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Brain and Behavior Jan 2024Our previous study showed that functional seizures (FS) are consistent in the same patient during a single video EEG monitoring (VEEG). This study aimed to check whether...
BACKGROUND
Our previous study showed that functional seizures (FS) are consistent in the same patient during a single video EEG monitoring (VEEG). This study aimed to check whether FS remains consistent across VEEG sessions even after several years.
METHODS
The study evaluated the consistency of FS across different VEEG sessions using five criteria: FS type, the main anatomical region involved (specifically, the body part most affected during the seizure), other involved anatomical regions, frequency of movements, and duration of FS. Consistency levels were categorized as low (one consistent axis), moderate (two consistent axes), and high (three or more consistent axes).
RESULTS
Fourteen patients were included in the final analysis. The mean time between monitoring was 3.8 ± 2.5 years (0.5-8 year). In 13 of 14 patients, the first and second monitoring events were classified into the same FS category. There was consistency in the main anatomical region involved in 9 out of 12 patients with motor FS. In 9 out of 12 patients with motor FS, the other anatomical regions involved were consistent in both sessions. The mean duration of the FS between sessions was inconsistent in most of the patients. Ten patients were classified with high consistency, one patient with moderate consistency, two patients with low consistency, and in one patient, the events were classified as inconsistent.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that FS tends to remain consistent in a single patient even after several years, and there is probably no correlation between the degree of consistency and the time between VEEG sessions. These findings have implications for supporting the concept of FS as a consistent phenomenon. Additionally, they may suggest potential avenues for future research to elucidate the origins of FS. Subsequent studies are essential to validate and expand upon these preliminary observations.
Topics: Humans; Seizures; Electroencephalography; Movement
PubMed: 38376023
DOI: 10.1002/brb3.3375 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2024Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a collection of neurodevelopmental diseases characterized by poor social interaction and communication, a limited range of interests,...
Effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and exploration of brain network mechanisms in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a collection of neurodevelopmental diseases characterized by poor social interaction and communication, a limited range of interests, and stereotyped behavior. High-functioning autism (HFA) indicates a subgroup of individuals with autism who possess cognitive and/or language skills that are within the average to above-normal range for their age. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) holds promise in children with HFA. However, few studies have used randomized controlled trials to validate the effectiveness of taVNS. Therefore, in this study, we intend to provide a study protocol to examine the therapeutic effects of taVNS in individuals diagnosed with HFA and to investigate the process of brain network remodeling in individuals with ASD using functional imaging techniques to observe alterations in large-scale neural networks.
METHODS AND DESIGN
We planned to employ a randomized, double-blind experimental design, including 40 children receiving sham stimulation and 40 children receiving real stimulation. We will assess clinical scales and perform functional imaging examinations before and after the stimulation. Additionally, we will include age- and gender-matched healthy children as controls and conduct functional imaging examinations. We plan first to observe the therapeutic effects of taVNS. Furthermore, we will observe the impact of taVNS stimulation on the brain network.
DISCUSSION
taVNS was a low-risk, easy-to-administer, low-cost, and portable option to modulate the vagus system. taVNS may improve the social performance of HFA. Changes in the network properties of the large-scale brain network may be related to the efficacy of taVNS.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
http://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR2300074035.
PubMed: 38374975
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1337101 -
Medicina Mar 2024Autism is a neurobiologically based neurodevelopmental disorder with high prevalence and a clear predominance in males. It is characterized by deficits in social...
Autism is a neurobiologically based neurodevelopmental disorder with high prevalence and a clear predominance in males. It is characterized by deficits in social cognition and communication, restricted interests, and stereotyped behaviors, frequently associated with sensory dysfunction others neurodevelopmental conditions, neuropsychiatric disorders, epilepsy, and/or sleep disorders. This condition will accompany people throughout their lives, which will generate various support and treatment needs. People with autism often need to "fit in" and for this they use techniques such as camouflage, also called masking. This attitude has been observed in people with typical development and in people with autism in childhood, adolescence and adult life, although in autistic people this behavior is more intense and takes longer and with more frequency and intensity in autistic adult women. This could explain the underreporting of autism, the later diagnosis, the delay in the therapeutic approach, and the greater presence of anxiety and depression disorders related to the effort that "appearing normal" implies. Even though camouflage people appear to be "normal" and fit in perfectly, this is not an attitude that we should promote and, on the contrary, it is imperativeto work to improve the environment and the understanding of each person. In this paper we will analyze the clinical aspects, their relationship with age, sex, and ways of detecting it.
Topics: Male; Adult; Adolescent; Humans; Female; Autistic Disorder; Stereotyped Behavior; Communication; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety
PubMed: 38350623
DOI: No ID Found -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Jan 2024Challenging behavior (CB), the most common example being extreme self-injurious or aggressive/destructive behavior, is often observed as a major behavior issue in...
