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High quality science relies upon psychometrically valid and reliable measurement, yet very few Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) have been developed or thoroughly validated for use with autistic individuals. Based on discussion at the Special Interest Group (SIG) at the 2022 International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting and collective expertise of the authors, we summarize the current state of autism PROM science. First, we identify current issues in autism PROM research including content and construct operationalization, informant-structure, measure accessibility, and measure validation and generalization. We then enumerate barriers to conducting and disseminating this research, such as a lack of guidance, concerns regarding funding and time, lack of accessible training and professionals with psychometric skills, difficulties collecting large representative samples, and challenges with dissemination. Lastly, we offer future priorities and resources to improve PROMs in autism research including a need to continue to evaluate and develop PROMs for autism using robust methods, prioritize diverse and representative samples, expand the breadth of psychometric properties and techniques, and to consider developing field specific guidelines. We remain extremely optimistic about the future directions of this area of autism research. This work is well positioned to have an immense, positive impact on our scientific understanding of autism and the everyday lives of autistic people and their families.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide among women, and angiogenesis has an important effect on its growth and metastasis. Glipizide, which is a widely used drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus, has been reported to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis by upregulating the expression of natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA). Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), the receptor of NPRA, plays an important role in angiogenesis. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of glipizide combined with ANP on breast cancer growth and metastasis. Methods: This study aimed at investigating the effect of glipizide combined with ANP on breast cancer. Glipizide, ANP, or glipizide combined with ANP was intraperitoneally injected into MMTV-PyMT mice. To explore whether the anticancer efficacy of glipizide combined with ANP was correlated with angiogenesis, a tube formation assay was performed. Results: Glipizide combined with ANP was found to inhibit breast cancer growth and metastasis in MMTV-PyMT mice, which spontaneously develop breast cancer. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of ANP combined with glipizide was better than that of glipizide alone. ANP combined with glipizide significantly inhibited tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by suppressing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) signaling. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that glipizide combined with ANP has a greater potential than glipizide alone to be repurposed as an effective agent for the treatment of breast cancer by targeting tumor-induced angiogenesis.

BackgroundResearch and clinical practice rely heavily on caregiver-report measures, such as the Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5), to gather information about early childhood behavior problems and to screen for clinically significant behavior problems. While studies have shown that demographic variables influence ratings of behavior problems, the extent to which the CBCL/1.5-5 functions equivalently at the item level across diverse samples is unknown.MethodsItem-level data of CBCL/1.5-5 on a large sample of young children (N=7827) were drawn from 26 cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. Factor analyses and the alignment method were applied to examine measurement invariance and differential item functioning (DIF) across child- (child age, sex, bilingual status, and neurodevelopmental disorders), and caregiver-level characteristics (caregiver sex, education level, household income level, and depression). Child race was examined in sensitivity analyses.ResultsItem sets with the most impactful DIF across child and caregiver groupings were identified for Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems. The robust item sets, which excluded the high DIF items, showed good reliabilities and high correlations with the original scales for all three constructs. Language version of CBCL administration, caregiver education, and respondent sex showed the most significant impact on the measurement invariance, followed by child age. Sensitivity analyses revealed that child race has a unique impact on DIF over and above socioeconomic status.ConclusionsThe CBCL/1.5-5, a parent-report measure of early childhood behavior problems, showed bias across demographic groups. Robust item sets with less DIF can measure Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems equally as well as the full item sets.

PurposeDaily mood can be influenced by a range of experiences. Identifying everyday life experiences that make autistic adults happy and unhappy holds potential to foster positive mood and tackle mental health problems amongst this group.MethodsA total of 293 autistic adults between the ages of 18 to 35 years old (mean age of 26.51 years old (SD = 4.62); 43.3% female gender, 4.8% nonbinary) provided open-text responses regarding everyday sources of happiness and unhappiness. Using an iterative process of inductive coding, 14 happy themes and 22 unhappy themes of mood-changing life experiences were identified based on self-report qualitative data.ResultsCommon themes across the happy and unhappy domain involved social partners, social interactions, and engagement in recreational and employment activities, with additional distinct themes specific to happy or unhappy mood. Top themes identified in the happy domain emphasizes encouraging quality relationships and positive interactions with others and cultivating supportive work/societal environments to build a sense of achievement and value. Meanwhile, emotional tolls accompanied negative relationships and interactions, underscoring the necessity to provide autistic adults with conflict resolution and coping skills to increase feelings of happiness.ConclusionOverall, the wide range of sources of happy and unhappy everyday experiences highlights the importance of considering personal preferences in engagement with others and activities in treatment.

