Brain Clock (temporal processing) disorder implicated in autism

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New temporal processing research - language processing in autism

Thanks to Amy Vega for forwarding this to me.

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile)

Check out this research on temporal processing in autistic population.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/brain-waves-show-sound-processing-abnormalities-in-autistic-children,638245.shtml

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 RSNA-autism-study

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Abnormalities in auditory and language processing may be evaluated in children with autism spectrum disorder by using magnetoencephalography (MEG), according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"Using MEG, we can record the tiny magnetic fields associated with electrical brain activity," said Timothy Roberts, Ph.D., vice chair of research in the Department of Radiology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Recorded brain waves change with every sensation, thought and activity. It's like watching a movie of the brain in real time." Typically used for epilepsy evaluation, MEG can also be used to identify timing abnormalities in the brains of patients with autism. "We found that signatures of autism are revealed in the timing of brain activity," Dr. Roberts said. "We see a fraction of a second delay in autistic patients." Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects approximately one in every 150 American children, mostly boys, according to the Autism Society of America. Autism inhibits the brain functions that govern the development of social and communication skills.For a MEG exam, a helmet that houses magnetic detectors and looks similar to an old-fashioned hair dryer is lowered over the patient's head while the patient remains in a seated position. The helmet analyzes electrical currents from the brain. For the study, 64 patients, age six to 15, with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder were evaluated with MEG. Audio stimulation was introduced to the children in the form of beeps, tones in pairs, vowels or sentences. Sounds were presented at different frequencies and tone pairs in rapid succession, including unusual streams of incongruous tones and vowels. The results were analyzed and compared with the results from a control group of age-matched non-autistic children. The findings showed that in the children with autism there was a fraction of a second delay in the brain's response while processing the rapid succession sounds and the unusual streams, giving researchers an insight into the dysfunction of the auditory processing system in autistic children.

"This delay in processing certain types and streams of sound may underpin the subsequent language processing and communication impairment seen in autistic children," Dr. Roberts said. Dr. Roberts predicts that the signatures of autism found in brain activity will become biomarkers to improve classification of the disorder and aid in treatment and therapy planning. "We hope that in the future these signatures will also be revealed in the infant brain to help diagnose autism and allow earlier intervention," he said.

Co-authors are J. Christopher Edgar, Ph.D., Deborah M. Zarnow, M.D., and
Susan E. Levy, M.D.

Disclosure: This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and by the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation.

AT A GLANCE

• Abnormalities in language processing in children with autism can be identified using magnetoencephalography (MEG).
• The brain's auditory processing system is delayed a fraction of a second in children with autism.
• Autism affects one in every 150 American children, mostly boys.

Note: Copies of RSNA 2008 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press08 beginning Monday, Dec. 1.
RSNA is an association of more than 42,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to excellence in patient care through education and research. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the printed abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.

For patient-friendly information on imaging technologies and procedures, visit RadiologyInfo.org.

Media Contacts: RSNA Newsroom 1-312-949-3233 Before 11/29/08 or after 12/4/08: RSNA Media Relations 1-630-590-7762 Maureen Morley Linda Brooks 1-630-590-7754 1-630-590-7738 mmorley@rsna.org lbrooks@rsna.org

SOURCE  Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

Autism in 100 words

Thanks to MIND HACKS for this autism definition FYI.

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/10/autism_in_100_words.html

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile)

Interactive Metronome and Autism: OT case study

In response to yesterday's post about the genetics-autism-brain clock link I received an email from an OT that uses the Interactive Metronome treatment. She has reported case studies of IM benefits for a child with autism. You can check out her comments about the clinical effectiveness of the brain-clock based IM intervention (my description) at her blog: OT, Self-Regulation and Autism. I'll be adding her blog to the IQ Brain Clock blogroll.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, autism, Interactive Metronome, IQ Brain Clock, brain clock, mental timing, temporal processing, occuptational therapy

Genetics study links brain clock and autism

This press release was sent to me by a friend of the Brain Clock blog. It is a press release from Corporate Communications and Marketing Athrolys College Road Bangor. The hyperlinks and additional reference information (including link to original research article and other Autism-related timing article) at the end of this post have been added by the Time Doc blogmaster.

Whenever I can find the time, I'll be adding autism to the "Group differences and clinical disorders" branch of the IQ Brain Clock EWOK. The complete list of possible clinical disorders research has suggested may involve aspects of mental timing (although not reflected at the current EWOK) are listed in my 2007 brain clock keynote address PPT show. This working list includes Parkinson's, Huntington's, Schizophrenia, ADHD, reading development and disorders (dyslexia), certain speech and language development related disorders, motor timing disorders, Aspergers, and now Autism.

