by Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology People with autism often experience hypersensitivity to noise and other sensory input. MIT neuroscientists have now identified two brain circuits that help tune out distracting sensory information, and they have found a way to reverse noise hypersensitivity in mice by boosting the activity of those circuits. One of the circuits the researchers identified is involved in filtering noise, while the...
Tag: <span>Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)</span>
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Autism spectrum disorder risk linked to insufficient placental steroid
Single ALLO injection during pregnancy was enough to avert both the cerebellar abnormalities and the aberrant social behaviors in experimental models CHILDREN’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL CHICAGO-A study in experimental models suggests that allopregnanolone, one of many hormones produced by the placenta during pregnancy, is so essential to normal fetal brain development that when provision of that...
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Standard Autism Screening Is Missing a Lot of Kids
A large health system–used tool to screen almost all children for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) only identifies less than half with the condition. Just 39 percent of children who went on to get a diagnosis of ASD screened positive on their earlier pediatrician visit. The study authors looked at electronic health records of almost 26,000 children who had...
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Perturbed Genes Regulating White Blood Cells Linked to Autism Genetics and Severity
Posted Today Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say they are getting closer to identifying the mechanisms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and biomarkers that can aid in early diagnosis and predictions of symptom severity. A team of scientists analyzed blood gene expression data from 302 one- to four-year-old boys with...
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Full-body interaction videogames enhance social skills in children with autism disorders
Interventions based on games that require the use of technology have proved to facilitate motivation and learning processes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA – BARCELONA Narcís Parés, a member of the Cognitive Media Technologies research group of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF, is working on...
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First large-scale study of universal screening for autism raises questions about accuracy
Researchers urge continued screening for all toddlers, while recommending changes to M-CHAT screening method to improve accuracy, address disparities CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia, September 27, 2019 – In the first large, real-world study of universal screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in toddlers, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that the...
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Fecal transplants result in massive long-term reduction in autism symptoms
Scientific research continues to uncover interesting connections between the gut microbiome and human health, including everything from depression to PTSD to autoimmune disease. Another example of this are the emerging ties between gut health and autism, with an exciting new study demonstrating how boosting microbial diversity via fecal transplants can dramatically reduce its symptoms in...
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How a unique gene mutation may drive autism
Published Today | By Maria Cohut | Fact checked by Paula Field Which factors drive autism? This is a question to which researchers still have no answer. Now, a new study conducted in mice and assessing data from humans suggests that a unique genetic mutation may play a key role in early brain development, contributing to...
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Could processed foods explain why autism is on the rise?
By Ana Sandoiu Fact checked by Jasmin Collier For the first time, scientists have found a molecular connection between a common food preservative, neuronal disruption, and autism spectrum disorder. The findings suggest that there may be a link between the consumption of processed foods during pregnancy and the rise of autism. The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control...
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Brain changes may explain why exercise relieves autism in mice
By Catharine Paddock PhD Fact checked by Paula Field Exercise appears to alter the brain in ways that can reduce some of the characteristics of autism in mice. In mice bred to model autism spectrum disorder (ASD), scientists at the University of Tokyo in Japan found that exercise spurred the removal of surplus connections in brain...