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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: amygdala

March 2019

Early activity of brain’s emotion hub may yield clues to autism

by  /  11 March 2019

The brain’s emotion center, the amygdala, undergoes dramatic changes during the first year of life; these shifts may hold hints about its role in autism.

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September 2018
Photo: Autistic woman Becky Audette lies on a couch under a purple blanket.

Rebooting Becky’s brain

by  /  12 September 2018

An electrical brain implant all but erased the obsessions that had consumed Becky Audette, years after her autism diagnosis. Could similar implants help other people with severe autism?

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August 2018

Internal recordings of human brain may offer insight into autism

by ,  /  14 August 2018

A technique called intracranial electroencephalography can reveal brain functions with great sensitivity and may ultimately unearth the underpinnings of autism.

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May 2018
Silhouetted child in the trees

Young girls with autism have more psychiatric problems than boys

by  /  12 May 2018

A greater proportion of 3-year-old girls than boys with autism have psychiatric features such as anxiety and moodiness.

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April 2018
extra neuronal connections may sprout from the amygdala, a brain region governing fear

In autism, brain’s emotion hub begins with too many cells

by  /  6 April 2018

The amygdala, a brain region that governs emotions, may be enlarged and overly connected in children with autism, but it shrinks as the children grow up.

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March 2018
Week of MarchMar
26th
2018

Late-life diagnosis; narrated brain stimulation; microglia movie and more

by  /  30 March 2018

Women describe relief at finally learning they have autism, a man with epilepsy narrates during stimulation of his brain, and the brain’s immune cells are caught on film nibbling at neuronal connections.

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Week of MarchMar
19th
2018

Activists arrested; poop cult; ‘landmark’ movie and more

by  /  23 March 2018

Activists are arrested while protesting the use of electroshock devices, a Facebook group claims cabbage slurry can prevent autism, and a movie features romance — and actors — on the spectrum.

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January 2018
Protein levels in the brain from birth to about 40 years vary more (blue) or less (red) by brain region but are similar across the lifespan.

Tool tracks brain proteins from infancy to adulthood

by  /  19 January 2018

A new inventory of proteins reveals their levels in seven brain regions from infancy through adulthood.

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November 2017
Brain regions (yellow) altered by missing immune genes correlate with those involved in anxiety.

Imaging study links immune genes to anxiety

by  /  12 November 2017

Mice missing any of 11 genes involved in the immune response show differences in brain anatomy that track with anxiety.

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Brain bank slice of brain in lab

Banking on brains for clues to autism

by  /  1 November 2017

New initiatives aim to increase brain donations for autism research and maximize what scientists can learn from these precious specimens.

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