Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

People with autism and learning disabilities excel in creative thinking, study shows


By Tracy McVeigh

A new study showing that people with autism display higher levels of creativity has been welcomed by campaigners, who say it helps debunk a myth about people with learning disabilities.
Scientists found that people with the developmental condition were far more likely to come up with unique answers to creative problems despite having traits that can be socially crippling and make it difficult to find jobs. The co-author of the study, Dr Catherine Best from the University of Stirling, said that while the results, from a study of 312 people, were a measure of just one aspect of the creative process, it revealed a link between autistic traits and unusual and original ideas.
“We speculate that it may be because they are approaching things very differently. It goes a way towards explaining how some people with what is often characterised as a disability exhibit superior creative talents in some domains.”
Though some celebrities, including actress Daryl Hannah, have spoken about their autism, the findings – published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders – should act as a wake-up call to the creative industries, said actor Cian Binchy, who is performing his much-praised show The Misfit Analysis at the Edinburgh festival this week. “There just aren’t any people with learning disabilities – in this field I’m the only one. It’s because people with learning disabilities may need a bit of extra support, and a lot of theatre companies and performers can’t be bothered – its too challenging for them.
“It’s time people with autism and other learning difficulties are seen as people first. I want to educate people without learning disabilities that I’m not all that different to them, and I want people who do have learning disabilities to feel better about themselves by showing my problems. They are not alone.”
After working as an autism consultant on the National Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Binchy trained with Access All Areas, an award-winning theatre company that supports adults with learning disabilities to work in the arts, and runs the country’s only professional training programme for the creative arts for people with learning disabilities...
Read the full story at The Guardian.

 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/22/autism-creative-thinking-study
Autism

Surgery patients hear benefits of music therapy loud and clear

By Carina Storrs
(CNN) It is no secret the uplifting effect of music, whether you like Mozart or Metallica. A growing amount of evidence also suggests that clinicians can use the power of music to help people recover from surgery and other medical procedures.
Studies have found that listening to music before surgery can reduce anxiety, and may also reduce the need for sedatives. Listening to music after surgery, and even during, may ease pain and the need for pain meds. Hospitals seem to be taking notice.
"I think more hospitals will start offering music therapy as the research foundation is growing, and there has been good research," said Al Bumanis, a music therapist and spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association. There are probably about a thousand hospitals, maybe fewer, that are currently offering this type of therapy in the U.S., he said.

What is music therapy?

The basic definition of music therapy is the use of music for non-musical treatment goals, Bumanis said. And technically speaking, it has to be carried out by a trained music therapist.
In a typical session, which lasts 45 minutes to an hour, a therapist plays either recorded or live music that they think the patient will like. "I ask patients if there is something that reminds them of high school," said Leah Oswanski, a music therapist who works with cancer patients before and after surgery...
Get the full story at CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/health/music-therapy-surgery-patients/index.html
Music

Could listening to music help treat epilepsy?

By Honor Whiteman

Recently presented at the American Psychological Association's 123rd Annual Convention, the findings reveal that the brains of individuals with epilepsy respond differently to music than those of people without the condition.
As such, study co-author Christine Charyton, of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and colleagues believe music could be used in combination with existing treatments for epilepsy.
Approximately 2.9 million children and adults in the US have epilepsy - a neurological condition characterized by the occurrence of seizures.
According to Charyton, around 80% of epilepsy cases are temporal lobe epilepsy, where seizures begin in the temporal lobe of the brain. The temporal lobe is home to the auditory cortex - the part of the brain that processes sound.
With this in mind, the team set out to investigate how music impacts the brains of individuals with epilepsy.

Music triggered greater synchronization in patients with epilepsy

The researchers analyzed data from 21 individuals who were admitted to the epilepsy monitoring unit at the Wexner Medical Center between September 2012 and May 2014, alongside data from individuals without epilepsy.
Subjects' brainwave patterns were measured via electroencephalogram (EEG) as they took part in a listening exercise.
All participants were required to listen to silence for 10 minutes, before listening to one of three songs - Mozart's Sonata in D Major, Andante Movement II (K448) or John Coltrane's rendition of My Favorite Things - followed by another 10-minute silence. They then listened to the remaining two songs, before listening to another 10-minute silence...
Read the full story at Medical News Today.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297864.php
epilepsy