Baseline child characteristics may predict treatment outcomes in children with or at elevated likelihood of developing autism (EL-ASD). Little is known about the role of child sensory and language features on treatment outcome. Participants were randomly assigned to a parent-mediated intervention or control condition. Analyses explored the relationship between baseline child sensory and language characteristics and changes in ASD symptoms over approximately 9 months. Higher baseline sensory hyporeactivity was significantly related to less improvement in social communication (SC) for the treatment group only. More baseline atypical vocalizations were significantly related to less improvement on SC across treatment and control groups. This work provides an initial framework to encourage the tailoring of interventions for EL-ASD children, suggesting sensory reactivity and atypical vocalizations may be useful behaviors to consider in treatment planning.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high rates of both unemployment and depression. Though job loss predicts increased risk of depression in the general population, studies have yet to directly examine this relationship among individuals with ASD. With the backdrop of rising unemployment due to COVID-19, we used a longitudinal design to examine whether employment changes predicted increasing depressive symptoms among young adults with ASD. Online surveys were collected from young adults with ASD at two times: just before widespread social distancing measures were adopted in the United States, and again 10 weeks later. Both time points included measurement of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-2). At Time 2, COVID-related employment changes and the perceived impact of those changes on well-being were collected. Of the young adults who were employed at Time 1 (n=144), over one-third (37.5%) reported employment changes during the first 2 months of COVID-19. Most of this change was job loss or reductions in hours or pay ("job loss/reduction"). Controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms, young adults who experienced job loss/reduction had significantly higher depressive symptoms at Time 2 than those without an employment change. Individuals' perceived impact of employment change also predicted depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that losing a job or experiencing reductions in hours or pay leads to worsening depressive symptoms among adults with ASD. Better supporting autistic adults in the workplace may not only decrease the likelihood of job loss, but also combat the exceedingly high rates of depression in this group. LAY SUMMARY: Though unemployment has been linked to mental health problems in the general population, this relationship is seldom considered among adults with autism. In this study, we found that adults on the autism spectrum who lost their jobs or experienced reductions in pay or hours during the first 2 months of COVID-19 had worsening depression compared to adults who did not have job changes. Our findings suggest that increasing access to employment may help alleviate poor mental health among autistic adults.

Background: Psoriasis vulgaris (PsV) is an immune-mediated skin disease of unknown mechanism. Interleukin 33 (IL-33) is a member of IL-1 cytokine family and suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) is the specific ligand of IL-33. It has been found that IL-33 and ST2 are increased in psoriatic lesions, but the expression levels in serum and their relationship to clinical features are still unclear. The aim of this study is to assess IL-33, ST2, IL-17 and IL-5 serum levels as well as serum concentration of blood glucose and blood lipids in PsV patients and their relationship with clinical characteristics. Methods: Sixty-eight PsV samples and 60 healthy individuals were recruited. Serum levels of IL-33, ST2, IL-17 and IL-5 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and blood glucose and blood lipid were assayed by automatic biochemical analyzer. Results: Serum levels of IL-33, ST2, IL-17 and IL-5 were increased significantly in PsV patients compared with controls (P

