Using \u3cem\u3eLearning Express-Ways\u3c/em\u3e in Special Education Teacher Preparation: Developing Student-Faculty Relationships as a Path to Partnership

This paper explores the effects of implementing Learning Express-Ways as an instructional communication tool between students and faculty in courses that are part of a special education teacher preparation program and apprenticeship. Findings suggest that using Learning Express-Ways contributed to the development of learning relationships with faculty and this instructional communication tool may be helpful in creating a partnership-focused approach in special education teacher preparation program

Combined genome-wide linkage and targeted association analysis of head circumference in autism spectrum disorder families

Background: It has long been recognized that there is an association between enlarged head circumference (HC) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the genetics of HC in ASD is not well understood. In order to investigate the genetic underpinning of HC in ASD, we undertook a genome-wide linkage study of HC followed by linkage signal targeted association among a sample of 67 extended pedigrees with ASD. Methods: HC measurements on members of 67 multiplex ASD extended pedigrees were used as a quantitative trait in a genome-wide linkage analysis. The Illumina 6K SNP linkage panel was used, and analyses were carried out using the SOLAR implemented variance components model. Loci identified in this way formed the target for subsequent association analysis using the Illumina OmniExpress chip and imputed genotypes. A modification of the qTDT was used as implemented in SOLAR. Results: We identified a linkage signal spanning 6p21.31 to 6p22.2 (maximum LOD = 3.4). Although targeted association did not find evidence of association with any SNP overall, in one family with the strongest evidence of linkage, there was evidence for association (rs17586672, p = 1.72E-07). Conclusions: Although this region does not overlap with ASD linkage signals in these same samples, it has been associated with other psychiatric risk, including ADHD, developmental dyslexia, schizophrenia, specific language impairment, and juvenile bipolar disorder. The genome-wide significant linkage signal represents the first reported observation of a potential quantitative trait locus for HC in ASD and may be relevant in the context of complex multivariate risk likely leading to ASD

Natural climate solutions

Our thanks for inputs by L. Almond, A. Baccini, A. Bowman, S. CookPatton, J. Evans, K. Holl, R. Lalasz, A. Nassikas, M. Spalding, M. Wolosin, and expert elicitation respondents. Our thanks for datasets developed by the Hansen lab and the NESCent grasslands working group (C. Lehmann, D. Griffith, T. M. Anderson, D. J. Beerling, W. Bond, E. Denton, E. Edwards, E. Forrestel, D. Fox, W. Hoffmann, R. Hyde, T. Kluyver, L. Mucina, B. Passey, S. Pau, J. Ratnam, N. Salamin, B. Santini, K. Simpson, M. Smith, B. Spriggs, C. Still, C. Strömberg, and C. P. Osborne). This study was made possible by funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Woodbury was supported in part by USDA-NIFA Project 2011-67003-30205 Data deposition: A global spatial dataset of reforestation opportunities has been deposited on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/883444). This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1710465114/-/DCSupplemental.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The relationship between sensory sensitivity and autistic traits in the general population.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) tend to have sensory processing difficulties (Baranek et al. in J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47:591–601, 2006). These difficulties include over- and under-responsiveness to sensory stimuli, and problems modulating sensory input (Ben-Sasson et al. in J Autism Dev Disorders 39:1–11, 2009). As those with ASD exist at the extreme end of a continuum of autistic traits that is also evident in the general population, we investigated the link between ASD and sensory sensitivity in the general population by administering two questionnaires online to 212 adult participants. Results showed a highly significant positive correlation (r = .775, p < .001) between number of autistic traits and the frequency of sensory processing problems. These data suggest a strong link between sensory processing and autistic traits in the general population, which in turn potentially implicates sensory processing problems in social interaction difficulties

Common practical questions - and answers - at the British Association for Psychopharmacology child and adolescent psychopharmacology course

