background symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (asd) are commonly observed in children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd). these symptoms might underlie social and functional impairment in such children. the existing classification systems do not allow for diagnosing both conditions in children. objectives this study aimed to assess the presence of asd in a hospita...

Autism is a neurodevelopmental behavioral disorder with unknown etiology characterized by impairment of social contact and communication, restricted and repetitive interest and behaviors. The aim of the current study is to explore possible role of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and serum myelin basic protein (MBP) auto-antibody in autism spectrum disorders. The study was conducted at ...

Rett disorder and autistic disorder are both pervasive developmental disorders. Recent studies indicate that at least 80% of Rett Disorder cases are caused by mutations in the methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) gene. Since there is some phenotypic overlap between autistic disorder and Rett disorder, we analyzed 69 females clinically diagnosed with autistic disorder for the presence of mutatio...

Data on autism are lacking for Libya. We conducted a hospital-based study in the Neurodevelopment Clinic of AI-Khadra Hospital in Tripoli to estimate the prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in children attending the clinic. All children referred to the clinic between 2005 and 2009 with a diagnosis of speech and language disorders or behavioural difficulties were assessed. There were 38 50...

BACKGROUND The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) is a schedule for the diagnosis of autistic spectrum and related disorders and assessment of individual needs. It enables information to be recorded systematically for a wide range of behaviours and developmental skills and is suitable for use with all ages and levels of ability. In addition to helping the clinic...

This article reviews epidemiological studies of autism and related disorders. Study designs and sample characteristics are summarized. Currently, conservative prevalence estimates are: 13/10000 for autistic disorder, 21/10000 for pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified, 2.6/10000 for Asperger disorder, and 2/100000 for childhood disintegrative disorder. Newer surveys suggest t...

Autism spectrum disorder is a heterogeneous disorder of brain development with wide ranging cognitive deficits. Typically diagnosed before age 3, autism spectrum disorder is behaviorally defined but patients are thought to have protracted alterations in brain maturation. With longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we mapped an anomalous developmental trajectory of the brains of autistic...

BACKGROUND Joint attention skills are impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recently, varying degrees of autistic social attention deficit have been detected in the general population. We investigated gaze-triggered attention in individuals with high and low levels of autistic traits under visual-auditory cross-modal conditions, which are more sensitive to social attentio...