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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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The latest developments in autism research.

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A young woman sleeps at home wearing a Dreem headband and surrounded by stuffed animals.

Capturing autism’s sleep problems with devices nearable and wearable

by ,  /  6 June 2023

Next-generation trackers could realize a long-standing research dream: conducting sleep studies in large numbers of autistic people.

Collage of multiple figures on a hillside looking at a large blue book in the distance.

Debate remains over changes in DSM-5 a decade on

by  /  31 May 2023
Changes to the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria for autism were meant to add clarity, but they also generated new questions.
A brain slice under a microscope.

Preprint questions validity of postmortem brain studies

by  /  5 June 2023
But the alternatives, including living-brain biopsies, raise logistical and ethical questions, experts say.
Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele looks directly into the camera with a calm expression in a close up shot.

Swings and misses with Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

by  /  30 May 2023
A careful clinician who prizes evidence, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele is happy to embrace trial failures, as long as he learns from them.

Latest News

Many mouths making conversation, with speech bubbles in red and blue.

Community Newsletter: Replication fail; autism diagnostic pathways

by  /  4 June 2023

Scientists on social media this week discussed a failed attempt to replicate some functional MRI results and children’s journeys to an autism diagnosis in the United Kingdom.

A researcher works with a young child.

Two scientists, two interventions: A ‘gentle rivalry’ to aid autistic children

by  /  2 June 2023

Minimally verbal autistic preschoolers gained new words and phrases in a head-to-head comparison of two interventions.

A hand reaches from above to add a pill to a stack that is resting against the x-axis of a graph.

Going on Trial: Epidiolex for autism; arbaclofen tests; pain monitoring

by  /  30 May 2023

This month’s issue of Going on Trial takes a sneak peek at some early null results from a small trial of a cannabidiol-based drug for autism, among other recent drug developments.

Speech bubble formed by a network of communication

Community Newsletter: ‘Scammer participants’; dopamine receptor structures

by  /  28 May 2023

A potential threat to the integrity of data collected online and an analysis of the structure and function of dopamine receptors caught researchers’ attention on social media this week.

A patient fills out a form in a doctor's office waiting room

Medicaid waivers curb disenrollment among autistic young adults

by  /  26 May 2023

Autistic people tend to drop out of Medicaid once they reach adulthood in states that don’t waive the income restrictions on enrollment.

Research image of oligodendrocytes in mice treated with clemastine compared to untreated mice.

Antihistamine aids myelination in Pitt-Hopkins mice

by  /  25 May 2023

The drug clemastine and other compounds that fortify the protective sheath around neurons may prove therapeutic for some genetic neurodevelopmental conditions.

A hand lifts a line graph off of a page and into the air.

Nerve regeneration paper retracted over faked data

by  /  24 May 2023

The paper marks the second retraction for one of the co-authors.

Illustration of DNA methylation.

‘Polygenic risk scores’ for autism, explained

by  /  23 May 2023

These scores — composite measures of a person’s autism-linked common genetic variants — cannot predict an autism diagnosis but could help researchers better understand the condition’s underlying biology.

A stack of papers sits on a blue table.

Neuroscience journal retracts 13 papers at once

by  /  22 May 2023

The papers were flagged by a method that has now been called into question.

Many mouths making conversation, with speech bubbles in red and blue.

Community Newsletter: 3D motion tool; Imaging Neuroscience announcement

by  /  21 May 2023

This week on social media, scientists discussed a new tool to quantify motion in 3D and responded to the announcement of the launch of Imaging Neuroscience.

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