The effects of intranasal oxytocin on reward circuitry responses in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Background Intranasal oxytocin (OT) has been shown to improve social communication functioning of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and, thus, has received considerable interest as a potential ASD therapeutic agent. Although preclinical research indicates that OT modulates the functional output of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system that processes rewards, no clinical brain imaging study to date has examined the effects of OT on this system using a reward processing paradigm. To address this, we used an incentive delay task to examine the effects of a single dose of intranasal OT, versus placebo (PLC), on neural responses to social and nonsocial rewards in children with ASD. Methods In this placebo-controlled double-blind study, 28 children and adolescents with ASD (age: M = 13.43 years, SD = 2.36) completed two fMRI scans, one after intranasal OT administration and one after PLC administration. During both scanning sessions, participants completed social and nonsocial incentive delay tasks. Task-based neural activation and connectivity were examined to assess the impact of OT relative to PLC on mesocorticolimbic brain responses to social and nonsocial reward anticipation and outcomes. Results Central analyses compared the OT and PLC conditions. During nonsocial reward anticipation, there was greater activation in the right nucleus accumbens (NAcc), left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC), left superior frontal cortex, and right frontal pole (FP) during the OT condition relative to PLC. Alternatively, during social reward anticipation and outcomes, there were no significant increases in brain activation during the OT condition relative to PLC. A Treatment Group × Reward Condition interaction revealed relatively greater activation in the right NAcc, right caudate nucleus, left ACC, and right OFC during nonsocial relative to social reward anticipation during the OT condition relative to PLC. Additionally, these analyses revealed greater activation during nonsocial reward outcomes during the OT condition relative to PLC in the right OFC and left FP. Finally, functional connectivity analyses generally revealed changes in frontostriatal connections during the OT condition relative to PLC in response to nonsocial, but not social, rewards. Conclusions The effects of intranasal OT administration on mesocorticolimbic brain systems that process rewards in ASD were observable primarily during the processing of nonsocial incentive salience stimuli. These findings have implications for understanding the effects of OT on neural systems that process rewards, as well as for experimental trials of novel ASD treatments developed to ameliorate social communication impairments in ASD

Regularization of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM along‐track oversampled hyperspectral imaging observations of Mars

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) hyperspectral image data have been acquired in an along-track oversampled (ATO) mode with the intent of processing the data to better than the nominal ∼18 m/pixel ground resolution. We have implemented an iterative maximum log-likelihood method (MLM) that utilizes the instrument spectral and spatial transfer functions and includes a penalty function to regularize the data. Products are produced both in sensor space and as projected hyperspectral image cubes at 12 m/pixel. Preprocessing steps include retrieval of surface single scattering albedos (SSA) using the Hapke Function and DISORT-based radiative modeling of atmospheric gases and aerosols. Resultant SSA cubes are despiked to remove extrema and tested to ensure that the remaining data are Poisson-distributed, an underlying assumption for the MLM algorithm implementation. Two examples of processed ATO data sets are presented. ATO0002EC79 covers the route taken by the Curiosity rover during its initial ascent of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater. SSA data are used to model mineral abundances and grain sizes predicted to be present in the Namib barchan sand dune sampled and analyzed by Curiosity. CRISM based results compare favorably to in situ results derived from Curiosity's measurement campaign. ATO0002DDF9 covers Marathon Valley on the Cape Tribulation rim segment of Endeavour Crater. SSA spectra indicate the presence of a minor component of Fe^(3+) and Mg^(2+) smectites on the valley floor and walls. Localization to 12 m/pixel provided the detailed spatial information needed for the Opportunity rover to traverse to and characterize those outcrops that have the deepest absorptions. The combination of orbital and rover-based data show that the smectite-bearing outcrops in Marathon Valley are impact breccias that are basaltic in composition and that have been isochemically altered in a low water to rock environment

MISSING DATA ESTIMATION FOR FULLY 3D SPIRAL CT IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction algorithms that are not set up to handle in-complete datasets can lead to artifacts in the reconstructed images because the assumptions regarding the size of the image space and/or data space are violated. In this study, two recently developed geometry-independent methods 1 are applied to fully 3D multi-slice spiral CT image recon-struction. Using simulated and clinical datasets, we dem-onstrate the effectiveness of the missing data approaches in improving the quality of slices that have experienced truncation in either the transverse or longitudinal direction. • When the support of an object lies partially outside the field of view (FOV) of a CT scanner, artifacts may arise in the reconstructed image due to undersampling. • Most reconstruction algorithms implicitly assume the entire object is confined to the FOV, but if this is not the case, excessively large attenuation values may be recon-structed inside the boundary of the FOV. • The reconstruction algorithm is unaware that the mea-sured data has been affected by the object's attenuation outside the FOV, so the image in the FOV is recon-structed such that the projections through it match the measured data

Additional file 3: of The effects of intranasal oxytocin on reward circuitry responses in children with autism spectrum disorder

Figure S2. Functional activation during the outcome phase of the nonsocial and social tasks for OT and PLC. (DOCX 269 kb

Additional file 4: of The effects of intranasal oxytocin on reward circuitry responses in children with autism spectrum disorder

Figure S3. Structural activation in striatal regions during the anticipation and outcome of nonsocial and social rewards. Frontostriatal structural activation during nonsocial (left) and social (right) reward anticipation and outcome after intranasal OT relative to PLC administration. In the nonsocial reward condition, the right NAcc showed relatively increased activation during reward anticipation following OT relative to PLC administration. No significant differences in activation were observed during nonsocial outcomes following OT relative to PLC administration. In the social reward conditions, none of the regions queried showed differential activation during either the anticipation or outcome phases after intranasal OT relative to PLC administration. NAcc = nucleus accumbens. *p < .05. (DOCX 57 kb

Additional file 2: of The effects of intranasal oxytocin on reward circuitry responses in children with autism spectrum disorder

Figure S1. Functional activation during the anticipatory phase of the nonsocial and social tasks for OT and PLC. (DOCX 281 kb

Factors Affecting Burden of Psychopharmacological Medication in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Importance of Early Diagnosis

WOS: 000385785800008Objective: The aim of the present study is to specify the frequency in psychopharmacological medication use in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and determine their age range at diagnosis. Methods: Five hundred and twenty three children with ASD who applied to Dr. Sami Ulus Maternity and Children Research and Training Hospital between 2010-2015 were reviewed retrospectively. Data has been obtained from computerized hospital information system. Individuals with the diagnosis of Autism (F84.0), Atypical Autism (F84.1) and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Other Specified (F84.9) were screened. Results: Psychotropic medication was recommended to 28.5% of the 523 children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD. Antipsychotics were the most common drugs of choice among psychotropic medications. The mean age at diagnosis of patients taking psychotropic medication was significantly higher than that of the patients who were not taking psychotropic medication (t=-3.064; p<0.01). The rate of psychotropic drug usage in female patients was significantly high than male patients (chi(2)=6.675; p=0.01). Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that the delay of diagnosis can be included as a factor for psychotropic medication need of patients with ASD. Nearly half of the patients have been diagnosed in the first three years of their life. For further benefits of studies in Turkey, evaluating the psychopharmacological drug prescription rate, age of diagnosis and related factors to determine the present situation of psychotropic medication in our country will be necessary