Psychosocial and behavioral impact of COVID-19 in autism spectrum disorder: an online parent survey

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak could result in higher levels of psychological distress, especially among people suffering from pre-existing mental health conditions. Young individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are particularly at risk due to their vulnerability to unpredictable and complex changes. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ASD individuals, whether any pre-pandemic sociodemographic or clinical characteristics would predict a negative outcome, and to narratively characterize their needs. Parents and guardians of ASD individuals filled out an online survey consisting of 40 questions investigating socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of their children, impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on their wellbeing and needs to deal with the emergency. Data were available on 527 survey participants. The COVID-19 emergency resulted in a challenging period for 93.9% of families, increased difficulties in managing daily activities, especially free time (78.1%) and structured activities (75.7%), and, respectively, 35.5% and 41.5% of children presenting with more intense and more frequent behavior problems. Behavior problems predating the COVID-19 outbreak predicted a higher risk of more intense (odds ratio (OR) = 2.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.42-3.29) and more frequent (OR = 1.67, 95% CI 1.13-2.48) disruptive behavior. Even though ASD children were receiving different types of support, also requiring specialist (19.1%) or emergency (1.5%) interventions in a relatively low proportion of cases, a number of needs emerged, including receiving more healthcare support (47.4%), especially in-home support (29.9%), as well as interventions to tackle a potentially disruptive quarantine (16.8%). The COVID-19 outbreak has undoubtedly resulted in increased difficulties among ASD individuals

Diseño de almacén de datos para el análisis eficiente de la información de incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos

El objetivo de este proyecto de investigación es la caracterización de incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos en el contexto de un laboratorio informático. Para ello se propone la utilización en conjunto de herramientas de la Inteligencia de Negocios y la Minería de Datos, con el propósito de analizar de manera exhaustiva los incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos. En este trabajo se describe un modelo de Data Mart para la determinación de perfiles de los incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos con el fin de instrumentar estrategias que permitan disminuir los niveles de incidencias, como así también optimizar la gestión de mantenimientos.Eje: Base de Datos y Minería de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Minería de Datos aplicada a la Detección de factores para la prevención de incidentes informáticos

El objetivo principal de este proyecto es la aplicación de técnicas de minería de datos para lograr la caracterización de incidentes informáticos de los recursos tecnológicos, en el contexto de un laboratorio informático.Eje: Bases de Datos y Minería de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Minería de Datos aplicada a la Detección de factores para la prevención de incidentes informáticos

El objetivo principal de este proyecto es la aplicación de técnicas de minería de datos para lograr la caracterización de incidentes informáticos de los recursos tecnológicos, en el contexto de un laboratorio informático.Eje: Bases de Datos y Minería de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Diseño de almacén de datos para el análisis eficiente de la información de incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos

El objetivo de este proyecto de investigación es la caracterización de incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos en el contexto de un laboratorio informático. Para ello se propone la utilización en conjunto de herramientas de la Inteligencia de Negocios y la Minería de Datos, con el propósito de analizar de manera exhaustiva los incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos. En este trabajo se describe un modelo de Data Mart para la determinación de perfiles de los incidentes informáticos y mantenimientos con el fin de instrumentar estrategias que permitan disminuir los niveles de incidencias, como así también optimizar la gestión de mantenimientos.Eje: Base de Datos y Minería de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Minería de Datos aplicada a la Detección de factores para la prevención de incidentes informáticos

