Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Department of Biology, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2010 May;7(5):1984-95. doi: 10.3390/ijerph7051984. Epub 2010 Apr 28.
The aim of this pilot study was to test autistic children, siblings and their parents using a biometric device based on the gas discharge visualization (GDV) technique in order to assess their psycho-emotional and physiological functional state based on the activity of the autonomic nervous system.
We hypothesize that the biometric assessment based on GDV will enable us: (1) to evaluate some specific features associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as to compare autistic children to their siblings and to controls; (2) to analyze the differences in individual values of parents of autistic children versus parents of normal children.
Out of total of 48 acupuncture points present on ten fingertips of both hands and associated to organs/organ systems, autistic children differed significantly from controls (p < 0.05) in 36 (images without filter) and 12 (images with filter), siblings differed significantly from controls (p < 0.05) in 12 (images without filter) and seven (images with filter), autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from siblings in eight (images without filter) and one (images with filter), fathers of autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from controls in 14 (images without filter) and three (images with filter) and mothers of autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from controls in five (images without filter) and nine (images with filter) acupuncture points.
All compared groups have shown significant difference on both psycho-emotional (images without filter) and physiological (images with filter) levels. However, the differences between autistic children and controls expressed on psycho-emotional level were the most significant as compared to the other groups. Therefore, the activity of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system is significantly altered in children with autism. The biometric method based on GDV is a promising step in autism research that may lead towards creating a disease profile and identify unique signature/biomarker for autism. Further work should involve more participants in order to augment our findings.
本研究旨在使用基于气体放电可视化 (GDV) 技术的生物识别设备对自闭症儿童、其兄弟姐妹及其父母进行测试，以评估其基于自主神经系统活动的心理-情绪和生理功能状态。
我们假设基于 GDV 的生物识别评估将使我们能够：（1）评估与自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 相关的一些特定特征，并将自闭症儿童与他们的兄弟姐妹和对照组进行比较；（2）分析自闭症儿童的父母与正常儿童的父母的个体值差异。
在双手十个指尖的总共 48 个穴位中，与器官/器官系统相关联，自闭症儿童与对照组相比，在 36 个（无滤波器图像）和 12 个（滤波器图像）中差异显著（p<0.05），兄弟姐妹与对照组相比，在 12 个（无滤波器图像）和 7 个（滤波器图像）中差异显著（p<0.05），自闭症儿童与兄弟姐妹相比，在 8 个（无滤波器图像）和 1 个（滤波器图像）中差异显著（p<0.05），自闭症儿童的父亲与对照组相比，在 14 个（无滤波器图像）和 3 个（滤波器图像）中差异显著（p<0.05），自闭症儿童的母亲与对照组相比，在 5 个（无滤波器图像）和 9 个（滤波器图像）中差异显著（p<0.05）。
所有比较组在心理-情绪（无滤波器图像）和生理（滤波器图像）水平上均表现出显著差异。然而，与其他组相比，自闭症儿童与对照组在心理-情绪水平上的差异最为显著。因此，自闭症儿童的交感自主神经系统活动明显改变。基于 GDV 的生物识别方法是自闭症研究的一个有前途的步骤，可能会导致创建疾病特征并识别自闭症的独特特征/生物标志物。进一步的工作应包括更多的参与者，以增强我们的发现。
