View clinical trials related to Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Filter by:In a double-blind, placebo-controlled 16-week trial investigators administered daily doses of either youths with autism spectrum disorders.ARA and DHA supplementation significantly improved communication as well as social withdrawal symptoms. This pilot study provides the first evidence that supplementation with larger ARA doses added to DHA improve impaired social interaction in youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
This research study investigates the effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on brain activity in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Background: - Oxytocin and vasopressin are two hormones produced in the brain. Both hormones can influence activity in brain regions such as the amygdala that are involved in social and emotional processing. There is evidence suggesting that oxytocin and vasopressin may be implicated in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Objectives: -Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on brain activity in adult healthy volunteers and adults with ASD. Eligibility: - Right-handed individuals between 18 and 40 years of age who either have been diagnosed with autism, Asperger s disorder, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), or are healthy volunteers. Design: - This study requires 3 outpatient visits to the NIH Clinical Center in addition to a screening visit. Each visit will last about 2.5 hours. Participants may not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol or caffeinated beverages for 12 hours before each visit. - During each visit, participants will receive a nasal spray that contains one of the following: oxytocin, vasopressin, or placebo. Participants will receive a different spray at each visit. - After using the nasal spray, participants will have an MRI scan of the brain while performing tasks with social and emotional stimuli. - After the MRI scan, participants will complete questionnaires about mood and reaction to the tasks, and will remain in the clinic until the effects of the study medication have worn off. - Participants will be contacted 1 day after each MRI scan for follow-up purposes.
Study 22003, "An Open-Label, Flexible-Dose Evaluation of the Safety and Tolerability of STX209 for Treatment of Irritability in Subjects With Autism Spectrum Disorders(ASD)" currently is evaluating the efficacy of STX209 (R-baclofen) for management of typical problem behaviors, such as irritability and aggression, in subjects with ASD. This study (22007) will enter subjects who complete Study 22003 into a long-term, open-label study.The open-label extension protocol will provide necessary data on the long-term safety and tolerability of STX209 among subjects with ASD who receive treatment under conditions more closely reflective of their general medical care.
Background: - Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disorders that affect communication, social interaction, and behavior. Relatively little is known about the relationship between genetics and behavior among these individuals and their close relatives. Researchers are interested in using interviews and rating scales to better understand these issues, as well as collecting brain scan data and genetic samples for testing and comparison. - By comparing test results and genetic samples from healthy volunteers, people with ASD, and parents (or caregivers or legal guardians) of the first two groups, researchers hope to better understand the neuroscience of ASD. Objectives: - To learn more about the brain in healthy people and in people with autism spectrum disorders. - To study genes that might be involved in autism spectrum disorders by collecting DNA samples from participants. Eligibility: The following groups of participants will be eligible for the study: - Individuals between 5 and 89 years of age who have autism spectrum disorders. - Healthy volunteers between 5 and 89 years of age. - Cognitively impaired children between 5 and 17 years of age. - Parents/caregivers/legal guardians of individuals in the above three groups. Design: - Participants will visit the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center for research tests, which will be administered over multiple visits. Researchers will determine the specific tests to be administered based on the medical history of the study participant. - Researchers will study the brain through interviews, tests of thinking and memory (neuropsychological tests), brain imaging with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetoencephalography (MEG). - The study will also collect blood or saliva to obtain a DNA sample.
Background: - Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common childhood disorder that often does not respond to standard treatments. Researchers are exploring the role that a brain chemical called glutamate plays in symptoms of OCD, and are testing a drug called riluzole that reduces glutamate to see if changing the levels of glutamate in the brain will help treat the disorder. - Researchers are interested in using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), a type of magnetic imaging, to take pictures of various chemicals in the brain. MRS images will be used to detect changes in brain levels of glutamate in children taking riluzole. Objectives: - To use magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the levels of glutamate in the brains of children and adolescents who have been taking riluzole. Eligibility: - Children and adolescents ages 7 to 17 who are enrolled in the current NIMH riluzole trial protocol (05-M-0225), who are able to lie still in the scanner for about an hour each time, and who are willing to have up to three MRS scans. Design: - Researchers will study some children/adolescents before they begin to take the study medication riluzole or placebo these children will have an MRS scan before starting the study medication. The scan will take about an hour. - About 2 weeks after reaching the full dose on the study medication, participants will have a second hour-long MRS scan. Participants will have a third MRS scan after being on the study medication for 12 weeks. - Some children who have already completed 12 weeks on riluzole or placebo, and are now taking riluzole, will have only one MRS scan.
Thirty eight autistic spectrum disorder children age 2-6 years recruited into the study. The new treatment intervention is based on the DIR Model. Parents will be coached at the start and then every 3-4 months for 1 year. Outcome will be measured at the first session and at the end of the study using Functional Emotional Assessment Scale and Childhood Autism Rating Scales, Functional Emotional Level, and parent satisfaction rating. Hypothesis of the study: Children who get additional treatment of DIR/floortime show much improvement in climbing the developmental "ladder" and declining in the autistic behaviors.
Autism is defined as a lifelong pervasive developmental disability, as such, symptom recovery is considered rare. Reports by Lovaas and McEachin, Smith & Lovaas and more recently by Cohen, Amerine-Dickens, & Smith, Smith Groen et al. and Sutera Pandey et al suggest that intensive behavioral intervention programs during preschool years may result in improvement to the point where some children no longer meet criteria for autism by the time they reach school age. Similarly, there are a large number of anecdotal reports of children with autism who, following intensive biomedical intervention (e.g., gluten/casein free diets, vitamin supplements, chelation), are indistinguishable from their typically developing peers. The goal of the current research is to characterize the behavioral and biological profiles of children with autism who show significant symptom reduction such that they no longer meet criteria for autism (Remitted Autism [REM-AUT]) and to contrast them with a group of children who continue to meet criteria for autism (AUT) and to typically developing (TD) group of children. Examining whether neurobiological and neurobehavioral symptoms commonly reported in autism are as frequent and severe in children who have responded to treatment is an important first step in determining what factors may contribute to symptom remission in autism. In addition, understanding how children with remitted autism compare to typically developing children will help us better understand whether symptom improvement is through remediation (normalization of function) or compensation (achieving the same behavioral/adaptive outcome but through an alternative process).
The aim of the protocol is to better understand the impairments in visual processing, as such impairments may induce social interaction difficulties in subjects with autism spectrum disorders (adults and children) and schizophrenia, like face exploration.The same protocol will be used for the three populations, each population being compared with matched controls. The explorations are designed to test two different hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of the visual perception difficulties of the two populations. Even though difficulties to extract the global form of objects have been described in both subjects with autism and schizophrenia, we will test two different hypotheses for the two populations. We will test the hypothesis that subjects with autism display an advantage for the processing of local information arising at an early level of processing, whereas disorders observed in patients with schizophrenia originate from attention disorders. The protocol includes three consecutive studies, each one being applied in each of the three populations.
The purpose of the study is to collect phenotypic (observable characteristics) and genetic information about individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and their families.
The study objective is to explore the safety and tolerability of STX209 in subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorders and to obtain preliminary data on several measures of efficacy in treating irritability. We hypothesize that STX209 will be safe and well-tolerated.