Autism News

• Images Of Nerve Cells In The Brain Of A Living Mouse
  To explore the most intricate structures of the brain in order to decipher how it functions - Stefan Hell's team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen has made a significant step closer to this goal...
    Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Mental Illness Suspect Genes Found To Be Among The Most Environmentally Responsive By NIH Study
  For the first time, scientists have tracked the activity, across the lifespan, of an environmentally responsive regulatory mechanism that turns genes on and off in the brain's executive hub...
    Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Hyperconnectivity In Brain's Hearing Center Caused By Gene Mutation In Autism
  New research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound...
    Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST
  
  

• Britain's First Adult Autism Survey Reveals Previously 'Invisible' Group With Autism
  New research on autism in adults has shown that adults with a more severe learning disability have a greater likelihood of having autism. This group, mostly living in private households, was previously 'invisible' in estimates of autism...
    Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Evolved, Mutated Gene Module Linked To Syndromic Autism
  A team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that newly discovered mutations in an evolved assembly of genes cause Joubert syndrome, a form of syndromic autism. The findings are published in the online issue of Science Express...
    Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Family History Of Psychiatric Disorders May Shape Intellectual Interests
  A hallmark of the individual is the cultivation of personal interests, but for some people, their intellectual pursuits might actually be genetically predetermined. Survey results published by Princeton University researchers in the journal PLoS ONE suggest that a family history of psychiatric conditions such as autism and depression could influence the subjects a person finds engaging...
    Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Sign Of Autism Can Be Seen In Infants
  A recent study that took place at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, and was published in the January edition of Current Biology, states that detecting autism symptoms in babies as young as 6 months old can help to determine how the autism will develop later in the child's life...
    Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 PST
  
  

• An Earlier Sign Of Autism In The Brain
  In their first year of life, babies who will go on to develop autism already show different brain responses when someone looks at or away from them...
    Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
  
  

• Adolescents With Autism Spend Free Time Using Solitary, Screen-Based Media
  Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be fascinated by screen-based technology. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that adolescents with autism spend the majority of their free time using non-social media, including television and video-games...
    Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• People With Autism Helped By Learning To 'Talk Things Through In Your Head'
  Teaching children with autism to 'talk things through in their head' may help them to solve complex day-to-day tasks, which could increase the chances of independent, flexible living later in life, according to new research...
    Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Researchers Study Impact Of Proposed Autism Diagnostic Criteria
  Getting an autism diagnosis could be more difficult in 2013 when a revised diagnostic definition goes into effect. The proposed changes may affect the proportion of individuals who qualify for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, according to preliminary data presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association...
    Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Autism Overdiagnosed? Possibly, Because Many Children Seem To "Outgrow" It
  Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) come with several neurodevelopmental signs and symptoms which overlap other conditions - it is possible that some early ASD diagnoses are wrong, especially among children who no longer meet the criteria for ASD as they get older, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health wrote in the journal Pediatrics...
    Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 PST
  
  

• New Research Suggests Birth Weight Plays A Role In Autism Spectrum Disorder
  Although the genetic basis of autism is now well established, a growing body of research also suggests that environmental factors may play a role in this serious developmental disorder affecting nearly one in 100 children. Using a unique study design, a new study suggests that low birth weight is an important environmental factor contributing to the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)...
    Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Invention Makes Children Eye Exams Inexpensive, Comprehensive, And Simple To Administer
  Eighty-five percent of children's learning is related to vision. Yet in the U.S., 80 percent of children have never had an eye exam or any vision screening before kindergarten, statistics say. When they do, the vision screenings they typically receive can detect only one or two conditions...
    Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
  
  

• Automated Imaging Inroduced To Greatly Speed Whole-Brain Mapping Efforts
  A new technology developed by neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) transforms the way highly detailed anatomical images can be made of whole brains. Until now, means of obtaining such images - used in cutting-edge projects to map the mammalian brain - have been painstakingly slow and available only to a handful of highly specialized research teams...
    Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Researchers Use Workshops To Teach Job Skills And Learn More About Families With Children On The Autism Spectrum
  These days, we hear a lot about the disorder of autism, but researchers at the University of Utah have created a program that helps kids with autism focus on building their skills and utilizing an aptitude for visual-spatial thinking, computers and other electronic media...
    Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Gastrointestinal Problems In Autistic Children May Be Due To Gut Bacteria
  The underlying reason autism is often associated with gastrointestinal problems is an unknown, but new results to be published in the online journal mBio® on January 10 reveal that the guts of autistic children differ from other children in at least one important way: many children with autism harbor a type of bacteria in their guts that non-autistic children do not...
    Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• When Teens With Autism Want To Drive
  In the first study to investigate driving as it relates to teens with a high-functioning autism disorder (HFASD), child development and teen driving experts at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies found that two-thirds of teenagers with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) who are of legal driving age in their state...
    Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• 2 Genes Affect Anxiety, Behavior In Mice With Too Much MeCP2
  The anxiety and behavioral issues associated with excess MeCP2 protein result from overexpression of two genes (Crh [corticotropin-releasing hormone] and Oprm 1 [mu-opioid receptor MOR 1]), which may point the way to treating these problems in patients with too much of the protein, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Genetics...
    Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Pioneering Vision Study In Mice Will Help Revolutionize The Study Of Brain Function And Mental Disease
  There's a 3-D world in our brains. It's a landscape that mimics the outside world, where the objects we see exist as collections of neural circuits and electrical impulses. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are using new tools they developed to chart that world, a key step in revolutionizing research into the neurological basis of vision...
    Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Possible Link Between Autism, Abnormal Immune System Characteristics And Novel Protein Fragment
  Immune system abnormalities that mimic those seen with autism spectrum disorders have been linked to the amyloid precursor protein (APP), reports a research team from the University of South Florida's Department of Psychiatry and the Silver Child Development Center...
    Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Complementary Image Processing In The Cerebral Hemispheres
  The left brain/right brain dichotomy has been prominent on the pop psychology scene since Nobel Laureate Roger Sperry broached the subject in the 1960s. The left is analytical while the right is creative, so goes the adage. And then there is the quasi-scientific obsession with "the face...
    Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST
  
  

• Catalyzing Autism Research At MIT - $26.5 Million Simons Gift
  The Simons Foundation has given the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) a $26.5 million gift. The money will be used to develop the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT, a novel plan that aims to catalyze newfangled research on the social brain and translate the research into enhanced diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD)...
    Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:00:00 PST
  
  

• Seizure Damage Reversed In Rats By Inhibitory Drug Targeting Neurologic Pathways
  About half of newborns who have seizures go on to have long-term intellectual and memory deficits and cognitive disorders such as autism, but why this occurs has been unknown...
    Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST
  
  

• Exciting Strides In Autism Research
  Teaching young children with autism to imitate others may improve a broader range of social skills, according to a new study by a Michigan State University scholar. The findings come at a pivotal time in autism research...
    Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST
  
  

Following useful links have been suggested by one of our visitors:
1. www.autism-india.org 
2. www.teacch.com
3. www.healing-arts.org/children/autism-treatments.htm