El objetivo principal de este proyecto es la aplicación de técnicas de minería de datos para lograr la caracterización de incidentes informáticos de los recursos tecnológicos, en el contexto de un laboratorio informático.Eje: Bases de Datos y Minería de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Predictive Power of Oxygen Desaturation Index (ODI) and Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) in Detecting Long-Term Neurocognitive and Psychosocial Outcomes of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Children: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea can negatively affect children's neurocognitive function and development, hindering academic and adaptive goals. Questionnaires are suitable for assessing neuropsychological symptoms in children with sleep-disordered breathing. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using the Oxygen Desaturation Index compared to the Obstructive Apnea-Hypopnea Index in predicting long-term consequences of sleep-disordered breathing in children. We conducted a retrospective analysis of respiratory polysomnography recordings from preschool and school-age children (mean age: 5.8 ± 2.8 years) and followed them up after an average of 3.1 ± 0.8 years from the home-based polysomnography. We administered three validated questionnaires to the parents/caregivers of the children by phone. Our results showed that children with an Oxygen Desaturation Index (ODI) greater than one event per hour exhibited symptoms in four domains (physical, school-related, Quality of Life [QoL], and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) at follow-up, compared to only two symptoms (physical and school-related) found in children with an Obstructive Apnea-Hypopnea Index greater than one event per hour at the time of diagnosis. Our study also found a significant correlation between the minimum SpO2 (%) recorded at diagnosis and several outcomes, including Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) scores, physical, social, and school-related outcomes, and ADHD index at follow-up. These results suggest that the Oxygen Desaturation Index could serve as a valuable predictor of long-term symptoms in children with sleep-disordered breathing, which could inform treatment decisions. Additionally, measuring minimum SpO2 levels may help assess the risk of developing long-term symptoms and monitor treatment outcomes

Investigating gait, movement, and coordination in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: is there a role for motor abnormalities in atypical neurodevelopment?

Motor abnormalities have been suggested to play a role in most neuropsychiatric disorders, as a potential generic neurodevelopmental vulnerability. However, they still represent a neglected area, with a paucity of empirical studies, especially in pediatric populations. This case-control study aimed to comprehensively assess motor functioning in children with atypical neurodevelopment and investigate whether any socio-demographic or clinical characteristics would concur with motor difficulties to distinguish children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) from healthy controls. Socio-demographic (age and gender) and clinical (intelligence quotient, gait, movement, and coordination) data were collected on 114 children aged 5-15 (83 with NDD, 31 healthy controls). Male children were at significantly higher risk for NDD (OR: 13.023, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a statistically significant interaction between the total intelligence quotient and overall coordination such that increasing levels of total intelligence quotient appeared to protect against the likelihood of being diagnosed with an NDD, but only in the context of a preserved coordination (OR: 0.964, p = 0.038). Collectively, results may have important public health implications, as they point towards the development of new approaches to establish an early prognosis in neurodevelopment, including assessing motor difficulties and mitigating their impact on children's quality of life

Postural control in childhood: investigating the neurodevelopmental gradient hypothesis

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have been suggested to lie on a gradient continuum, all resulting from common brain disturbances, but with different degrees of impairment severity. This case-control study aimed to assess postural stability against such hypothesis in 104 children/adolescents aged 5-17, of whom 81 had NDDs and 23 were healthy controls. Compared to healthy controls, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) resulted in the most severely impaired neurodevelopmental condition, followed by Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Tourette Syndrome (TS). In particular, while ASD children/adolescents performed worse than healthy controls in a number of sensory conditions across all parameters, ADHD children/adolescents performed worse than healthy controls only in the sway area for the most complex sensory conditions, when their vision and somatosensory functions were both compromised, and performance in Tourette Syndrome (TS) was roughly indistinguishable from that of healthy controls. Finally, differences were also observed between clinical groups, with ASD children/adolescents, and to a much lesser extent ADHD children/adolescents, performing worse than TS children/adolescents, especially when sensory systems were not operationally accurate. Evidence from this study indicates that poor postural control may be a useful biomarker for risk assessment during neurodevelopment, in line with predictions from the gradient hypothesis

Effectiveness of equine-assisted activities and therapies for improving adaptive behavior and motor function in autism spectrum disorder

Equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) have been suggested to improve adaptive behavior, and possibly motor function, in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated the effects of EAAT on adaptive behavior and motor function in 15 children with ASD (13 males) aged 7-15 years as well as the impact of EAAT on the magnitude of stress in the parent-child system and the evolution in the child interaction with both the trained therapist and the therapeutic animal through the 20 weekly sessions of EAAT. EAAT were associated with greater adaptive behavior and coordination (all p 64 0.01) as well as a progressive improvement in the child's abilities to respond to the increasing complexity of such form of positive behavioral support (all p < 0.001). However, EAAT did not prove to be effective in reducing parental distress. Collectively, preliminary evidence presented here may have important public health implications and gives reason to hope that EAAT could possibly be an effective option in ASD, warranting further investigation of its potential benefits in clinical trials among larger samples