Autism News and Research

Latest Autism News and Research

Ireland to invest €5m for autism research

The Minister for Health and Children Mr. Micheal Martin, T.D. has announced that €5m is being made available for research in Ireland in the area of autism over the next five years.

26 Sep 2004

World's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies

The University of Illinois at Chicago unveiled today the world's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies, capable of imaging not just the anatomy but metabolism within the brain.

21 Sep 2004

Link between mother’s stress levels during pregnancy and the effect on the brain of her unborn baby

An intriguing link between a mother’s stress levels during pregnancy and the effect on the brain of her unborn baby is revealed in a new study of children born in Bristol, England.

20 Sep 2004

Evidence that measles-mumps-rubella immunisation is not associated with autism

A UK study published in this week’s issue of THE LANCET provides further evidence that measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunisation is not associated with the development of autism or other pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) in children.

9 Sep 2004

Autism may arise from a mixture of sources that include a few genes and epigenetics

Autism, a serious developmental disorder in children, may arise from a mixture of sources that include a few genes and alterations in the factors that regulate genes (epigenetics) that may be inherited or occur as a new event, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine.

8 Sep 2004

New genetic hypothesis for the cause of autism

Researchers have proposed a new hypothesis on the cause of autism, suggesting a mixed epigenetic and genetic and mixed de novo and inherited (MEGDI) model.

8 Sep 2004

Knowing more about a gene’s responsibility will stir up a swarm of controversy

Pinning down how genetics contributes to behavior is slippery business. For instance, identifying the genes linked to a likelihood of developing schizophrenia or autism could stigmatize those who possess the genes, and may even play a role in defining the conditions themselves.

1 Sep 2004

Critical shortage of support services for parents raising children with autism

The findings come hard on the heels of controversy over the tragic death of autistic ten-year-old Jason Dawes at the hands of his mother, who had received only three of the 20 hours per week of early intervention that her child needed since the age of 18 months.

17 Aug 2004

Drug company fights to keep toxin in vaccines

The UK announced Saturday they will remove the mercury preservative Thimerosal from their vaccines. The news comes days after an LA Times article reported that Aventis-Pasteur, a pharmaceutical giant, is pushing to keep the toxin in U.S. vaccines.

13 Aug 2004

Key to detecting Asperger’s syndrome, a milder yet little-understood form of autism, lies in analyzing infants’ movements

Home videos of infants' movements can be used to help detect a form of autism in a child’s first year of life, years earlier than the disorder typically is identified, University of Florida researchers have discovered.

29 Jul 2004

Framework for systematically incorporating epigenetic information into traditional genetic studies

Scientists at Johns Hopkins are calling for simultaneous evaluation of both genetic and epigenetic information in the search to understand contributors to such common diseases as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

29 Jul 2004

Understanding the face of autism

A multidisciplinary group of researchers, affiliated with HMRI and based at the University of Newcastle, are conducting a groundbreaking study which aims to identify whether the difficulties with social interaction often experienced by individuals with autism are related to a difficulty in interpreting the emotional content of faces.

23 Jul 2004