• probiotics
• RCT
• spectral power analysis
• adolescent
• children
• autism
• ASD
• functional connectivity
• quantitative EEG
• EEG

This thesis focuses on studying the validity of electroencephalogram (EEG) as a tool for detecting electroneurophysiological changes correlated with clinical trials outcomes in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
According to the state-of-art literature, clinical manifestations of ASD are underpinned by a neural signal activity that differs from that of neurotypical peers. Although the results are sometimes contradictory to each other, there is the possibility that specific parameters of neural signal activity, detected through EEG, could be considered as neurofunctional markers of ASD in different phases of development in autistic subjects. For this reason, EEG may be design as a behaviour-independent and non invasive approach to detect children at risk of developing ASD by measuring neural activity at an early stage. In this way, the limit represented by the fact that current clinical diagnosis practices are subjective and behaviour dependent, delaying the diagnosis and treatment of children with ASD, may be overcome.
EEG can also be used to detect neurophysiological changes which are statistically correlated with clinical outcomes, assessing in this way treatments efficacy or otherwise. There is also the possibility to use EEG as a predictive tool of clinical outcomes by detecting baseline electroneurophysiological features.
According to what has been reported above, the aim of this work is to provide support to the usefulness of EEG as a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of various types of experimental treatments applied to autistic subjects. To this end, the thesis focuses on two main aspects.
On one hand, an analysis of four clinical trials is reported. EEG has been used to identify neurofunctional changes correlated with clinical outcomes. Considerations have been implemented with those of a RCT analysis, regarding a probiotics supplementation in preschoolers with ASD. This trial has been carried out by the team of Professor Muratori, Director of the Operative Unit of Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation (Pisa). The undersigned has participated in the statistical analysis and interpretation of data obtained from the use of qEEG (quantitative electroencephalography). These data have been examined in correlation with clinical and biochemical outcomes, thus investigating the potential efficacy of the probiotics treatment from an electroneurophysiological point of view. Statistical tests have been considered both in the four clinical trials and in the RCT analysis.
Subsequently, conclusions have been elaborated confirming the potential utility of EEG as a tool for follow-up and objective detection of treatments efficacy in clinical trials.