AUTISM AND ASPERGER SYNDROME--NUEROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION

本项目的重点是自闭症的发展心理病理学 和其他普遍存在的发育性疾病。与使命一致 在计划项目中，这项工作具有很强的跨学科性质 大自然。本文提出了四项相关研究。前两项研究是 关注疾病在个体之间的区别。 自闭症谱系的高功能端： 阿斯伯格综合征(AS)与高功能自闭症(HFA)相关。 可能被诊断为AS或HFA的个人将被评估 在神经心理学和精神病学上，一级学位也是如此 以确定患者亲属的家族性模式 AS和HFA症状和神经心理学特征的聚集。 还将评估该综合征在家庭成员中的表现。 初步研究显示了独特的神经心理学特征 与该条件相关联。现象学的其他方面，遗传学， 并进行神经病理学检查。这部作品使用了一个大型的和 独一无二的合格对象池。这项工作既涉及到 阿斯伯格综合征概念的有效性和特征 就像识别神经心理学和其他因素一样， 将它与自闭症区分开来；一个更长期的目标是这一点的延伸 致力于自闭症的所有功能障碍。几行 有证据表明AS和AS的潜在神经解剖学相关性 氢氟烷烃。 作为该项目的一部分，将收集磁共振图像数据 对(年龄较大的)受试者中的一个子样本进行评估 神经病理相关。聚焦的形态假说将是 测试基于观察到的AS患者有很高的 表现出非语言学习障碍特征的概率 被假设为特别反映白质的某些方面 功能障碍。 本项目范围内的最终研究涉及评估 AS和HFA的药物治疗。这项工作是基于Pilot 研究表明，患有这些疾病的人表现出 高水平的强迫症/仪式性行为可能会对 一种选择性5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂。四十个人将成为 参加该药物的双盲、安慰剂对照研究 (氟伏沙明)；药物反应将与诊断状态和 5-羟色胺能活动的测量。

This Project Area focuses on the developmental psychopathology of Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Consistent with the mission of the Program Project, this work is strongly interdisciplinary in nature. Four related studies are proposed. The first two studies are concerned with the differentiation of disorders among individuals at the higher functioning end of the spectrum of autism: the validity of Asperger syndrome (AS) relative to Higher-Functioning Autism (HFA). Individuals with a possible diagnosis of AS or HFA will be assessed neuropsychologically and psychiatrically, as will be the first-degree relatives of the patients in order to determine the pattern of familial aggregation of AS and HFA symptoms and neuropsychological profiles. Expression of the syndrome in family members will also be assessed. Preliminary work has suggested distinctive neuropsychological profiles associated with the condition. Other aspects of phenomenology, genetics, and neuropathology will be examined. This work makes use of a large and unique pool of eligible subjects. This work is concerned both with the validity and characterization of the Asperger syndrome concept as well as with the identification of neuropsychological and other factors that differentiate it from autism; a longer-term goal is the extension of this work to the entire range of dysfunction in autism. Several lines of evidence have suggested potential neuroanatomical correlates of AS and HFA. As part of this Project, Magnetic Resonance Image data will be collected on a subsample of (older) subjects to evaluate hypothesized neuropathological correlates. Focused morphological hypotheses will be tested based on the observation that individuals with AS have a high probability of exhibiting the nonverbal learning disability profile which has been hypothesized to particularly reflect aspects of white matter dysfunction. The final study within this Project Area is concerned with evaluating pharmacological treatments for AS and HFA. This work is based on pilot studies that suggest that individuals with these conditions who exhibit high levels of obsessive/ritualistic behavior may respond favorably to a selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Forty individuals will be enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of this agent (fluvoxamine); drug response will be related to diagnostic status and measures of serotonergic activity.