Challenging behavior (CB), the most common example being extreme self-injurious or aggressive/destructive behavior, is often observed as a major behavior issue in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities. This study investigated how CB changed among residents of a facility for people with disabilities before and after it was restructured from a traditional format single room shared by two to three individuals with approximately 20 residents lived together to a format featuring private areas with two rooms per resident and a unitcare system. Twenty-one residents of Care Home A, which was rebuilt in the new care format, were selected. Care staff completed a questionnaire one month before, one month after, and six months after residents moved to the new facility. Scores were compared among each time point. The results revealed significant reductions in residents' aggressive, stereotyped, and targeted behaviors, such as hitting their own head and fecal smearing. The major features of the restructured facility were a living space consisting of two private rooms per resident and a shift to unit care for the entire ward. These new features enabled residents to reduce destructive stimuli and made it easier to understand what to do in each private room.
PubMed: 38338171
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12030288 -
Epilepsy & Behavior Reports 2024We describe a case of focal epilepsy with a semiology consisting of behaviors indicating an enthusiastic desire for those around him to get along and engage in friendly...
We describe a case of focal epilepsy with a semiology consisting of behaviors indicating an enthusiastic desire for those around him to get along and engage in friendly relations, which we refer to as "amity seizures". The patient was a 41-year-old right-handed male with seizures since age 26. Semiology consisted of stereotyped enthusiastic behaviors such as expressing "Peace! Peace!… Come on, we all on the same team, right?!", and giving hugs, kisses, and high-fives to those around him. On SEEG evaluation, 2 independent areas of seizure onset were identified, the right hippocampus and right posterior orbitofrontal area. Locally confined seizures had bland manifestation. However, spread from right hippocampus to right orbitofrontal area, or vice versa, elicited his typical amity seizure semiology. To our knowledge this is the first report of the seizure semiology we have coined "Amity seizures". While emotions were once thought to localize to discrete brain regions, they are now accepted to arise from networks across multiple brain regions. The fact that this behavior only occurred when seizures spread from either of 2 onset zones to the other suggests that this semiology results from network engagement between, and likely beyond, either onset zone.
PubMed: 38323089
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebr.2024.100649 -
BMC Public Health Feb 2024Chile has become a destination country for immigrants from Latin America, including youth. Guaranteeing access and use of sexual and reproductive health services for...
BACKGROUND
Chile has become a destination country for immigrants from Latin America, including youth. Guaranteeing access and use of sexual and reproductive health services for young migrants is crucial because of their overlapping experiences of transitioning to a new country and to adulthood. However, the existing evidence shows barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare among young migrant populations. In this context, the main objective of this article is to identify the barriers and facilitators that young migrants experience to access sexual and reproductive healthcare in the Tarapacá region of Chile.
METHODS
A qualitative study was conducted in the Tarapacá region of Chile. Semi-structured interviews with 25 young migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, as well as 10 health workers, were carried out. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad del Desarrollo (#2019-22).
RESULTS
Young migrants face barriers linked to structural shortcomings within the healthcare system, which may be similar to those faced by the local population. Barriers are also derived from reductionist sexual and reproductive health approaches, which prioritise the prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV, with a predominantly heteronormative focus. The prevailing narratives from the health system are those of risk and lack of control and self-care among young people, and they are exacerbated in the case of migrants. Young migrants, especially from the Caribbean, are stereotyped as over-sexualised and liberal in comparison to the local population and believed to be engaging in riskier sexual behaviours that should be kept under check. This may translate into experiences of discrimination and mistreatment when receiving care. Facilitators include good-quality information and community-level interventions.
CONCLUSIONS
This study shows a limited approach to the sexual and reproductive health of young migrants in Chile, severely hampering their reproductive and sexual rights. Policies and initiatives must work towards removing structural barriers, changing narratives, and empowering young migrants regarding their sexual and reproductive health.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Adolescent; Humans; Transients and Migrants; Chile; Sexual Behavior; Qualitative Research; Reproductive Health Services; Reproductive Health; Health Services Accessibility
PubMed: 38317103
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-17884-5 -
PNAS Nexus Feb 2024One goal of neurobiology is to explain how decision-making in neuromuscular circuits produces behaviors. However, two obstacles complicate such efforts: individual...
One goal of neurobiology is to explain how decision-making in neuromuscular circuits produces behaviors. However, two obstacles complicate such efforts: individual behavioral variability and the challenge of simultaneously assessing multiple neuronal activities during behavior. Here, we circumvent these obstacles by analyzing whole animal behavior from a library of male mating recordings. The copulating males express the GCaMP calcium sensor in the muscles, allowing simultaneous recording of posture and muscle activities. Our library contains wild type and males with selective neuronal desensitization in serotonergic neurons, which include male-specific posterior cord motor/interneurons and sensory ray neurons that modulate mating behavior. Incorporating deep learning-enabled computer vision, we developed a software to automatically quantify posture and muscle activities. By modeling, the posture and muscle activity data are classified into stereotyped modules, with the behaviors represented by serial executions and transitions among the modules. Detailed analysis of the modules reveals previously unidentified subtypes of the male's copulatory spicule prodding behavior. We find that wild-type and serotonergic neurons-suppressed males had different usage preferences for those module subtypes, highlighting the requirement of serotonergic neurons in the coordinated function of some muscles. In the structure of the behavior, bi-module repeats coincide with most of the previously described copulation steps, suggesting a recursive "repeat until success/give up" program is used for each step during mating. On the other hand, the transition orders of the bi-module repeats reveal the sub-behavioral hierarchy males employ to locate and inseminate hermaphrodites.
