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The use of psychotropic medications in autistic individuals (21 years and younger) in Western Australia: A preliminary investigationPrescriptions and use of medications to treat mental health conditions in young autistic populations are inconsistent worldwide. This makes it hard to compare findings from international studies to the Australian autistic population, where there are limited relevant studies. Apart from risperidone, there are no other medications specified for direct use in autistic persons. This study aims to gain initial broad understanding of the use of medications, commonly prescribed for mental health conditions, specifically by autistics under the age of 21 years.
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“It Was Such a Different Experience”: a Qualitative Study of Parental Perinatal Experiences When Having a Subsequent Child After Having a Child Diagnosed with AutismChildren who have an older sibling diagnosed with autism have an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with autism or developing broader developmental difficulties. This study explored perinatal experiences of parents of a child diagnosed with autism, spanning pre-conception until the subsequent child’s early developmental period.
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Reliability of the Commonly Used and Newly-Developed Autism MeasuresThe aim of the present study was to compare scale and conditional reliability derived from item response theory analyses among the most commonly used, as well as several newly developed, observation, interview, and parent-report autism instruments.
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Do sex hormones at birth predict later-life economic preferences? Evidence from a pregnancy birth cohort study: Hormones at birth and preferencesEconomic preferences may be shaped by exposure to sex hormones around birth. Prior studies of economic preferences and numerous other phenotypic characteristics use digit ratios (2D : 4D), a purported proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure, whose validity has recently been questioned. We use direct measures of neonatal sex hormones (testosterone and oestrogen), measured from umbilical cord blood (n = 200) to investigate their association with later-life economic preferences (risk preferences, competitiveness, time preferences and social preferences) in an Australian cohort (Raine Study Gen2).
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Co-design of the neurodevelopment assessment scaleNeurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have high comorbidity rates and shared etiology. Nevertheless, NDD assessment is diagnosis-driven and focuses on symptom profiles of individual disorders, which hinders diagnosis and treatment. There is also no evidence-based, standardized transdiagnostic approach currently available to provide a full clinical picture of individuals with NDDs. The pressing need for transdiagnostic assessment led to the development of the Neurodevelopment Assessment Scale.
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A prospective ultrasound study of prenatal growth in infant siblings of children with autismNumerous studies have observed that a proportion of infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience accelerated head growth...
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Psychosocial moderators of associations between life events and changes in physical activity after leaving high schoolThis study examines the associations between life events & changes in leisure-time physical activity after leaving high school in young people from rural...
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The association between prenatal environment and children’s mental health trajectories from 2 to 14 yearsThis study aimed to elucidate how an adverse prenatal environment, as defined by the presence of a number of known prenatal risk factors, would influence...
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Towards a molecular characterization of autism spectrum disorders: An exome sequencing and systems approachThis paper profiles the functional pattern of DNA variants found at a higher rate in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), X-linked intellectual...
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Vitamin D deficiency at 16 to 20 weeks' gestation is associated with impaired lung function and asthma at 6 years of ageThis paper examines whether a Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy affects the child's lung function predisposition towards lung disease such as asthma.