I'm also soon be adding Dr. Wimpory to the Mental Timing Scholars blogroll of the IQ Brain Clock blog.

Publication date: 7/03/2007

Research by scientists in Wales reported in Molecular Psychiatry (advance online issue 30th Jan 07) has identified that Autistic Disorder is associated with two genes involved in timing and biological clocks: per1 and npas2. Cross species research shows that these two clock genes regulate timing mechanisms that control such things as sleep cycle, memory and communicative timing, a less familiar concept. The work, identifying a link between autism and these clock genes, was led by Dr. Dawn Wimpory, Lecturer-Practitioner/Consultant Clinical Psychologist for Autism, practising with the NWWales NHS Trust and Bangor University. She collaborated with Bangor University colleagues in both the School of Psychology and the North West Cancer Research Fund Institute (NWCRFI), together with Professor Michael J Owen’s team from Cardiff University’s Department of Psychological Medicine.

Dr. Wimpory’s clinical work and observations of the lack of social/communicative timing in Autistic Disorder was complemented by colleague Brad Nicholas of The NWCRFI suggesting that clock genes may be involved. This idea waited many years to be tested but new information from the human genome project, developments in the field of biological clocks and the construction of
autism gene banks has recently allowed the experiment to be carried out.

Autistic Disorder is characterised by three areas of abnormality: impairment in communication (verbal and non-verbal) and reciprocal social interactions together with a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests, all in evidence before three years of age. (Autistic Spectrum Disorders or ASDs include milder and more varied related difficulties.) Dr. Wimpory works on the hypothesis that a deficiency in social timing contributes greatly to the difficulties faced by people with Autistic Disorder.

“Timing is quintessential to normal infant development. In Autistic Disorder, malfunction of adaptive timing may lead to a cascade of other developmental problems. In the first few months an unaffected infant can take part in social exchanges, sharing eye contact and babbling in what we’d recognise as ‘natural’ communication patterns. This facility for preverbal communication appears lacking or diminished in Autistic Disorder,” explains Dr. Wimpory.

It is through such preverbal communication that an unaffected infant anticipates and predicts others’ behaviour, progressing to increasingly sophisticated social participation, for example, in teasing exchanges. Mutually enjoyable preverbal teasing games (e.g. ‘peep-bo!’) are timing-dependent. They appear as an early stage in the development of empathy and social pretence. Empathy and pretending are among the life-long difficulties for individuals with Autistic Disorder. These may be developmentally linked to early difficulties in synchronising with the inbuilt rhythms of communication including eye-contact.

The study analyzed genetic markers in 11 clock related genes from 110 individuals with Autistic Disorder and each of their parents (avoiding the more varied ASD subjects and those with additional substantial learning/intellectual impairments often included in autism genetic studies). The results showed that markers in two of the genes, npas2 and per1, had significant association with Autistic Disorder. These two genes had already been identified as regulating complex emotional memory, communicative timing and sleep patterns in the mouse and the fruit fly; organisms that are used by scientists to study the role of clock genes. Problems in sleep, memory and timing are all characteristic of Autistic Disorder; each may play an important role in its development.

“Autism is a disorder of complex inheritance where several interacting genes may be involved. This is the first autism study to identify interacting genes, it is also the first to identify genes that regulate behaviour recognised as affected in autism: timing and memory. It adds further evidence for the role of the biological clock in autism”.

The research was funded by the Baily Thomas Charitable Fund with additional support from Autism Cymru; the researchers now intend to replicate their study with a larger sample.

Time Doc blogmaster comments: I pulled the following two mental timing publications from Dr. Wimpory's web page:

• Nicholas B, Rudrasingham V, Nash, S., Kirov G, Owen MJ, Wimpory, D. (2007). Association of Per1 and Npas2 with Autistic Disorder:Support for the Clock Genes/Social Timing Hypothesis Molecular Psychiatry,12,(6) 581-592 (click here to view)
  

• Wimpory, D., Nicholas, B., Nash, S. (2002). Social Timing, Clock Genes and Autism: A New Hypothesis Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 46,(4) 352-358. (click here to view; note that date is listed incorrectly as 2005 on Dr. Wimpory's web page)
  

Austism, in my language-powerful video

Thanks to Mind Hacks for the link to the very powerful video apparently created by a young woman with autism...a video where she "translates" from her world of environmental interaction to the more "typical" world of speech and perception imposed upon her by the rest of the world. Very powerful.

This is a dual post to IQs Corner and the IQ Brain Clock.

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, special education, neuroscience, neuropsychology, autism, autistic, intelligence, cognition, perception

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