Spectrum: Autism Research News

Research roundup

• How well parents understand information about autism influences their use of health services and medications for their autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Adolescents on the spectrum engage in more health-risky behaviors, such as aggression or self-injury, than their non-autistic peers, according to a study in China. World Journal of Clinical Cases
• Autistic women have different communication strengths and weaknesses compared with autistic men and non-autistic women. Frontiers in Psychology
• The experimental drug blarcamesine, which is in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and Rett syndrome, reversed some behavioral changes observed in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome. Scientific Reports
• Mice missing the autism-linked SHANK2 gene have social deficits, which seem to depend on a specific neuronal pathway involving gap junctions and NMDA receptors. Nature Communications
• Joint attention, the ability to follow someone else’s focus, seems to be linked to intelligence in autistic children. Autism Research
• In-depth analysis of previous studies finds only weak evidence that prenatal vitamins lower the chances of having a child with autism. Nutrients

Science and society

• Autistic psychologist Wenn Lawson has written a remembrance of his colleague Dinah Murray, an autistic researcher who died last month. Autism
• An autistic researcher describes how virtual platforms free her from the overwhelming aspects of face-to-face conversations, such as eye contact, body language and sensory stimuli. Nature

Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.53053/XHQO1176