Mice that are unable to produce a carbohydrate molecule that regulates cell growth show behaviors that resemble the core deficits of autism, according to a study published 27 March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Girls diagnosed with autism have slower brain growth in the first year of their life than typically developing children, whereas boys’ brains grow at the same rate as those of typical children, according to a population-based study in Norway.
Contrary to previous studies, preliminary results from field trials of the new criteria for diagnosing autism suggest it will capture people on the high-functioning end of the spectrum.
A robot can replace researchers in performing a painstaking technique that records neuronal signals in live animal brains, according to a study published 6 May in Nature Methods.
A high intelligence quotient, a good understanding of social skills, and aggressiveness may all contribute to anxiety in children with autism, according to a study published 14 March in The Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Researchers typically use only one ‘cohort,’ a group of about three dozen mice, for a given set of experiments. When others repeat the experiments with a different set of animals, sometimes the results hold up, and sometimes they don’t.
Researchers have identified four new mutations in the autism-linked gene neurexin-1 in individuals who have autism and severe intellectual disability, they reported 3 April in Neurobiology of Disease.
A $38.7 million project in the European Union — the largest single grant for autism research in the world — aims to bring together academic labs and pharmaceutical companies to speed the move from basic to clinical research.
Preliminary results from a placebo-controlled trial of the antibiotic minocycline in children with fragile X syndrome suggest the drug alleviates some aspects of the disorder, according to research presented Friday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Toronto.
Neuroscience funding has plateaued, so researchers need to squeeze every drop from existing data.