To better understand the associations between social activities and depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, this study utilized interpersonal theories of depression by accounting for both frequency of various social activities and perceptions of how well their time spent in these activities meet their needs and testing the indirect effects of loneliness in this association. To test these ideas, 321 participants who were recruited from the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) research match registry and completed online measures of social activities, depressive symptoms, and loneliness. While the specific pattern was different for individual activities, it was found that those who felt that their current frequency of activities did not meet their needs had higher rates of depressive symptoms than those who felt they did meet their needs and that loneliness help to understand the indirect effects of the association between social activities and depressive symptoms. Overall, the findings suggest that how individuals feel about the time they are spending in social activities, such as with friends and in general social activities, could impact outcomes such as depression and loneliness. Lay Abstract Previous studies have found that social activities and depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder are related. To better understand the relationship between these issues, this study examined the frequency of various types of social activities as well as if the participants felt that the frequency of time spent in the activity met their personal needs. In addition, the role of loneliness was tested as a possible way to understand the relationship between activities and depressive symptoms. To test these ideas, 321 participants who were recruited from the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) research match registry and completed online measures of social activities, depressive symptoms, and loneliness. While the specific pattern was different for individual activities, it was found that those who felt that their current frequency of activities did not meet their needs had higher rates of depressive symptoms than those who felt they did meet their needs. Also, loneliness helps to understand relationship between social activities and depressive symptoms. The findings were discussed in light of previous study findings, interpersonal theories of depression, and clinical implications.

Depression is a common problem for adults on the autism spectrum, but little is known about depression-related service receipt in this group. To understand depression diagnostic and treatment status better, we collected information on current depressive symptoms, depression diagnosis, and treatment status of 315 young adults with a childhood diagnosis of autism from the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge registry. About two-thirds (65.4%) of the adults had been diagnosed with depression, and 46.7% currently met clinical cut-offs for depression on depressive symptoms measures. Among the currently depressed, the majority (83.0%) had a formal depression diagnosis. Despite being no more likely than males to be currently depressed, females (biological sex) were more likely to have received a depression diagnosis. As for depression treatment, 58.5% of currently depressed adults were currently being treated, and 68% had previously received treatment. Medication was the most common form of treatment, followed by individual therapy. Likelihood of receiving depression treatment was higher among those with a formal depression diagnosis and with higher levels of education. Adults reported several barriers to accessing treatment for depression, including financial and insurance issues, accessibility to appropriate care, and professionals’ lack of understanding about depression in autism. Lay abstract Depression is common among adults on the autism spectrum, but little is known about the extent to which these adults living in the community access diagnostic and treatment services for depression. To address this gap, we surveyed 315 adults on the autism spectrum on depression symptoms, diagnosis, and services. About half of the sample had scores on standard depression measures that suggested they were currently depressed ( n = 147, 46.7%). Among the currently depressed, most of them had received a depression diagnosis from a professional. Depressed females were about 3.5 times more likely than depressed males to have a depression diagnosis. More than half of the currently depressed adults on the autism spectrum reported receiving depression treatment at the time of the study, while about two-thirds had previously received treatment. Those with a depression diagnosis were more likely to have received treatment, and those who had some education beyond high school were more likely to be currently receiving treatment. Financial and insurance issues were the most common barriers that adults reported in accessing treatment for depression.

This study examined COVID-19-related distress among adults with autism spectrum disorder and its associations with demographic and mental health information. A sample of 275 adults (ages 18–35) in the United States, all capable of providing self-reports, was recruited from a large national registry. Adults completed online surveys of mental health symptoms just before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Two months later, they completed the same surveys of mental health symptoms, and also reported about distress they had experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly two-thirds (65.9%) endorsed some form of COVID-related distress with a little over half reporting any individual form of distress. Although depressive and anxiety symptoms did not change from Time 1 to Time 2 on average, higher levels of COVID-related distress was associated with an increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, women and those who reported higher anxiety symptoms before the pandemic were more likely to report some form of COVID-related distress. The findings suggest that as this global crisis continues to unfold, it will be critical to ensure that adults with autism spectrum disorder who were experiencing mental health challenges prior to the pandemic receive appropriate monitoring. Lay abstract This study used data collected from 275 adults in the United States with autism spectrum disorder both before the pandemic and then 10 weeks into the pandemic to assess COVID-19-related distress and its impact. Two-thirds of those surveyed reported some type of distress related to the pandemic (i.e. difficulty coping or negative impact on emotional and mental health). While there were no changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms from prior to COVID-19 to 10 week later in the group as a whole, self-reported distress predicted increases in both anxiety and depression across the two timepoints. Furthermore, adults with higher levels of anxiety prior to the pandemic were more likely to report distress, and women were more likely to report a negative impact of the pandemic on their emotional and mental health. Findings highlight the importance of monitoring with adults with autism spectrum disorder to assess their need for mental health support, and providing ongoing support to those who already experience anxiety even before the pandemic.

