Although the concept of quality of life (QOL) has become increasingly popular in the past few decades in a number of fields of research, few studies have specifically examined QOL for high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Several studies have found that objectively measured outcomes for adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger's syndrome (AS) tend to be poor in terms of employment, relationships, mental health, and independence. However, it has been recently suggested that in order to obtain a more accurate depiction of overall QOL, subjective impressions must be examined as well. Recent research has found that the most significant predictor variable of QOL for high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders is the discrepancy between support needed and formal support provided. The current study examined 15 formal support variables and their relationships to subjective QOL scores on the WHOQOL-BREF, in 4 domains (physical health, psychological health, environment, and social relationships) as well as overall QOL. A total of 33 participants completed a questionnaire that included items designed to obtain information on demographics and formal support. Participants also completed the WHOQOL-BREF in order to obtain overall QOL scores along with QOL domain scores. Significant negative correlations were found between Environmental QOL scores and the accessing of a social worker as well as the accessing of social groups. Significant negative correlations were also found between Social QOL scores and the accessing of a psychiatrist and a single-item overall QOL score and the accessing of counselling or psychotherapy. All correlations between formal support factors and QOL scores showed lower QOL scores for those individuals who accessed the supports. The results of standard multiple regression analyses revealed a significant model that accounted for 49% of the total variance in the amount of total supports accessed as well as two other significant models predicting Social QOL and Environmental QOL.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which encompass a range of physical, behavioral, learning, emotional and social disturbances. Many mechanisms for this array of alcohol-derived fetal injuries have been proposed, but none fully accounts for the deficiencies observed. Alcohol is a ubiquitous drug that may affect the brain at any or all stages of development and at multiple sites; regional differences in vulnerability of different brain structures during different periods of exposure have been demonstrated. This study investigates possible mechanisms for the alcohol induced neurodevelopment damage seen as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure, and also includes evaluation of a potential intervention strategy (glutamine). These experiments all utilized the sheep model, which has distinct advantages over the rodent model for third trimester-equivalent studies (a time of increased vulnerability to the effects of alcohol). The fetal hippocampal formation (pyramidal cells in the CA1 and CA2/3 fields and granule cells of the dentate gyrus) and olfactory bulb (mitral cells) have been altered in response to alcohol exposure in rodent model studies. This study examined the effects on the fetal hippocampal formation and olfactory bulb in response to all three trimester-equivalent alcohol exposure in the sheep model, a species in which the third trimester-equivalent occurs in utero (as opposed to post-natal as occurs in the rodent). It is known that both maternal and fetal cortisol levels increase in response to alcohol. The role of cortisol in mediating fetal cerebellar Purkinje cell loss (known to occur with alcohol exposure) was analyzed. Lastly, the availability of circulating amino acids, both maternal and fetal, in response to alcohol are reported. The results of administration of a single acute dose of glutamine to the ewe, concurrent with alcohol, was evaluated for its ability to prevent the amino acid and pH perturbations known to occur in response to alcohol.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences (Bioinformatics and Proteomics-Genomics)." Title from title page of PDF document. Bibliography: p. 52-57.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the School of Education. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 121 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-98).

The purpose of this study was to explore Photovoice methodology, a relatively new and increasingly popular form of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Photovoice was examined in order to determine whether or not it might assist art educators in expanding access to the arts for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Photovoice has been used in a variety of fields to address a broad range of issues, however, few Photovoice projects have been conducted to investigate topics in art education. This study centered on the following questions: “What are the potential benefits of Photovoice?” and “How might Photovoice assist in the development of a more accessible art education program for people with autism?” For this study, I interviewed four individuals who had conceptualized, organized, and/or facilitated one or more Photovoice projects. Each was asked to discuss their research background as well as describe their interests and experience conducting Photovoice. Using content analysis to identify predominant themes encoded in the interview data, I compiled a set of codes and categories in order to highlight the most salient features of Photovoice from the perspective of the Participants. This data was then compared to “best practices” in art education. “Best practices” establish guidelines for the education of students with disabilities, including students with ASD. Analysis of the interview and “best practices” data revealed four themes: (a) The importance of planning and organization,(b) factoring in technical issues, (c) structuring participation, and (d) therapy vs. empowerment. Through the evaluation of these four themes, I formulated several key assertions to support the claim that Photovoice will not likely be incorporated into the “best practices” curriculum. However, Photovoice may still have a place in the art classroom as a means to inform and enrich practice on a small scale. / text

