Kevin J. Black edited Phenomenology.md  about 8 years ago

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Baby videos were used in a study in Italy of 34 children who were identified as having autistic behaviors in their second year of life \citep{26246137}. Families reported that development during the first year of life had been normal and they donated videos that had been recorded before these children were 6 months old. Videos of 18 boys were examined in detail. Abnormal general movements, which are spontaneously generated by central pattern generators and modulated by more rostral brain regions, were seen in 10 of the 11 boys who were eventually diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In contrast, normal general movements were seen in the 8 boys who had some autistic features and 7 of these boys were later diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. 4 of the boys who were eventually diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder had TS as a comorbidity. These results, combined with the recent nearly ubiquitous availability of home baby videos in some cultures, suggest that a similar pseudo-prospective study design could be used to identify features predicting later development of TS.  The clinical characteristics of children who developed TS before the age of 4 were compared with those who were older than 6 at tic onset \citep{26596364}. The younger group had a higher rate of stuttering, other speech dysfluencies (e.g., speech initiation difficulties, speech prolongation), and oppositional defiant disorder. There was no difference between the two groups in rate of ADHD or obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Interestingly, the early-onset group was more likely to have a mother with tics. The authors suggested a number of possible explanations. These hypotheses include the idea that this difference in onset age might be related to mother sensitivity to the child's symptoms resulting in tics being diagnosed at a younger age or possible prenatal or perinatal environmental factors. An alternative explanation may be related to the fact that  TS being is  much less common in girls than in boys. Consequently, tics in a woman may represent a higher genetic load with this higher genetic load load,  resulting in a more severe form of tics and an earlier age of onset. onset in her children.  Researchers re-evaluated 75 TS patients previously seen at a University-based clinic, with a mean follow-up of 9 years \citep{25193042}. This study found that reported TS impairment was more likely to decrease over time in males and increase in females. In addition, women were more likely than men to have tics in adulthood in various body regions, primarily the upper extremities. This result suggests that gender continues to influence TS symptoms beyond adolescence.