Winnie W. Leung

Executive function deficits and neural discordance in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

OBJECTIVE This study examined neurophysiologic activities, executive dysfunctions, and their association in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). METHODS Thirty-eight normal and 16 children with ASD participated with parental consent. Executive functions were measured using neuropsychological tests and parent ratings, and neurophysiologic activities were measured using EEG to yield cordance values, an indirect measure of brain perfusion. RESULTS Children with ASD made significantly more intrusion errors and False Alarms on the Hong Kong List Learning Test (HKLLT) and Object Recognition Test (OR) than normal children, but were comparable to normal children on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and Continuous Performance Test. They also showed significantly poorer executive functions in everyday activities as shown on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), and had lower frontal perfusion patterns than normal children as shown in the neurophysiologic cordance measures. Frontal cordance values were found to be significantly associated with executive dysfunctions in HKLLT Delayed Intrusions, OR False Alarms and BRIEF. CONCLUSIONS Children with ASD were impaired in everyday executive functioning and response inhibition. The cordance value, which has been shown to correlate with brain perfusion in a number of studies, was significantly correlated with executive dysfunctions. SIGNIFICANCE Exploration of this measure as an index for response to intervention is warranted.

Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing Fosters Relaxed and Attentive Mind: A Randomized Controlled Neuro-Electrophysiological Study

Neuro-electrophysiological studies on meditative breathing revealed its association with either a relaxed or an attentive state. The present study aimed to investigate whether the Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing (DTB) technique, which consists of the Passive and Active subtypes and can be considered as a relaxation exercise and Qigong, would induce both relaxed and attentive states. Twenty-two adults and 22 age-, gender- and education-matched controls received training on the Shaolin DTB (experimental group) and the progressive muscle relaxation respectively for one month. Eyes-closed resting EEG data before and immediately after each type of breathing were obtained individually at baseline and after one-month training. At baseline, the EEG changes after the Shaolin DTB between both groups were comparable. After one-month training, participants in the experimental, but not the control, group showed enhanced temporal alpha asymmetry (an index of relaxation and positive mood) after performing the Passive DTB for five minutes, and enhanced intra- and inter-hemispheric theta coherence (an index of attention and alertness) after performing the Active DTB. The present findings suggested a positive effect of the Shaolin DTB technique on enhancing human neural activity and connectivity, which may possibly enhance mood state and cognitive functions.

Moderate coffee consumption reduces the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis B chronic carriers: a case–control study

Background Recent epidemiological studies have reported a dose-dependent protective effect of coffee on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with risk reduction ranging from 30% to 80% in daily coffee drinkers compared with non-drinkers. This study examined whether coffee has a similar protective effect when consumed in moderate quantities in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers, a group at high risk of developing liver cancer. Methods A case–control design was employed. 234 HBV chronic carriers (109 cases and 125 controls) were recruited from the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong from December 2007 to May 2008. Data collection included review of medical records and face-to-face interview. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions adjusting for age, gender, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, tea consumption and physical activity were conducted with dose–response analysis. Results Moderate coffee consumption significantly reduced the risk of HCC by almost half (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.97) with a significant dose–response effect (χ2=5.41, df=1, p=0.02), reducing the risk for moderate drinkers by 59% (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.89). Conclusion The findings provided evidence to support the protective effect of coffee consumption in moderate quantities in HBV chronic carriers.

Differentiating autistic children with quantitative encephalography: a 3-month longitudinal study.

The present study used a single-channel quantitative electroencephalographic (EEG) assessment to differentiate autistic children from normal control subjects. One hundred five normal and 17 autistic children participated in the study. In addition to amplitude measures of the frequency bands of delta, theta, alpha, sensorimotor rhythm, and beta and the theta to beta ratio, intra- (6 minutes) and intersessional (3 months) consistencies were also examined. The results indicated that autistic children showed significantly higher quantitative EEG amplitudes in many of the frequency bands than normal children; furthermore, their quantitative EEG activities were found to be relatively unstable within a 6-minute session compared with normal children. Discriminant function analyses revealed that absolute sensorimotor rhythm and beta amplitudes were the best predictors that correctly differentiated autistic children from normal children in the present sample, with a high accuracy rate of 95.2%. In addition, quantitative EEG measurements of normal and autistic children were found to be generally consistent across the 3-month period. (J Child Neurol2006;21:391—399; DOI 10.2310/7010.2006.00094).

Verbal Expression and Comprehension Deficits in Young Children With Autism

Language impairment is a primary characteristic of children with autism; however, findings on the language deficits of these children have been inconclusive, and even less is known about the language profiles of Chinese-speaking children with autism. The present study examined the verbal expression—comprehension abilities of 46 Chinese children at ages 5 to 6. The children with autism were further classified into high- or low-functioning groups based on their nonverbal intelligence. Results showed that 63% of the children with autism demonstrated language impairment. Specifically, 42% were impaired in both verbal expression and comprehension abilities, and 21% demonstrated impaired expression skills. General intelligence did not seem to explain this heterogeneity, as variability was also observed among the high-functioning children with autism. The results also suggested that a test of expressive language is more sensitive than a test of comprehension in differentiating Chinese children with autism from their age-matched counterparts at early childhood.

