The role of head circumference and cerebral volumes to phenotype male adults with autism spectrum disorder

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been repeatedly associated with enlargements of head circumference in children with ASD. However, it is unclear if these enlargements persist into adulthood. This is the first study to investigate head circumference in a large sample of adults with ASD. Methods: We apply a fully automated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based measurement approach to compute head circumference by combining 3D and 2D image processing. Head circumference was compared between male adults with ASD (n = 120) and healthy male controls (n = 136), from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database. To explain which brain alterations drive our results, secondary analyses were performed for 10 additional morphological brain metrics. Results: ASD subjects showed an increase in head circumference (p = .0018). In addition, ASD patients had increased ventricular surface area (SA) (p = .0013). Intracranial volume, subarachnoidal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume, and gray matter volume explained 50% of head circumference variance. Using a linear support vector machine, we gained an ASD classification accuracy of 73% (sensitivity 92%, specificity 68%) using head circumference and brain-morphological metrics as input features. Head circumference, ventricular SA, ventricular CSF volume, and ventricular asymmetry index contributed to 85% of feature weighting relevant for classification. Conclusion: Our results suggest that head circumference increases in males with ASD persist into adulthood. Results may be driven by morphological alterations of ventricular CSF. The presented approach for an automated head circumference measurement allows for the retrospective investigation of large MRI datasets in neuropsychiatric disorders

Document Deposit Assistant (DDA): Broker-Software zwischen Content-Lieferanten und Open-Access-Repositiorien

Fehlende bzw. ungenügend konfigurierte Schnittstellen, mangelnde Interoperabilität zwischen Systemen sowie Formatvielfalt erschweren einen strukturierten Import von Publikationsdaten in Repositorien. Der DDA löst diese Problematik, indem er als eigenständige Webanwendung zwischen Content-Providern und Ziel- Repositorien vermittelt. Seine Datenverarbeitungs-Pipeline bezieht Daten aus Quellsystemen oder per manuellem Dateiupload, transformiert diese Daten entsprechend der Konventionen des Repositoriums und spielt sie dort ein. Zwar löst der DDA damit nicht die langfristig notwendige Standardisierung von Formaten, aber er stellt kurz- bis mittelfristig eine große Erleichterung beim Import großer Datenmengen in Repositorien dar und leistet der Open-Access-Verfügbarkeit von Forschungspublikationen Vorschub. Der Einsatz dieser Softwareapplikation ist in unterschiedlichen Kontexten denkbar. Dementsprechend ist eine Weiterentwicklung des DDA mit unterschiedlichen Partnern avisiert.Missing or insufficiently configured interfaces, lacking interoperability between systems, as well as format variety complicate a structured import of publication data into repositories. DDA provides a solution to these problems by acting as a standalone web application between content providers and target repositories. DDA’s data processing pipeline collects data from source systems or via manual file upload, transforms this data according to the target repository’s conventions, and uploads it into the repository. Even though DDA does not provide a solution to the format standardization required in the long term, it nevertheless significantly eases large data imports into repositories in the short and medium term and thereby accelerates open access availability of research publications. As this software is also useful in different contexts, DDA’s ongoing development is planned with further partners

Peak oxygen uptake and left ventricular ejection fraction, but not depressive symptoms, are associated with cognitive impairment in patients with chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to assess cognitive impairment in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and its associations with depressive symptoms and somatic indicators of illness severity, which is a matter of controversy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty-five patients with CHF (mean age 55.3 ± 7.8 years; 80% male; New York Heart Association functional class I-III) underwent assessment with an expanded neuropsychological test battery (eg, memory, complex attention, mental flexibility, psychomotor speed) to evaluate objective and subjective cognitive impairment. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (SCID) and a self-report inventory (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]). A comprehensive clinical dataset, including left ventricular ejection fraction, peak oxygen uptake, and a 6-minute walk test, was obtained for all patients. Neuropsychological functioning revealed impairment in 56% of patients in at least one measure of our neuropsychological test battery. However, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) could only detect cognitive impairment in 1.8% of all patients, 24% had HADS scores indicating depressive symptoms, and 11.1% met SCID criteria for a depressive disorder. No significant association was found between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment. Left ventricular ejection fraction was related to subjective cognitive impairment, and peak oxygen uptake was related to objective cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Cognitive functioning was substantially reduced in patients with CHF and should therefore be diagnosed and treated in routine clinical practice. Caution is advised when the MMSE is used to identify cognitive impairment in patients with CHF

