The American journal of psychiatry
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Substantial revisions to the DSM-IV criteria for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been proposed in efforts to increase diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. This study evaluated the proposed DSM-5 criteria for the single diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder in children with DSM-IV diagnoses of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) and non-PDD diagnoses. ⋯ These results suggest that most children with DSM-IV PDD diagnoses would remain eligible for an ASD diagnosis under the proposed DSM-5 criteria. Compared with the DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's disorder and PDD-NOS, the DSM-5 ASD criteria have greater specificity, particularly when abnormalities are evident from both parents and clinical observation.
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Clinical Trial
Deep brain stimulation of anteromedial globus pallidus interna for severe Tourette's syndrome.
Multiple anatomical targets for deep brain stimulation (DBS) have been proposed for the treatment of severe Tourette's syndrome. In this open study, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of DBS of the anteromedial globus pallidus interna on tic severity and common comorbidities. ⋯ The results suggest anteromedial globus pallidus interna DBS for Tourette's syndrome is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for a subgroup of patients with severe Tourette's syndrome.
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Amygdala dysfunction has been reported to exist in youths and adults with psychopathic traits. However, there has been disagreement as to whether this dysfunction reflects a primary emotional deficit or is secondary to atypical attentional control. The authors examined the validity of the contrasting predictions. ⋯ Youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits showed reduced amygdala responses to fearful expressions under low attentional load but no indications of increased recruitment of regions implicated in top-down attentional control. These findings suggest that the emotional deficit observed in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits is primary and not secondary to increased top-down attention to nonemotional stimulus features.