ObjectiveAnecdotal reports and a small number of research studies suggest possible behavioral improvements in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) during a fever. However, previous studies rely largely on retrospective reports of this phenomenon. Establishing a robust association between fever and reduction of ASD-related symptoms would promote opportunities for the development of innovative therapeutic interventions for children with ASD.MethodsProspective data were collected from 141 children with ASD and 103 typically developing (TD) controls using parent responses to an 11-item behavioral survey. Behaviors when no illness was present, during a fever, the week after a fever, and during non-febrile illnesses for TD and ASD children were compared. Profiles of cases in which caregivers reported consistent behavioral improvements during fever are described.ResultsData indicated worsening social, emotional/behavioral, and somatic symptoms during a fever regardless of diagnosis, with children with ASD demonstrating greater worsening of behaviors during a fever than TD children. Three children (all with ASD) out of 244 demonstrated consistent behavioral improvements during a fever; these children had a range of cognitive and adaptive skills.ConclusionsChildren with ASD had stronger negative responses to fever than TD children. These findings contradict previous literature suggesting behavioral improvements for children with ASD. While improvements may occur for some children, it does not appear to be a common phenomenon. Additional research is needed to elucidate the nature of behavioral improvements in the subset of children with ASD who may respond positively to fever.Article SummaryThis study examines behavioral changes during fever and other medical events in children with autism compared to behavioral changes in a typically developing control group.What’s Known on this SubjectPrevious research and consistent anecdotal reports suggest the possibility of behavioral improvements for children with autism during a fever. There is a dearth of prospectively collected data examining these effects.What This Study AddsChildren with autism consistently had stronger and more frequent negative behavior changes during fever than typical children who also primarily showed worsening of behavior during fevers. Three autistic children, and no typical children, showed improvements in varied areas during fevers.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal phosphides (TMPs) are predicted with many novel properties and various applications. As a member of TMPs family, molybdenum phosphide (MoP) exhibits many exotic physicochemical properties. However, the synthesis of high-quality 2D MoP single crystals is not reported due to the lack of reliable fabrication method, which limits the exploration of 2D MoP. Here, we report the growth of high-quality ultrathin MoP single crystals with thickness down to 10 nm on liquid metals via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The smooth surface of liquid Ga is regarded as a suitable growth substrate for producing 2D MoP single crystals. The Mo source diffuses toward the Ga surface due to the high surface energy to react with phosphorus source, thus to fabricate ultrathin MoP single crystals. Then, we study the second harmonic generation (SHG) of 2D MoP for the first time due to its intrinsic non-centrosymmetric structure. Our study provides an new approach to synthesize and explore other 2D TMPs for future applications.

Autistic individuals are at an increased risk for both sleep disturbances and depression. While studies in the general population and in autistic adults have drawn general links between sleep disturbances and mental health, few studies have examined the extent to which specific sleep problems may be implicated in the extremely high rates of depression among autistic adults. This study aimed to describe the patterns of sleep disturbances in autistic young adults, and their associations with depressive symptoms while controlling for relevant demographic factors. A sample of 304 legally independent adults (age 18-35 years old) with a childhood diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder self-reported on their average sleep behaviors during the past week and depressive symptoms on the Beck Depressive Inventory-II. A significant proportion (86.01%) of autistic young adults experienced at least one of the primary sleep disturbances of interest, including short total sleep time (39.59%), poor sleep efficiency (60.07%), and delayed sleep phase (36.18%). Additionally, lower sleep efficiency and delayed sleep phase were both associated with higher depressive symptoms. The associations between sleep and depressive symptoms identified in our study suggest that sleep treatments may hold potential for ameliorating depressive symptoms in autistic adults who also experience sleep problems. Further research using daily sleep diaries and objective measures of sleep behaviors, as well as longitudinal studies, are needed to understand how changes in sleep may relate to changes in depressive symptoms in autistic adults.