Dejian Mind-Body Intervention Improves the Cognitive Functions of a Child with Autism

There has been increasing empirical evidence for the enhancing effects of Dejian Mind-Body Intervention (DMBI), a traditional Chinese Shaolin healing approach, on human frontal brain activity/functions, including patients with autism who are well documented to have frontal lobe problems. This study aims to compare the effects of DMBI with a conventional behavioural/cognitive intervention (CI) on enhancing the executive functions and memory of a nine-year-old boy with low-functioning autism (KY) and to explore possible underlying neural mechanism using EEG theta cordance. At post-one-month DMBI, KYs inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and memory functioning have significantly improved from “severely-to-moderately impaired” to “within-normal” range. This improvement was not observed from previous 12-month CI. Furthermore, KY showed increased cordance gradually extending from the anterior to the posterior brain region, suggesting possible neural mechanism underlying his cognitive improvement. These findings have implicated potential applicability of DMBI as a rehabilitation program for patients with severe frontal lobe and/or memory disorders.

Measuring vocabulary by free expression and recognition tasks: Implications for assessing children, adolescents, and young adults.

Vocabulary tests are commonly used for assessing verbal ability. Most vocabulary tests employ the free expressive format that taps both verbal knowledge and expressive ability. The recognition format, which requires less expressive ability, has been suggested to be more sensitive in assessing the fund of verbal knowledge. We assessed vocabulary performance of 285 normal individuals (aged 6 to 23 years) using both free expressive and recognition tasks. Results showed that participants aged 6 to 15 performed significantly better on the recognition than on the free expressive task. While the recognition task significantly correlated with the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence–Third Edition (TONI-III) IQ for individuals aged 9 and above, the free expressive task correlated with TONI-III IQ only for young adults. Shortened 18-item versions yielded high reliability and correlation with the full version and reliable association with TONI-III IQ. These results highlight the utility of recognition tasks in measuring the fund of knowledge and suggest the possibility of developing shorter vocabulary tests for more cost-effective assessment.

Neuropsychology in China

Part 1. Asian American Neuropsychology. D. Fujii, Introduction. D. Fujii, B. Yee, S. Eap, T. Kuoch, M. Scully, Neuropsychology of Cambodian Americans. T. Wong, Neuropsychology of Chinese Americans. K. Nadal, J. Monzones, Neuropsychological Assessments and Filipino Americans: Cultural Implications for Practice. D. Fujii, A. Vang, Neuropsychology of Hmong. V. Phatak, V. Kamath, D. Fujii, Neuropsychology of Asian Indian Americans. B. Tsushima, V. Tsushima, D. Fujii, Neuropsychology of Japanese Americans. M.Y. Jo, L. Kwon Dawson, Neuropsychological Assessment of Korean Americans. D. Fujii, Neuropsychology of Laotian Americans. D. Fujii, T. Wu, K. Ratanadilok, Neuropsychology of Thai Americans. D. Ngo, M.T. Le, P.D. Le, Neuropsychology of Vietnamese Americans. Part 2. Neuropsychology in Asia. A. Chan, W. Leung, M.C. Cheung, Neuropsychology in China. K. Kumar, Neuropsychology in India. A. Isomura, M. Mimura, Neuropsychology in Japan. J. Chey, H. Park, Neuropsychology in Korea. N.C. Din, Neuropsychology in Malaysia. M.R. Lopa-Ramos, L. Ledesma, Neuropsychology in the Philippines. S. Collinson, D. Yeo, Neuropsychology in Singapore: History, Development, and Future Directions. K. Ratanadilok, Neuropsychology in Thailand

S14-5 Disordered connectivity associated with memory deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders

The present study examined the memory performance and cortical connectivity of children with ASD, and investigated whether the memory deficits exhibited by these children were associated with the cortical connectivity. Twenty-one children with ASD and 21 children with normal development (NC), aged 5-14 years, participated in the study. Each child was administered a neuropsychological battery that included the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI-Ill), Digit Span test (DS), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (Rey-O), and Hong Kong List Learning Test (HKLLT); and an EEG recording session when performing the visual encoding Object Recognition (OR) task. Six neuropsychological measures from the test battery and six EEG coherence measures in the theta band were compared between the children with ASD and normal children. Results indicated that children with ASD performed at comparable levels with normal children in the DS and Rey-O, but were significantly poorer in HKLLT and OR. They also exhibited significantly elevated long-range coherences in the fronto-posterior connections involving the left hemisphere (left anterior-left posterior; left anterior-right posterior). Pearson correlation showed significant negative associations between the anterior-posterior EEG coherences and memory performance