The British Association for Psychopharmacology course on child and adolescent psychopharmacology has been run for more than 20 years and is currently a very popular course, attracting around 140 delegates/year from across the United Kingdom and abroad. As Faculty of recent sessions of the course, we have selected the most common questions we have been asked in recent years and provided evidence-based and/or expert-informed answers. We have included 27 questions and answers related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, epilepsy (in differential diagnosis or comorbid with mental health conditions), obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorders, psychotic spectrum disorders, and tics/Tourette syndrome in children and young people. We hope that this article will be helpful for prescribers in their daily clinical practice and we look forward to further, high-level evidence informing the answers to these and other questions in child and adolescent psychopharmacology

Brief Report: Adults with Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Comorbid Psychopathology

While knowledge about symptom presentation of adults with mild ASD, including comorbid psychopathology, is limited, referral of adults with suspected mild PDD is increasing. We report on pilot research investigating whether patients diagnosed with mild ASD (n = 15) and patients who were not diagnosed with ASD (n = 21) differed in terms of (a) AQ scores and (b) Axis I and II disorders, assessed by the SCAN and the IPDE. Additionally, AQ scores were compared with those from non-ASD patients referred to a general outpatient clinic (n = 369). The results showed very few differences between ASD patients and non-ASD patients. Self-report may not differentiate mild ASD patients from non-ASD patients and Axis I and II disorders seem equally prevalent among these two groups

Mutational spectrum and phenotypic variability of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and related disorders in a Bangladeshi population

\ua9 2023, The Author(s).Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe rare neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the X-linked dystrophin gene. Several mutations have been identified, yet the full mutational spectrum, and their phenotypic consequences, will require genotyping across different populations. To this end, we undertook the first detailed genotype and phenotype characterization of DMD in the Bangladeshi population. We investigated the rare mutational and phenotypic spectrum of the DMD gene in 36 DMD-suspected Bangladeshi participants using an economically affordable diagnostic strategy involving initial screening for exonic deletions in the DMD gene via multiplex PCR, followed by testing PCR-negative patients for mutations using whole exome sequencing. The deletion mapping identified two critical DMD gene hotspot regions (near proximal and distal ends, spanning exons 8–17 and exons 45–53, respectively) that comprised 95% (21/22) of the deletions for this population cohort. From our exome analysis, we detected two novel pathogenic hemizygous mutations in exons 21 and 42 of the DMD gene, and novel pathogenic recessive and loss of function variants in four additional genes: SGCD, DYSF, COL6A3, and DOK7. Our phenotypic analysis showed that DMD suspected participants presented diverse phenotypes according to the location of the mutation and which gene was impacted. Our study provides ethnicity specific new insights into both clinical and genetic aspects of DMD

A putative relay circuit providing low-threshold mechanoreceptive input to lamina I projection neurons via vertical cells in lamina II of the rat dorsal horn

Background: Lamina I projection neurons respond to painful stimuli, and some are also activated by touch or hair movement. Neuropathic pain resulting from peripheral nerve damage is often associated with tactile allodynia (touch-evoked pain), and this may result from increased responsiveness of lamina I projection neurons to non-noxious mechanical stimuli. It is thought that polysynaptic pathways involving excitatory interneurons can transmit tactile inputs to lamina I projection neurons, but that these are normally suppressed by inhibitory interneurons. Vertical cells in lamina II provide a potential route through which tactile stimuli can activate lamina I projection neurons, since their dendrites extend into the region where tactile afferents terminate, while their axons can innervate the projection cells. The aim of this study was to determine whether vertical cell dendrites were contacted by the central terminals of low-threshold mechanoreceptive primary afferents. Results: We initially demonstrated contacts between dendritic spines of vertical cells that had been recorded in spinal cord slices and axonal boutons containing the vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1), which is expressed by myelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptive afferents. To confirm that the VGLUT1 boutons included primary afferents, we then examined vertical cells recorded in rats that had received injections of cholera toxin B subunit (CTb) into the sciatic nerve. We found that over half of the VGLUT1 boutons contacting the vertical cells were CTb-immunoreactive, indicating that they were of primary afferent origin. Conclusions: These results show that vertical cell dendritic spines are frequently contacted by the central terminals of myelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptive afferents. Since dendritic spines are associated with excitatory synapses, it is likely that most of these contacts were synaptic. Vertical cells in lamina II are therefore a potential route through which tactile afferents can activate lamina I projection neurons, and this pathway could play a role in tactile allodynia