[Models of intervention in children with autism]. / Modelos de intervención en niños con autismo.

INTRODUCTION: Autism spectrum disorders make up a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that globally affect different higher brain functions in the individual, such as intelligence, the capacity to use language and social interaction. Today, although there is still no curative treatment for autism, there are a number of non pharmacological interventions that can modify the poor prognosis that is generally associated to this type of disorders. AIM: To briefly review the different approaches to the neuro rehabilitation of patients suffering from autism spectrum disorders, which are usually known as methods of intervention. DEVELOPMENT: From the categorical point of view, three types of methods of intervention can be distinguished, depending on whether the orientation is psychodynamic, biomedical or psycho educational. It is difficult to compare the results of the different methods of intervention, but researchers have identified several common elements that they should have if they are to be effective. At present, the psycho educational methods are preferred, since they are the only ones that, to date, have proved to be effective in research studies. CONCLUSIONS: Early intervention by diagnostic and early care centres, with the use of mixed models of psycho educational intervention that nevertheless also include an important percentage of behavioural elements, has proved to be capable of modifying the course of patients with autism spectrum disorders and is currently the most suitable approach.

[Early attention and specific intervention programs with autism spectrum disorders]. / Atención temprana y programas de intervención específica en el trastorno del espectro autista.

INTRODUCTION: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that is characterised by qualitative deficiencies in social interaction and in communication, behaviour that is characterised by repetitive stereotyped patterns, and a restricted repertoire of interests and activities. DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSIONS: Early detection and diagnosis of this disorder by means of neuropaediatric techniques and procedures plays a decisive role in being able to set up an interdisciplinary therapeutic approach, in which specific early intervention programmes are noted for their effectiveness. The aim of these programmes is to attenuate or eliminate the alterations produced by ASD from the earliest stages of childhood development. But, in addition to attending to the child, interdisciplinary early intervention teams also work with the family and the environment the child lives in. This enables them to implement a joint response that allows for substantial improvements in the competencies that the child can acquire, as well as in the welfare and quality of life of the child and his or her family.

Atención temprana y programas de intervención específica en el trastorno del espectro autista / Early attention and specific intervention programs with autism spectrum disorders

Introducción. El trastorno de espectro autista (TEA) es una alteración del desarrollo que se caracteriza por deficiencias cualitativas en la interacción social y en la comunicación, comportamiento caracterizado por patrones repetitivos y estereotipados, y un repertorio restrictivo de intereses y actividades. Desarrollo y conclusiones. La detección y el diagnóstico precoz de este trastorno mediante técnicas y procedimientos neuropediátricos es un factor decisivo para plantear el abordaje terapéutico interdisciplinar, en el que destacan por su eficacia los programas específicos de atención temprana. Estos programas tienen por finalidad atenuar o eliminar las alteraciones que produce el TEA desde las primeras etapas del desarrollo infantil. Pero, además de atender al niño, los equipos interdisciplinares de atención temprana también inciden sobre la familia y el entorno en el que vive el niño, para articular una respuesta conjunta que posibilite mejoras sustanciales en las competencias que el niño pueda adquirir y en el bienestar y calidad de vida del niño y de su familia (AU)

Introduction. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that is characterised by qualitative deficiencies in social interaction and in communication, behaviour that is characterised by repetitive stereotyped patterns, and a restricted repertoire of interests and activities. Development and conclusions. Early detection and diagnosis of this disorder by means of neuropaediatric techniques and procedures plays a decisive role in being able to set up an interdisciplinary therapeutic approach, in which specific early intervention programmes are noted for their effectiveness. The aim of these programmes is to attenuate or eliminate the alterations produced by ASD from the earliest stages of childhood development. But, in addition to attending to the child, interdisciplinary early intervention teams also work with the family and the environment the child lives in. This enables them to implement a joint response that allows for substantial improvements in the competencies that the child can acquire, as well as in the welfare and quality of life of the child and his or her family (AU)

[Early attention to learning disabilities]. / Atención temprana de las dificultades de aprendizaje.

INTRODUCTION: In the early stages of their development, children acquire the skills and knowledge that provide them with the foundations on which they will later add what they learn at school, including skills such as reading, writing and mathematics. The presence of learning difficulties at the infantile stage can affect the development of these academic skills during the period of compulsory schooling. DEVELOPMENT: Some children show learning difficulties in their earliest years. Early learning difficulties refer specifically to those problems that occur in the time between birth and the age of six and which reduce the chances of accomplishing the skills and knowledge that are typically acquired during the stage of infancy. There is a correlation between these problems and difficulties linked to cognition, to attention, perception and memory processes, to language skills involving both comprehension and expression, and to visuospatial processing. Their aetiology involves neuropsychological, social and cultural factors, as well as others that derive from the actual learning processes themselves. Following an interdisciplinary model using development scales, psychometric tests and neurodevelopmental monitoring will allow an early diagnosis to be reached. The intervention will be carried out in the medical, social, educational and family areas, and will focus on the aspects that favour maturing, development and the learning of curricular material. CONCLUSION: The new socio-educational scenario makes it necessary to attend to early learning difficulties in infants' education. Prevention and early attention offer guidelines and strategies to deal with them in a satisfactory manner.