Researchers identify the single epigenetic mutation which causes autism

By Michelle Peterson
Last December, researchers identified more than 1,000 gene mutations in individuals with autism, however, it was still unclear as to how these mutations increased the risk for autism. Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers are the first to show how one of these mutations disables a molecular switch in one of these genes and causes autism.  The opensource study is published in the journal Cell.
Previous studies shows that an enzyme called UBE3A can be switched off when a phosphate molecule is tacked onto UBE3A. In neurons and during normal brain development, this switch can be turned off and on, leading to tight regulation of UBE3A. However, the current study found that an autism-linked mutation destroys this regulatory switch. The data findings show that destruction of the switch creates an enzyme that cannot be turned off. As a result, UBE3A becomes hyperactive and drives abnormal brain development and autism.  The current study used human cell lines, as well as mouse models...
Read more at Health Innovations.
http://health-innovations.org/2015/08/07/researchers-identify-the-single-epigenetic-mutation-which-causes-autism/
Autism

Young adults with autism show improved social function following UCLA skills program

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES
Researchers at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA have found that a social skills program for high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder significantly improved the participants' ability to engage with their peers.
In the study, the largest randomized controlled trial to show improved social functioning in young adults with autism, the participants' advances continued to be seen 16 weeks after the program's conclusion, and were even augmented by other improvements such as increased empathy and greater responsibility.
The study (PDF), which builds on previous findings showing the effectiveness of UCLA's Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, or PEERS, appears in a special issue of the online Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
"There is still a misconception that autism is a childhood disorder," said Elizabeth Laugeson, the founder and director of the UCLA PEERS Clinic, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute and the study's principal investigator. "It's as if we've forgotten that these children grow up to be adults with their own unique challenges that very often affect their ability to be gainfully employed or establish meaningful friendships and romantic relationships.
"Our study offers encouraging findings that, through an evidence-based, caregiver-supported intervention, adults with autism can improve in ways that may help them be more successful in these aspects of their lives."
Autism affects approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S., and the number of young adults identified with the disorder is rising every year. Although individuals of all ages on the autism spectrum struggle as a result of social deficits, most interventions target young children; few programs are available to help young adults improve their social functioning.
"Unfortunately, research investigating the effectiveness of social skills training has fallen short for young adults with autism," Laugeson said. "In fact, very few social skills interventions exist for young adults on the spectrum, and apart from PEERS, none has been shown through research to be effective."
Laugeson and her colleagues, including Dr. Fred Frankel, a UCLA professor of psychiatry, developed PEERS at UCLA in 2005 and it has since expanded to other sites in the U.S. and other countries. The PEERS for Young Adults intervention consists of 16 weekly 90-minute sessions, along with concurrent sessions for caregivers.
"We're not teaching what we think young people should do in social situations, but what we know actually works through research," Laugeson said...
Read more about the study at EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/uoc--yaw073015.php
Autism

First Ever Large-Scale Human Study Validates Multiple Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease

By Michelle Peterson
Through studying brain scans and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy adults researchers at Washington University have shown that changes in key biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease during midlife can help identify those who will develop dementia years later.  The study is published in JAMA Neurology.
The current study focused on data gathered over 10 years and involved 169 cognitively normal research participants ages 45 to 75 when they entered the study. Each participant received a complete clinical, cognitive imaging and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis every three years, with a minimum of two evaluations.  At the participants’ initial assessments the researchers divided them into three age groups; early-middle age (45-54); mid-middle age (55- 64); and late-middle age (65-74).
Among the biomarkers evaluated in the current study were, amyloid beta 42, a protein that is the principal ingredient of Alzheimer’s plaques; Tau, a structural component of brain cells that increases in the cerebrospinal fluid as Alzheimer’s disease damages brain cells; YKL-40, a newly recognized protein that is indicative of inflammation and is produced by brain cells; and the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain, as seen via amyloid PET scans.
The data findings show that drops in amyloid beta 42 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid among cognitively normal participants ages 45-54 are linked to the appearance of plaques in brain scans years later. The results also showed that tau and other biomarkers of brain-cell injury increase sharply in some individuals as they reach their mid-50s to mid-70s, and YKL-40 rises throughout the age groups focused on in the study...
Read more about the study at Health Innovations.
http://health-innovations.org/2015/07/07/first-ever-large-scale-human-study-validates-biomarkers-for-alzheimers-disease/
Alzheimer's

Reaction to Smells May Help Diagnose Autism, Study Suggests

By Sindya N. Bhanoo

It may be possible to diagnose autism by giving children a sniff test, a new study suggests. 

