Do adults with high functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome differ in empathy and emotion recognition?

The present study examined whether adults with high functioning autism (HFA) showed greater difficulties in (i) their self-reported ability to empathise with others and/or (ii) their ability to read mental states in others’ eyes than adults with Asperger syndrome (AS). The Empathy Quotient (EQ) and ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test (Eyes Test) were compared in 43 adults with AS and 43 adults with HFA. No significant difference was observed on EQ score between groups, while adults with AS performed significantly better on the Eyes Test than those with HFA. This suggests that adults with HFA may need more support, particularly in mentalizing and complex emotion recognition, and raises questions about the existence of subgroups within autism spectrum conditions

Soya foods and breast cancer risk: a prospective study in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan

The association between soya foods and breast cancer risk was investigated in a prospective study of 34 759 women in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Women completed dietary questionnaires in 1969–1970 and/or in 1979–1981 and were followed for incident breast cancer until 1993. The analysis involved 427 cases of primary breast cancer in 488 989 person-years of observation. The risk for breast cancer was not significantly associated with consumption of soya foods: for tofu, relative risks adjusted for attained age, calendar period, city, age at time of bombings and radiation dose to the breast were 0.99 (95% CI 0.80–1.24) for consumption two to four times per week and 1.07 (0.78–1.47) for consumption five or more times per week, relative to consumption once a week or less; for miso soup, relative risks were 1.03 (0.81–1.31) for consumption two to four times per week and 0.87 (0.68–1.12) for consumption five or more times per week, relative to consumption once a week or less. These results were not materially altered by further adjustments for reproductive variables and were similar in women diagnosed before age 50 and at ages 50 and above. Among 17 other foods and drinks examined only dried fish (decrease in relative risk with increasing consumption) and pickled vegetables (higher relative risk with higher consumption) were significantly related to breast cancer risk; these associations were not prior hypotheses and, because of the large number of comparisons made, they may be due to chance. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Dynamics of direct inter-pack encounters in endangered African wild dogs

Aggressive encounters may have important life history consequences due to the potential for injury and death, disease transmission, dispersal opportunities or exclusion from key areas of the home range. Despite this, little is known of their detailed dynamics, mainly due to the difficulties of directly observing encounters in detail. Here, we describe detailed spatial dynamics of inter-pack encounters in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), using data from custom-built high-resolution GPS collars in 11 free-ranging packs. On average, each pack encountered another pack approximately every 7 weeks and met each neighbour twice each year. Surprisingly, intruders were more likely to win encounters (winning 78.6% of encounters by remaining closer to the site in the short term). However, intruders did tend to move farther than residents toward their own range core in the short-term (1 h) post-encounter, and if this were used to indicate losing an encounter, then the majority (73.3%) of encounters were won by residents. Surprisingly, relative pack size had little effect on encounter outcome, and injuries were rare (<15% of encounters). These results highlight the difficulty of remotely scoring encounters involving mobile participants away from static defendable food resources. Although inter-pack range overlap was reduced following an encounter, encounter outcome did not seem to drive this, as both packs shifted their ranges post-encounter. Our results indicate that inter-pack encounters may be lower risk than previously suggested and do not appear to influence long-term movement and ranging

Palliative care in interstitial lung disease: living well

Progressive fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are characterised by major reductions in quality of life and survival and have similarities to certain malignancies. However, palliative care expertise is conspicuously inaccessible to many patients with ILD. Unmet patient and caregiver needs include effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life throughout the disease course, sensitive advanced care planning, and timely patient-centred end-of-life care. The incorrect perception that palliative care is synonymous with end-of-life care, with no role earlier in the course of ILD, has created a culture of neglect. Interventions that aim to improve life expectancy are often prioritised without rigorous assessment of the individual's health and psychosocial needs, thereby inadvertently reducing quality of life. As in malignant disorders, radical interventions to slow disease progression and palliative measures to improve quality of life should both be prioritised. Efficient patient-centred models of palliative care must be validated, taking into account religious and cultural differences, as well as variability of resources. Effective implementation of palliative care for ILD will require multidisciplinary participation from clinicians, specialist nurses, psychologists, social workers, and, in some countries, non-governmental faith and community-based organisations with access to palliative care expertise

Evaluating predictive pharmacogenetic signatures of adverse events in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidines

The potential clinical utility of genetic markers associated with response to fluoropyrimidine treatment in colorectal cancer patients remains controversial despite extensive study. Our aim was to test the clinical validity of both novel and previously identified markers of adverse events in a broad clinical setting. We have conducted an observational pharmacogenetic study of early adverse events in a cohort study of 254 colorectal cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine. Sixteen variants of nine key folate (pharmacodynamic) and drug metabolising (pharmacokinetic) enzymes have been analysed as individual markers and/or signatures of markers. We found a significant association between TYMP S471L (rs11479) and early dose modifications and/or severe adverse events (adjusted OR = 2.02 [1.03; 4.00], p = 0.042, adjusted OR = 2.70 [1.23; 5.92], p = 0.01 respectively). There was also a significant association between these phenotypes and a signature of DPYD mutations (Adjusted OR = 3.96 [1.17; 13.33], p = 0.03, adjusted OR = 6.76 [1.99; 22.96], p = 0.002 respectively). We did not identify any significant associations between the individual candidate pharmacodynamic markers and toxicity. If a predictive test for early adverse events analysed the TYMP and DPYD variants as a signature, the sensitivity would be 45.5 %, with a positive predictive value of just 33.9 % and thus poor clinical validity. Most studies to date have been under-powered to consider multiple pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variants simultaneously but this and similar individualised data sets could be pooled in meta-analyses to resolve uncertainties about the potential clinical utility of these markers

