbid SLI. The findings are discussed in the context of brain imaging studies that have explored the neural bases of language impairment in ASD and SLI, and overlap in the genes associated with elevated risk for these disorders.M01 RR00533 - NCRR NIH HHS; R01 DC10290 - NIDCD NIH HHS; U19 DC03610 - NIDCD NIH HH

Examining the Moderating Role of Anxiety Symptoms on Insistence on Sameness in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) have been a core symptom of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) since discovered in the 1940’s (Kanner, 1943). More specifically, insistence on sameness, which is considered a subtype of RRBs, has been shown to affect children with considered higher verbal skills in this population. In addition, it is well documented that anxiety symptoms commonly co-occur with ASD, and anxiety symptoms (AS) and IS have been linked through previous research. Using archival data, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the conditional effect on anxiety symptoms on the relation between developmental status (DS) and insistence on sameness (IS) in children with ASD with verbal abilities greater than 85. The sample included 108 individuals (ages 3:0 – 6:11) and was comprised of two groups. The first group was the ASD group, which consisted of 36 children diagnosed with ASD (Male = 27, Female = 9), and the second group was comprised of 72 typically developing (TD) children (Male = 44, Female = 28). All participants were involved in a greater study called the Study of Autism and Self-Regulation (STAR). Findings revealed a significant interaction between DS and IS (B = .06, SE = .03, p = .04, ΔR2 = .36) at low, moderate, and high levels of anxiety symptomatology. Developmental status was shown to have a main effect on IS (B = -5.78, SE = 1.71, p = .001). Additionally, verbal ability and age were significantly correlated with developmental status. The relations between anxiety symptoms and DS, AS and VA, and AS and IS were insignificant. Interestingly, and contrary to expectations, only children with typical development varied in frequency of their IS behaviors based on their level of anxiety symptoms. Anxiety symptom levels had no impact on IS in the ASD group. This suggests that anxiety in general may onset behavior problems with sameness in populations’ non-specific to ASD. Therefore, more research is needed to understand the potential relations among ASD, AS and IS in children

Spartan Daily, September 29, 1936

Volume 25, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2489/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, May 2, 1935

Volume 23, Issue 126https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2303/thumbnail.jp

Identification risk for microdata stemming from official statistics

In diesem methodologischen Forschungsbericht wird über das Risiko der Identifizierung von Individuen aufgrund von Mikrodaten aus der amtlichen Statistik referiert. Bei ihrer Untersuchung, das Identifizierungsrisiko einzelner Individualdatensätze zu klären, gingen die Forscher von dem Umstand aus, daß für die Daten aus amtlichen Quellen keineswegs eine absolute Anonymität, sondern lediglich eine faktische Anonymität gesetzlich vorgeschrieben ist. Das bedeutet, daß zur Identifizierung ein so hoher Einsatz an Zeit, Mitteln und Kosten erforderlich sein muß, daß der Aufwand für einen Interessenten, der Mikrodaten bestimmten Individuen oder Haushalten zuordnen möchte, jede vernünftige Zweck-Mittel-Relation übersteigt und somit jedes alternative Vorgehen, um an die gewünschten Informationen zu gelangen eher beschritten würde. Es handelt sich mithin um ein sozialwissenschaftliches Szenario für das Testen der Anonymität. Für den Test wurden Daten aus dem Mikrozensus 1987 verwendet und mit Informationen aus 'Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrtenkalender' zusammengebracht. Mit den zehn Attributen (Variablen), die dem Gelehrtenkalender entnommen werden können, wurde ein Vergleichsdatensatz konstruiert, der mit den Daten aus dem Mikrozensus in einem 'simple-matching' zusammengeführt wurde, um 'statistische Zwillinge' aufzufinden. Es zeigte sich jedoch, daß weder dieses Suchen beim 'simple-matching' zu dem 'gewünschten' Erfolg führt, noch verschiedene Verbesserungen der Versuchsanordnung. Auch dann, wenn - rein mathematisch - 'statistische Zwillinge' identifiziert werden, so ist damit über die Realität noch nicht viel ausgesagt. Denn zum einen gibt es zahlreiche fehlerhafte Identifizierungen von 'statistischen Zwillingen', andererseits ist unbekannt, ob die gesuchte Person (wenn nach einer Einzelperson gesucht wird) in der Stichprobe des Mikrozensus enthalten ist. In jedem Fall wurde offensichtlich, daß andere Wege viel effektiver und preiswerter sind, um an Informationen über Privatpersonen oder Privathaushalte zu gelangen. (ICF

