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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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Science & Society

From funding decisions to scientific fraud, a wide range of societal factors shape autism research.

March 2014

Rising awareness may explain spike in autism diagnoses

by  /  17 March 2014

Young boys continue to have the highest rate of autism diagnoses, but Danish doctors are diagnosing more girls, teenagers and adults with the disorder than they did in the mid-1990s. That’s the finding from a 16-year study published 20 February in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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School, healthcare costs add up for children with autism

by  /  14 March 2014

Families and schools spend about $17,000 more per year on a child with autism than they do on a typically developing child, reports a study published in the March issue of Pediatrics.

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Genetics: Fragile X mutation leads to syndrome

by  /  11 March 2014

A teenager with fragile X syndrome carries a rare mutation that changes a single amino acid in the FMRP protein, researchers reported 22 January in the European Journal of Human Genetics.

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Girls protected from autism, study suggests

by  /  10 March 2014

It takes more mutations to trigger autism in women than in men, which may explain why men are four times more likely to have the disorder, according to a study published 26 February in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

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Sleep, mood woes weigh on obese children with autism

by  /  4 March 2014

Adding to the complications of autism, overweight and obese children with the disorder are prone to a host of other troubles, including depression, anxiety and sleep problems, reports a study published 2 February in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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February 2014

Autism studies may ignore key ethnicity information

by  /  25 February 2014

More than 70 percent of autism studies don’t record the ethnicity of their participants, and fewer than half of those that do analyze the impact of the data, reports a review published 4 February in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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Genetics: Proteins that support neurons linked to autism

by  /  25 February 2014

Mutations in two proteins that help guide neurons as they grow in the developing brain may be risk factors for autism, according to a study published 14 January in Human Molecular Genetics.

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Attention deficit in mothers raises children’s autism risk

by  /  24 February 2014

Children of women who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are at increased risk for autism and attention deficit, according to a study published 21 January in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. This suggests the two diseases have common risk factors.

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Illustration of brain waves during an epileptic seizure.

Clinical research: Epilepsy and autism share familial risk

by  /  21 February 2014

In families with a history of autism, the affected children are seven times more likely to also have epilepsy than their unaffected siblings, according to a study published 1 December in Molecular Autism. The results suggest that epilepsy and autism share some risk factors.

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Virtual joystick shows preference for personal space

by  /  19 February 2014

Children with autism are likely to keep more distance between themselves and a welcoming avatar than controls do in a virtual reality setup, suggesting that they derive less pleasure from social situations, according to a study published 17 January in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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