Subjective face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility, sleeping disturbances and aberrant eating habits in families with Asperger syndrome

BACKGROUND: The present study was undertaken in order to determine whether a set of clinical features, which are not included in the DSM-IV or ICD-10 for Asperger Syndrome (AS), are associated with AS in particular or whether they are merely a familial trait that is not related to the diagnosis. METHODS: Ten large families, a total of 138 persons, of whom 58 individuals fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for AS and another 56 did not to fulfill these criteria, were studied using a structured interview focusing on the possible presence of face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility and eating habits and sleeping disturbances. RESULTS: The prevalence for face recognition difficulties was 46.6% in individuals with AS compared with 10.7% in the control group. The corresponding figures for subjectively reported presence of aberrant sensibilities were 91.4% and 46.6%, for sleeping disturbances 48.3% and 23.2% and for aberrant eating habits 60.3% and 14.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: An aberrant processing of sensory information appears to be a common feature in AS. The impact of these and other clinical features that are not incorporated in the ICD-10 and DSM-IV on our understanding of AS may hitherto have been underestimated. These associated clinical traits may well be reflected by the behavioural characteristics of these individuals

Auditory Development between 7 and 11 Years: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study

Background: There is considerable uncertainty about the time-course of central auditory maturation. On some indices, children appear to have adult-like competence by school age, whereas for other measures development follows a protracted course. Methodology: We studied auditory development using auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by tones in 105 children on two occasions two years apart. Just over half of the children were 7 years initially and 9 years at follow-up, whereas the remainder were 9 years initially and 11 years at follow-up. We used conventional analysis of peaks in the auditory ERP, independent component analysis, and time-frequency analysis. Principal Findings: We demonstrated maturational changes in the auditory ERP between 7 and 11 years, both using conventional peak measurements, and time-frequency analysis. The developmental trajectory was different for temporal vs. fronto-central electrode sites. Temporal electrode sites showed strong lateralisation of responses and no increase of low-frequency phase-resetting with age, whereas responses recorded from fronto-central electrode sites were not lateralised and showed progressive change with age. Fronto-central vs. temporal electrode sites also mapped onto independent components with differently oriented dipole sources in auditory cortex. A global measure of waveform shape proved to be the most effective method for distinguishing age bands. Conclusions/Significance: The results supported the idea that different cortical regions mature at different rates. The ICC measure is proposed as the best measure of 'auditory ERP age'

Utility of Different Blood Pressure Measurement Components in Childhood to Predict Adult Carotid Intima-Media Thickness

Childhood blood pressure (BP) levels predict adult subclinical atherosclerosis. However, the best childhood BP component for prediction has not been determined. This study comprised 5925 participants aged 3 to 18 years from 6 cohorts who were followed into adulthood (mean follow-up 25.8±6.2 years). Childhood BP was measured by using a standard mercury sphygmomanometer in all cohorts. Study-specific carotid intima-media thickness ≥90th percentile was used to define subclinical atherosclerosis. Per SD change in the predictor, childhood systolic BP (SBP; age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio [95% CI], 1.24 [1.13–1.37]), mean arterial pressure (1.10 [1.07–1.13]), and pulse pressure (1.15 [1.05–1.27]) were associated with increased adulthood intima-media thickness. In age- and sex-adjusted analyses, area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for SBP (C value [95% CI], 0.677 [0.657–0.704]) showed significantly improved prediction compared with diastolic BP (0.669 [0.646–0.693], P=0.006) or mean arterial pressure (0.674 [0.653–0.699], P=0.01). Pulse pressure provided a C value that was not different from SBP (0.676 [0.653–0.699], P=0.16). Combining different BP components did not improve prediction over SBP measurement alone. Based on the associations with adult carotid intima-media thickness, cut points for elevated SBP were 105 mm Hg for 3- to 6-year-old boys, 108 mm Hg for 3- to 6-year-old girls, 108 mm Hg for 7- to 12-year-old boys, 106 mm Hg for 7- to 12-year-old girls, 123 mm Hg for 13- to 18-year-old boys, and 115 mm Hg for 13- to 18-year-old girls. Our analyses suggest that several childhood BP measurement components are related to adulthood carotid intima-media thickness. Of these, SBP provided the best predictive ability.</p

