The hormone oxytocin modulates molecular pathways associated with autism in gut cells, according to unpublished research presented Saturday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
A new mouse model provides the first molecular link between the known autism risk gene PTEN and the mitochondrial dysfunction sometimes seen in the disorder. Mice with half the normal amount of PTEN protein in their brains have social deficits reminiscent of autism and faulty mitochondria, according to a study published 10 August in PLoS One.
For nearly two decades, scientists have debated the relationship between language problems, seen in about half of children with autism, and another disorder called specific language impairment. Three papers published in the past several months attempt to resolve this debate, but their findings suggest that it is far from settled.
Some studies have suggested that people with autism have deficits in executive function — a set of complex mental processes involved in everyday life. But these results may instead reflect their difficulties imagining what other people are thinking, according to a provocative new hypothesis.
A Dutch multimedia project attempts to convey how people with autism experience the world.
Infants at high risk for autism have difficulty integrating information from different senses, such as vision and hearing, a new study suggests.
Two reviews sketch a road map for understanding and treating autism in low- and middle-income countries.
Large-scale swapping of genetic material between chromosomes may play an important role in autism, according to a study published 27 April in Cell.
A ten-year initiative announced last month by the Allen Institute for Brain Science aims to catalog the development, structure and function of neural circuits in the brain at an unprecedented level of detail.
Early intensive intervention is the only therapy that has been shown to be effective in young children with autism, according to a 2011 review of autism treatments commissioned by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. But researchers are just beginning to tease out what they refer to as its ‘active ingredients:’ why the treatment works, which elements are essential and why it fails to help some children.
