Among siblings of children with autism, those with better prefrontal cortex functioning — observable as relatively strong executive functions for their age — are better able to compensate for atypicalities in other brain systems early in life, and are therefore less likely to receive a diagnosis of autism later in their development, argues Mark H. Johnson.
About 40 percent of individuals with Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, also have autism, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A.
Genes and the environment each influence the role of the other in determining the risk of developing autism. Genetics can determine how susceptible one is to the environment, and environmental factors can influence gene expression and introduce mutations, says immunologist Janine LaSalle.
For nearly two decades, scientists have debated the relationship between language problems, seen in about half of children with autism, and another disorder called specific language impairment. Three papers published in the past several months attempt to resolve this debate, but their findings suggest that it is far from settled.
Research into the ability of children with autism to imitate has produced contradictory results: Some studies find that those with the disorder have difficulty imitating people, whereas others find no problems. A new study explores why.
Deleting the Rett syndrome gene from mature mouse brains leads to the same neurological and behavioral symptoms as deleting it during a key developmental stage, according to a study published 18 July in the Journal of Neuroscience.
An altered immune system can cause autism-like behaviors, suggests a study published 31 July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that a bone marrow transplant, which restores the animals’ immune system, alleviates their anxiety and repetitive behavior.
Using a two-step process to reprogram human stem cells, researchers have recreated the barrier that protects the brain from toxic molecules, according to a study published 24 June in Nature Biotechnology.
Lowering blood levels of the amino acid tryptophan, a precursor to the chemical messenger serotonin, changes how the autism brain responds to emotions, according to a report published 4 June in PLoS One.
The assumption in some published overviews of autism tends to be that all of the problems relevant to the disorder can be found at synapses, the junctions between neurons. But it’s difficult not to notice the striking number of chromatin-associated genes that have emerged as candidate risk factors over the past few months.