We aimed to assess whether modulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLFPC) with noninvasive brain stimulation, namely transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), modifies food craving in healthy subjects. We performed a randomized sham-controlled cross-over study in which 23 subjects received sham and active tDCS (anode left/cathode right and anode right/ cathode left) of the DLPFC. Subjects were exposed to food and also watched a movie of food associated with strong craving. Desire for food consumption was evaluated by visual analogue scales (VAS) and food consumption before and after treatment. In addition we measured visual attention to food using an eye tracking system. Craving for viewed foods as indexed by VAS was reduced by anode right/cathode left tDCS. After sham stimulation, exposure to real food or foodrelated movie increased craving; whereas after anode left/cathode right tDCS, the food-related stimuli did not increase craving levels, as revealed by the VAS scale. Moreover, compared with sham stimulation, subjects fixated food-related pictures less frequently after anode right/cathode left tDCS and consumed less food after both active stimulation conditions. These changes were not related to mood changes after any type of tDCS treatment. The effects of tDCS on food craving might be related to a modulation of neural circuits associated with reward and decisionmaking.

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Scales with evidence of validity and reliability are important to evaluate child development. In Brazil, there is a lack of standardized instruments to evaluate young children. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III). It was translated into Brazilian Portuguese, culturally adapted and tested on 207 children (12-42 months of age). Evidence of convergent validity was obtained from correlations of the Bayley-III with the: Peabody Developmental Motor Scale 2, Leiter International Performance Scale-R, Expressive Vocabulary Assessment List and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Exploratory factor analyses showed a single component explaining 86% of the variance, supported by goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis. The Bailey-III demonstrated good internal consistency with alpha coefficients greater than or equal to .90 and stability for fine motor scale only. These robust psychometric properties support the use of this tool in future national studies on child development.

Eye movements help to infer the cognitive strategy that a person uses in fluid intelligence tests. However, intelligence tests demand different relations/rules tokens to be solved, such as rule direction, which is the continuation, variation or overlay of geometric figures in the matrix of the intelligence test. The aim of this study was to understand whether eye movements could predict the outcome of an intelligence test and in the rule item groups. Furthermore, we sought to identify which measure is best for predicting intelligence test scores and to understand if the rule item groups use the same strategy. Accordingly, 34 adults completed a computerized intelligence test with an eye-tracking device. The toggling rate, that is, the number of toggles on each test item equalized by the item latency explained 45% of the variance of the test scores and a significant amount of the rule tokens item groups. The regression analyses also indicated toggling rate as the best measure for predicting the score and that all the rule tokens seem to respect the same strategy. No correlation or difference were found between baseline pupil size and fluid intelligence. Wiener Matrizen-Test 2 was demonstrated to be a good instrument for the purpose of this study. Finally, the implications of these findings for an understanding of cognition are discussed.

ABSTRACTobjectIve. This systematic review sought to conduct a general analysis of the Brazilian scientific output on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) published between 2002 and 2009. Methods. A literature search was conducted in the scientific databases PubMed, SciELO, and LILACS and in the CAPES portal, using keywords such as "autism" and "pervasive developmental disorders". results. A total of 93 articles were identified, most of which were authored by researchers from Southeast Brazil and affiliated with public universities. Approximately one-third of all articles were published in journals with an impact factor ranging from 0.441 to 3.211; most were based on small sample sizes. Furthermore, 140 theses and dissertations were identified, 82.1% of which were master's theses. Interventions for ASD were the predominant research topic. conclusIon. Brazilian researchers are clearly interested in the topic of ASD; however, a substantial portion of their scientific output is limited to doctoral dissertations or master's theses. A minority of articles was published in journals with a high impact factor. These findings suggest the need for studies with larger sample sizes, which could produce higher-impact findings and thus increase visibility of the Brazilian scientific output in the field of ASD research.

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ResumoOs transtornos globais do desenvolvimento (TGD) são caracterizados por anormalidades qualitativas e abrangentes em três domínios do desenvolvimento: interação social recíproca, comunicação e presença de um repertório comportamental de interesses restritos, repetitivo e estereotipado. Estudos genéticos têm identificado a recorrência de TGD numa mesma família. O presente estudo teve por objetivo rastrear a ocorrência de sinais e sintomas de TGD em irmãos de indivíduos com esse diagnóstico. Participaram do estudo 25 sujeitos provenientes de 19 famílias. A coleta de dados foi realizada mediante a utilização da versão brasileira do Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ), ou Questionário de Comportamento e Comunicação Social. Foram confirmados dois casos de irmãos com TGD (10,52% dos casos), sendo um irmão gêmeo monozigótico e um irmão de um probando com diagnóstico de síndrome de Asperger. Os dados apontam para taxas mais elevadas do que aquelas descritas na literatura (2-6%) e se aproximam dos achados que relatam 10% de recorrência familiar em gêmeos dizigóticos. Esse resultado fornece evidências de possíveis fatores neurogenéticos para explicar a ocorrência de TGD nos familiares dos probandos estudados e salienta a necessidade de efetuar o rastreamento desse transtorno não só na criança avaliada, mas também em seus irmãos. Descritores: Irmãos, genética, transtornos do espectro do autismo. AbstractPervasive developmental disorders (PDD) are characterized by comprehensive and qualitative abnormalities affecting three areas of development: reciprocal social interaction, communication, and a repetitive, stereotyped behavioral repertoire, of limited interests. Genetic studies have identified the recurrence of PDD in the same family. The present study aimed to trace the occurrence of signs and symptoms of PDD in the siblings of patients with this diagnosis. The study included 25 subjects from 19 families. Data collection was performed using the Brazilian version of the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ). Two cases of PDD in siblings were confirmed (10.52% of cases): a monozygotic twin brother and the brother of a proband with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. Our data indicate higher rates of PDD in siblings than described in the literature (2-6%), close to the findings that suggest a 10% rate of familial recurrence in dizygotic twins. This result provides evidence of possible neurogenetic factors to explain the occurrence of PDD in relatives of the probands assessed and underscores the need to screen not only the child under evaluation, but also their siblings.

The literature shows that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate a heterogeneous pattern of cognitive abilities, including nonverbal abilities. However, there is a need for better cognitive characterization of this population for both research and intervention purposes. The present study aims to verify the Leiter-R performance profile for 40 children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old with ASD. The performance of the ASD children in each subtest and their total scores were compared to those of a control group of typically developing children, and intragroup analysis was conducted to verify the strengths and weaknesses of the children with ASD. The results show that individuals with ASD have difficulties with abstract reasoning related to fluid intelligence as well as selective attention and inhibition. Conversely, their visuo-spatial abilities are their strength. Cluster and comparative intra-group analyses indicate that nonverbal cognitive abilities are heterogeneous among the individuals within the ASD group. Performance in nonverbal tasks is positively correlated with adaptive functioning in communication and daily skills domains and inversely correlated with symptom severity as measured by the Autism Behavior Checklist. These results corroborate the literature associating cognition and functionality in ASD.