• The better an autistic child’s perceptual abilities at preschool age, the higher they tend to score on IQ tests at school age. Autism
• Both executive functioning and IQ are linked to adaptive skill levels in autistic adults. Frontiers in Psychology
• Sergiu Pașca of Stanford University is featured on the 18 April episode of the “Stem Cell Podcast.” Spectrum profiled Pașca in 2015. Stem Cell Podcast
• Autistic adults appear to encode memories differently from non-autistic adults and may also have impaired retrieval. Cerebral Cortex
• There is a lack of high-quality evidence for the use of medical cannabis to treat autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions, according to a literature review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Ten people diagnosed with autism as adults and living in Michigan describe their experiences in interviews with journalists. The Detroit Free Press
• Five U.S.-based transit systems have used autistic children’s voices to play their public service announcements during Autism Awareness Month. NPR
• Methylation in sperm is associated with autism traits in fathers and their children, according to a study of families with a history of autism. Molecular Psychiatry
• Physical activity interventions in autistic children can improve fitness, motor skills, psychological well-being and quality of life, but they do not affect core autism traits, according to a review of studies. Autism
• A new project, Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of Autistic People, seeks to include autistic voices in the research and development of AI-based diagnostics, aids and interventions. European Council of Autistic People
• Mice missing the autism-linked gene CASPR2 have altered gastrointestinal motility, according to a preprint. bioRxiv
  

  Sensory gut: The CASPR2 protein is expressed in a subset of enteric neurons all along the intestinal tract.

• Human reviewers can identify when ChatGPT is used to write scientific papers 68 percent of the time; an AI output detector caught such instances 98 percent of the time. npj digital medicine
• Autistic children have unusually large electrophysiological reactions to an aberrant sound in an auditory perception measure called mismatch negativity. International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology
• Medical students with autism traits are more likely than those without to experience burnout and depression, according to a small study in Japan. BMC Psychiatry
• European Union research ministers appear to be close to finalizing draft guidance that recommends scientific publishing be open access and without fees for authors. Science Business
• DNA methylation patterns at birth may predict a child’s fine-motor skills six to seven years later. Epigenetics
• Researchers from Asia, Africa and South America — as well as Black researchers in the United States — are under-cited and underrepresented on journal editorial boards, and they face delays in manuscript review. Nature
• Almost one-quarter of autism intervention studies published before November 2021 cannot be included in meta-analyses because they inadequately report their findings or fail to provide their data upon request, according to an unpublished analysis presented Thursday at INSAR 2023 by Micheal Sandbank. The work comes from an ongoing analysis of Project AIM (Autism Intervention Meta-Analysis), which Spectrum covered last year. INSAR Abstract 205.002
• Brain waves called beta oscillations are more frequent and variable in children with autism than in those without the condition, says Gerardo Parra, who presented the unpublished work Thursday at INSAR 2023. A higher rate of beta oscillations tends to be associated with hyperreactivity to tactile stimuli, according to the analysis, which recorded the resting-state brain activity of 22 autistic and 27 non-autistic children. INSAR Abstract 204.001
• An infant’s preference to look at faces over non-face objects is heritable, according to findings from an unpublished eye-tracking study of more than 500 5-month-old twins presented by Ana Maria Portugal Thursday at INSAR. A higher preference is also associated with greater verbal skills in toddlerhood, parent reports show. INSAR Abstract 306.002

Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.53053/LOHS3221