The effects of oxytocin in autism

Background: Oxytocin is considered as the hormone of calm, healing and love, and it plays an important role in establishing and maintaining social relationships. As autism is characterized by difficulties in social relationships, a dysregulated oxytocin system could possibly be an underlying factor. Aim: To investigate treatment effects of oxytocin in adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on affective empathy.Methods: A randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trial investigated the effects of oxytocin nasal spray on oxytocin blood levels and affective empathy in young men with autism (n = 32) and neurotypicals (n = 30). Brain responses (EEG Event Related Potentials) and cardiac evoked responses (ECG) were recorded while participants viewed (IAPS) pictures with or without humans. Blood samples were taken before and after taking the nasal spray in order to validate absorption.Results: Surprisingly, we found evidence for enhanced blood levels of oxytocin at baseline in high functioning males with autism, especially in those with high intelligence. Oxytocin nasal spray induced a tenfold increase in blood levels in males with and without autism. Blood levels may however not reflect brain levels of oxytocin. Therefore we looked into the effects on the brain responses and centrally controlled heart rate responses to empathy evoking pictures. A subgroup of men with autism had lower empathic orienting responses to positive human emotions, which improved after treatment with oxytocin nasal spray. This subgroup was characterized by high scores (15+) on the Personal Distress (PD) scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Those with higher baseline levels of oxytocin also showed a higher treatment effect.Conclusion: Only a subgroup of men with ASD appears to benefit from oxytocin nasal spray for enhancing affective empathy; those who are sensitive to distress of others. Higher baseline levels of oxytocin also predicted a higher treatment effect.<br/

The effects of oxytocin in autism

Background: Oxytocin is considered as the hormone of calm, healing and love, and it plays an important role in establishing and maintaining social relationships. As autism is characterized by difficulties in social relationships, a dysregulated oxytocin system could possibly be an underlying factor. Aim: To investigate treatment effects of oxytocin in adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on affective empathy.Methods: A randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trial investigated the effects of oxytocin nasal spray on oxytocin blood levels and affective empathy in young men with autism (n = 32) and neurotypicals (n = 30). Brain responses (EEG Event Related Potentials) and cardiac evoked responses (ECG) were recorded while participants viewed (IAPS) pictures with or without humans. Blood samples were taken before and after taking the nasal spray in order to validate absorption.Results: Surprisingly, we found evidence for enhanced blood levels of oxytocin at baseline in high functioning males with autism, especially in those with high intelligence. Oxytocin nasal spray induced a tenfold increase in blood levels in males with and without autism. Blood levels may however not reflect brain levels of oxytocin. Therefore we looked into the effects on the brain responses and centrally controlled heart rate responses to empathy evoking pictures. A subgroup of men with autism had lower empathic orienting responses to positive human emotions, which improved after treatment with oxytocin nasal spray. This subgroup was characterized by high scores (15+) on the Personal Distress (PD) scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Those with higher baseline levels of oxytocin also showed a higher treatment effect.Conclusion: Only a subgroup of men with ASD appears to benefit from oxytocin nasal spray for enhancing affective empathy; those who are sensitive to distress of others. Higher baseline levels of oxytocin also predicted a higher treatment effect.<br/

The effects of oxytocine in autism:De werking van oxytocine bij autisme

Oxytocin is viewed as the hormone of calm, healing and love, and plays an important role in establishing and maintaining social relationships. As autism is characterized by difficulties in social relationships, a dysregulated oxytocin system could possibly be an underlying factor. Our recently finished randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trial investigated the effects of oxytocin nasal spray on oxytocin blood levels and affective empathy in young men with autism. Surprisingly, we found evidence for enhanced blood levels of oxytocin at baseline in high functioning males with autism, especially in those with high intelligence. Oxytocin nasal spray induced a tenfold increase in blood levels in males with and without autism. Blood levels may however not reflect brain levels of oxytocin. Therefore we looked into the effects on the brain responses and centrally controlled heart rate responses to empathy evoking pictures. A subgroup of men with autism had lower empathic orienting responses to positive human emotions, which improved after treatment with oxytocin nasal spray. This subgroup was characterized by high scores (15+) on the Personal Distress (PD) scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Thus, only a subgroup of men with autism appears to benefit from oxytocin nasal spray for enhancing affective empathy

