Children with autism traits tend to show agitation, excitability, decreased sleep and other mild signs of mania in adolescence; the association is higher in identical twins than fraternal twins, suggesting that genetics plays a role.
Many genes linked to autism, schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental delay regulate gene expression and support communication between neurons.
The largest-yet study of genetic data from autistic people has identified 255 genes associated with the condition.
Researchers have rated more than 17,000 genes, including many linked to autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions, according to their sensitivity to deletions and duplications.
People who experience an autism-specific form of anxiety also tend to have an unusually small amygdala, a brain region associated with emotion processing and fear, according to a new unpublished study.
Girls and women with mutations in the autism-linked gene DDX3X may be particularly vulnerable to anxiety and self-harm.
See autism research results distilled into simple visualizations, along with eye-opening statistics and datasets.
The coronavirus pandemic forced researchers and clinicians to find new ways to assess children for autism — many of which will almost certainly endure.
A new protocol aims to help researchers include more autistic people — especially those who are minimally verbal or have intellectual disability — in imaging studies.
A new atlas profiles gene activity early on during development in the human fetal brain.