Science News About Autism
- NIH Awards Funding for Early Autism Screening
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• Institute Update
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded more than four million dollars in FY 2019 to support seven research projects aimed at developing and validating screening tools to detect signs of autism spectrum disorder in the first year of life.
- New Findings Reveal Surprising Role of the Cerebellum in Reward and Social Behaviors
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• Press Release
A new study in rodents has demonstrated, for the first time, that the brain’s cerebellum plays a role in controlling reward and social preference behavior—findings that shed light on the brain circuits critical to the affective and social dysfunction seen across multiple psychiatric disorders.
- 2,000 Human Brains Yield Clues to How Genes Raise Risk for Mental Illnesses
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• Press Release
PsychENCODE researchers are discovering the biological mechanisms by which mental illness risk genes work in the human brain.
- Inflammation in Pregnant Moms Linked to Child’s Brain Development
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• Science Update
High levels of maternal inflammation during pregnancy have been linked to effects in children, including reduced brain circuit communications and altered long-distance brain wiring at birth, poorer cognitive function at one year – and to reduced impulse control and working memory at two years.
- “Covert” Neurofeedback Tunes-up the Social Brain in ASD
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• Science Update
Young people with autism unknowingly tuned up flagging neural connections by playing a picture puzzle game that was rigged by their own brain activity.
- Inherited Variations in Noncoding Sections of DNA Associated with Autism
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• Science Update
A new study has identified an association between paternally-inherited rare structural variants in noncoding segments of genes and the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study adds to a growing body of research describing genetic contributors to ASD.
- Suspect Molecules Overlap in Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
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• Science Update
Depression, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder share some of the same patterns of suspect gene expression – molecular signatures.
- NIMH’s Dr. Ann Wagner Designated as the National Autism Coordinator
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• Institute Update
NIMH’s Dr. Ann Wagner has been designed as the National Autism Coordinator. In this role, she will play a vital role in ensuring the implementation of national autism spectrum disorder research, services, and support activities across federal agencies.
- Our Brains Harbor “Residual Echo” of Neanderthal Genes
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• Science Update
Researchers have produced the first direct evidence that parts of our brains implicated in mental disorders may be shaped by a “residual echo” from our ancient past. The more a person’s genome carries genetic vestiges of Neanderthals, the more certain parts of his or her brain and skull resemble those of humans’ evolutionary cousins that went extinct 40,000 years ago.
- Neuroimaging Technique May Help Predict Autism among High-Risk Infants
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• Press Release
Functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) may predict which high-risk, 6-month old infants will develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by age 2 years.
- Brain Circuit Tweak Wins Her Affection (if she’s a vole)
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• Science Update
For the first time, neuroscientists have boosted a female rodent’s partnering with a male by stimulating connectivity of a brain reward circuit. Understanding the circuitry of such affiliative behaviors may lead to improved treatments for social impairment in severe mental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.
- Human Forebrain Circuits Under Construction – in a Dish
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• Press Release
Neuroscientists have created a 3D window into the human brain’s budding executive hub assembling itself during a critical period in prenatal development.
- Delayed Walking May Signal Spontaneous Gene Anomalies in Autism
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• Science Update
Researchers have discovered a pattern of genetic glitches and behavioral features, such as delayed walking, in some cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that could ultimately lead to identification of subgroups and improved treatment.
- A Third of Suspect Mutations in ASD Just “Noise”
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• Science Update
Researchers have narrowed suspected genetic causes of autism and related developmental disabilities by ruling out what they call the “noise of benign variation.”