http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/events/dls/index.html A monthly lecture series from the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute featuring some of the greatest minds in medicine discussing research and developments in the study of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Copyright 2006 UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:30:00 PST en-us http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/gilliam_dls_01_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/gilliam_dls_01_hi.wmv Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:00:00 PST Abstract: One of the major challenges to biomedical research in the 21st century is to devise strategies to identify the multigenic transmission patterns that correlate with common heritable disorders. Modern gene mapping studies are remarkably efficient for tracking the single-gene mutations responsible for most rare, Mendelian disorders, but inept for tracking the multigene inheritance patterns that predispose individuals to the type common heritable disorders that constitute the bulk of today’s public health burden. It appears that single gene surveys of disease-related genetic variation are limited to the detection of weak genotype:phenotype correlations when the phenotype is a disease classification and the underlying genotype is multifactorial. We are exploring experimental and computational genomic strategies to predict biologically meaningful interactions between key autism candidate genes with the hope that a systematic survey of allelic variation across predicted “candidate gene networks” will lead to improved genotype:phenotype correlation, and insight into the genetic basis of autism spectrum disorder. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/gilliam_dls_02_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/gilliam_dls_02_hi.wmv Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:00:00 PST Abstract: Family and twin studies indicate that for a majority of individuals diagnosed with autism and related spectrum disorders (ASD), a significant genetic predisposition to disease results from the cumulative effects of heritable genetic variants affecting multiple genes. Similar to most complex genetic disorders, identification of disease-predisposing genetic variation has been fraught with difficulty, and the main genetic clues to disease etiology result from the characterization of disease-causing mutations in a small minority of cases. Results from an ongoing collaborative gene mapping study of the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) study sample will be discussed in the context of other genetic studies, and with a view to the future prospects of identifying genetic determinants of common heritable disorders like autism. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/fombonne_dls_01_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/fombonne_dls_01_hi.wmv Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:00:00 PST Abstract: Concerns have been raised about the role of immunization as a risk factor for autism. The measles-mumpsrubella vaccine (MMR) has been postulated to induce a new form of regressive autism with enterocolitis. Thimerosal, a mercury-based compound used to stabilize vaccines, has also been hypothesized to induce autism in infants and toddlers. Both hypotheses have been linked with increasing prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorders, suggesting that an epidemic of autism has occurred. Epidemiological data on rates of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders will be reviewed, with special reference to competing interpretations of time trends. The MMR and thimerosal hypotheses have been evaluated with cohort, case-control and ecological studies that will be summarized. The evidence accumulated in recent years currently favors the rejection of both hypotheses. Attention will also be paid to biological, public health and non-scientific issues which have influenced this debate. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/fombonne_dls_02_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/fombonne_dls_02_hi.wmv Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:00:00 PST Abstract: Epidemiology is the scientific study of the occurrence of disease in human populations. Basic principles of epidemiological research designs (cohort, case-control, prevalence, ecological studies) and analysis (risk and confounding factors) will first be introduced. Autism prevalence studies have shown upward trends in rates in the last 20 years. The best current prevalence estimate for all autism spectrum disorders combined is 0.6%. Possible interpretations for the higher prevalence figures will be discussed. In particular, two separate hypotheses have focused on child immunization schedules as potential explanations for the increased rates of autism. The MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) hypothesis has been evaluated in several studies that have failed to demonstrate an increased in the risk of autism following exposure to MMR. The thimerosal hypothesis has linked the total cumulative exposure to ethylmercury up to age 2 and an increased risk of autism. Yet, epidemiological studies have failed to demonstrate such an association. Current results will be discussed in the context of concerns by parents of autistic children on the causes and treatment of autism, and also of more general public health issues. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/bauman_dls_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/bauman_dls_hi.wmv Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:00:00 PST Margaret L. Bauman, M.D., is associate professor of neurology at Harvard University Medical School; adjunct associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine; associate pediatrician and assistant neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and medical director of the Autism Treatment Network. She also directs LADDERS (Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Service), a satellite multidisciplinary clinic of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, and both the Autism Research Foundation and the Autism Research Consortium. In California, Dr. Bauman serves as a child neurology consultant for the Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation, Inc, in Pomona, California; and a volunteer physician for the department of pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests include the study of the microscopic brain structure in autism, Rett syndrome and other disorders of neurological development. Bauman has over 75 scientific publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and books. The 2nd edition of her acclaimed book, "The Neurobiology of Autism," co-edited with T.L. Kemper, was released in January 2005. Her many honors include the 2005 Doug Flutie Junior Award, the 2004 Autism Society of Ontario’s Stacy Lynne McNeice Memorial Lecture Award, and the 2003 Pediatric Therapy Network’s Ivory Tower Award for connecting basic science to clinical practice in the field of autism. