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Research

Prescriptions and use of medications to treat mental health conditions in young autistic populations are inconsistent worldwide. This makes it hard to compare findings from international studies to the Australian autistic population, where there are limited relevant studies. Apart from risperidone, there are no other medications specified for direct use in autistic persons. This study aims to gain initial broad understanding of the use of medications, commonly prescribed for mental health conditions, specifically by autistics under the age of 21 years.

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Children who have an older sibling diagnosed with autism have an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with autism or developing broader developmental difficulties. This study explored perinatal experiences of parents of a child diagnosed with autism, spanning pre-conception until the subsequent child’s early developmental period.

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The aim of the present study was to compare scale and conditional reliability derived from item response theory analyses among the most commonly used, as well as several newly developed, observation, interview, and parent-report autism instruments.

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Little is known about parent preferences regarding delivery methods of early interventions. This research examined, through parent report, the current and preferred delivery methods of seven common educational early interventions accessed by New Zealand children with autism spectrum disorder.

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Measures of autistic traits are only useful – for pre-diagnostic screening, exploring individual differences, and gaining personal insight – if they efficiently and accurately assess autism as currently conceptualised while maintaining psychometric validity across different demographic groups. We recruited 1322 autistic and 1279 non-autistic adults who varied in autism status (non-autistic, diagnosed autistic, self-identifying autistic) and gender (cisgender men, cisgender women, gender diverse) to assess the psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory, a recently developed measure of autistic traits that examines six trait domains using 42 self-report statements.

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Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed to manage anxiety in adults with an autism diagnosis. However, their effectiveness and adverse effect profile in the autistic population are not well known. This trial aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the SSRI sertraline in reducing symptoms of anxiety and improving quality of life in adults with a diagnosis of autism compared with placebo and to quantify any adverse effects. 

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Mothers with asthma or atopy have a higher likelihood of having autistic children, with maternal immune activation in pregnancy implicated as a mechanism. This study aimed to determine, in a prospective cohort of mothers with asthma and their infants, whether inflammatory gene expression in pregnancy is associated with likelihood of future autism. 

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Reduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli.

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The study of temperament in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has the potential to provide insight regarding variability in the onset, nature, and course of both core and co-morbid symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to integrate existing findings concerning temperament in the context of ASD. Searches of Medline, PsychInfo and Scopus databases identified 64 relevant studies. As a group, children and adolescents with ASD appear to be temperamentally different from both typically developing and other clinical non-ASD groups, characterized by higher negative affectivity, lower surgency, and lower effortful control at a higher-order level.

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Parents continue to support to autistic university students, and consequently, experience considerable stress. The aim was to explore the experiences of parents of specialist peer mentored university students and to examine these using the ICF as a theoretical framework.