Daily living skills (DLS), such as personal hygiene, meal preparation, and money management, are important to independent living. Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibit impairments in daily living skills relative to their cognitive skills. This study examined predictors of daily living skills attainment and trajectories of daily living skills in a longitudinal sample referred for possible autism spectrum disorder and followed from 2 to 21 years of age. Consistent with previous studies, participants with autism spectrum disorder and nonspectrum diagnoses showed continual development of daily living skills throughout childhood and adolescence. Early childhood nonverbal mental age was the strongest predictor of daily living skills attainment for both diagnostic groups. Group-based modeling suggested two distinct trajectories of daily living skills development for participants with autism spectrum disorder. Skill levels for both groups of young adults with autism spectrum disorder remained considerably below age level expectations. Whereas the “High-DLS” group gained approximately 12 years in daily living skills from T2 to T21, the “Low-DLS” group’s daily living skills improved 3–4 years over the 16- to 19-year study period. Nonverbal mental age, receptive language, and social-communication impairment at 2 years predicted High- versus Low-DLS group membership. Receiving greater than 20 h of parent-implemented intervention before age 3 was also associated with daily living skills trajectory. Results suggest that daily living skills should be a focus of treatment plans for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, particularly adolescents transitioning to young adulthood.

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The use of nanodiamonds for biomedical and consumer applications is growing rapidly. As its use becomes more widespread, so too are concerns around their cytotoxicity. Cytotoxicity of nanodiamonds correlates with...

Background To determine whether a correlation exists between the clinical symptoms and signs of impingement, and the severity of the lesions seen at bursoscopy. Methods Fifty-five patients who underwent arthroscopic subacromial decompression were analyzed. Pre-operatively patients completed an assessment form consisting of visual analogue pain score, and shoulder satisfaction. The degree of clinical impingement was also recorded. At arthroscopy impingement was classified according to the Copeland-Levy classification. Post-operatively the shoulder assessment was repeated. Statistical analysis was carried to determine if the degree of impingement at arthroscopy correlated with pre-operative pain, satisfaction and clinical signs of impingement. Results Pre-operative pain level, shoulder satisfaction and degree of clinical impingement did not correlate significantly with severity of the lesions of the acromion and cuff. (average correlation coefficient r2 0.018.) There was no correlation between the improvement in the shoulders post-operatively and the severity of lesions (r2 0.008). Conclusion There was no correlation between pain, clinical signs or outcomes of subacromial decompression and the severity of impingement lesions seen at arthroscopy.