Atención temprana de las dificultades de aprendizaje / Early attention to learning disabilities

Introducción. En las primeras etapas evolutivas, los niñosadquieren destrezas y conocimientos que constituyen la basesobre la que podrán llevar a cabo aprendizajes escolares como lalectura, la escritura y las matemáticas. La presencia de dificultadesde aprendizaje en la etapa infantil puede afectar al desarrollo deestas habilidades académicas en el período de la escolarizaciónobligatoria. Desarrollo. Ya en los primeros años hay niños que manifiestandificultades para el aprendizaje. Las dificultades tempranasde aprendizaje hacen referencia de manera específica a aquellasque se dan en el período comprendido entre el nacimiento y losseis años, y que limitan las posibilidades de alcanzar las destrezasy los conocimientos propios de la etapa infantil. Se correlacionancon dificultades ligadas a la cognición, a los procesos de la atención,la percepción y la memoria, a las habilidades lingüísticas decarácter comprensivo y expresivo, y al procesamiento visuoespacial.En su etiología se pueden encontrar factores neuropsicológicos,de los propios procesos de aprendizaje, sociales y culturales.El diagnóstico precoz se realizará siguiendo un modelo interdisciplinarmediante escalas de desarrollo, pruebas psicométricas yseguimiento neuroevolutivo. La intervención se llevará a cabo en elámbito médico, social, educativo y familiar, y se incidirá sobre losaspectos que propicien la maduración, el desarrollo y los aprendizajescurriculares. Conclusión. La nueva coyuntura socioeducativahace necesario atender las dificultades tempranas de aprendizajeen la educación infantil. La prevención y la atención tempranaofrecen criterios y estrategias para abordarlas adecuadamente

Introduction. In the early stages of their development, children acquire the skills and knowledge that provide themwith the foundations on which they will later add what they learn at school, including skills such as reading, writing andmathematics. The presence of learning difficulties at the infantile stage can affect the development of these academic skillsduring the period of compulsory schooling. Development. Some children show learning difficulties in their earliest years.Early learning difficulties refer specifically to those problems that occur in the time between birth and the age of six andwhich reduce the chances of accomplishing the skills and knowledge that are typically acquired during the stage of infancy.There is a correlation between these problems and difficulties linked to cognition, to attention, perception and memoryprocesses, to language skills involving both comprehension and expression, and to visuospatial processing. Their aetiologyinvolves neuropsychological, social and cultural factors, as well as others that derive from the actual learning processesthemselves. Following an interdisciplinary model using development scales, psychometric tests and neurodevelopmentalmonitoring will allow an early diagnosis to be reached. The intervention will be carried out in the medical, social,educational and family areas, and will focus on the aspects that favour maturing, development and the learning of curricularmaterial. Conclusion. The new socio-educational scenario makes it necessary to attend to early learning difficulties ininfants’ education. Prevention and early attention offer guidelines and strategies to deal with them in a satisfactory manner

Characterization of a DNA mismatch-binding activity in yeast extracts.

An activity present in nuclear extracts of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae binds specifically to oligonucleotides containing DNA mismatches, as judged by a band shift assay. The specificity of this activity for mismatched DNA was confirmed by competition experiments; binding to radiolabeled heteroduplexes was abolished in the presence of excess unlabeled heteroduplex but not when excess unlabeled homoduplex was added. Both T/G and T/- (single base deletion) mispairs were recognized in each of two sequence contexts. Binding was also observed with G/G, G/A, A/C, and T/C mismatches, but recognition of a C/C mispair was very weak. Competition studies with the various mismatches were consistent with the idea that a single activity recognizes all mispairs tested. Extracts from strains mutant in either or both of two putative mismatch recognition functions, MSH2 and MSH3, were also tested. Mismatch-binding activity was present in extracts of msh3- strains but completely absent in msh2- strains. The molecular weight of the major binding protein was estimated by UV cross-linking experiments to be approximately 110 kDa, in good agreement with the size predicted for Msh2 protein (Reenan, R. A. and Kolodner, R. D. (1992) Genetics 132, 963-973).

Purification of a novel insulin-stimulated protein kinase from rat liver.

We previously described a novel insulin-stimulated protein kinase activity that phosphorylates Kemptide (Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly) in cytosolic extracts of adipocytes (Yu, K-T., Khalaf, N., and Czech, M. P. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 16677-16685). In the present experiments, cytosolic extracts of livers from insulin-treated rats also exhibited a 30-100% increase in this Kemptide kinase activity and served as an abundant source for purification. The Kemptide kinase was purified in parallel from liver extracts of insulin-treated or control rats through five chromatographic steps and one polyethylene glycol precipitation. The chromatographic behavior of the insulin-stimulated Kemptide kinase differed significantly from the control kinase on Mono Q and heparin-Sepharose resins. The purified kinase preparations retain insulin stimulations of 2-10-fold. Analysis of the purified control and insulin-stimulated kinases by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed single bands with similar silver staining intensity and apparent molecular masses of 52 kDa. The insulin-stimulated Kemptide phosphorylating activity also coincided with the major silver-stained band following isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels. The stimulation of kinase activity in response to administration of insulin is due to an increase in Vmax, whereas the Km for Kemptide (0.3 mM) is unchanged. The apparent molecular mass of the native kinase determined by gel filtration is approximately 50 kDa, suggesting that it exists as a monomer. Either Mg2+ or Mn2+ serve as cofactors for the kinase which phosphorylates a variety of basic substrates including a number of peptides and histones. The activity of the Kemptide kinase is not changed by several compounds that have been shown to modulate other kinases. Based on these data, we conclude 1) a novel insulin-sensitive Kemptide kinase in liver cytosol has been purified to near homogeneity, and 2) insulin administration acutely modulates the specific activity of this Kemptide kinase in livers of intact rats.