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A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer social intervention. This study tested longer-term maintenance of effects for children who completed both interventions. A total of 103 children (ages 6-12 years) on the autism spectrum enrolled and 102 completed the initial RCT. Following the summer social intervention, 90 children from the original RCT completed the longer-term follow-up study. In addition to baseline and posttest in the initial RCT, children from both groups were tested at three follow-up points (five total testing points). At the time of first longitudinal follow-up testing, the children were 1.25-4.25 years post-intervention (ages 8-15 years). Longitudinal multilevel model analyses (and follow-up contrasts) revealed significant improvements for both groups post-intervention on measures of emotion recognition, autism features, and social skills, indicating maintenance of post-intervention improvements over the three follow-up testing points. No between-group differences were found for autism features or social skills over time; however, the school social intervention may have yielded somewhat better emotion recognition skills. Exploratory tests found that child IQ, language level, and length of time since completing the intervention did not moderate outcomes. Both social interventions yielded positive and durable longer-term improvements for children on the autism spectrum. [ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03338530; November 8, 2017; original retrospectively registered trial]., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Campylobacter spp. are a leading cause of bacterial foodborne zoonosis worldwide, with poultry meat and products recognised as a significant source of human infection. In Vietnam there are few data regarding the occurrence, antimicrobial resistance, and genomic diversity of Campylobacter in poultry and poultry meat. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Campylobacter in chicken meat at retail in Hanoi, determine antimicrobial sensitivities of the Campylobacter isolated, and assess their genetic diversity. A total of 120 chicken meat samples were collected from eight traditional retail markets ( n =80) and four supermarkets ( n =40). Campylobacter was isolated following ISO 10272-1 : 2017 and identification verified by PCR. The prevalence of Campylobacter was 38.3 % (46/120) and C. coli was the most prevalent species in both retail markets (74 %) and supermarkets (88 %). The minimum inhibitory concentrations for ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, and tetracycline were determined by broth microdilution for 32 isolates. All characterised Campylobacter were resistant to ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and tetracycline, with corresponding resistance determinants detected in the sequenced genomes. Most C. coli were multidrug resistant (24/28) and two harboured the erythromycin resistance gene ermB on a multiple drug-resistance genomic island, a potential mechanism for dissemination of resistance. The 32 isolates belonged to clonal complexes associated with both poultry and people, such as CC828 for C. coli . These results contribute to the One Health approach for addressing Campylobacter in Vietnam by providing detailed new insights into a main source of human infection and can inform the design of future surveillance approaches.

Children with ASD are more likely to be involved in bullying compared to typically developing peers; however, studies rarely examine bullying perpetration and the contributing factors among this population. The primary aim of this study was to examine the extent to which parent-reported ASD symptoms, social skills, and comorbid externalizing and internalizing symptoms predicted bullying perpetration in a sample of 390 children with ASD without intellectual disability. Findings from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that social skill deficits, externalizing symptoms (i.e., hyperactivity, aggression, and conduct problems), and depressive symptoms were associated with higher likelihood of bullying perpetration, while severity of ASD symptoms and anxiety were not significant predictors. Further research is needed to better understand bullying perpetration among children with ASD., (© 2022. This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

This study assessed the potential short-term effects of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on ratings of ASD and comorbid symptoms severity and adaptive functioning of 69 youth, ages 8-16 years with ASD without intellectual disability. Parent/caregiver ratings were being collected in fall and spring over approximately two years when the restrictions were imposed four months prior to the final data collection point. Results indicated no significant changes in parent/caregiver ratings of ASD symptom severity, comorbid symptoms severity, social skills, or adaptive behaviors following the stay-at-home restrictions and little variability across the four data collection points. Although findings suggested minimal short-term effects on these symptoms and adaptive skills, ongoing monitoring is needed to assess longer-term impacts., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021.)

Objective: This study tested the efficacy of an intensive outpatient psychosocial treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID). Method: Eighty-eight children (ages 7-12 years) were randomly assigned to the treatment or control (waitlist) condition. The 18-week cognitive-behavioral treatment (two 90-min sessions per week) included small-group instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social/social-communication skills, face-emotion recognition, nonliteral language skills, and interest expansion. A behavioral system was used to increase skills development and reduce ASD symptoms. Efficacy was tested immediately following treatment (posttest), with maintenance assessed 4-6 weeks later (follow-up). Measures included parent ratings of the children's social/social-communication skills, ASD symptoms, broad social skills, and behavior symptoms, child tests of social-cognitive skills (emotion recognition and nonliteral language), and behavioral observations. Results: Significant effects favoring the treatment group were found at posttest on the primary measures of ASD symptoms (Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition; Constantino & Gruber, 2012) and social/social-communication skills (Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist; Lopata, Thomeer, Volker, Nida & Lee, 2008), and secondary measures of nonliteral language skills, broad social skills, and behavior symptoms (measures of emotion-recognition skills and social behaviors during structured game sessions were non-significant). The significant treatment effects found at posttest were all maintained at follow-up. Conclusions: The outpatient treatment improved several core areas of functioning for children with ASD without ID. Additional elements may be needed to expand the efficacy of the treatment so that the observed skills/symptom improvements generalize to social interactions during gameplay.

Objectives: The present research used a continuous measurement approach to extend the evidence that autism is associated with significant struggles in physical health as well as mental health and psychological well-being., Methods: The relationship of autism characteristics to physical health and psychological well-being was examined in 294 individuals (M age = 70.51, SD age = 8.17, age range = 53-96). The sample is 57.4% female (n = 166) and primarily White (n = 270, 96.8%). The majority of the participants did not identify as having an autism diagnosis (n = 284, 96.6%). Participants completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale alongside self-report measures of physical health, mental health, and psychological well-being., Results: Autism characteristics correlated strongly with challenges in social engagement due to poor health (r = 0.46), depression (r = 0.39) and anxiety (r = 0.47), limitations due to poor mental health (r = 0.41), satisfaction with life (r = -0.47), and psychological well-being (r = -0.62)., Discussion: These findings help shed light on the challenges experienced by individuals aging with elevated autism characteristics. The limitations of this study and prior work on this topic help identify important avenues for future research in this area., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)