Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0004352 (autism)
 32,579 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Perceptions by staff of the classes of reinforcers and aberrant behaviors of a sample of 470 people with predominantly severe or profound mental retardation were explored. Principal components analysis of a 45-item survey suggested eight classes of reinforcers: consumable, verbal-speaker, visual-motor, social, physical-contact, passive-observer, play, and academic reinforcers. Stepwise multiple regression was used to predict five classes of maladaptive behaviors as measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (irritability, lethargy, stereotypy, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech) from the eight classes of reinforcers. Each class of psychopathology was related to a unique set of predictors. All classes of psychopathology could be predicted by staff perceptions of underresponsiveness to social reinforcers and overresponsiveness to consumable reinforcers. The findings of organized structures of reinforcers and their covariation with pathological behaviors have implications for research and intervention as well as theoretical value in defining aberrant behaviors in people with mental retardation.
J Autism Dev Disord 1992 Mar
PMID:Staff perceptions of reinforcer responsiveness and aberrant behaviors in people with mental retardation. 159 66

We report a 12 month double-blind randomized crossover trial of fenfluramine in 20 children with the syndrome of autism. On active drug most of the children lost weight and blood serotonin levels fell by an average of 60%. There was a fall in urinary dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) levels and increased excretion of homovanillic acid (HVA). Some of the children showed improvement in tests of cognitive and language function, although the results did not achieve overall statistical significance. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were obtained in seven subjects on an auditory choice reaction time task. Side effects of the drug included irritability and lethargy. Fenfluramine may have a limited place in the management of some patients with autistic disorder.
 ...
PMID:A controlled crossover trial of fenfluramine in autism. 219 54

Eleven residents receiving long-term thioridazine treatment were studied while receiving their previous dose, standardized low and high doses (1.25 and 2.50 mg/kg per day), and placebo conditions. For theoretical reasons, subjects were also classified by degree of stereotypic behavior on the Fairview Problem Behavior Checklist (Barron & Sandman, 1983). Ratings of hyperactivity and self-injury were significantly lower during the higher as compared with the lower dose condition. Subjects classified as in the high-stereotypy group had significantly and substantially higher levels of maladaptive behavior on several other clinical variables. When all four drug conditions were compared, no significant drug effects were detected. However, high-stereotypy subjects responded significantly better to the drug than low-stereotypy subjects on ratings of Lethargy/Social Withdrawal and Hyperactivity on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (Aman, Singh, Stewart, & Field, 1985a). The findings were related to previous dosage research and the literature on stereotypic behavior.
J Autism Dev Disord 1988 Sep
PMID:Thioridazine dose effects with reference to stereotypic behavior in mentally retarded residents. 317 Apr 54

This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of imipramine (3 mg/kg/day) in 10 profoundly retarded residents. Two groups were formulated: one with depressivelike (or affective) symptoms and one with acting-out behaviors. Measures of drug response included ratings of ward behavior using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, interval samples of behavior in the living units, and observations of behavior in a playroom situation. Results indicated that the drug caused behavioral deterioration in the Irritability, Lethargy/social withdrawal, and Hyperactivity dimensions of the rating scale, irrespective of subgroup. In addition, gross motor activity was significantly increased on the wards due to imipramine, and it was found that the affective group became less active and the acting-out group more active during free play. Physical side effects were uncommon. These unexpected adverse behavioral effects were discussed with respect to dosage and diagnostic considerations.
J Autism Dev Disord 1986 Sep
PMID:Preliminary study of imipramine in profoundly retarded residents. 354 81

A 14-year-old boy with mild mental retardation and behavioral features suggestive of the so called Asperger's syndrome is described. From the age of 8 years he has had recurrent episodes of lethargy. At the onset of puberty these episodes took on a more dramatic form and became more reminiscent of cycloid/manic-depressive psychosis. There is a family history of manic-depressive disorder. Neurobiological links with and differences from the syndrome of infantile autism were found. It is suggested that there is still too little evidence clearly to single out the entity of Asperger's syndrome from the spectrum of autistic syndromes.
J Autism Dev Disord 1985 Dec
PMID:Asperger's syndrome and recurrent psychosis--a case study. 407 13

