Search results for "Autism."
showing 10 items of 454 documents
Emotional intelligence modulates cortisol awakening response and self-reported health in caregivers of people with autism spectrum disorders
2014
Abstract Caring for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has negative consequences for caregivers’ health. Specifically, caregivers of people with ASDs have been observed to have more somatic symptoms, poorer self-perceived general health, poorer social functioning and altered immune and endocrine systems. Various positive variables including emotional intelligence (EI) have been found to protect health in several populations, but no studies have previously analyzed the effect of EI in caregivers of people with ASDs. The present study aimed to analyze the association of the three components of EI (attention, clarity and repair) with self-reported health and cortisol awakening respon…
A Mindfulness-Based Program Improves Health in Caregivers of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Pilot Study
2014
Mindfulness-based interventions have demonstrated to be effective in reducing stress and health complaints in clinical populations. However, to our knowledge, biological health markers have not been used in studies of the effectiveness of mindfulness programs in caregivers of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study aimed to assess the effects of a mindfulness intervention on mood disturbances and health complaints in this population compared with non-caregivers. The design of the study was quasi-experimental, with repeated measures. Self-reported health, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and afternoon cortisol levels before and after a mindfulness session were assessed at …
Electrodermal activity in response to a set of mental tasks in caregivers of persons with autism spectrum disorders
2011
IntroductionAnalysing reactivity to laboratory stressor in lab is a valid model for understanding how people act in real-life situations. Electrodermal activity is a good index of emotionality, which has not been analysed in caregivers of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs).Objectives and aimsThis work aims to compare the response of electrodermal activity to mental stress between caregivers of ASDs people and controls, as the former could show a different response due to their particular situation characterised by a state of continuous alert.MethodsParents of both genders of people with (n = 44) or without (n = 42) ASDs carried out a set of different mental tasks. Skin Conductanc…
Prevalencia de los trastornos del espectro autista: revisión de datos
2016
Published data on the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders point to a significant increase in this indicator. This increase is being studied in numerous publications of analysis, meta-analysis and systematic reviews. The prevalence indicates the proportion of people who suffer at a given time or are diagnosed with a disease. The consequences of the increasing prevalence are relevant from the point of health, social and educational, but especially relevant when as is the case, the cause of the disorder is unknown. It is in this sense that the prevalence study gains importance in order to delimit various circumstances that may give clues to the possible cause or causes that generate disord…
Intellectual disabilitiy in developmental age
2015
Intellectual disability (ID) is a neurodevelopmental dis- order characterized by deficits in intellectual and adap- tive functioning that present before 18 years of age [1]. ID is heterogeneous in etiology and encompasses a broad spectrum of functioning, disability, needs and strengths. Originally formulated in strictly psychometric terms as performance greater than 2.5 SDs below the mean on intelligence testing, the conceptualisation of ID has been extended to include defects in adaptive beha- viours [2]. The term-global developmental delay-(GDD) is usually used to describe children younger than 5-years of age who fail to meet expected developmental milestones in multiple areas of intellec…
Anthropometric measurements and nutritional assessment in autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review
2015
Abstract Adequate nutrient intake is essential for health. Due to food selectivity and restrictive diets, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have impaired nutritional status, which could affect their growth. We present a systematic review of publications (1970–2013) on anthropometric measurements and nutritional assessment in this population. The limited research published on growth and nutritional status has found contradictory results. Nutritional assessment has indicated limited food variety in the ASD population but has not confirmed significant differences with respect to recommended intakes or controls. In addition to the lack of control groups, studies in this area have s…
Endocrine Disruptors and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Pregnancy: A Review and Evaluation of the Quality of the Epidemiological Evidence
2018
Exposure to environmental contaminants during pregnancy has been linked to adverse health outcomes later in life. Notable among these pollutants are the endocrine disruptors chemicals (EDCs), which are ubiquitously present in the environment and they have been measured and quantified in the fetus. In this systematic review, our objective was to summarize the epidemiological research on the potential association between prenatal exposure to EDCs and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) published from 2005 to 2016. The Navigation Guide Systematic Review Methodology was applied. A total of 17 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review, including: five cohorts and 12 case-control. According t…
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of Macula and Optic Nerve in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study
2020
The aim of this study was to compare retinal thicknesses and vascular parameters between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (NT) individuals. Recruited ASD subjects and age- and sex-matched NT controls underwent 2 optical coherence tomography scans (OCT) (macular cube and optic nerve cube) and 2 OCT angiography (OCTA) scans (macular and optic nerve head (ONH) OCTA) with the device Cirrus 5000 (Zeiss). Concerning OCT, we considered full retina thickness in 9 macular sectors of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) pattern and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness in 4 quadrants and 12 clock-hour sectors. Vessel density and capillary perfusion…
Assistive Technologies and Autism Spectrum Disorders
2015
This chapter discusses assistive technologies applied in people with autism spectrum disorders and how these technologies promote their adaptation. We analyzed different technological application areas such as detection, assessment, diagnosis, intervention, training, learning, environment control, communication, mobility, and access. In recent years there has been a notable increase of publications and works related to the use of assistive technologies applied to Autism Spectrum Disorders. While most of the publications present novel systems, devices, and applications (smartphones, tablets, robots, avatars, etc.), general evaluation of the results is insufficient. Future lines of research a…
The impact of modern jazz dance on the electrical brain activity
2018
AbstractDance as one of the earliest cultural assets of mankind is practised in different cultures, mostly for wellbeing or for treating psycho-physiological disorders like Parkinson, depression, autism. However, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms are still unclear and only few studies address the effects of particular dance styles. For a first impression, we were interested in the effects of modern jazz dance (MJD) on the brain activation that would contribute to the understanding of these mechanisms. 11 female subjects rehearsed a MJD choreography for three weeks (1h per week) and passed electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements in a crossover-design thereafter. The objectives …