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 32,579 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Over the last decade, increasing evidence of cognitive functions of the cerebellum during development and learning processes could be ascertained. Posterior fossa malformations such as cerebellar hypoplasia or Joubert syndrome are known to be related to developmental problems in a marked to moderate extent. More detailed analyses reveal special deficits in attention, processing speed, visuospatial functions, and language. A study about Dandy Walker syndrome states a relationship of abnormalities in vermis lobulation with developmental problems. Further lobulation or volume abnormalities of the cerebellum and/or vermis can be detected in disorders as fragile X syndrome, Downs's syndrome, William's syndrome, and autism. Neuropsychological studies reveal a relation of dyslexia and attention deficit disorder with cerebellar functions. These functional studies are supported by structural abnormalities in neuroimaging in these disorders. Acquired cerebellar or vermis atrophy was found in groups of children with developmental problems such as prenatal alcohol exposure or extreme prematurity. Also, focal lesions during childhood or adolescence such as cerebellar tumor or stroke are related with neuropsychological abnormalities, which are most pronounced in visuospatial, language, and memory functions. In addition, cerebellar atrophy was shown to be a bad prognostic factor considering cognitive outcome in children after brain trauma and leukemia. In ataxia teleangiectasia, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting primarily the cerebellar cortex, a reduced verbal intelligence quotient and problems of judgment of duration are a hint of the importance of the cerebellum in cognition. In conclusion, the cerebellum seems to play an important role in many higher cognitive functions, especially in learning. There is a suggestion that the earlier the incorrect influence, the more pronounced the problems.
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PMID:Cerebellar disorders in childhood: cognitive problems. 1905 77

Cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury have been linked to autism, attention deficit disorder, mental retardation and death of children. Mercury in thimerosal found in many vaccines and flu shots contributes significantly to these problems. Decomposition of the thimerosal can produce more toxic compounds, either methylethylmercury or diethylmercury, in the body. These compounds have a toxicity level similar to dimethylmercury. Within the human body, a mitochondrial disorder may release the more toxic form of mercury internally. Young children and pregnant women must minimize internal exposure to the vaccines and flu shots containing mercury.
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PMID:Are toxic biometals destroying your children's future? 1920

Myelination is an important process in brain development, and delays or abnormalities in this process have been associated with a number of conditions including autism, developmental delay, attention deficit disorder, and schizophrenia. Myelination can be sensitive to developmental experience; however, although the adult brain remains highly plastic, it is unknown whether myelination continues to be sensitive to experience during adulthood. Male and female rats were socially housed until four months of age, at which time they were moved into either a complex or "enriched" environment (EC) or an isolated condition (IC). Although the area of the splenium (posterior 20% of the callosum, which contains axons from visual cortical neurons) increased by about 10% following two months of EC housing, the area occupied by myelinated axons was not influenced by adult housing condition. Instead, it was the area occupied by glial cell processes and unmyelinated axons which significantly increased following EC housing. Neither the size nor the myelin content of the genu (anterior 15% of the callosum) was sensitive to manipulations of adult housing condition, but males had more area occupied by myelinated axons in both callosal regions. Finally, the inability of two months of complex environment housing during adulthood to impact the number of myelinated axons in the splenium was confirmed in a subset of animals using quantitative electron microscopy. We conclude that the sensitivity of myelination to experience is reduced in adulthood relative to development in both sexes.
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PMID:Myelination of the corpus callosum in male and female rats following complex environment housing during adulthood. 1959 80

There is now compelling evidence that the ratio of the length of the second digit divided by the length of the fourth digit (2D:4D) is affected by prenatal androgens in humans. This ratio is greater in females than males from fetal life through adulthood, correlates with polymorphism in the androgen receptor gene in men, is feminine in XY androgen insensitivity syndrome, and masculinized in congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Using 2D:4D as a correlate, researchers have found evidence that prenatal androgens affect many sexually differentiated human behaviors, including sexual orientation in women (but not in men), attention deficit disorder, autism, eating disorders, aggression, and risk-taking. In each case, lower 2D:4D, indicative of greater prenatal androgen stimulation, is associated with behavior more commonly displayed by males than females. The correlation between 2D:4D and prenatal androgen stimulation is too imperfect to accurately predict the phenotype of a particular individual, even in terms of sex. However, digit ratio is the best available retrospective marker of average differences in prenatal androgen stimulation between groups of people, and/or correlations of prenatal androgen stimulation with particular behaviors and characteristics within a group. Thus digit ratios offer a valid test of the organizational hypothesis that androgens act early in life to masculinize various human behaviors.
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PMID:Minireview: Organizational hypothesis: instances of the fingerpost. 2063 Oct 3

The XVII World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, sponsored by The International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) took place in San Diego, California from 4 to 8 November 2009. Approximately 550 participants gathered to discuss the latest molecular genetic findings relevant to serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, mood disorders, substance abuse, autism, and attention deficit disorder. Recent advances in the field were discussed, including the genome-wide association studies results, copy number variation (CNV) in the genome, genomic imaging, and large multicenter collaborations. The following report, written by junior travel awardees who were assigned sessions as rapporteurs represents some of the areas covered in oral presentation during the conference, and reports on some of the notable major new findings described at this 2009 World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics.
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PMID:Selected summaries from the XVII World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, San Diego, California, USA, 4-8 November 2009. 2070 71

