ABSTRACT
Early intervention is now considered the core treatment strategy for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thus, it is of significant clinical importance to establish a screening tool for the early detection of ASD in infants. To achieve this goal, in a longitudinal design, we analyzed spontaneous bodily movements of 4-month-old infants from general population and assessed their ASD-like behaviors at 18 months of age. A total of 26 movement features were calculated from video-recorded bodily movements of infants at 4 months of age. Their risk of ASD was assessed at 18 months of age with the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlerhood, a widely used screening questionnaire. Infants at high risk for ASD at 18 months of age exhibited less rhythmic and weaker bodily movement patterns at 4 months of age than low-risk infants. When the observed bodily movement patterns were submitted to a machine learning-based analysis, linear and non-linear classifiers successfully predicted ASD-like behavior at 18 months of age based on the bodily movement patterns at 4 months of age, at the level acceptable for practical use. This study analyzed the relationship between spontaneous bodily movements at 4 months of age and the ASD risk at 18 months of age. Experimental results suggested the utility of the proposed method for the early screening of infants at risk for ASD. We revealed that the signs of ASD risk could be detected as early as 4 months after birth, by focusing on the infant's spontaneous bodily movements.
Subject(s)
Autism Spectrum Disorder , Autistic Disorder , Infant , Humans , Autistic Disorder/diagnosis , Autism Spectrum Disorder/diagnosis , Movement , Early Diagnosis , RiskABSTRACT
cDNA microarray analysis of differential mRNA expression in the rat inner ear under hypergravity identified 20 up-regulated and 2 down-regulated genes. The results demonstrated that various response and/or adaptation processes occur at the level of the peripheral organs. From among the genes assessed by microarray, up-regulation of CREB and syntaxin was confirmed by real time PCR and these two molecules were found to be immunocytochemically localized in the primary afferent neurons. Since CREB is believed to be involved in the formation of long term memory, and syntaxin is known as one of the synaptic molecules involved in the exocytosis of synaptic vesicles, the up-regulation of CREB and syntaxin may reflect synaptic plasticity occurring in the peripheral vestibular system.
Subject(s)
Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein/biosynthesis , Ear, Inner/metabolism , Hypergravity , Membrane Proteins/biosynthesis , Up-Regulation/physiology , Animals , Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein/analysis , Ear, Inner/chemistry , Membrane Proteins/analysis , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/methods , Qa-SNARE Proteins , Rats , Rats, WistarABSTRACT
Differential display analysis of differential mRNA expression in the rat inner ear under hypergravity identified two down- and four up-regulated genes. The up-regulation of microtubule associated protein 1A (MAP1A) in one of these was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Since MAP1A is believed to work as a cell stabilizer connecting the actin with microtubule, this is possibly a response to strengthen this stabilizer under hypergravity. The MAP1A gene is the first found to be affected by gravity change in the inner ear.