Correlates of loneliness among university students

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate level of loneliness, essential needs during university education, and relationships between loneliness, essential needs, and characteristics of university students. A sample comprising 721 students participated in the study. The mean age was 21.58 (SD = 1.73) with a range from 18 to 25. The majority of the students were female (70.6%) and were living in students' dormitory (67.5%) with low (87.8%) income, away from their parents. Methods The UCLA-R loneliness scale and sociodemographic questionnaire which includes an open-ended question on essential needs during university education were administered. Pearson-Product-Moment correlations were used to explore the relationships between participants' loneliness, needs, and characteristics. Results It was found that 60.2% of the participants experienced loneliness. Economical support (81.6%), social interaction (46.9%) and psychosocial support (35%) were the essential needs during university education reported by the participants. The study findings indicate that there were significant relationships between the needs of economical support, social interaction, and loneliness level of university students. Results also show that there were significant relationships among romantic relationship, parents' status and loneliness. Participants' loneliness levels were relatively higher who had not any romantic relationship and were not from married families. Conclusion The findings of this study provided essential information, about Turkish university students, concerning: level of loneliness and relationships that exist among loneliness, needs and sociodemographic characteristics. The findings also suggest implications for psychosocial practice. Because of the mean of loneliness were found to be high (45.49 ± 10.07), for this study, professionals need to pay attention to Turkish university students' psychosocial state, and need to empower them in establishing social relations

Supranuclear eye movements and nystagmus in children: A review of the literature and guide to clinical examination, interpretation of findings and age-appropriate norms.

Abnormal eye movements in children present a significant challenge to Ophthalmologists and other healthcare professionals. Similarly, examination of supra-nuclear eye movements in children and interpretation of any resulting clinical signs can seem very complex. A structured assessment is often lacking although in many cases, simple clinical observations, combined with a basic understanding of the underlying neurology, can hold the key to clinical diagnosis. As the range of underlying diagnoses for children with abnormal eye movements is broad, recognising clinical patterns and understanding their neurological basis is also imperative for ongoing management. Here we present a review and best practice guide for a structured, methodical clinical examination of supranuclear eye movements in children, a guide to clinical interpretation and age-appropriate norms. We also detail the more common specific clinical findings and how they should be interpreted and used to guide further management. In summary, this review will encourage clinicians to combine a structured assessment and a logical interpretation of the resulting clinical signs, in order to recognise patterns of presentation and avoid unnecessary investigations and protracted delays in diagnosis and clinical care

Using Drugs to Probe the Variability of Trans-Epithelial Airway Resistance

BACKGROUND:Precision medicine aims to combat the variability of the therapeutic response to a given medicine by delivering the right medicine to the right patient. However, the application of precision medicine is predicated on a prior quantitation of the variance of the reference range of normality. Airway pathophysiology provides a good example due to a very variable first line of defence against airborne assault. Humans differ in their susceptibility to inhaled pollutants and pathogens in part due to the magnitude of trans-epithelial resistance that determines the degree of epithelial penetration to the submucosal space. This initial 'set-point' may drive a sentinel event in airway disease pathogenesis. Epithelia differentiated in vitro from airway biopsies are commonly used to model trans-epithelial resistance but the 'reference range of normality' remains problematic. We investigated the range of electrophysiological characteristics of human airway epithelia grown at air-liquid interface in vitro from healthy volunteers focusing on the inter- and intra-subject variability both at baseline and after sequential exposure to drugs modulating ion transport. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Brushed nasal airway epithelial cells were differentiated at air-liquid interface generating 137 pseudostratified ciliated epithelia from 18 donors. A positively-skewed baseline range exists for trans-epithelial resistance (Min/Max: 309/2963 Ω·cm2), trans-epithelial voltage (-62.3/-1.8 mV) and calculated equivalent current (-125.0/-3.2 μA/cm2; all non-normal, P<0.001). A minority of healthy humans manifest a dramatic amiloride sensitivity to voltage and trans-epithelial resistance that is further discriminated by prior modulation of cAMP-stimulated chloride transport. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Healthy epithelia show log-order differences in their ion transport characteristics, likely reflective of their initial set-points of basal trans-epithelial resistance and sodium transport. Our data may guide the choice of the background set point in subjects with airway diseases and frame the reference range for the future delivery of precision airway medicine

Dysregulation of DGCR6 and DGCR6L: psychopathological outcomes in chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is the most common microdeletion syndrome in humans. It is typified by highly variable symptoms, which might be explained by epigenetic regulation of genes in the interval. Using computational algorithms, our laboratory previously predicted that DiGeorge critical region 6 (DGCR6), which lies within the deletion interval, is imprinted in humans. Expression and epigenetic regulation of this gene have not, however, been examined in 22q11DS subjects. The purpose of this study was to determine if the expression levels of DGCR6 and its duplicate copy DGCR6L in 22q11DS subjects are associated with the parent-of-origin of the deletion and childhood psychopathologies. Our investigation showed no evidence of parent-of-origin-related differences in expression of both DGCR6 and DGCR6L. However, we found that the variability in DGCR6 expression was significantly greater in 22q11DS children than in age and gender-matched control individuals. Children with 22q11DS who had anxiety disorders had significantly lower DGCR6 expression, especially in subjects with the deletion on the maternal chromosome, despite the lack of imprinting. Our findings indicate that epigenetic mechanisms other than imprinting contribute to the dysregulation of these genes and the associated childhood psychopathologies observed in individuals with 22q11DS. Further studies are now needed to test the usefulness of DGCR6 and DGCR6L expression and alterations in the epigenome at these loci in predicting childhood anxiety and associated adult-onset pathologies in 22q11DS subjects