Nucleon-Gold Collisions at 200 AGeV Using Tagged d+Au Interactions in PHOBOS

Forward calorimetry in the PHOBOS detector has been used to study charged hadron production in d+Au, p+Au and n+Au collisions at sqrt(s_nn) = 200 GeV. The forward proton calorimeter detectors are described and a procedure for determining collision centrality with these detectors is detailed. The deposition of energy by deuteron spectator nucleons in the forward calorimeters is used to identify p+Au and n+Au collisions in the data. A weighted combination of the yield of p+Au and n+Au is constructed to build a reference for Au+Au collisions that better matches the isospin composition of the gold nucleus. The p_T and centrality dependence of the yield of this improved reference system is found to match that of d+Au. The shape of the charged particle transverse momentum distribution is observed to extrapolate smoothly from pbar+p to central d+Au as a function of the charged particle pseudorapidity density. The asymmetry of positively- and negatively-charged hadron production in p+Au is compared to that of n+Au. No significant asymmetry is observed at mid-rapidity. These studies augment recent results from experiments at the LHC and RHIC facilities to give a more complete description of particle production in p+A and d+A collisions, essential for the understanding the medium produced in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figure

Participant and spectator scaling of spectator fragments in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at √sNN = 19.6 and 22.4 GeV

Spectator fragments resulting from relativistic heavy ion collisions, consisting of single protons and neutrons along with groups of stable nuclear fragments up to nitrogen (Z=7), are measured in PHOBOS. These fragments are observed in Au+Au (√sNN =19.6GeV) and Cu+Cu (22.4 GeV) collisions at high pseudorapidity (η). The dominant multiply-charged fragment is the tightly bound helium (α), with lithium, beryllium, and boron all clearly seen as a function of collision centrality and pseudorapidity. We observe that in Cu+Cu collisions, it becomes much more favorable for the α fragments to be released than lithium. The yields of fragments approximately scale with the number of spectator nucleons, independent of the colliding ion. The shapes of the pseudorapidity distributions of fragments indicate that the average deflection of the fragments away from the beam direction increases for more central collisions. A detailed comparison of the shapes for α and lithium fragments indicates that the centrality dependence of the deflections favors a scaling with the number of participants in the collision.United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-AC02-98CH10886)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-93ER40802)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-94ER40818)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-94ER40865)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02- 99ER41099)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-AC02-06CH11357)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 9603486)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 0072204)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 0245011

Rethinking Self-directed Learning for Information Managers - A process model for self-learning materials regarding the degree of complexity -

Self-directed learning is an essential basis for lifelong learning and requires constantly changing, target groupspecific and personalized prerequisites in order to motivate people to deal with modern learning content, not to overburden them and yet to adequately convey complex contexts. Current challenges in dealing with digital resources such as information overload, reduction of complexity and focus, motivation to learn, self-control or psychological wellbeing are taken up in the conception of learning settings within our QpLuS IM project for the study program Information Management and Information Management extra-occupational (IM) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover. We present an interactive video on the functionality of search engines as a practical example of a medially high-quality and focused self-learning format that has been methodically produced in line with our agile, media-didactic process and stage model of complexity levels

Trust, Competition and Cooperation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Objective: Impaired social interactions and repetitive behavior are key features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the present study we compared social decision-making in subjects with and without ASD. Subjects performed five social decision-making games in order to assess trust, fairness, cooperation & competition behavior and social value orientation. Methods: 19 adults with autism spectrum disorder and 17 controls, matched for age and education, participated in the study. Each subject performed five social decision-making tasks. In the trust game, subjects could maximize their gain by sharing some of their money with another person. In the punishment game, subjects played two versions of the Dictator’s Dilemma. In the dictator condition they could share an amount of 0-100 points with another person. In the punishment condition, the opponent was able to punish the subject if he/she was not satisfied with the amount of points received. In the cooperation game, subjects played with a small group of 3 people. Each of them could (anonymously) select an amount of 5, 7.5 or 10 Swiss francs. The goal of the game was to achieve a high group minimum. In the competition game, subjects performed a dexterity task. Before performing the task, they were asked whether they wanted to compete (winner takes it all) or cooperation (sharing the joint achieved amount of points) with a randomly selected person. Lastly, subjects performed a social value orientation task where they were playing for themselves and for another person. Results: There was no overall difference between healthy controls an ASD subjects in investment in the trust game. However, healthy controls increased their investment over number of trials whereas ASD subjects did not. A similar pattern was found for the punishment game. Furthermore, ASD subjects revealed a decreased investment in the dictator condition of the punishment game. There were no mean differences in competition behavior and social value orientation. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for differences between ASD subjects and healthy controls in social decision-making. Subjects with ASD showed a more consistent behavior than healthy controls in the trust game and the dictator dilemma. The present findings provide evidence for impaired social learning in ASD

Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 5 in Males With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Preliminary Findings of a [11C]ABP688 Positron Emission Tomography Study

Background: Preclinical investigations suggesting a therapeutic potential for metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) antagonists in fragile X syndrome raised interest in mGluR5 in neurodevelopment disorders in general, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Davenport et al, 2016; Gogliotti and Conn, 2016; Scharf et al, 2015). To investigate the role of mGluR5 in ASD in vivo we carried out a positron emission tomography (PET) study with the mGluR5-selective radiotracer [11C]ABP688 in subjects with ASD and healthy controls. Methods: Seventeen male subjects with ASD and 22 healthy male age-matched controls participated in this study. As our previous work showed that smoking profoundly and enduringly alters mGluR5 (Akkus et al, 2013), we matched both samples for smoking. As a result, the ASD sample included 11 non-smokers, 2 ex-smokers and four current smokers, and the control group 15 non-smokers, 2 exsmokers and five current smokers. We assessed psychopathology in both study groups with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I (SCID-I), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In addition, we evaluated subjects with ASD using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), Autism Quotient (AQ), and Empathy Quotient questionnaires (EQ). We acquired PET data with a bolus/infusion protocol, as previously reported (Burger et al, 2010). In brief, [11C]ABP688 was administered in a 50- mL volume with an infusion pump. Our previous work shows that 40 min after the start of radioligand infusion equilibrium between [11C]ABP688 in tissue and blood is achieved. To calculate the relative distribution volume (DVR), we normalized the average of PET images acquired at 45-60 min after scan onset to the radioactivity concentration in the cerebellum. We used PMOD (PNEUROTool) and R for data analysis. We compared mGluR5 DVR in both groups in 33 brain regions using two-tailed Welch’s t-tests, without correction for multiple comparisons. Results: Age did not differ significantly between subjects with ASD and controls when comparing the entire samples or their subgroups (all p-values>0.05, two-tailed). Overall, subjects with ASD scored higher in BAI and BDI (p<0.05, two-tailed). We found no significant differences in mGluR5 DVR in any of the brain regions when comparing the entire samples comprising smokers, ex-smokers, and non-smokers (all p-values > 0.05, two-tailed). As expected, in both samples, smokers displayed globally decreased mGluR5 DVR (p0.05, two-tailed). Exploratory correlation analyses involving BAI, BDI, AQ, EQ, and mGluR5 DVR in the straight gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus in nonsmokers with ASD yielded only one significant relationship: higher, i.e., more aberrant, mGluR5 DVR in the postcentral gyrus corresponded to lower, i.e., more aberrant, EQ score (Spearman’s rho = -0.64, p<0.05, two-tailed, uncorrected for multiple comparisons). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo investigation of mGluR5 in persons with ASD. Our findings suggest increased mGluR5 DVR in the straight gyrus, the posterior superior temporal gyrus, and the postcentral gyrus in male non-smokers with ASD. Due to the small sample size and the exploratory nature of the statistical analyses, these results remain preliminary. Nevertheless, our findings provide a preliminary support for the involvement of mGluR5 in ASD, encourage the study of mGluR5 in larger samples, and suggest a therapeutic potential for agents targeting the mGluR5 in autism (Mehta et al, 2011; Silverman et al, 2010). Keywords: mGluR5 Receptors, Autism Spectrum Disorder, PET Imaging Disclosure: Nothing to Disclose

Photon and η production in p+Pb and p+C collisions at

Measurements of direct photon production in p+Pb and p+C collisions at √sNN=17.4 GeV are presented. Upper limits on the direct photon yield as a function of pT are derived and compared to the results for Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN=17.3 GeV. The production of the η meson, which is an important input to the direct photon signal extraction, has been determined in the η → 2γ channel for p+C collisions at √sNN=17.4 GeV. © 2012 Elsevier B.V