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Autism spectrum disorders news

Autism spectrum disorders

Scientists grow mini brains to uncover cells behind autism-related brain overgrowth

A new study in the lab of Jason Stein, Ph.D., modeled brain development in a dish to identify cells and genes that influence infant brain growth, a trait associated with autism.

Neuroscience

Molecular difference in autistic brains may explain signaling imbalance

Yale School of Medicine (YSM) scientists have discovered a molecular difference in the brains of autistic people compared to their neurotypical counterparts.

Autism spectrum disorders

AI-assisted device may improve autism care access

Access to autism evaluations through specialty health care is notorious for long wait times across the United States. In Missouri, many families wait nearly a year for a diagnostic appointment. AI might be a solution to cutting ...

Neuroscience

Protein abnormality illuminates communication struggles in autism

A DGIST research team identified that the mutation of the collybistin protein found in autistic patients weakens the brain's inhibitory synaptic function and leads to communication deficiencies. The results of this research ...

Neuroscience

Study maps brain wiring differences in youth with autism

Researchers at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have uncovered new insights into how brain wiring differs in children and young adults with ...

Autism spectrum disorders

What to know about the CDC's baseless new guidance on autism

The rewriting of a page on the CDC's website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Vaccines 'don't cause autism': How scientists figured that out

In the late 1990s, a theory gripped parents around the world: What if childhood vaccines—particularly the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine—cause autism? Nearly three decades later, the debunked theory has gained ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Are there differences in the brains of autistic men and women?

Around three times as many males are diagnosed with autism than females. This suggests that biological sex factors may play a role in the development and presentation of autism. Studies on the neurobiology (brain biology) ...

Autism spectrum disorders

2014 to 2019 saw increase in prevalence of autism in U.S. children

There was a slight increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among U.S. children from 2014 to 2019, with racial/ethnic disparities in trends, according to a research letter published online March 5 in JAMA ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Researchers use machine learning to identify autism blood biomarkers

Using machine learning tools to analyze hundreds of proteins, UT Southwestern researchers have identified a group of biomarkers in blood that could lead to an earlier diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ...

Neuroscience

'Mosaic' gene mutations could explain some cases of autism

The causes of autism remain mysterious. Scientists have linked autism spectrum disorder to a long list of genes, but most children with autism have no known explanation. Two new studies add to the picture, implicating mutations ...

Genetics

'Hidden biological link' among autism genes revealed in study

A new study of autism risk genes by UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley scientists implicates disruption in prenatal neurogenesis—a process in which specialized "progenitor" cells give rise to new brain cells—in the development ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Reducing biases about autism may increase social inclusion

Efforts to improve the social success of autistic adolescents and adults have often focused on teaching them ways to think and behave more like their non-autistic peers and to hide the characteristics that define them as ...

Genetics

Forming sound memories: Autism gene plays key aspect in birdsong

Inactivating a gene in young songbirds that's closely linked with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevents the birds from forming memories necessary to accurately reproduce their fathers' songs, a new study led by UT Southwestern ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Newly licensed autistic drivers crash less than other young drivers

A collaborative study from the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) and the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that compared with their non-autistic peers, young ...

Neuroscience

Time to act on autism diagnosis deficiencies

Identification of autism, followed by appropriate intervention, has the potential to improve outcomes for autistic individuals—but Flinders University experts say that presently not enough qualified people can diagnose.

Autism spectrum disorders

Mental health conditions alarmingly high among children with autism

Nearly 78 per cent of children with autism have at least one mental health condition and nearly half have two mental health conditions or more, according to a new U.S. study from the University of British Columbia's department ...