Retrospective chart reviews of seven adolescent and young adults with autistic disorder treated with fluoxetine alone or in combination with other medications were performed. Patient's ages varied from 9-20 years (M +/- SD, = 16 +/- 3.87). Fluoxetine doses ranged from 20-80 mg per day (M +/- SD of final doses 37.14 +/- 21). Duration of treatment ranged from 1.3-32 months (M 18.04 +/- 10.39). Patients' symptoms were monitored using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) rating scale during every visit. Side effects included initial appetite suppression, vivid dreams, and hyperactivity. Improvement from baseline was seen in four subscales: irritability (21%), lethargy (37%), stereotype (27%), and inappropriate speech (21%). Lethargy subscales improved significantly during treatment (p < .029). Hyperactivity subscale increased by 14% but did not attain statistical significance. Fluoxetine appears to have important behavioral effects in treatment of clinic-referred autistic children. Future double-blind placebo controlled studies evaluating core and associated symptom response with fluoxetine are warranted.
J Autism Dev Disord 1998 Aug
PMID:Fluoxetine in treatment of adolescent patients with autism: a longitudinal open trial. 971 86

In autism, glutamate may be increased or its receptors up-regulated as part of an excitotoxic process that damages neural networks and subsequently contributes to behavioral and cognitive deficits seen in the disorder. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study of lamotrigine, an agent that modulates glutamate release. Twenty-eight children (27 boys) ages 3 to 11 years (M = 5.8) with a primary diagnosis of autistic disorder received either placebo or lamotrigine twice daily. In children on lamotrigine, the drug was titrated upward over 8 weeks to reach a mean maintenance dose of 5.0 mg/kg per day. This dose was then maintained for 4 weeks. Following maintenance evaluations, the drug was tapered down over 2 weeks. The trial ended with a 4-week drug-free period. Outcome measures included improvements in severity and behavioral features of autistic disorder (stereotypies, lethargy, irritability, hyperactivity, emotional reciprocity, sharing pleasures) and improvements in language and communication, socialization, and daily living skills noted after 12 weeks (the end of a 4-week maintenance phase). We did not find any significant differences in improvements between lamotrigine or placebo groups on the Autism Behavior Checklist, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior scales, the PL-ADOS, or the CARS. Parent rating scales showed marked improvements, presumably due to expectations of benefits.
J Autism Dev Disord 2001 Apr
PMID:Lamotrigine therapy for autistic disorder: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 1145 Aug 16

In light of the recently reported neuropathologic and neurochemical abnormalities of the cholinergic pathways in autism, donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor, is a potentially useful agent in the treatment of cognitive and behavioral symptoms observed in this disorder. A retrospective pilot study was conducted to determine whether donepezil is effective in the treatment of children and adolescents with autism. Eight patients (mean age = 11.0 +/- 4.1 years; range 7-19 years) who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) criteria for autistic disorder were openly treated with donepezil. All patients were on concomitant psychoactive medications. Four of these patients (50%) demonstrated significant improvement as assessed by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. Decreases in the Irritability and Hyperactivity subscales were observed, but no changes in the Inappropriate Speech, Lethargy, and Stereotypies subscales were noted. Limited and transient side effects were reported, with one patient experiencing gastrointestinal disturbances and another reporting mild irritability. Double-blind, placebo-controlled investigations are needed to provide further evidence of the potential benefits of donepezil to patients with autistic disorder.
 ...
PMID:A retrospective open trial of adjunctive donepezil in children and adolescents with autistic disorder. 1242 97

The author discusses an analytic case in which it was necessary to first address the patient's need for containment of her protoemotions--her sensoriality--before the analysis could proceed along more standard lines, with interpretation of the transference, work on displacement and aspects of her childhood history, and so forth. Prior to treatment, the patient had resorted to a sort of affective autism in order not to experience dangerously overwhelming emotions, and her emotional lethargy in sessions at first engendered similar feelings in the analyst, making progress impossible until a container was established for her projective identifications.
 ...
PMID:Marcella: the transition from explosive sensoriality to the ability to think. 1261 72

Two autistic children with a chromosome 15q11-q13 inverted duplication are presented. Both had uneventful perinatal courses, normal electroencephalogram and magnetic resonance imaging scans, moderate motor delay, lethargy, severe hypotonia, and modest lactic acidosis. Both had muscle mitochondrial enzyme assays that showed a pronounced mitochondrial hyperproliferation and a partial respiratory chain block most parsimoniously placed at the level of complex III, suggesting candidate gene loci for autism within the critical region may affect pathways influencing mitochondrial function.
 ...
PMID:Mitochondrial dysfunction in autistic patients with 15q inverted duplication. 1278 28


1 2 3 4 Next >>