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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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Diagnosis

Diagnosing autism is an evolving science but a crucial first step to understanding the disorder.

September 2011

Social cues from bodies in motion lost to those with autism

by  /  22 September 2011

Two new studies suggest that people with autism don’t all have trouble detecting the motion of people and animals. What they do struggle with is picking up social information from bodies in motion.

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Questionnaire distinguishes autism, developmental disability

by  /  21 September 2011

Researchers have optimized an early social screening questionnaire to distinguish autism from other developmental disabilities in preschool-aged children.

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Ambitious U.K. project set to sequence 10,000 genomes

by  /  15 September 2011

The largest and most ambitious genome-sequencing project to date aims to identify rare variants and study their association to disease traits in 10,000 people.

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Reference set for Prader-Willi, Angelman syndromes debuts

by  /  14 September 2011

Researchers have developed standard genetic reference samples that clinicians can use to diagnose Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes, two disorders associated with the same chromosomal region.

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Aging enigma

by  /  13 September 2011

Nothing is known about how the brain changes in aging individuals with autism, according to a review published online 24 August in Gerontology. Nor do researchers know whether the core symptoms of the disorder improve, worsen or remain unchanged with age.

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New mutations spike in offspring of older fathers

by  /  12 September 2011

The offspring of older male mice are 16 times more likely to harbor a spontaneous copy number variation — a deletion or duplication of genetic material — than are the offspring of young males, according to a new study.

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What’s in a name?

by  /  9 September 2011

The six diagnostic measures used to distinguish Asperger syndrome from high-functioning autism do not identify a unique subset of people, according to an analysis of 69 studies, published 2 August in Autism.

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Cognition and behavior: Autism brains have abnormal links

by  /  9 September 2011

The brains of boys with autism have a lower-than-normal rate of water diffusion across the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus — a bundle of neurons that connects all four major lobes of the brain, according to a new study.

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Vision as gateway for understanding autism

by ,  /  8 September 2011

Impairments in vision, even if they don’t cause autism, are likely to be manifestations of underlying neural abnormalities, says Pawan Sinha, professor of vision and founder of the humanitarian organization Project Prakash.  

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People with milder forms of autism struggle as adults

by  /  8 September 2011

Contrary to popular assumption, people diagnosed with so-called mild forms of autism don’t fare any better in life than those with severe forms of the disorder. That’s the conclusion of a new study that suggests that even individuals with normal intelligence and language abilities struggle to fit into society because of their social and communication problems.

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