Planning drinking water for airplanes

The management of the Dutch national airline company KLM intends to bring a sufficient amount of water on board of all flights to fulfill customer’s demand. On the other hand, the surplus of water after a flight should be kept to a minimum to reduce fuel costs. The service to passengers is measured with a service level. The objective of this research is to develop models, which can be used to minimize the amount of water on board of flights such that a predefined service level is met. The difficulty that has to be overcome is the fact that most of the available data of water consumption on flights are rounded off to the nearest eighth of the water tank. For wide-body aircrafts this rounding may correspond to about two hundred litres of water. Part of the problem was also to define a good service level. The use of a service level as a model parameter would give KLM a better control of the water surplus. The available data have been analyzed to examine which aspects we had to take into consideration. Next, a general framework has been developed in which the service level has been defined as a Quality of Service for each flight: The probability that a sufficient amount of water is available on a given flight leg. Three approaches will be proposed to find a probability distribution function for the total water consumption on a flight. The first approach tries to fit a distribution for the water consumption based on the available data, without any assumptions on the underlying shape of the distribution. The second approach assumes normality for the total water consumption on a flight and the third approach uses a binomial distribution. All methods are validated and numerically illustrated. We recommend KLM to use the second approach, where the first approach can be used to determine an upper bound on the water level

Segmental volvulus of the ileum without malrotation in an infant: A case report

AbstractIntestinal volvulus usually occur secondary to malrotation, and primary segmental volvulus has rarely been reported. A 12-month-old female infant presented with a 3-day history of excessive vomiting. An ultrasonography revealed a “whirlpool sign” in the right upper abdomen, suggesting small bowel volvulus with obstruction. Laparotomy revealed a twisted, viable loop of small bowel in the right upper abdomen, and abnormal adhesions were noted between the distal and mid ileum, with resulting mesenteric narrowing. Attempted mesenteric widening by dissection of the peritoneum overlying the adhesions failed, because of abnormal, taut mesenteric vessels. Subsequent resection of the involved segment cured the patient. Recurrent obstructive symptoms in an infant can be an atypical presentation of segmental volvulus, and segmental volvulus should be included in the differential diagnosis of such cases

Hematopoietic upstream stimulating factor 1 deficiency is associated with increased atherosclerosis susceptibility in LDL receptor knockout mice

Total body upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1) deficiency in mice is associated with brown adipose tissue activation and a marked protection against the development of obesity and atherosclerotic lesions. Functional expression of USF1 has also been detected in monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages. In the current study we therefore tested whether selective hematopoietic USF1 deficiency can also beneficially impact the development of atherosclerosis. For this purpose, LDL receptor knockout mice were transplanted with bone marrow from USF1 knockout mice or their wild-type littermate controls and subsequently fed a Western-type diet for 20 weeks to stimulate atherosclerotic lesion development. Strikingly, absence of USF1 function in bone marrow-derived cells was associated with exacerbated blood leukocyte (+ 100%; P < 0.01) and peritoneal leukocyte (+ 50%; P < 0.05) lipid loading and an increased atherosclerosis susceptibility (+ 31%; P < 0.05). These effects could be attributed to aggravated hyperlipidemia, i.e. higher plasma free cholesterol (+ 33%; P < 0.001) and cholesteryl esters (+ 39%; P < 0.001), and the development of hepatosteatosis. In conclusion, we have shown that hematopoietic USF1 deficiency is associated with an increased atherosclerosis susceptibility in LDL receptor knockout mice. These findings argue against a contribution of macrophage-specific USF1 deficiency to the previously described beneficial effect of total body USF1 deficiency on atherosclerosis susceptibility in mice.Peer reviewe