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Background: Autistic spectrum disorder or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is nowadays remained a global issue as well as in Hong Kong. Since the earlier the children with ASD get intervened, the better the result they will receive. Early Intensive Behavioral Intensive Intervention (EIBI) based on a clinic or center setting is now provided in Hong Kong. Due to the limited resources and developed diagnosis and screening tool for ASD, there exists a long waiting time for the children to get access to the services. No review on comparing early interventions based on home or preschool setting other than EIBI had been conducted for the children with ASD in Hong Kong, which are most likely benefit for the children who are on the waiting list. Objective: (i) This systematic review is on the randomize control trials of the early interventions other than EIBI to identify interventions that can be conveyed or mediated by non-professionals in a non-clinical or center based setting that might be possible to implement in Hong Kong. (ii) To evaluate the effectiveness of the early interventions on development such as intellectual, cognitive and social behavior for the children from 0-6 years with ASD. Methods: A systematic review of RCTs is conducted. Studies were searched in PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE by using MeSH. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to the selection process. RCTs that target on the effect of early interventions for the toddlers/preschoolers other than EIBI based on a non-clinical setting delivered by non-professionals were included in this review. Studies mainly focused on the screening or diagnose of early onset ASD were excluded. Results: Out of 319 RCTs were retrieved from the database with 16 of them were included and analyzed in this review. 12 kinds of early interventions are identified with 11 them carried out under a home or preschool setting, 1 of them carried out under a clinical setting by using acupuncture. Large effect size was found in Qi-gong (ES=0.59, 0.80, 0.85; p<0.05), Joint attention (JA) (ES=0.44, 0.67; p<0.05 and ES=1.09, 0.74, 0.88; p<0.05), Preschool Autism Communication Trial (PACT) (ES=1.22, 0.41, 0.33; p<0.05), Autism 1-2-3 (χ2=-2.85, -2.65, -2.81, -2.69; p<0.01), and Communication focused Interpersonal Synchrony (IS) (ES=0.86; p<0.05) interventions, which all intervened with high intensity. Children with ASD showed large improvement in the development outcomes from these studies. Conclusions: Early interventions based on a home or preschool setting delivered by parents and teachers are identified in this systematic review and can be used for children diagnosed with ASD who are on a waitlist and not be able to go to a therapy center. Intervention with higher intensity such as JA, PACT, Qi-gong and Communication focused intervention are highly recommended to do pilot study in Hong Kong as none of them have been applied in Hong Kong before. Since Autism 1-2-3 study were done in Hong Kong with a good compliance and the effective result, it is a recommended for the Department of Health and Non-governmental organizations to consider providing these interventions for the children diagnose as ASD. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

<p>Developmental disabilities, including intellectual disability (ID), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), affect approximately 1 in 6 children in the United States. Attempts to produce treatment for developmental disabilities have been hampered by our current lack of understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these disorders. Advancements in genome sequencing and animal modeling technologies have proven to be an invaluable resource in the elucidation of potential disease mechanisms, with recent studies reporting novel mutations of the Ptchd1 and Shank3 genes in patients with developmental disabilities. Though these two genes have been proposed to play important roles in neural development, their function in the normal brain and defective behavioral output are poorly understood. </p><p>In this dissertation, I characterize the circuit and behavioral dysfunction of the genetically-engineered Ptchd1 and Shank3 knockout mice. With respect to Ptchd1, I found that expression is developmentally enriched in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), which is a group of GABAergic neurons serving as the major source of inhibition for thalamo-cortical neurons. Slice and in vivo electrophysiological experiments revealed that deletion of this gene in mice disrupts SK2 currents and burst firing mechanisms in the TRN, a region that has previously been shown to play an important role in sleep, attention, and cognition. Consistent with clinical findings, Ptchd1 knockout mice display behavioral phenotypes indicative of hyperactivity, attention deficits, motor dysfunction, hyperaggression, and cognitive impairment. Interestingly, attention-like deficits and hyperactivity are rescued by SK2 pharmacological enhancement, suggesting a potential molecular target for developing treatment. </p><p>Shank3 knockout mice display ASD-like phenotypes, including social interaction deficits and repetitive behaviors. In addition, biochemical, electrophysiological, and morphological abnormalities were discovered in the medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of these mice. However, the exact neural circuits and cell types responsible for the autistic-like behaviors have not been identified. To address this important question, I developed a new conditional Shank3 knockout mouse. Importantly, the behavioral abnormalities reported in the original Shank3 knockout mice were recapitulated in this novel conditional Shank3 knockout mouse, indicating that this mouse may be useful for future pathway-specific dissections of ASD-like behaviors. Together, these two sets of studies not only provide mouse models for dissecting the function of PTCHD1and SHANK3 in normal and abnormal neural development, but also demonstrate a critical role for PTCHD1 in TRN neurons and SHANK3 in MSN cells and in the case of PTCHD1, identify potential cellular and circuit pathway targets for much-needed pharmacological intervention.</p> / Dissertation

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) use atypical approaches when processing facial stimuli. The first purpose of this research was to investigate face processing abilities in adults with ASD using several tasks, to compare patterns of interference between static identity and expression processing in adults with ASD and typical adults, and to investigate whether the introduction of dynamic cues caused members of one or both groups to shift from a global to a more local processing strategy. The second purpose was to compare the gaze behaviour of groups of participants as they viewed static and dynamic single- and multiple-character scenes. I tested 16 adults with ASD and 16 sex-, age-, and IQ-matched typical controls. In Study 1, participants completed a task designed to assess processing speed, another to measure visual processing bias, and two tasks involving static and dynamic face stimuli -- an identity-matching task and a Garner selective attention task. Adults with ASD were less sensitive to facial identity, and, unlike typical controls, showed negligible interference between identity and expression processing when judging both static and moving faces. In Study 2, participants viewed scenes while their gaze behaviour was recorded. Overall, participants with ASD showed fewer and shorter fixations on faces compared to their peers. Additionally, whereas the introduction of motion and increased social complexity of the scenes affected the gaze behaviour of typical adults, only the latter manipulation affected adults with ASD. My findings emphasize the importance of using dynamic displays when studying typical and atypical face processing mechanisms. / October 2015