Taking antidepressants while pregnant may slightly increase the risk of having a child with autism, reports a study published 4 July in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Wendy Chung planned to spend her career in a research lab, identifying rare pathologies. But life had other plans for her.
An ingenious new technique may allow small brain implants to release chemicals when and where they are needed, according to a study published 2 June in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
Small duplications and deletions of chromosomal regions that include genes needed for the development of the nervous system are more common in individuals with autism than in controls, according to a study published in the June issue of the European Journal of Human Genetics.
Breaking down the learning of new concepts into small steps may help people with autism retain new skills.
Deletions or duplications of the UBE3A gene lead to both Angelman syndrome and some cases of autism, respectively. Studying the effects of altered gene dosage in this region will provide insights into brain defects and suggest targets for therapies for both disorders, says expert Benjamin Philpot.
Some autism-associated mutations activate a stress response that could lead to symptoms of the disorder, according to a study published 3 June in Cell Death and Disease.
Blocking a chemical messenger — a much-touted approach to treating fragile X syndrome — is unlikely to completely reverse symptoms of the disorder, according to a provocative new study. The results, published in May in Behavioural Brain Research, show only modest behavioral improvements with the approach.
Mothers of children with autism are rated by their husbands as rigid and inflexible whereas fathers are viewed by their wives as aloof. Perhaps these qualities are reinforced by the challenges of raising a child with the disorder?
Individuals with autism do not have so-called ‘eagle-eyed’ vision as reported by some studies, according to research published 10 June in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.