PubMed: 38312221
DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae032 -
Altered dynamic functional and effective connectivity in drug-naive children with Tourette syndrome.Translational Psychiatry Jan 2024Tourette syndrome (TS) is a developmental neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary tics, the neurological basis of which remains...
Tourette syndrome (TS) is a developmental neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary tics, the neurological basis of which remains unclear. Although traditional resting-state MRI (rfMRI) studies have identified abnormal static functional connectivity (FC) in patients with TS, dynamic FC (dFC) remains relatively unexplored. The rfMRI data of 54 children with TS and 46 typically developing children (TDC) were analyzed using group independent component analysis to obtain independent components (ICs), and a sliding-window approach to generate dFC matrices. All dFC matrices were clustered into two reoccurring states, the state transition metrics were obtained. We conducted Granger causality and nodal topological analyses to further investigate the brain regions that may play the most important roles in driving whole-brain switching between different states. We found that children with TS spent more time in state 2 (P < 0.001), a state characterized by strong connectivity between ICs, and switched more quickly between states (P = 0.025) than TDC. The default mode network (DMN) may play an important role in abnormal state transitions because the FC that changed the most between the two states was between the DMN and other networks. Additionally, the DMN had increased degree centrality, efficiency and altered causal influence on other networks. Certain alterations related to executive function (r = -0.309, P < 0.05) and tic symptom ratings (r = 0.282; 0.413, P < 0.05) may represent important aspects of the pathophysiology of TS. These findings facilitate our understanding of the neural basis for the clinical presentation of TS.
Topics: Child; Humans; Tourette Syndrome; Brain; Executive Function; Stereotyped Behavior
PubMed: 38253543
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-024-02779-1 -
Audiology Research Jan 2024Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by stereotyped and repetitive behavior patterns. In addition to neurological and behavioral... (Review)
Review
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by stereotyped and repetitive behavior patterns. In addition to neurological and behavioral problems, individuals with ASD commonly experience otolaryngological comorbidities. Individuals with ASD often have auditory disorders including hearing loss and auditory processing disorders such as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), as well as both chronic and recurrent otitis media. These challenges negatively impact a person's ability to effectively communicate and may further impact their neurological functioning, particularly when not appropriately treated. Individuals diagnosed with ASD also have difficulty sleeping which contributes to increased irritability and may further aggravate the core behavioral symptoms of autism. The individuals with ASD also have a higher rate of sinusitis which contributes to the worsening of the autism behavior phenotype. The high prevalence of otolaryngological comorbidities in individuals with ASD warrants a better collaboration between their various healthcare providers and otolaryngologists with expertise in auditory, sleep, and sinus disorders in pursuit of improving the quality of life of affected individuals and their families/caregivers.
PubMed: 38247561
DOI: 10.3390/audiolres14010005 -
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology &... Apr 2024Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized mainly by deficits in social communication and stereotyped and restricted behavior and...
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized mainly by deficits in social communication and stereotyped and restricted behavior and interests with a male to female bias of 4.2/1. Social behavior in ASD animal models is commonly analyzed in males, and seldomly in females, using the widely implemented three-chambers test procedure. Here, we implemented a novel procedure, the Live Mouse Tracker (LMT), combining artificial intelligence, machine learning procedures and behavioral measures. We used it on mice that were prenatally exposed to valproic acid (VPA) (450 mg/kg) at embryonic day 12.5, a widely recognized and potent ASD model that we had previously extensively characterized. We focused on female mice offspring, in which social deficits have been rarely documented when using the 3-CT procedure. We recorded several parameters related to social behavior in these mice, continuously for three days in groups of four female mice. Comparisons were made on groups of 4 female mice with the same treatment (4 saline or 4 VPA) or with different treatments (3 saline and 1 VPA). We report that VPA females show several types of social deficits, which are different in nature and magnitude in relation with time. When VPA mice were placed in the LMT alongside saline mice, their social deficits showed significant improvement as early as 1 h from the start of the experiment, lasting up to 3 days throughout the duration of the experiment. Our findings suggest that ASD may be underdiagnosed in females. They also imply that ASD-related social deficits can be ameliorated by the presence of typical individuals.
Topics: Female; Male; Animals; Mice; Humans; Valproic Acid; Artificial Intelligence; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Social Behavior; Stereotyping; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Disease Models, Animal; Behavior, Animal
PubMed: 38244714
DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.110948