The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) is widely used to measure autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and screen for ASD. It is readily available free of charge online and is easily accessible to practitioners, researchers and individuals who suspect that they may have an ASD. Thus, the AQ is a potentially useful, widely accessible tool for ASD screening. The objective of this study was to examin...

Sensory processing abnormalities are common in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and now form part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th Edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria, but it is unclear whether they characterize the 'broader phenotype' of the disorder. We recruited adults (n = 772) with and without an ASD and administered the Autism Quotient (AQ) along with the Adult/Adolescent Sens...

The factor structure of the Dutch translation of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ; a continuous, quantitative measure of autistic traits) was evaluated with confirmatory factor analyses in a large general population and student sample. The criterion validity of the AQ was examined in three matched patient groups (autism spectrum conditions (ASC), social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsiv...

We explored the relationships between 'autistic' traits as measured by the AQ (Autism-Spectrum Quotient; Baron-Cohen et al., J. Autism Develop. Disord. (2001b) 31 5) and various personality traits or cognitive ability, which usually coincide with autistic symptoms, for general populations. Results showed the AQ was associated with tendencies toward an obsessional personality as defined by the T...

This study reports on the development and validation of an abridged version of the 50-item Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a self-report measure of autistic traits. We aimed to reduce the number of items whilst retaining high validity and a meaningful factor structure. The item reduction procedure was performed on data from 1,263 Dutch students and general population adults. The resulting 28-ite...

Ligninolytic fungi are unique among eukaryotes in their ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but the mechanism for this process is unknown. Although certain PAHs are oxidized in vitro by the fungal lignin peroxidases (LiPs) that catalyze ligninolysis, it has never been shown that LiPs initiate PAH degradation in vivo. To address these problems, the metabolism of anthracen...

Buss and Perry (1992) developed the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) to assess aggressiveness as a personality trait in high school and college samples. The AQ has been used by researchers in United States, Italy, Germany, Netherland, Japan, Canada, and Greece. The present study is reported on an Arabic adapted version of the AQ among a sample of 510 Egyptian high school students. An exploratory f...

Many larval sponges possess pigment ring eyes that apparently mediate phototactic swimming. Yet sponges are not known to possess nervous systems or opsin genes, so the unknown molecular components of sponge phototaxis must differ fundamentally from those in other animals, inspiring questions about how this sensory system functions. Here we present molecular and biochemical data on cryptochrome,...

The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) has been used to define the 'broader' (BAP), 'medium' (MAP) and 'narrow' autism phenotypes (NAP). We used a new Italian version of the AQ to test if difference on AQ scores and the distribution of BAP, MAP and NAP in autism parents (n = 245) versus control parents (n = 300) were replicated in a Sicilian sample. Parents of children with autism spectrum condition...

The revised attribution questionnaire (r-AQ) measures mental illness stigma. This study's purpose is to evaluate the factor structure of the (r-AQ) and examine the validity of the factor structure in adolescents. A convenience sample (n = 210) of adolescents completed the r-AQ and these data were used in exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). The EFA established a five item s...