[The characteristics of social skills, school maladjustment and stress responses in junior high school students with autism spectrum disorder].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test difference between the social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing students." Methods: Participants were 299 junior high school students from public schools. The group included 19 junior high school students with ASD. Participants responded to self-rated questionnaire on social skills, school maladjustment, and stress. Results: Results showed that adolescent with ASD had mental health difficulties (in stress responses and school maladjustment) and poor social skills as compared to their typically developing peers. A cluster analysis was conducted by dividing the participants into the following four groups based on their z-scores on the social skills scale: "low skill type", "low skill of continuing relationship type", "well-balance type", and "inactive type". A Chi-square test revealed that a greater portion of the ASD group included students belonging to the "inactive, authoritative and low type" and "inactive type" cluster as compared to the typically developing group. Conclusions: The Adolescent with ASD have social skills characterized by inactive type that poor entry skills.

The role of insulin growth factor on atherosclerosis and endothelial function: the effect on hyperlipidemia and aging.

AIMS: Insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) signaling is important for a variety of age-related processes. However, whether or not it affects atherosclerosis is unknown. MAIN METHODS: Six groups of 6 male New Zealand white rabbits were treated for 12 weeks under the following conditions: Groups YC and YIGF: Young rabbits (10 weeks old) were fed regular chow w/wo IGF-1(Somazon 0.1 mg/kg/day, s.c.). Groups HC and HIGF: young rabbits were fed HCD (0.5% cholesterol plus regular chow) w/wo IGF-1. Groups OC and OIGF: old rabbits (120 weeks old) were fed regular chow w/wo IGF-1. KEY FINDINGS: Plasma lipid levels, endothelial responses and morphological findings did not differ between groups YIGF and YC. Animals in group HC had increased plasma lipid levels and atheromas. In group HIGF, IGF led to atheromas with increased plasma insulin growth factor binding protein 3 (IBP3), inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS) expression and nitrotyrosine staining, macrophage staining, SM1 staining and SM embryo staining compared to HC. Basal nitric oxide (NO) release evaluated by plasma NO metabolites (NOx) and cGMP levels were lowest in the HIGF group. SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, IGF-1 promoted atherosclerosis by affecting endothelial function and aging. These findings indicate that Insulin/IGF1 may contribute to atherogenesis in the elderly.