Though amounts of attempts about nanomedicine for chemo-radiotherapy have been made, more efficient strategies for chemo-radio therapy enhancement still need to be studied and perfected. Herein, a 'yolk-shell'-like nanostructure (Bi

BackgroundPhenotypic heterogeneity along the autism spectrum is compounded by co-occurring psychiatric conditions. Deriving subgroups of autistic individuals based on symptoms of these conditions could better our understanding of psychiatric symptom patterns existing within this population. This study’s goals were to derive subgroups of school-aged autistic children based on co-occurring psychiatric symptoms while controlling for age and sex and to examine correlates of subgroup membership while controlling for the degree of ASD-related diagnostic features.MethodLatent class models were estimated in a sample from the Simons Simplex Collection (n = 2,087) using “borderline/clinical” versus “normative” range data from five of the DSM-Oriented Scales from the CBCL/6-18 as indicator variables. We evaluated the predictive value of NVIQ < 70, atypical sleep duration, allergies/autoimmune conditions, gastrointestinal conditions, and neurological conditions on subgroup membership using multinomial logistic regression.ResultsFour subgroups emerged: Low Psychiatric Symptoms (41.02%), Externalizing Symptoms (12.36%), Internalizing Symptoms (31.58%), and High Psychiatric Symptoms (15.05%). Key findings were that NVIQ < 70 was associated with decreased odds of belonging to the Internalizing Symptoms and High Psychiatric Symptoms subgroups over the Low Psychiatric Symptoms subgroup, while atypical sleep duration and gastrointestinal conditions were associated with increased odds of belonging to the Externalizing Symptoms and High Psychiatric Symptoms subgroups. Neurological conditions were also associated with increased odds of belonging to the Externalizing Symptoms subgroup.ConclusionDistinct patterns of psychiatric symptoms exist within school-aged autistic children and are correlated with NVIQ < 70, atypical sleep duration, and medical conditions, providing insights for clinical practice and etiology-driven research.

Aiming at the problem that low-frequency words or unregistered words are difficult to learn effective word-level feature information due to lack of training samples, which makes the semantic expression of text inaccurate, this paper proposes a semantic feature representation method based on sub-word-level and word-level dynamic selection. First of all, using the bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory network (Bi-LSTM) to capture the characteristics of potential long-distance dependencies, a Bi-LSTM-based sub-word feature representation method is designed on the basis of the Skip-gram method. Then, in order to accurately obtain the semantic feature representation of words, a new gated dynamic selection mechanism is designed, which combines sub-word-level and word-level feature vectors to enrich the effective information of words. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper is effective. Compared with the word representation method of related research, the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients of this method are significantly improved on the STS dataset and SICK dataset.

Interlayer spacing is expected to influence the properties of multilayer two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, the ability to non-destructively regulate the interlayer spacing bidirectionally and reversibly is challenging. Here we report the preparation of 2D materials with tunable interlayer spacing by introducing active sites (Ce ions) in 2D materials to capture and immobilize Pt single atoms. The strong chemical interaction between active sites and Pt atoms contributes to the intercalation behavior of Pt atoms in the interlayer of 2D materials and further promotes the formation of chemical bonding between Pt atom and host materials. Taking cerium-embedded molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as an example, intercalation of Pt atoms enables interlayer distance tuning via an electrochemical protocol, leading to interlayer spacing reversible and linear compression and expansion from 6.546 ± 0.039 Å to 5.792 ± 0.038 Å (~11 %). The electronic property evolution with the interlayer spacing variation is demonstrated by the photoluminescence (PL) spectra, delivering that the well-defined barrier between the multilayer and monolayer layered materials can be artificially designed., Modifying the interlayer spacing in two-dimensional materials is an effective approach to tune their chemical and physical properties. Here the authors report that intercalation of Pt atoms into cerium-doped MoS2 enables adjusting the interlayer spacing bidirectionally and reversibly.