Front Matter

About the cove

Not There For the Nutmeg: North Korean Advisors in Grenada and Pyongyang’s Internationalism, 1979-1983

This article looks at North Korea’s relationship with Grenada, a small Caribbean spice island, from 1979 to 1983 as a case study of Pyongyang’s socialist internationalism during the Cold War era. Compared to capitalist globalization’s emphasis on profits, markets, and competition, socialist internationalism gave priority to sacrifice, comradeship, and solidarity. As a postcolonial Eastern-bloc nation with one foot in the socialist Second World and the other foot in the anticolonial Third World, North Korea sent advisors, military specialists, equipment, and supplies to recently decolonized nations in Africa, southern Asia, and Latin America as a way to export its peculiar brand of anti-imperialism and spread its image abroad as the legitimate Korean government. The North Korean leadership viewed the socialist Grenadian government as brave revolutionaries fighting U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean. Thus, the North Koreans offered large amounts of free assistance to the Grenadian government. However, in October 1983, U.S. armed forces invaded Grenada and removed the socialist leadership from power. North Korea’s support of the distant Grenadian Revolution demonstrates the extent to which the regime in Pyongyang committed itself financially, politically, and ideologically to the tenets of socialist internationalism. Keywords: North Korea, Pyongyang, Caribbean, Cold War, foreign relation

Talking in primary care (TIP): protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial in UK primary care to assess clinical and cost-effectiveness of communication skills e-learning for practitioners on patients' musculoskeletal pain and enablement.

INTRODUCTION: Effective communication can help optimise healthcare interactions and patient outcomes. However, few interventions have been tested clinically, subjected to cost-effectiveness analysis or are sufficiently brief and well-described for implementation in primary care. This paper presents the protocol for determining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a rigorously developed brief eLearning tool, EMPathicO, among patients with and without musculoskeletal pain. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A cluster randomised controlled trial in general practitioner (GP) surgeries in England and Wales serving patients from diverse geographic, socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. GP surgeries are randomised (1:1) to receive EMPathicO e-learning immediately, or at trial end. Eligible practitioners (eg, GPs, physiotherapists and nurse practitioners) are involved in managing primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain. Patient recruitment is managed by practice staff and researchers. Target recruitment is 840 adults with and 840 without musculoskeletal pain consulting face-to-face, by telephone or video. Patients complete web-based questionnaires at preconsultation baseline, 1 week and 1, 3 and 6 months later. There are two patient-reported primary outcomes: pain intensity and patient enablement. Cost-effectiveness is considered from the National Health Service and societal perspectives. Secondary and process measures include practitioner patterns of use of EMPathicO, practitioner-reported self-efficacy and intentions, patient-reported symptom severity, quality of life, satisfaction, perceptions of practitioner empathy and optimism, treatment expectancies, anxiety, depression and continuity of care. Purposive subsamples of patients, practitioners and practice staff take part in up to two qualitative, semistructured interviews. ETHICS APPROVAL AND DISSEMINATION: Approved by the South Central Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee on 1 July 2022 and the Health Research Authority and Health and Care Research Wales on 6 July 2022 (REC reference 22/SC/0145; IRAS project ID 312208). Results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed academic publications, conference presentations and patient and practitioner outlets. If successful, EMPathicO could quickly be made available at a low cost to primary care practices across the country. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN18010240