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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 ...

Genetics

Biomarkers in fathers' sperm linked to offspring autism

Biomarkers in human sperm have been identified that can indicate a propensity to father children with autism spectrum disorder. These biomarkers are epigenetic, meaning they involve changes to molecular factors that regulate ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Preemie-born parents linked to children with autism

In a study of medical registry records of nearly 400,000 parent-child pairs from Denmark, a Yale School of Public Health study found that parents who were themselves born very prematurely were nearly twice as likely to have ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism may raise risk for substance use disorder

(HealthDay)—Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have an increased risk for substance use disorder (SUD), according to a study published online Jan. 4 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism theory 25 years in the making

A unifying explanation of the cause of autism and the reason for its rising prevalence has eluded scientists for decades, but a theoretical model published in the journal Medical Hypotheses describes the cause as a combination ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

New clues about autism subtypes

Two groundbreaking studies at the UC Davis MIND Institute provide clues about possible types of autism linked to brain structure, including size and white matter growth.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Social cognitive performance similar with schizophrenia, autism

Levels of social cognitive impairment are similar in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a review published online Dec. 8 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Autism spectrum disorders

Managing the microbiome raises new hope for autism

According to the Centers for Disease Research, 1 in 54 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) each year, and the number has been rising. The disease causes perplexing, lifelong developmental disabilities, ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Hearing test may detect autism in newborns

For years, researchers have known through numerous studies that hearing and other sensory systems of adults and children who have autism differ from children or adults without autism.

Autism spectrum disorders

Mid-levels of immune marker at birth may protect against autism

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the association between certain immune markers in neonates and the risk of later developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They found that mid-levels of a classical ...

Autism spectrum disorders

People with autism may have large deficits in facial recognition

The ability to recognize faces varies greatly, but individuals with autism spectrum disorders can especially struggle, having huge implications for social interaction. Penn State researchers, for the first time, recently ...