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/frith_dls_01_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/frith_dls_01_hi.wmv Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:00:00 PST Abstract: Impairments in social communication are the hallmark of autism spectrum disorders. Yet, the nature of these impairments, which can range from severe to mild, is hard to define. Thus, many different aspects of social interaction appear to be affected, resulting in a great deal of heterogeneity in the clinical picture. These aspects include poor emotion processing, poor imitation, poor verbal and non-verbal communication, poor face processing, poor gaze control, and poor language comprehension. One thread that runs through these impairments is what has been termed “mindblindness” or “lack of theory of mind”. By this is meant the ability to attribute mental states to other people, or mentalizing for short. Mentalizing is not an intangible and highly sophisticated conscious process. Instead it is a cognitive capacity that is automatically triggered by specific stimuli, such as the movement of other agents, the orientation of eye gaze, or the form and content of speech. Mentalizing has probably evolved from the ability to understand others’ actions and intentions and the necessity to react quickly to conspecifics and other creatures, who could be predators or prey. This mechanism has an identifiable basis in the brain and develops rapidly in early childhood. It enables human beings to read each other’s minds - in a manner of speaking, and to predict remarkably well what others are going to do next. Behavioural studies over the last twenty years have shown that mentalizing is severely delayed or absent in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. This cognitive deficit may explain a number of their social impairments, such as persistent social naivety. Brain imaging studies have shown that in high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders the brain’s mentalizing system shows reduced activation and weaker connection between its components. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/frith_dls_02_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/frith_dls_02_hi.wmv Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:00:00 PST Should autism researchers focus solely on identifying the ultimate biological causes of autism? Researchers must also work towards understanding what kind of thing autism is. What does it mean for an individual to have autistic disorder? Knowing the causes of the disorder cannot answer this question. We will only understand what autism is when we look at a whole causal chain of step-by-step explanations. This causal chain needs to be built by connecting biology and behaviour. The middle ground between biology and behaviour is cognition. This middle ground helps us to develop theories that explain signs and symptoms of autism by rigorously tested experiments, and thus to build vital links in the long chain of causes. Three cognitive theories are currently trying to explain the social and non-social features of autism, the difficulties and strengths. One proposal is that individuals with autism suffer from executive dysfunction, which might explain their rigidity and repetitive behaviour patterns, as well as many of their practical difficulties in everyday life. Another proposal, aimed at explaining the typically uneven profile of intellectual functioning and the phenomenon of savant skills, is that of a detail-focussed processing style. This is often referred to as “weak central coherence”. A third theory is targeted at the social and communication impairments and is often referred to as “mindblindness”. I will suggest that these proposals are complementary rather than contradictory, and that they help us to refine the phenotype of autism so that it has a better chance to be mapped to the genotype. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/buitelaar_dls_01_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/buitelaar_dls_01_hi.wmv Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:00:00 PST This presentation focuses on studies nested in our population-based screening for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) - Aspects of psychiatric diagnoses. These studies evaluated the reliability and stability of psychiatric diagnoses, head size, attachment, and joint-attention. The associations between the current DSM-IV algorithm for autism and clinical diagnoses in very young children with and without ASD, and between the algorithm proposed for PDD-NOS and clinical diagnoses, were analyzed. Stability of diagnoses was evaluated through follow-up assessments, two years after the first assessment. Head size data was also collected on our sample of very young children with ASD, children with mental handicap without ASD and control children, and multilevel modelling employed to disentangle the effect of ASD and of mental handicap on head size. Attachment was investigated by the Strange Situation Procedure in very young children with autism, with broad ASD, non-ASD disorders, and normal children. Cortisol responses and heart rate variability during the Strange Situation Procedure were also examined. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/buitelaar_dls_02_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/buitelaar_dls_02_hi.wmv Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:00:00 PST Despite the very early onset of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a delay between parents’ first concerns and the psychiatric diagnosis still exists. Although more expertise and knowledge has led to earlier diagnosis in recent years, the diagnosis is still rarely made before 3 years of age. We set out to lower the diagnostic threshold of ASD as much as possible. To this end, we developed a screening instrument for ASD around age 14 months, and screened a large population of very young children. The main findings of our screening study, including development of the screening instrument and findings from nested studies on reliability and stability of psychiatric diagnoses, head size, attachment, and joint-attention, will be presented. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/nelson_dls_01_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/nelson_dls_01_hi.wmv Wed, 10 May 2006 16:00:00 PST Prior to the onset of language, most communication between infants and caregivers takes place through non-verbal channels, particularly face reading. In this talk I will describe how the ability to process faces develops. I will begin by outlining what is known about this ability in the adult, then move to what is known about this ability in infants and children. In both cases I will focus to a great degree on the cognitive neuroscience literature of face processing, as that literature will inform us about how the brain becomes specialized to process faces. I will conclude by discussing several theoretical models that purport to account for the development and neural bases of face processing. http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/nelson_dls_02_hi.wmv http://media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2006/wmv/nelson_dls_02_hi.wmv Wed, 10 May 2006 18:00:00 PST Thousands of children are adopted each year into US homes, many from outside the United States. Of these internationally adopted children, a surprisingly large number spent their first weeks or months of life in institutional settings. In this talk I will discuss a large project currently taking place in Bucharest, Romania, designed to examine the effects of early institutionalization on brain and behavioral development. A unique element of this project is that a subset of our previously institutionalized children are being raised in foster care; thus, we are able to examine the efficacy of this intervention as a treatment for the negative sequelae associated with early institutionalization. In my talk I will discuss not only the findings from our study, but as well, the implications such findings have for understanding the role of experience in brain and behavioral development.