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Cognitive autism research is mainly focusing on children and young adults even though we know that autism is a life-long disorder and that healthy aging already has a strong impact on cognitive functioning. We compared the neuropsychological profile of 23 individuals with autism and 23 healthy controls (age range 51-83 years). Deficits were observed in attention, working memory, and fluency. Aging had a smaller impact on fluency in the high functioning autism (HFA) group than in the control group, while aging had a more profound effect on visual memory performance in the HFA group. Hence, we provide novel evidence that elderly with HFA have subtle neuropsychological deficits and that the developmental trajectories differ between elderly with and without HFA in particular cognitive domains. (Contains 1 footnote, 2 tables, and 3 figures.)

Voelker et al. (2016) discuss the intriguing possibility that faster response times after training result from changes in white matter pathways, and propose that frontal theta activity is important for inducing these changes. We argue that, depending on the specific cognitive processes and brain networks targeted by training, oscillatory activity in other frequency bands could produce similar changes in white matter. Such changes can have a profound effect on brain function and performance if they optimize the timing of information transmission through neural networks. It is not about frequency or speedper se; it is about time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The coronacrisis was a serious threat for health care and society. By its complexity and deep uncertainty the pandemic showed that patients, physicians and health care need more resilience and flexibility to manage similar future stressors. Moreover, the pandemic uncovered growing disparities in health among citizens, the close links between health care and other societal domains and the fact that we still have only limited power to manage complex new challenges for our global health. We have to adopt another way of managing health care and society to get grip on similar complex medical problems, which we will probably have to face in the future as well. Physicians cannot manage these by themselves. Governments also have to act to diminish social inequality, and create incentives for interdisciplinary collaboration, which together may make citizens and professionals experience coherent and resilient health care management.