Resting state electroencephalography microstates in autism spectrum disorder: a mini-review

Atypical spatial organization and temporal characteristics, found via resting state electroencephalography (EEG) microstate analysis, have been associated with psychiatric disorders but these temporal and spatial parameters are less known in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EEG microstates reflect a short time period of stable scalp potential topography. These canonical microstates (i.e., A, B, C, and D) and more are identified by their unique topographic map, mean duration, fraction of time covered, frequency of occurrence and global explained variance percentage; a measure of how well topographical maps represent EEG data. We reviewed the current literature for resting state microstate analysis in ASD and identified eight publications. This current review indicates there is significant alterations in microstate parameters in ASD populations as compared to typically developing (TD) populations. Microstate parameters were also found to change in relation to specific cognitive processes. However, as microstate parameters are found to be changed by cognitive states, the differently acquired data (e.g., eyes closed or open) resting state EEG are likely to produce disparate results. We also review the current understanding of EEG sources of microstates and the underlying brain networks

Highly Luminescent Salts Containing Well-Shielded Lanthanide-Centered Complex Anions and Bulky Imidazolium Countercations

In this paper, we report on the syntheses, structures, and characterization of four molten salts containing imidazolium cations and europium(III)- or terbium(III)-centered complex anions. In the complex anions, the lanthanide centers are wrapped by four pseudodiketonate anionic ligands, which prevent them from contacting with high-frequency oscillators and allow them to show intense characteristic europium(III) or terbium(III) emission, small line widths, high color purity, high quantum yields (30−49%), and long decay times (\u3e2 ms)

Task-based functional neural correlates of social cognition across autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank all participants for their contribution to this work, and the research staff who performed data collection and management.Abstract Background Autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) both feature atypical social cognition. Despite evidence for comparable group-level performance in lower-level emotion processing and higher-level mentalizing, limited research has examined the neural basis of social cognition across these conditions. Our goal was to compare the neural correlates of social cognition in autism, SSDs, and typically developing controls (TDCs). Methods Data came from two harmonized studies in individuals diagnosed with autism or SSDs and TDCs (aged 16–35 years), including behavioral social cognitive metrics and two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks: a social mirroring Imitate/Observe (ImObs) task and the Empathic Accuracy (EA) task. Group-level comparisons, and transdiagnostic analyses incorporating social cognitive performance, were run using FSL’s PALM for each task, covarying for age and sex (1000 permutations, thresholded at p &lt; 0.05 FWE-corrected). Exploratory region of interest (ROI)-based analyses were also conducted. Results ImObs and EA analyses included 164 and 174 participants, respectively (autism N = 56/59, SSD N = 50/56, TDC N = 58/59). EA and both lower- and higher-level social cognition scores differed across groups. While canonical social cognitive networks were activated, no significant whole-brain or ROI-based group-level differences in neural correlates for either task were detected. Transdiagnostically, neural activity during the EA task, but not the ImObs task, was associated with lower- and higher-level social cognitive performance. Limitations Despite attempting to match our groups on age, sex, and race, significant group differences remained. Power to detect regional brain differences is also influenced by sample size and multiple comparisons in whole-brain analyses. Our findings may not generalize to autism and SSD individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities. Conclusions The lack of whole-brain and ROI-based group-level differences identified and the dimensional EA brain-behavior relationship observed across our sample suggest that the EA task may be well-suited to target engagement in novel intervention testing. Our results also emphasize the potential utility of cross-condition approaches to better understand social cognition across autism and SSDs. </jats:sec