Autism News and Research

Latest Autism News and Research

Autism linked with disorganized structure of brain's white matter

It's still unclear what's different in the brains of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but evidence from genetic and cell studies points to abnormalities in how brain cells (neurons) connect to each other. A study at Children's Hospital Boston now provides visual evidence associating autism with a disorganized structure of brain connections, as well as defects in myelin -- the fatty, insulating coating that helps nerve fibers conduct signals and that makes up the brain's white matter.

6 Dec 2011

Prenatal exposure to valproate may increase risk of autism in children

Investigators in a population-based study in Denmark reporting today at the American Epilepsy Society's 65th annual meeting have found there is an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder and childhood autism in children born of mothers who are exposed to the anticonvulsant valproate during pregnancy.

6 Dec 2011

Measles raises its head again in Europe after years of suppression: Report

According to a new report last Thursday, measles incidence is on the rise in Europe following decades of decline. Up to October European health officials reported more than 26,000 measles cases this year and nine deaths.

5 Dec 2011

Autism Speaks releases 'Visual Supports' tool kit for parents, providers

Autism Speaks, North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization today released the Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder tool kit providing valuable guidance to parents, families and providers about how to utilize pictures, photographs and other visual supports to improve communication for children, adolescents and adults who struggle with understanding or using language.

1 Dec 2011

Peer-mediated interventions may provide greater social benefits for children with ASD

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who attend regular education classes may be more likely to improve their social skills if their typically developing peers are taught how to interact with them than if only the children with ASD are taught such skills. According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, a shift away from more commonly used interventions that focus on training children with ASD directly may provide greater social benefits for children with ASD.

1 Dec 2011

Large brains linked to regressive autism: Study

In this new study researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute, show there are multiple biological subtypes of autism including likely differences between males and females. They looked at 114 children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 2 and 4 and compared them with 66 healthy children of the same age. Of the 114 with the disorder, 54% had regressive autism and 46% had non-regressive autism.

29 Nov 2011

Many kids missing vaccinations owing to parental refusal: Report

Figures reveal that more parents are opting out of school shots for their kids. In eight states now, more than one in 20 public school kindergarten children aren't getting all the vaccines required for attendance.

29 Nov 2011

Rare syndrome's workings could help explain how brain wiring goes awry

Potential clues to how autism miswires the brain are emerging from a study of a rare, purely genetic form of the disorders that affects fewer than 20 people worldwide. Using cutting-edge "disease-in a-dish" technology, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have grown patients' skin cells into neurons to discover what goes wrong in the brain in Timothy Syndrome.

28 Nov 2011

Most people with Timothy syndrome mutation have autistic symptoms

Neuroscientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have homed in on potential differences in autistic people's brain cells by studying brainlike spheres grown in an elaborate process from skin cells.

28 Nov 2011

Carefully selected young, healthy neurons can repair brain circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.

24 Nov 2011

GPS at WUSTL now offers new cancer genetic test

Physicians can now take advantage of a new genetics test -- one of the first of its kind to be offered in the United States -- that can help determine the best treatment for cancer patients.

23 Nov 2011

Senator Klein opens new Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

New York State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein joined administrators and faculty members of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University last Friday to officially open their new Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory.

19 Nov 2011

HVTN debunks top 10 myths about HIV vaccine research

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and in commemoration of the occasion, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, headquartered at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, debunks the top 10 myths about HIV vaccine research.

18 Nov 2011

Researchers discover a factor in synapse-building and pruning

Like a gardener who stakes some plants and weeds out others, the brain is constantly building networks of synapses, while pruning out redundant or unneeded synapses. Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory led by Assistant Professor Zhong-wei Zhang, Ph.D., have discovered a factor in synapse-building, also showing that the building and pruning processes occur independent of each other.

17 Nov 2011

Autism Speaks receives $100,000 Royal Arch Masons RARA grant

The General Chapter of Royal Arch Masons International presented Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism research and advocacy organization, with a $100,000 Royal Arch Research Assistance (RARA) grant in support of the Autism Speaks early diagnosis and early intervention initiative to investigate auditory processing disorders in children with autism.

17 Nov 2011

Gallaudet University, UC Davis to co-sponsor Visual Learning Summit

How deaf children learn to read will be one of the topics of a conference at UC Davis Nov. 18-19. The Visual Learning Summit is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, Gallaudet University's Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning, and the departments of psychology and linguistics at UC Davis.

16 Nov 2011

N.Y. State Senator opens Einstein's new Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab

16 Nov 2011

Scientists find new tools to help understand neurodevelopmental disorders

Research released today shows that scientists are finding new tools to help understand neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and fragile X syndrome. These studies show in new detail how the brain's connections, chemicals, and genes interact to affect behavior.

15 Nov 2011

Longer looks: Do extra brain cells offer a clue to autism?; doctors leaving medicine

There's growing evidence that the brains of autistic children are very different from the brains of other youngsters. Now a new study that found an excess of brain cells in children with autism comes closer to pinpointing the origins of the condition: in utero versus in toddlerhood. In research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), scientists at the University of California, San Diego, found that autistic children have about 67% more nerve cells in a part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex than children without autism.

11 Nov 2011

Clinical diagnoses of autism may vary widely across centers

To diagnose autism spectrum disorders, clinicians typically administer a variety of tests or scales and use information from observations and parent interviews to classify individuals into subcategories listed in standard psychiatric diagnostic manuals.

10 Nov 2011