A genetic search using patients and mouse models has uncovered an unlikely gene involved in Dandy-Walker malformation, a common birth defect which causes mental retardation, motor delays and sometimes autism. This newly discovered function of the gene, which is never expressed in the brain, reveals a novel role for the skull in directing brain development.
Children with autism spectrum disorders have great difficulty understanding emotions. For this reason UCLA researchers have developed a music education program designed to help children with ASD better understand emotions and learn to recognize emotions in others.
Mothers of children with autism had higher levels of parenting-related stress and psychological distress than mothers of children with developmental delay. Children's problem behavior was associated with increases in both parenting-related stress and distress in both groups, but this relationship was stronger in moms of children with autism.
Researchers from Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine collaborated on a new study, published in Nature Neuroscience, examining patterns of movement as children with autism and typically developing children learned to control a novel tool. Findings suggest children with autism appear to learn new actions differently than typically developing children.
More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and several collaborating institutions.
More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest gene study of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy number variations "“ missing or extra copies of DNA segments "“ occurred in the genes of children with ASDs, but not in healthy controls.
A UCLA study has discovered that chronic exposure during pregnancy to miniscule levels of carbon monoxide damages the cells of the fetal brain, resulting in permanent impairment. The journal BMC (BioMed Central) Neuroscience published the findings June 22 in its online edition.
Laughter differs in children with autism. A recent study recorded laughter during a series of playful interactions with an examiner. The results showed that children with autism exhibited only one type of laughter, compared to two types of laughter for nonautistic children. Expert available. Satellite uplink available.
Citalopram (Celexa), a medication commonly prescribed to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), was no more effective than a placebo at reducing repetitive behaviors, according to a multi-site clinical trial.
A new multi-center study, conducted at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in collaboration with five other centers throughout the country, tested the commonly prescribed antidepressant citalopram and found that it was no more effective than placebo in altering obsessive features of the condition "“ the spinning, rocking and repetitive behavior.
The antidepressant citalopram does not appear to reduce the occurrence of repetitive behaviors in children and teens with autism spectrum disorders, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
A drug commonly given to autistic children to reduce repetitive behaviors is ineffective and may increase repetitive behaviors. "The short term message is, this treatment didn't work. That surprised us. More importantly, we have to do large, scientifically-sound comparative studies, not rely on doctors' and families' impressions," says co-authorLin Sikich, M.D., at the UNC School of Medicine.
UCLA scientists have discovered a variant of a gene that may increase a child's risk of developing autism, particularly in boys.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Duke University find that impaired brain plasticity may explain how disruption of a single gene in the brain can cause severe cognitive deficits.
Autism spectrum disorders were the centerpiece of a symposium of major mid-Atlantic research centers. Investigators presented multifaceted research using genetics, neurobiology and imaging studies to investigate the intricate puzzle of autism.
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