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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: neural circuits

December 2012

Perspective: Brain scans need a rethink

by ,  /  6 December 2012

Head movement can bias brain imaging results, undermining a leading theory on the cause of autism, say Ben Deen and Kevin Pelphrey.

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November 2012

Insights for autism from schizophrenia

by ,  /  13 November 2012

Lessons learned from postmortem studies of schizophrenia are applicable to research on autism, a disorder for which brain tissue has not been as well studied, say Allison Curley and David Lewis.

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Sandy’s wrath

by  /  1 November 2012

Flooding from Hurricane Sandy has destroyed a major rodent colony at New York University. But most of the strains are also housed elsewhere, so researchers should be able to rebuild their collections.

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October 2012

Drug zone

by  /  26 October 2012

Rodent and stem cell models remain challenging for developing psychiatric drugs, says Michael Ehlers, chief scientific officer of neuroscience at Pfizer.

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Technique follows calcium trail to track changes in signaling

by  /  24 October 2012

Researchers have genetically engineered neurons to fluoresce in response to the calcium signals emitted when they fire, according to a study published 18 October in Neuron.

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New technique takes sharp look at whole mouse brains

by  /  17 October 2012

A new microscopy technique allows researchers to take high-resolution three-dimensional images of intact mouse brains.

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Fragile X rats have trouble learning speech sounds

by  /  17 October 2012

Rats lacking FMR1, the gene mutated in people with fragile X syndrome, do not learn to discriminate between human speech sounds like control rats do, according to research presented Monday evening at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

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Songbirds, people share language-linked gene expression

by  /  16 October 2012

Some song-related areas in the zebra finch brain and language areas in the human brain show strikingly similar patterns of gene expression, according to unpublished research presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

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September 2012

‘Noisy’ brain signals could underlie autism, study says

by  /  24 September 2012

Sensory responses in the brain of an individual with autism vary much more than in someone without the disorder, according to a study published 20 September in Neuron. This may explain why some people with autism are extremely sensitive to lights and sounds.

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Molecular mechanisms: Drug corrects excitable mouse brains

by  /  5 September 2012

A compound called baclofen restores the balance between different types of brain signals and alleviates autism-like behaviors in mice, according to a study published 17 July in Translational Psychiatry. A similar drug called arbaclofen is in clinical trials as a treatment for autism and fragile X syndrome.

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