The cerebellum has long been considered quite separate from the neocortex, and accordingly the understanding of its role has been limited. Recent work has revealed that the cerebellum interacts regularly with the forebrain and it is involved in mood and cognition. In this article, the authors discuss an extensive system of neural circuits connecting the prefrontal, temporal, posterior parietal, and limbic cortices with the cerebellum. Language functions of the cerebellum are described, as well as cerebellar syndromes affecting cognition. The roles of the cerebellum in pain perception, attention deficit disorder, autism, dementia, and schizophrenia are discussed. Practical observations and tests to assess cerebellar function in the psychiatrist's office are described.
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PMID:Psychiatry, neurology, and the role of the cerebellum. 2094 51

Five squirrel monkeys served under a simultaneous discrimination paradigm with visual compound stimuli that allowed measurement of excitatory and inhibitory control exerted by individual stimulus components (form and luminance/"color"), which could not be presented in isolation (i.e., form could not be presented without color). After performance exceeded a criterion of 75% correct during training, unreinforced test trials with stimuli comprising recombined training stimulus components were interspersed while the overall reinforcement rate remained constant for training and testing. The training-testing series was then repeated with reversed reinforcement contingencies. The findings were that color acquired greater excitatory control than form under the original condition, that no such difference was found for the reversal condition or for inhibitory control under either condition, and that overall inhibitory control was less pronounced than excitatory control. The remarkably accurate performance throughout suggested that a forced 4-s delay between the stimulus presentation and the opportunity to respond was effective in reducing "impulsive" responding, which has implications for suppressing impulsive responding in children with autism and with attention deficit disorder.
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PMID:Selective attention to visual compound stimuli in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). 2121 3

The putative link between gene expression of brain regions and their neural connectivity patterns is a fundamental question in neuroscience. Here this question is addressed in the first large scale study of a prototypical mammalian rodent brain, using a combination of rat brain regional connectivity data with gene expression of the mouse brain. Remarkably, even though this study uses data from two different rodent species (due to the data limitations), we still find that the connectivity of the majority of brain regions is highly predictable from their gene expression levels-the outgoing (incoming) connectivity is successfully predicted for 73% (56%) of brain regions, with an overall fairly marked accuracy level of 0.79 (0.83). Many genes are found to play a part in predicting both the incoming and outgoing connectivity (241 out of the 500 top selected genes, p-value<1e-5). Reassuringly, the genes previously known from the literature to be involved in axon guidance do carry significant information about regional brain connectivity. Surveying the genes known to be associated with the pathogenesis of several brain disorders, we find that those associated with schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit disorder are the most highly enriched in the connectivity-related genes identified here. Finally, we find that the profile of functional annotation groups that are associated with regional connectivity in the rodent is significantly correlated with the annotation profile of genes previously found to determine neural connectivity in C. elegans (Pearson correlation of 0.24, p<1e-6 for the outgoing connections and 0.27, p<1e-5 for the incoming). Overall, the association between connectivity and gene expression in a specific extant rodent species' brain is likely to be even stronger than found here, given the limitations of current data.
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PMID:Gene expression in the rodent brain is associated with its regional connectivity. 2157 8

Ataxin 2 binding protein 1 (A2BP1 aka FOX1, RBFOX1) is an RNA binding protein responsible for regulation of pre-mRNA splicing events in a number of critical developmental genes expressed in muscle, heart and neuronal cells [Shibata et al. (2000); Mamm Genome 12:595-601; Jin et al. (2003); EMBO J 22:905-912; Underwood et al. (2005); Mol Cell Biol 25:10005-10016]. Rare copy number abnormalities of A2BP1 have been previously associated with cognitive impairment, attention deficit disorder and autism [Martin et al. (2007); Am J Med Gen Part B 144B:869-876; Elia et al. (2010); Mol Psychiatry 15:637-646.]. Using a 1M Illumina SNP microarray, we identified a 1.3 kb deletion in A2BP1, which was subsequently validated by quantitative PCR. Here we present an in depth case study of an individual with autism and mild developmental hemiparesis in whom the deletion was detected. This study provides further support for the possible role of rare copy number variants in A2BP1 in the development of autism and associated motor asymmetries.
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PMID:Rare inherited A2BP1 deletion in a proband with autism and developmental hemiparesis. 2267 32

We used a national online registry to examine variation in cumulative prevalence of community diagnosis of psychiatric comorbidity in 4343 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Adjusted multivariate logistic regression models compared influence of individual, family, and geographic factors on cumulative prevalence of parent-reported anxiety disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit disorder. Adjusted odds of community-assigned lifetime psychiatric comorbidity were significantly higher with each additional year of life, with increasing autism severity, and with Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified compared with autistic disorder. Overall, in this largest study of parent-reported community diagnoses of psychiatric comorbidity, gender, autistic regression, autism severity, and type of ASD all emerged as significant factors correlating with cumulative prevalence. These findings could suggest both underlying trends in actual comorbidity as well as variation in community interpretation and application of comorbid diagnoses in ASD.
Autism Res Treat 2011
PMID:Parent report of community psychiatric comorbid diagnoses in autism spectrum disorders. 2293 48


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