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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 ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Autistic people's nerve cells differ before birth

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that researchers are now tracing back to prenatal development, even though the disorder is not diagnosed until at least 18 months of age. A new study now shows in human brain cells ...

Autism spectrum disorders

For black children with autism, diagnosis occurs at about age 5

(HealthDay)—Diagnosis of African American children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occurs at an average of 64.9 months, many months after parents' first concerns about their child's development, according to a study ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Simple test could improve public attitudes to autism

Using a simple 'thermometer scale survey' to measure public attitudes towards people with autism could help improve public understanding and acceptance, say researchers.

Autism spectrum disorders

Measuring social networks of young adults with autism

As many have recently discovered, social connections are vital to a person's wellbeing. While social isolation is a core challenge associated with autism, researchers from Drexel University's A.J. Drexel Autism Institute ...

Neuroscience

Early neural activity associated with autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is rarely diagnosed until symptoms arise, often well into childhood. Evidence however, is mounting that developmental abnormalities likely emerge in the brain long before then: early identification ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Cannabis use in pregnancy linked to a greater risk of autism

In the largest study of its kind, Ottawa researchers found that children whose mothers reported using cannabis during pregnancy were at greater risk of autism. The incidence of autism was 4 per 1000 person-years among children ...

Autism spectrum disorders

AI-enhanced precision medicine identifies novel autism subtype

A novel precision medicine approach enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) has laid the groundwork for what could be the first biomedical screening and intervention tool for a subtype of autism, reports a new study from ...

Genetics

Autism: How a gene alteration modifies social behavior

A team of researchers at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has discovered a new connection between a genetic alteration and social difficulties related to autism: A mutation in the neuroligin-3 gene reduces the effect ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Challenging the representation of autism in Vietnamese media

With the first-hand experience of raising a son with autism, a Massey University international Ph.D. student has called for a national communication strategy and action plan in her home country Vietnam, to change the way ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Experimental drug for Alzheimer's may help children with autism

An extensive international study led by Prof. Illana Gozes of Tel Aviv University's Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry found deposits of the tau protein typically found in Alzheimer's patients in tissues ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Online tools can improve autism diagnosis

Online tools and assessments can help speed up diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the first comprehensive survey of research in the field has concluded.

Autism spectrum disorders

Study paves way for earlier autism diagnosis in Indiana

A 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in 54 children in the United States is identified each year with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While children can be diagnosed with ASD as early as 2 years ...