Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by severe deficits in social interaction and communication, by an extremely limited range of activities and interests, and often by the presence of repetitive, stereotyped behaviors.
Relatively Few Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Receive Assistance After High School – Use of medical, mental health and case management services for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder appears to decline after high school, revealed by researchers.
Reducing diet early in pregnancy stunts fetal brain development — Study shows that the fetal brain is vulnerable to moderate decreases in maternal nutrition – Eating less during early pregnancy impaired fetal brain development in a nonhuman primate model, revealed by researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.
Children with autism lack visual skills required for independence – The ability to find shoes in the bedroom, apples in a supermarket, or a favourite animal at the zoo is impaired among children with autism, according to new research from the University of Bristol. Contrary to previous studies, which show that children with autism often demonstrate outstanding visual search skills, this new research indicates that children with autism are unable to search effectively for objects in real-life situations ? a skill that is essential for achieving independence in adulthood.
University of Utah and Harvard researchers take major step toward first biological test for autism – Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and the University of Utah have developed the best biologically based test for autism to date. The test was able to detect the disorder in individuals with high-functioning autism with 94 percent accuracy.
Autism: Lack of evidence for antidepressants – Antidepressants commonly prescribed to people with autistic spectrum disorders cannot be recommended based on current evidence, revealed by Cochrane Researchers.
Autism genome project identifies genetic variants that may make people susceptible to disorder – Autism is caused in part by rare genetic changes called copy number variants (CNVs), revealed by an international consortium of researchers from more than 70 universities, including the University of Utah.
Newly discovered gene variants lead to autism and mental retardation — Inner structure of nerve synapses defective in patients; human geneticists from Heidelberg publish in Nature Genetics – Researchers working with Professor Gudrun Rappold, Director of the Department of Molecular Human Genetics at Heidelberg University Hospital, have discovered previously unknown mutations in autistic and mentally impaired patients in what is known as the SHANK2 gene, a gene that is partially responsible for linking nerve cells. However, a single gene mutation is not always enough to trigger the illness.
Mount Sinai identifies first drug to demonstrate therapeutic effect in a type of autism – Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a drug that improves communication between nerve cells in a mouse model of Phelan McDermid Syndrome (PMS). Behavioral symptoms of PMS fall under the autism spectrum disorder category.
Federal Vaccine Court Rules Against Autism Families — Government’s Refusal to Fund Sound Science Stacks Deck Against Vaccine-Injured Children and Casts Doubt on the Integrity of the National Immunization Program says SafeMinds. – US ‘vaccine court’ ruled in three separate cases that the mercury containing preservative thiomersal does not cause autism. This ruling supports the broad scientific consensus.
Autism’s earliest symptoms not evident in children under 6 months — Condition is characterized by a slow decline rather than an abrupt loss of skills, study says – A study of the development of autism in infants, comparing the behavior of the siblings of children diagnosed with autism to that of babies developing normally, has found that the nascent symptoms of the condition – a lack of shared eye contact, smiling and communicative babbling – are not present at 6 months, but emerge gradually and only become apparent during the latter part of the first year of life.
New clue why autistic people don’t want hugs — Scientists find sensory cortex develops late in fragile X syndrome defect – Why do people with fragile X syndrome, a genetic defect that is the best-known cause of autism and inherited mental retardation, recoil from hugs and physical touch ? even from their parents?
Brain imaging may help diagnose autism — Subtle language delay, visible in MEG, may flag disorder – Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) process sound and language a fraction of a second slower than children without ASDs, and measuring magnetic signals that mark this delay may become a standardized way to diagnose autism.