Most people instinctively take a big whiff when they encounter a pleasant smell and limit their breathing when they encounter a foul smell. 

Children with autism spectrum disorder don’t make this natural adjustment, said Liron Rozenkrantz, a neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and one of the researchers involved with the study. 

She and her colleagues report their findings in the journal Current Biology. 

They presented 18 children who had an autism diagnosis and 18 typically developing children with pleasant and unpleasant odors and measured their sniff responses. The pleasant smells were rose and soap, and the unpleasant smells were sour milk and rotten fish.

 Get the full story at The New York Times.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/science/reactions-to-smell-may-help-diagnose-autism.html?_r=0
Autism

Alzheimer’s May Begin 20 Years Before Symptoms Appear

By Alice Park

The two decade mark is the earliest that scientists have placed the beginnings of the disease. The good news is that gives doctors a long window of time in which to slow down or reverse the condition

The latest breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s research focus on the time well before patients even know they might have the neurodegenerative condition. Studies so far have found evidence that the biological processes that cause the mental decline may begin 10 to 12 years before people first notice signs of cognitive decline. But in the most recent report published Wednesday in the journal Neurology, experts say that the disease may actually begin even earlier — 18 years earlier, in fact — than they expected.

For 18 years, Kumar Rajan, associate professor of internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center, and his colleagues followed 2,125 elderly people with an average age of 73 and who did not dementia. Every three years, the researchers gave the volunteers mental skills tests, and then compared these results over time...

Get the full story at Time.
http://time.com/3934306/alzheimers-early-diagnosis/
Alzheimer's

Researchers develop world's first thought-based 'brain-to-text' system

By HealthInnovations

Speech is produced in the human cerebral cortex and previous studies have shown that the brain waves associated with speech processes can be directly recorded with electrodes located on the surface of the cortex. Now, researchers from the KIT and Wadsworth Center have shown for the first time that is possible to reconstruct basic units, words, and complete sentences of continuous speech from these brain waves and to generate the corresponding text.  In effect the team have developed the world’s first working ‘Brain-to-Text’ system.  The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The researchers state that it has long been speculated whether humans may communicate with machines via brain activity alone.  As a major step in this direction, the current study’s results indicate that both single units in terms of speech sounds as well as continuously spoken sentences can be recognized from brain activity.
In the current study the brain activity was recorded from 7 epileptic patients, who participated voluntarily in the study during their clinical treatments. An electrode array was placed on the surface of the cerebral cortex (electrocorticography (ECoG)) for their neurological treatment. While patients read aloud sample texts, the ECoG signals were recorded with high resolution in time and space. Later on, the researchers analyzed the data to develop Brain-to-Text...
Read the full story at Health Innovations.
http://health-innovations.org/2015/06/19/researchers-develop-worlds-first-thought-based-brain-to-text-system/
health care

Researchers begin to map sensory over-responsivity in autistic children and adolescents


by Health Innovations
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a team of UCLA researchers have shown for the first time that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are overly sensitive to sensory stimuli have brains that react differently than those with the disorder who don’t respond so severely to noises, visual stimulation and physical contact.
The team state that the findings could lead to the development of interventions that can help the more than 50 percent of individuals with ASD who have very strong negative responses to sensory stimuli, a condition called sensory over-responsivity (SOR). Interventions for this condition could significantly improve the lives of children with this form of ASD and their families.  The opensource study is published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
The researchers explain that this condition is distressing and impairing for individuals on the autism spectrum, as well as for their parents, who often feel confined to their homes because it’s too difficult to take their children out shopping, to the movies or to a restaurant.  They go on to add that their research provides new insights into the brain differences that may cause sensory over-responsivity, which brings understanding how to treat it, from simple interventions like limiting exposure to multiple sensory stimuli to more complex interventions like cognitive-behavioural therapy.
Previous studies show that ASD is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges. It occurs in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but is almost five times more common among boys than among girls. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that about one in 68 children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder.
The teams note that research on SOR, and particularly brain imaging research, is still very new and sensory symptoms were only recently added to the diagnostic criteria for ASD, two developments which may ultimately lead to clues as to why these children have such strong reactions to sensory stimuli...
Access the full story at Health Innovations.
http://health-innovations.org/2015/06/12/researchers-begin-to-map-sensory-over-responsivity-in-autistic-children-and-adolescents/
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