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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.

October 2013

Vision or hearing loss ups autism risk

by  /  31 October 2013

Children with poor vision or a hearing loss are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than are those in the general population, reports a large epidemiological study published in October.

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Lonnie Zwaigenbaum reviews high-risk infant studies

 /  30 October 2013

Watch the complete replay of Lonnie Zwaigenbaum discussing what studying siblings of individuals with autism can tell us about risk and early detection of the disorder. Submit follow-up questions.

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SFARI social at SfN 2013

by  /  29 October 2013

Join us on Sunday, 10 November, at SfN 2013 for an informal evening of food, conversation and new data.

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Slippery SNPs

by  /  29 October 2013

A new analysis strikes down a widely reported study from last year, which claimed that a panel of 237 genetic markers predicts autism.

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transparent neuron shows working parts including mitochondria

Genetics: Autism candidate functions at neuronal junctions

by  /  29 October 2013

A new candidate gene for autism, called synapsin 2, regulates chemical messenger release across the connections between neurons, reports a study published 4 September in Human Molecular Genetics.

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Are brain disorders a prerequisite for ‘normal’ evolution?

by  /  28 October 2013

Researchers weigh in on the mounting evidence for a paternal-age effect in autism and what it might reveal about evolutionary mechanisms underlying the disorder.

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One year after Hurricane Sandy, kindness buoys New York labs

by  /  28 October 2013

Walking through Gordon Fishell’s lab now, you would never know that much of his research was swept away by Hurricane Sandy, almost exactly a year ago. But across the rest of New York University’s medical center, the recovery has been uneven.

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Tim Roberts: Sounding out a signature for autism

by  /  24 October 2013

Tim Roberts knits together physics, medicine and technology to trace the origins of language processing problems in the brain, hoping to identify a telltale signature, or biomarker, for autism.

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New sequencing technique may reveal recessive mutations

by  /  23 October 2013

A new method of genetic analysis allows researchers to identify regions that are identical on both copies of a chromosome, according to a study published 20 September in Molecular Cytogenetics.

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Best practices

by ,  /  22 October 2013

Guidelines for the use of electroencephalography in autism will ensure that researchers have a common set of standards, which will speed up discovery, say Sara Jane Webb and Raphael Bernier.

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