In utero exposure to the epilepsy drug valproic acid, which ups the risk of autism, may alter the composition of gut bacteria in rodents, according a study published 11 December in Brain Behavior and Immunity.

A new tracking system automatically logs and scores mouse behavior as well as a human observer does, according to a paper published 31 December 2013 in Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

Most of the children who would lose their autism diagnosis under the diagnostic criteria released last year will fall under the new category of social (pragmatic) communication disorder, reports a large study of Korean children. The study was published last week in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Rapamycin, a drug given to suppress immune rejection after transplants, improves social behavior in mice with features of autism, reports a study published in the January issue of Brain Research Bulletin.

Variants in a language gene linked to autism are only modestly associated with the disorder in a large sample, according to a study published 17 October in PLoS One.

Intelligence quotients of toddlers with autism closely predict how they will fare as adults, reports a 17-year study published 9 December in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.