Program evaluation of an adapted PEERS® social skills program in young adults with autism spectrum disorder and/or mild intellectual impairment and social skills difficulties

Rationale, Aims and Objectives: Social challenges are common for young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or mild intellectual impairment, yet few evidence-based interventions exist to address these challenges. PEERS®, the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, has been shown to be effective in improving the social skills of young adults with ASD; however, it requires a significant time commitment for parents of young adults. As such, this mixed-methods study aimed to investigate the experiences of young adults, parents and PEERS® social coaches participating in an adapted PEERS® program, and to evaluate its acceptability and efficacy. Method: Young adults with ASD and/or mild intellectual impairment participated in a 16-week PEERS® program. Parents and PEERS® social coaches attended fewer, condensed sessions, where they learnt program content to support the young adults' social skill development at home and in the community. Focus groups were conducted post intervention. Quantitative pre−post assessment using the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults, the Test of Young Adult Social Skills Knowledge, and Quality of Socialization Questionnaire-Young Adults was completed by young adults. The Social Responsiveness Scale Second Edition was completed by young adults and their parents. Result: Qualitative results revealed that, taken together, young adults, parents and PEERS® social coaches all felt that the adapted PEERS® program was ‘challenging, but worth it’. The program was acceptable with a 93% attendance rate across all sessions. Whilst young adults' perceptions of their own social functioning did not change post-intervention, their knowledge of social skills content improved significantly (p < 0.05). Parent perceptions of young adults' social responsiveness also improved (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Social skill knowledge, social responsiveness, and social engagement improved significantly following the completion of the adapted PEERS® program. It was deemed acceptable and worthwhile by young adults, their parents and PEERS® social coaches

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- 3rd Edition: A Quantitative Analysis for Application in an Australian Population

Theoretical thesis.Includes bibliographical references.1. General Introduction -- 2. Study 1: A comparison between Australian infant performance and United States (US) normative data at 1-year on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- 3rd Edition -- 3. Study 2: Utility of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-3rd Edition BSID-III to distinguish 1-year old infants at perinatal risk of neurodevelopmental delay -- 4. Study 3: A comparison between Australian and United States normative data at 3-years of age on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- 3rd Edition (BSID-III) -- 5. Study 4: Predictive utility of Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- 3rd Edition from 1-year to 3-years of age -- 6. General Discussion -- Appendix.The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- 3rd Edition (BSID-III) is widely used in Australia. Despite this, there are no Australian normative data and scant quantitative evidence regarding its clinical and predictive utility in an Australian context. This thesis used prospective, longitudinal data from a large cohort of general population 1- and 3-year-old Australian children and their mothers to investigate the clinical and predictive utility of the BSID-III in Australia. Specifically, this thesis consisted of four empirical studies that aimed to: (1) explore differences between 1-year-old Australian infant performance on the BSID-III and the US normative sample; (2) investigate the utility of the BSID-III to detect differences in infant performance based on indirect perinatal risk factors for neurodevelopmental delay; (3) explore differences in performance on the BSID-III between 3-year-old Australian children and the US normative sample; and, (4) examine the predictive utility of the BSID-III from 1-year to 3-years, as well as by sex. Information on maternal socio-demographics, birth and infant health was collected via structured maternal interview antenatally, and at 8-weeks, 1-year and 3-years (subsample) postnatally. The BSID-III was administered by trained assessors at 1- and 3-years. Study 1 found that at 1-year of age Australian children performed significantly higher than the US BSID-III normative sample on the cognitive domain and significantly lower on the gross motor domain. Study 2 showed that the BSID-III was able to detect some statistically significant, but not clinically relevant differences between infants at indirect risk of neurodevelopmental delay based on perinatal factors, and those at low risk/no risk. Study 3 demonstrated that Australian 3-year-old children performed significantly higher on the language (expressive and receptive) and motor domains (fine and gross) of the BSID-III compared to the US normative sample, but significantly lower on the cognitive domain. With regards to Study 4, results suggested that the BSID-III held greatest predictive utility from 1- to 3-years on the receptive language domain, and that predictive utility of the BSID-III improved once examined by sex. This thesis contributes to our knowledge of the clinical and predictive utility of the BSID-III for Australian infants and pre-schoolers. Taken together, results suggest that the current clinical practice in Australia of utilising US normative data to interpret infant performance is likely to result in sub-optimal identification of developmental delay. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.Available in electronic formxi, 237 pages 30 c

Emotion Regulation Is Associated with Anxiety, Depression and Stress in Adults with Cerebral Palsy

