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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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Signs & Symptoms

Autism’s core symptoms accompany a constellation of subtle signs that scientists are just beginning to unmask.

January 2023
A woman sits and works at a laptop while her daughter sits next to her and looks out of a glass door.

New tool aims to capture full breadth of repetitive behaviors

by  /  13 January 2023

The measure breaks the behaviors down into eight distinct subdomains — categorization that could prove useful for clinical trials, its creator says.

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Image of neurons during a seizure.

Calming neurons to quell seizures: Q&A with Gabriele Lignani and Dimitri Kullmann

by  /  3 January 2023

A new gene therapy approach for epilepsy tamps down neural activity on demand.

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November 2022
Still image from video of zebrafish swimming in small enclosures.

Zebrafish social behavior swims into mainstream

by  /  17 November 2022

New studies bolster the idea that zebrafish models can say something meaningful about social behavior in autism.

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An older woman with gray hair sits on a couch and speaks with a clinician.

Brain’s memory center flags autistic adults at risk for cognitive decline

by  /  17 November 2022

Brain scans of the hippocampus reveal autistic people who are at increased risk of cognitive problems as they get older.

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A white mouse sits on a nest against a blue background.

Mouse models help sniff out olfactory differences in autism

by  /  16 November 2022

A range of presentations at Neuroscience 2022 tie atypical social behavior to trouble discriminating between odors in the animals.

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Scan of a zebrafish brain showing neuron activity.

Decoding sensory brain networks: A quick take at SfN with Ethan Scott

by  /  15 November 2022

Scott describes his work on sound processing differences in the brains of zebrafish that model fragile X syndrome.

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Single astrocyte on black background.

Mouse studies cast astrocytes as stars of sensory perception

by  /  13 November 2022

Data from two separate research teams suggest the cells are key to sensory hypersensitivity in fragile X syndrome.

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October 2022
Lone figure treads a central path that splits into two, surrounded on both sides by an uncertain, shifting landscape in murky colors.

It’s time to embrace ‘profound autism’

by  /  27 October 2022

My experience at the Autism-Europe International Congress — and as a parent of a child with profound autism — makes me more convinced than ever that we need to bifurcate the diagnosis of ‘autism spectrum disorder’ and add a new diagnosis of ‘profound autism’ to better serve this vulnerable population.

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Beyond the bench: Mastering meaningful movement with Karen Chenausky

by  /  21 October 2022

The competitive rower-turned-researcher spoke to Spectrum about how trying out for the U.S. national rowing team and a subsequent coaching position shaped her study of speech development.

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A young girl rubs her eyes in a dark room.

Autistic people at increased genetic risk of sleep problems

by  /  18 October 2022

Compared with their unaffected siblings and unrelated controls, children with autism harbor more copy number variants in genes that govern the circadian cycle or are associated with insomnia.

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