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      Acoustic Hyper-Reactivity and Negatively Skewed Locomotor Activity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Exploratory Study

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          Abstract

          Investigation of objective and quantitative behavioral phenotypes along with neurobiological endophenotypes might lead to increased knowledge of the mechanisms that underlie autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Here, we investigated the association between locomotor dynamics and characteristics of the acoustic startle response (ASR) and its modulation in ASD ( n = 14) and typically developing (TD, n = 13) children. The ASR was recorded in response to acoustic stimuli in increments of 10 dB (65–105 dB SPL). We calculated the average ASR magnitude for each stimulus intensity and peak-ASR latency. Locomotor activity was continuously measured with a watch-type actigraph. We examined statistics of locomotor activity, such as mean activity levels and the skewness of activity. Children with ASD had a significantly greater ASR magnitude in response to a weak acoustic stimulus, which reflects acoustic hyper-reactivity. The skewness of all-day activity was significantly more negative in children with ASD than those with TD. Skewness of daytime activity was also more negative, although only of borderline statistical significance. For all children, the higher mean and more negatively skewed daytime activity, reflecting hyperactivity that was associated with sporadic large daytime “troughs,” was significantly correlated with acoustic hyper-reactivity. The more negatively skewed locomotor activity occurring in the daytime was also associated with impaired sensorimotor gating, examined as prepulse inhibition at a prepulse intensity of 70 dB. This comprehensive investigation of locomotor dynamics and the ASR extends our understanding of the neurophysiology that underlies ASD.

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          Most cited references40

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          Automatic sleep/wake identification from wrist activity.

          The purpose of this study was to develop and validate automatic scoring methods to distinguish sleep from wakefulness based on wrist activity. Forty-one subjects (18 normals and 23 with sleep or psychiatric disorders) wore a wrist actigraph during overnight polysomnography. In a randomly selected subsample of 20 subjects, candidate sleep/wake prediction algorithms were iteratively optimized against standard sleep/wake scores. The optimal algorithms obtained for various data collection epoch lengths were then prospectively tested on the remaining 21 subjects. The final algorithms correctly distinguished sleep from wakefulness approximately 88% of the time. Actigraphic sleep percentage and sleep latency estimates correlated 0.82 and 0.90, respectively, with corresponding parameters scored from the polysomnogram (p < 0.0001). Automatic scoring of wrist activity provides valuable information about sleep and wakefulness that could be useful in both clinical and research applications.
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            Sensory processing in autism: a review of neurophysiologic findings.

            Atypical sensory-based behaviors are a ubiquitous feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In this article, we review the neural underpinnings of sensory processing in autism by reviewing the literature on neurophysiological responses to auditory, tactile, and visual stimuli in autistic individuals. We review studies of unimodal sensory processing and multisensory integration that use a variety of neuroimaging techniques, including electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and functional MRI. We then explore the impact of covert and overt attention on sensory processing. With additional characterization, neurophysiologic profiles of sensory processing in ASD may serve as valuable biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic interventions for autism and reveal potential strategies and target brain regions for therapeutic interventions.
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              Sleep behaviors and sleep quality in children with autism spectrum disorders.

              (1) Compare sleep behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with sleep behaviors of typically developing (TD) children using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ); (2) compare sleep quality--defined as mean activity, sleep latency, number of awakenings, sleep efficiency and total sleep time--of the cohort of children with ASD and TD, as measured by 10 nights of actigraphy; and (3) estimate the prevalence of sleep disturbances in the ASD and TD cohorts. Descriptive cross-sectional study. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Randomly selected children from the Regional Autism Center. The ASD cohort of 59 children, aged 4 to 10 years, (26 with autism, 21 with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified [PDD-NOS], and 12 with Asperger disorder) were compared with 40 TD control subjects. The CSHQ, sleep diaries, and 10 nights of actigraphy using the Sadeh algorithm of children with ASD and TD control subjects were compared. CSHQ showed 66.1% of parents of children with ASD (62.5% autism, 76.2% PDD-NOS, 58.3% Asperger disorder) and 45% of parents of the control subjects reported that their children had sleep problems. Actigraphic data showed that 66.7% of children with ASD (75% autism, 52.4% PDD-NOS, 75% Asperger disorder) and 45.9% of the control subjects had disturbed sleep. The prevalence estimate of 45% for mild sleep disturbances in the TD cohort highlights pediatric sleep debt as a public health problem of concern. The prevalence estimate of 66% for moderate sleep disturbances in the ASD cohort underscores the significant sleep problems that the families of these children face. The predominant sleep disorders in the ASD cohort were behavioral insomnia sleep-onset type and insomnia due to PDD.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Psychiatry
                Front Psychiatry
                Front. Psychiatry
                Frontiers in Psychiatry
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-0640
                06 August 2018
                2018
                : 9
                : 355
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry , Tokyo, Japan
                [2] 2Department of Advanced Neuroimaging, Integrative Brain Imaging Centerm, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry , Tokyo, Japan
                [3] 3Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo , 2Tokyo, Japan
                [4] 4Department of Psychosomatic Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry , Tokyo, Japan
                [5] 5Department of Stress Sciences and Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo , Tokyo, Japan
                [6] 6Stockholm Center for Health and Social Change, Södertörn University , Huddinge, Sweden
                Author notes

                Edited by: Kenji Hashimoto, Chiba University, Japan

                Reviewed by: Ryuichiro Hashimoto, Showa University School of Medicine, Japan; Mitsuru Kikuchi, Kanazawa University, Japan

                *Correspondence: Hidetoshi Takahashi htakahashi@ 123456ncnp.go.jp

                This article was submitted to Psychopathology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry

                Article
                10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00355
                6088201
                30127755
                38c5d71c-f086-4dc6-8cff-321e4f3e2266
                Copyright © 2018 Takahashi, Nakamura, Kim, Kikuchi, Nakahachi, Ishitobi, Ebishima, Yoshiuchi, Ando, Stickley, Yamamoto and Kamio.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 07 February 2018
                : 16 July 2018
                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 2, Equations: 0, References: 45, Pages: 7, Words: 5804
                Categories
                Psychiatry
                Original Research

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                acoustic hyper-reactivity,acoustic startle reflex,autism spectrum disorders,endophenotypes,locomotor activity,prepulse inhibition,sensorimotor gating

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