Objective Social communication deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are commonly represented as a single behavioral domain. However, increased precision of measurement of social communication is needed to promote more nuanced phenotyping, both within the autism spectrum and across diagnostic boundaries. Method A large sample (N = 1,470) of 4- to 10-year-old children was aggregated from across 4 data sources, and then randomly split into testing and validation samples. A total of 57 selected social communication items from 3 widely used autism symptom measures (the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale [ADOS], Autism Diagnostic Interview−Revised [ADI-R], and Social Responsiveness Scale [SRS]) were analyzed in the multi-trait/multi-method factor analysis framework. The selected model was then confirmed with the validation sample. Results The 4−substantive factor model, with 3 orthogonal method factors, was selected using the testing sample based on fit indices and then confirmed with the validation sample. Two of the factors, “Basic Social Communication Skills” and “Interaction Quality,” were similar to those identified in a previous analysis of the ADOS, Module 3. Two additional factors, “Peer Interaction and Modification of Behavior” and “Social Initiation and Affiliation,” also emerged. Factor scores showed nominal correlations with age and verbal IQ. Conclusion Identification of subdimensions could inform the creation of better conceptual models of social communication impairments, including mapping of how the cascading effects of social communication deficits unfold in ASD versus other disorders. Especially if extended to include both older and younger age cohorts and individuals with more varying developmental levels, these efforts could inform phenotype-based exploration for biological and genetic mechanisms by pinpointing specific mechanisms that contribute to various types of social communication deficits.

Machine learning (ML) models have demonstrated the power of utilizing clinical instruments to provide tools for domain experts in gaining additional insights toward complex clinical diagnoses. In this context these tools desire two additional properties: interpretability, being able to audit and understand the decision function, and robustness, being able to assign the correct label in spite of missing or noisy inputs. This work formulates diagnostic classification as a decision-making process and utilizes Q-learning to build classifiers that meet the aforementioned desired criteria. As an exemplary task, we simulate the process of differentiating Autism Spectrum Disorder from Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder in verbal school aged children. This application highlights how reinforcement learning frameworks can be utilized to train more robust classifiers by jointly learning to maximize diagnostic accuracy while minimizing the amount of information required.

Aldehyde reductase (AKR1A1) is a carbonyl detoxification protein in toxic aldehyde removal. In the present study, the full-length cDNA of yellow catfish AKR1A1 (TfAKR1A1) was cloned. As expected, yellow catfish AKR1A1 showed similarities with that of other species. Subsequently, prokaryotic expression vector was constructed and recombinant TfAKR1A1 (rTfAKR1A1) was successfully induced and purified. rTfAKR1A1 exhibited reductive activity to many aldehydes and ketones. To determine whether TfAKR1A1 could confer stress tolerance in vitro, the viability of control and TfAKR1A1 expression E. coli under abiotic stress was compared by spot assay. Results showed that the recombinant strain had better stress resistance under cadmium, hydrogen peroxide, and DL-glyceraldehyde stress. Then, effects of an intraperitoneal injection of rTfAKR1A1 protein on cadmium-induced oxidative stress were evaluated. Results displayed that TfAKR1A1 and Nrf2 expression levels were significantly decreased, CAT and SOD expression levels were significantly increased, BCL-2 and IL-10 expression levels were significantly increased, and caspase3a, NF-κB, and IL-1β expression levels were significantly decreased in protein-injection group. Furthermore, oxidative stress indexes in livers under different protein injection doses were examined by ELISA. Results showed that CAT, SOD, and GSH-Px activities were upregulated, ROS and T-AOC contents were also improved, while MDA content was significantly decreased both in lower and middle dose injection groups. Finally, liver pathological section analysis was performed. Results displayed that liver injury degree in protein-injected groups was lower than that of PBS group under cadmium stress. These results suggested that TfAKR1A1 played important roles in response to cadmium stress in yellow catfish.