Role of cardiovascular imaging in cancer patients receiving cardiotoxic therapies: a position statement on behalf of the Heart Failure Association (HFA), the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and the Cardio‐Oncology Council of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

Cardiovascular (CV) imaging is an important tool in baseline risk assessment and detection of CV disease in oncology patients receiving cardiotoxic cancer therapies. This position statement examines the role of echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, nuclear cardiac imaging and computed tomography in the management of cancer patients. The Imaging and Cardio‐Oncology Study Groups of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and the Cardio‐Oncology Council of the ESC have evaluated the current evidence for the value of modern CV imaging in the cardio‐oncology field. The most relevant echocardiographic parameters, including global longitudinal strain and three‐dimensional ejection fraction, are proposed. The protocol for baseline pre‐treatment evaluation and specific surveillance algorithms or pathways for anthracycline chemotherapy, HER2‐targeted therapies such as trastuzumab, vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, BCr‐Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitors, proteasome inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors are presented. The indications for CV imaging after completion of oncology treatment are considered. The typical consequences of radiation therapy and the possibility of their identification in the long term are also summarized. Special populations are discussed including female survivors planning pregnancy, patients with carcinoid disease, patients with cardiac tumours and patients with right heart failure. Future directions and ongoing CV imaging research in cardio‐oncology are discussed

Auditory semantic networks for words and natural sounds

Does lexical processing rely on a specialized semantic network in the brain, or does it draw on more general semantic resources? The primary goal of this study was to compare behavioral and electrophysiological responses evoked during the processing of words, environmental sounds, and non-meaningful sounds in semantically matching or mismatching visual contexts. A secondary goal was to characterize the dynamic relationship between the behavioral and neural activities related to semantic integration using a novel analysis technique, ERP imaging. In matching trials, meaningful-sound ERPs were characterized by an extended positivity (200–600 ms) that in mismatching trials partly overlapped with centro-parietal N400 and frontal N600 negativities. The mismatch word-N400 peaked later than the environmental sound-N400 and was only slightly more posterior in scalp distribution. Single-trial ERP imaging revealed that for meaningful stimuli, the match-positivity consisted of a sensory P2 (200 ms), a semantic positivity (PS, 300 ms), and a parietal response-related positivity (PR, 500–800 ms). The magnitudes (but not the timing) of the N400 and PS activities correlated with subjects' reaction times, whereas both the latency and magnitude of the PR was correlated with subjects' reaction times. These results suggest that largely overlapping neural networks process verbal and non-verbal semantic information. In addition, it appears that semantic integration operates across different time scales: earlier processes (indexed by the PS and N400) utilize the established meaningful, but not necessarily lexical, semantic representations, whereas later processes (indexed by the PR and N600) are involved in the explicit interpretation of stimulus semantics and possibly of the required response

Role of cardiovascular imaging in cancer patients receiving cardiotoxic therapies: a position statement on behalf of the Heart Failure Association (HFA), the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and the Cardio-Oncology Council of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

Cardiovascular (CV) imaging is an important tool in baseline risk assessment and detection of CV disease in oncology patients receiving cardiotoxic cancer therapies. This position statement examines the role of echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, nuclear cardiac imaging and computed tomography in the management of cancer patients. The Imaging and Cardio-Oncology Study Groups of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and the Cardio-Oncology Council of the ESC have evaluated the current evidence for the value of modern CV imaging in the cardio-oncology field. The most relevant echocardiographic parameters, including global longitudinal strain and three-dimensional ejection fraction, are proposed. The protocol for baseline pre-treatment evaluation and specific surveillance algorithms or pathways for anthracycline chemotherapy, HER2-targeted therapies such as trastuzumab, vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, BCr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitors, proteasome inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors are presented. The indications for CV imaging after completion of oncology treatment are considered. The typical consequences of radiation therapy and the possibility of their identification in the long term are also summarized. Special populations are discussed including female survivors planning pregnancy, patients with carcinoid disease, patients with cardiac tumours and patients with right heart failure. Future directions and ongoing CV imaging research in cardio-oncology are discussed. © 2020 European Society of Cardiolog