Attitudes of the autism community to early autism research

Investigation into the earliest signs of autism in infants has become a significant sub-field of autism research. This work invokes specific ethical concerns such as: use of ‘at-risk’ language; communicating study findings to parents; and the future perspective of enrolled infants when they reach adulthood. The current study aimed to ground this research field in an understanding of the perspectives of members of the autism community. Following focus groups to identify topics, an online survey was distributed to autistic adults, parents of children with autism, and practitioners in health and education settings across eleven European countries. Survey respondents (n=2317) were positively disposed towards early autism research and there was significant overlap in their priorities for the field, and preferred language to describe infant research participants. However there were also differences including overall less favourable endorsement of early autism research by autistic adults relative to other groups and a dislike of the phrase ‘at-risk’ to describe infant participants, in all groups except healthcare practitioners. The findings overall indicate that the autism community in Europe is supportive of early autism research. Researchers should endeavour to maintain this by continuing to take community perspectives into account

Signal transduction of MCP-1 expression induced by pancreatitis-associated ascitic fluid in pancreatic acinar cells

Producción CientíficaPancreatitis-associated ascitic fluid (PAAF) is known to contribute to the progression of acute pancreatitis (AP). We have investigated the capability of PAAF to activate the expression of MCP-1 in pancreatic acinar cells and the involvement of MAPK, NF-κB and STAT3 as downstream signalling transduction pathways. The actions of dexamethasone (Dx) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on the PAAF's acinar effects have also been evaluated. Acinar cells were incubated for 1 hr with PAAF collected from rats with severe AP induced by sodium taurocholate in the absence or presence of Dx (10−7 M) or NAC (30 mM). MCP-1 mRNA expression, phospho-p38-MAPK, IκBα, nuclear p65 levels and nuclear translocation of STAT3 were analysed. In response to PAAF, overexpression of MCP-1, phosphorylation of p38-MAPK, degradation of IκBα and increases in p65 nuclear levels and STAT3 activity were found in acinar cells. PAAF-mediated MCP-1 up-regulation was completely suppressed by Dx and NAC. MAPK activation was only inhibited by NAC, NF-κB activation was repressed by Dx and NAC, and STAT3 pathway was strongly blocked by Dx and significantly reduced by NAC. In conclusion, acinar cells were activated by PAAF to produce MCP-1, mainly via NF-κB and STAT3 pathways. Both downstream pathways were targeted by Dx and NAC to repress the PAAF-mediated acinar MCP-1 up-regulation.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (grant PI05/0025

Effect of the ImPACT intervention on preterm children with autism spectrum disorder: a follow-up study

[ENG]BACKGROUND: Globally, 15 million babies are born prematurely (<37 weeks' gestation) each year (Blencowe et al., 2012). Advances in intensive neonatal care have greatly improved the survival rate of preterm infants. However, the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders in this group, such as autism, is one of these behavioral conditions observed. There is scarce evidence of programs that monitor and teach parents about the development of this group when the first developmental concerns appear until the diagnosis is finally confirmed and not many studies report follow-up results. OBJECTIVES: To this end, we conducted the ImPACT (Improving Parents As a Communication Teachers) intervention (Ingersoll & Wainer, 2013) aimed to investigate results in broader gains in social, cognitive, language and adaptive functioning in young preterm children with a higher probability to have autism (measured with ADOS and M-CHAT-R/F) 6 months after finishing intervention. Moreover, this is the first study to use individual change indices in a pre-post-follow-up design with preterm infants with ASD, a comparison group, and a control group. METHODS: Eighteen children between the ages of 18 and 20 months and their families participated in the study. Children were recruited from a developmental disorder diagnostic and rehabilitation centre and from the Salamanca Clinical Hospital, and allocated to the three groups in accordance with the respective inclusion criteria: (1) preterm children at risk for autism who received intervention (experimental), (2) full-term children at risk for autism who received intervention (comparison), and (3) preterm children (control). In the intervention, children and their parents participated in fifteen weekly individualized 2-h session with a researcher that emphasized embedding strategies targeting imitation, joint attention and play into everyday routines and play activities. Children were evaluated 6 months after the end of the intervention. RESULTS: Findings indicate that children in the intervention groups maintained the improvements showed post-intervention. There were significant differences in imitation skills (.045), joint attention (.031), and play (.025) in the follow-up results compared to post-intervention. There were no significant differences between preterm and term children with autism in any area. Individual analyses showed similar results, except for ADOS-T module results and cognitive functioning, in which the mean of preterm children with autism showed reliable changes maintained 6 months after finishing intervention. CONCLUSIONS: These results shows that change can be made and maintained in core developmental areas for preterm children with a higher probability to develop autism, when applying a low-intensity intervention targeting social and communication skills. Even though such core areas of impairment are not easy to change, the intervention had an appreciable effect. Most of the participants improved significantly in socio-communicative skills, cognitive development, language, and adaptive behavior, and ASD signs were reduced. Thus, this study emphasized the need for further research and implementation of early interventions in young preterm children with autism and their parents when targeting social-communication skills as a main objective for intervention.Grants PID2019-107177RB-I00 and TED2021-129301B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, by the “European Union” and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR

Desarrollo de nuevas metodologías docentes e instrumentos de evaluación en las clases prácticas de fisiología animal

Memoria ID-0167. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2009-2010.El presente trabajo propone una nueva metodología para las clases prácticas de fisiología anima