Background The male bias in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses is well documented. As a result, less is known about the female ASD phenotype. Recent research suggests that conclusions drawn from predominantly male samples may not accurately capture female behavior. In this study, we explore potential sex differences in attention to social stimuli, which is generally reported to be diminished in ASD. Population-based sex differences in attention to faces have been reported, such that typically developing (TD) females attend more to social stimuli (including faces) from infancy through adulthood than TD males. It is yet unknown whether population-based sex differences in the face domain are preserved in ASD. Methods A dynamic, naturalistic infrared eye-tracking paradigm measured attention to social stimuli (faces) in 74 school-aged males and females with ASD (male N = 23; female N = 19) and without ASD (male N = 16; female N = 16). Two kinds of video stimuli were presented that varied in social content: rich social scenes (dyadic play between two children) and lean social scenes (parallel play by two children). Results Results revealed a significant 3-way interaction between sex, diagnosis, and condition after controlling for chronological and mental age. ASD females attended more to faces than ASD males in the socially lean condition. This effect was not found in the typically developing (TD) group. ASD males attended less to faces regardless of social context; however, ASD females only attended significantly less to faces compared to TD females in the socially rich condition. TD males and ASD females did not differ in their attention to faces in either condition. Conclusions This study has implications for how the field understands core social deficits in children with ASD, which should ideally be benchmarked against same-sex peers (male and female). Social attention in ASD females fell on a continuum—greater than their ASD male peers, but not as great as TD females. Overall, their social attention mirrored that of TD males. Improved understanding of the female social phenotype in ASD will enhance early screening and diagnostic efforts and will guide the development of sex-sensitive experimental paradigms and social interventions.

Previous reports about the growth of large graphene single crystals on polycrystalline metal substrates usually adopted the strategy of suppressing the nucleation by lowering the concentration of the feedstock, which greatly limited the rate of the nucleation and the sequent growth. The emerging liquid metal catalyst possesses the characteristic of quasi-atomically smooth surface with high diffusion rate. In principle, it should be a naturally ideal platform for the low-density nucleation and the fast growth of graphene. However, the rapid growth of large graphene single crystals on liquid metals has not received the due attention. In this paper, we firstly purposed the insight into the rapid growth of large graphene single crystals on liquid metals. We obtained the millimeter-size graphene single crystals on liquid Cu. The rich free-electrons in liquid Cu accelerate the nucleation, and the isotropic smooth surface greatly suppresses the nucleation. Moreover, the fast mass-transfer of carbon atoms due to the excellent fluidity of liquid Cu promotes the fast growth with a rate up to 79 µm s–1. We hope the research on the growth speed of graphene on liquid Cu can enrich the recognition of the growth behavior of two-dimensional (2D) materials on the liquid metal. We also believe that the liquid metal strategy for the rapid growth of graphene can be extended to various 2D materials and thus promote their future applications in the photonics and electronics.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) plays important roles in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism and energy balance in mammals. In this study, the full-length cDNA of swamp eel fgf21 was cloned. Sequence analysis showed that swamp eel FGF21 displayed high similarity with FGF21 of other vertebrates. Subsequently, a prokaryotic expression vector for swamp eel fgf21 was constructed, and recombinant FGF21 (rFGF21) was successfully induced and purified. To investigate the potential roles of swamp eel FGF21 in glucose and lipid metabolism, we examined the effects of rFGF21 on regulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) mice as well as swamp eels under glucose stress. In T1DM mice, the levels of blood glucose, serum triglyceride (TG), liver TG, serum total cholesterol (TC), and liver TC were significantly downregulated after repeated daily injection of rFGF21 for 15 days. In addition, liver pathological section analysis indicated that rFGF21 alleviated the degree of damage to liver cells in T1DM mice. Furthermore, rFGF21 significantly upregulated the mRNA expression levels of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor alpha (Pparα), β-Klotho, fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (Fgfr1), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pepck), glucose transporter 1 (Glut1), and glucose transporter 4 (Glut4) in T1DM mouse livers. Moreover, in swamp eels, rFGF21 significantly decreased blood glucose and liver TC levels under glucose stress and upregulated the mRNA expression levels of fgf21, pparα, β-klotho, and fgfr1 in liver tissue. These results suggested that FGF21 plays important roles in the regulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis in swamp eel.

