Research into the 22q11.2 chromosomal region, which is linked to both schizophrenia and autism, can provide important insights into how rare duplications and deletions may lead to neuropsychiatric disorders, says Maria Karayiorgou.
New methods to deal with motion artifacts in brain imaging data are critically important, says Mike Tyszka.
Characterizing the brain’s network organization may help us understand autism, says Damien Fair.
‘Underconnectivity’ is considered one of the best-supported theories for the neural basis of autism. But many questions remain unanswered, says Jon Brock.
The search for rapid autism diagnosis has been elusive so far. Several researchers are instead looking for ways to prioritize the assessment of children at risk for the disorder, quickly establishing a diagnosis when it’s clear-cut and referring more complex cases for in-depth evaluation.
Deletions in the autism-linked gene AUTS2 trigger a variety of symptoms, including intellectual disability, developmental delay, a small head and unusual facial features, suggests a large study published 7 February in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
Children with attention difficulties may later show signs of autism, such as trouble holding a conversation, according to a study published 14 November in Psychological Medicine.
We are on the verge of a seismic shift in the definition of autism spectrum disorders, says David Skuse. Under proposed guidelines for autism diagnosis, the canard that most people with the disorder cannot speak, or have such disordered language that they cannot sustain a conversation, has been abandoned.
The loss of a 600-kilobase region on chromosome 16 leads to intellectual disability, obesity, a large head and, sometimes, autism, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics.
The families of children with specific language impairment do not have a history of autism, according to a study published 28 August in Genes, Brain and Behavior. The results bolster the theory that the two disorders have independent risk factors.