Emotion regulation difficulties are associated with many neurological conditions and negatively impact daily function. Yet little is known about emotion regulation in adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Our aim was to investigate emotion regulation in adults with CP and its relationship with condition-related and/or socio-demographic factors. In a cross-sectional study of adults with CP, participants completed a survey containing the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and socio-demographic and condition-related questions. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared and Mann–Whitney tests were performed. Of the 42 adults with CP (x31.5 years, SD13.5) that were tested, 38 had within normal limits DERS total scores; however, a significantly higher proportion of participants experienced elevated scores (i.e., more difficulties with emotion regulation) than would be expected in the general population across five of the six DERs subdomains. Moderate–extremely severe depression and anxiety symptoms were reported by 33% and 60% of participants, respectively. The DERS total scores for participants with elevated depression, anxiety, and stress scores were significantly higher than the DERS totals score for those without elevated depression, anxiety, and stress scores. DERS and DASS-21 scores did not differ significantly by condition-related nor socio-demographic characteristics. In conclusion, emotion regulation difficulties were associated with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety, which were overrepresented in the adults with CP participating in this study

Are We Getting It Right? A Scoping Review of Outcomes Reported in Cell Therapy Clinical Studies for Cerebral Palsy

Cell therapies are an emergent treatment for cerebral palsy (CP) with promising evidence demonstrating efficacy for improving gross motor function. However, families value improvements in a range of domains following intervention and the non-motor symptoms, comorbidities and complications of CP can potentially be targeted by cell therapies. We conducted a scoping review to describe all outcomes that have been reported in cell therapy studies for CP to date, and to examine what instruments were used to capture these. Through a systematic search we identified 54 studies comprising 2066 participants that were treated with a range of cell therapy interventions. We categorized the reported 53 unique outcome instruments and additional descriptive measures into 10 categories and 12 sub-categories. Movement and Posture was the most frequently reported outcome category, followed by Safety, however Quality of Life, and various prevalent comorbidities and complications of CP were infrequently reported. Notably, many outcome instruments used do not have evaluative properties and thus are not suitable for measuring change following intervention. We provide a number of recommendations to ensure that future trials generate high-quality outcome data that is aligned with the priorities of the CP community

Maternal bonding, negative affect, and infant social-emotional development: A prospective cohort study

The interrelationships between maternal bonding, negative affect, and infant social-emotional development were examined using multi-wave perinatal data from an Australian cohort study (N = 1,579). Self-reported bonding and negative affect were assessed at each trimester, and 8 weeks and 12 months postpartum. The Bayley-III social-emotional scale was administered at age 12 months. Results revealed strong continuities in bonding and negative affect across pregnancy and postpartum. Small associations (β = -.10 to -.20) existed between maternal negative affect during pregnancy and poor early bonding. Higher postnatal maternal bonding predicted infant social-emotional development (β = .17). Maternal bonding and negative affect are interrelated yet unique constructs, with suggested developmental interplay between mother-to-infant bonding and infant social-affective development

Prenatal alcohol exposure and infant gross motor development: a prospective cohort study

Abstract Background Maternal alcohol consumption in pregnancy may have adverse effects on child gross motor (GM) development. There have been few human studies on this topic, particularly ones examining low exposure. This study examined the association between prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and infant GM development at 12-months of age. Methods Participants were 1324 women recruited from antenatal clinics in Sydney and Perth, Australia. Maternal and paternal alcohol use was assessed in pregnancy via interview; offspring GM development was measured at 12-months with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III). Results Any alcohol use in pregnancy was common: 56.1%, of pregnant women drank early in Trimester one (0–6 weeks), however this reduced to 27.9% on average thereafter and at predominantly low levels. However, infant BSID GM scale scores were not found to differ significantly as a function of PAE in the first 6-weeks (low, moderate, binge or heavy PAE), nor with low PAE across pregnancy. Conclusions We found no evidence to suggest that low PAE is associated with measurable impairment in infant GM development at 12-months. Further research is needed to examine potential PAE impacts on GM development in heavier exposure groups and through the childhood years when subtle GM deficits may be more detectable

Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson into eτe\tau and μτ\mu\tau in s=13\sqrt{s}=13 TeV pppp collisions with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H → eτ and H → μτ, performed using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. Leptonic (τ → ℓν$_{ℓ}$ν$_{τ}$) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν$_{τ}$) decays of the τ-lepton are considered. Two background estimation techniques are employed: the MC-template method, based on data-corrected simulation samples, and the Symmetry method, based on exploiting the symmetry between electrons and muons in the Standard Model backgrounds. No significant excess of events is observed and the results are interpreted as upper limits on lepton-flavour-violating branching ratios of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits set on the branching ratios at 95% confidence level, $\mathcal{B}$(H → eτ) < 0.20% (0.12%) and $\mathcal{B}$(H → μτ ) < 0.18% (0.09%), are obtained with the MC-template method from a simultaneous measurement of potential H → eτ and H → μτ signals. The best-fit branching ratio difference, $\mathcal{B}$(H → μτ) → $\mathcal{B}$(H → eτ), measured with the Symmetry method in the channel where the τ-lepton decays to leptons, is (0.25 ± 0.10)%, compatible with a value of zero within 2.5σ.[graphic not available: see fulltext