Currently available treatments for depression show limited effectiveness in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) based on measures of symptom changes and clinician impressions. Perceived helpfulness is another metric that has been found to be useful for understanding treatment outcomes in the general population, but it has not yet been explored in adults with ASD. Thus, the current study collected online survey data to examine patient-perceived treatment helpfulness in a sample of 144 adults with ASD who reported that they were currently receiving community-based treatment for depression. Findings indicate that while there was variability in the levels of perceived helpfulness for both medication and individual therapy, most adults with ASD perceived treatment to be at least moderately helpful. Notably, adults with ASD reported having been in treatment for a prolonged duration (5 to 6 years). Ordinal logistic regression models showed that adults with more depressive symptoms perceived treatments to be less helpful (i.e., medications: odds ratio [OR] = 0.92, 95% confidence interval[CI] = 0.89-0.95; individual therapy: OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.92-0.99). Moreover, women perceived medication as more helpful than men (OR = 2.33, 95% CI = 1.13-4.82). Other individual (i.e., age, race, education level) and treatment (i.e., treatment length, concurrent treatment) characteristics were not significantly associated with perceived helpfulness. These findings suggest that future studies may want to use perceived helpfulness, in addition to traditionally used objective outcomes, to understand patients' treatment experience and evaluate depression treatments for adults with ASD. LAY SUMMARY: Adults with autism are much more likely to be depressed than those without autism; therefore, effective depression treatments are necessary to improve mental health outcomes in this group. This online survey study found that most adults with autism felt that the depression treatments they were receiving in the community (i.e., medication and individual therapy) were helpful. Females and those with fewer symptoms of depression felt treatments were more helpful compared with males and those with more symptoms of depression. Our findings suggest that when examining whether treatments for depression are effective, it may be important to measure adults' feelings about the helpfulness of the treatments in addition to measuring changes in symptoms of depression.

UCLA PEERS® for Adolescents is a widely applied program among a number of social skills training programs developed over the years. We synthesized current research evidence on the PEERS program to evaluate the treatment effect on four commonly used outcome measures. 12 studies met inclusion criteria for the review and nine met the criteria for meta-analysis. Results showed moderate to large pooled effects across measures and informants in favor of the PEERS program, with the largest effect seen in social knowledge improvement and the smallest effect in the frequency of get-togethers. The heterogeneity of effects across studies were examined and the limitations of the current evidence were discussed.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-aut-10.1177_13623613211008276 for Depression in independent young adults on the autism spectrum: Demographic characteristics, service use, and barriers by Shuting Zheng, Ryan Adams, Julie Lounds Taylor, Florencia Pezzimenti and Somer L Bishop in Autism

Objective Children in Flint, Michigan, have experienced myriad sociodemographic adversities exacerbated by the Flint water crisis. To help inform child-focused prevention and intervention efforts, we aimed to describe patterns of neurodevelopmental outcomes among preschoolers who experienced the Flint water crisis before age 2 years. Method Participants were 170 preschoolers who completed a comprehensive neurodevelopmental assessment battery, including directly administered measures of cognitive and executive functioning and maternal-report of adaptive skills and behavioral problems. We used latent profile analysis to derive subgroups. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine the predictors of profile memberships, including child sex and maternal/family-level factors selected from an array of measured exposures using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. Results Three latent profiles were identified: Profile 1—relative weakness in all domains (50%); Profile 2—normative functioning in all domains (34.1%); and Profile 3—relative strengths in executive function and behavior (15.9%). Profile 1 showed lower scores across cognitive and behavioral domains. Profile 2 demonstrated abilities within the normal range across domains. Profile 3 showed relative strength in executive functioning with few behavior problems, despite lower cognitive performance. Children across all profiles showed adaptive behavior in the adequate range. Child sex and maternal IQ were significant predictors of profile membership. Conclusions Children in Flint demonstrated diverse patterns of development in the face of sociodemographic and environmental adversities. Comprehensive screening and neurodevelopmental profiling of children in this at-risk population are needed to identify areas of needs and inform appropriate service delivery.

In this study, we developed a novel dual-analytical platform for the visual, sensitive, and reliable analysis of mercury ions (Hg