http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—The management of adult spinal deformity (ASD) and selection of optimal fusion levels is incompletely defined, according to a review article published in the April issue of The Spine Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-classification-spinal-deformity.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 14 May 2013 15:25:48 EST news287763931 Young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to never see friends, never get called by friends, never be invited to activities and be socially isolated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-social-isolation-young-adults-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 02 May 2013 06:34:55 EST news286695287 (Medical Xpress)—The biggest study of fetal growth and autism to date has reported that babies whose growth is at either extreme in the womb are at greater risk of developing autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-bigger-birth-weight-babies-greater.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 01 May 2013 08:25:31 EST news286615519 (Medical Xpress)—Most infants respond to a game of peek-a-boo with smiles at the very least, and, for those who find the activity particularly entertaining, gales of laughter. For infants with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however, the game can be distressing rather than pleasant, and they'll do their best to tune out all aspects of it—and that includes the people playing with them. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-successfully-autism-infants.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:11:49 EST news286524696 Children and teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use screen-based media, such as television and video games, more often than their typically developing peers and are more likely to develop problematic video game habits, a University of Missouri researcher found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-children-teens-autism-preoccupied-video.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:51:26 EST news285421866 (Medical Xpress)—As Autism Awareness Month kicks off this April, experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) offer tips to an increasing number of parents and children facing the challenges the disorder presents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-child-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:00:01 EST news284197461 Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) schedule. A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving "too many vaccines too soon" and autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-autism-vaccines.html Pediatrics Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:01 EST news283708650 (HealthDay)—The prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in school-aged children appears to have increased, but that may be due to new diagnoses in children whose ASD had previously gone unrecognized, according to research published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's March 20 National Health Statistics Reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-prevalence-parent-reported-autism-school-children.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:20:01 EST news283020126 New findings published in Pediatrics (Epub ahead of print) by the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight. This suggests that more children presenting with ASD and severe language delay at age four can be expected to make notable language gains than was previously thought. Abnormalities in communication and language are a defining feature of ASD, yet prior research into the factors predicting the age and quality of speech attainment has been limited. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-speech-emerges-children-autism-severe.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:17:01 EST news281614612 Researchers at Yale School of Medicine are able to detect deficits in social attention in infants as young as six months of age who later develop Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, the results showed that these infants paid less attention to people and their activities than typically developing babies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-attention-deficits-babies-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:47:12 EST news279280012 Genetics researchers have identified 25 additional copy number variations (CNVs)—missing or duplicated stretches of DNA—that occur in some patients with autism. These CNVs, say the researchers, are "high impact": although individually rare, each has a strong effect in raising an individual's risk for autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-autism-related-gene-variants.html Genetics Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:00:05 EST news277381059 A study based at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) finds that the local functional connectivity of the brain – the extent to which the activity of within a small brain region appears to be coordinated – is reduced in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although it has been recognized for several years that functional connectivity between separate areas of the brain was reduced in ASD, it had been assumed that local functional connectivity was actually higher in the brains of autistic individuals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-impaired-brain-autism-involves-local.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:00:05 EST news277380669 (Medical Xpress)—A new University of Michigan study finds that an overactive part of the brain hinders autistic teens from coping in unfamiliar social settings, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and anxious. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-overactive-brain-autistic-teens-adjusting.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:26:30 EST news276935182 For three years, University of Utah researchers have been deploying a computer-based design program called SketchUp in workshops to teach and develop life skills for youth on the autism spectrum. An earlier study showed that using the program helps kids develop their spatial and visual acuity, as well as to leverage those strengths to build positive social interactions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-tech-doors-grandparents-grandkids-asd.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:53:03 EST news274330368 In the first study to compare mental health-related emergency department (ED) visits between children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD), researchers found that ED visits are nine times more likely to be for psychiatric reasons if a child has an ASD diagnosis. Published in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care (Epub ahead of print), the study found externalizing symptoms, such as severe behaviors tied to aggression, were the leading cause of ED visits among children with ASD. Importantly, the likelihood of a psychiatric ED visit was higher if a child carried private health insurance rather than medical assistance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-children-autism-emergency-room-psychiatric.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:31:20 EST news273774523 (Phys.org)—A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the Institut Pasteur, Paris has come up with a novel way to describe a time-dependent brain development based on coherent–gene-groups (CGGs) and transcription-factors (TFs) hierarchy. The findings could lead to new drug designs for mental disorders such as autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-gene-brain-treatment-mental-disorders.html Genetics Sun, 02 Dec 2012 03:50:01 EST news273640653 A controversial treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not only ineffective but may be harmful, according to a study conducted by Baylor University researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-controversial-treatment-autism-good.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:56:38 EST news273430580 Researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal have identified a crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which can bolster new therapeutic avenues. Regulation of protein synthesis, also termed mRNA translation, is the process by which cells manufacture proteins. This mechanism is involved in all aspects of cell and organism function. A new study in mice has found that abnormally high synthesis of a group of neuronal proteins called neuroligins results in symptoms similar to those diagnosed in ASD. The study also reveals that autism-like behaviors can be rectified in adult mice with compounds inhibiting protein synthesis, or with gene-therapy targeting neuroligins. Their results are published in the journal Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-uncover-crucial-link-protein-synthesis.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:00:32 EST news272724414 (HealthDay)—Children of mothers who contract the flu or have a prolonged fever while pregnant may have a very slight increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, a new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-autism-pregnancy-factors.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:50:02 EST news271959904 Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, is proud to announce the release of biological and clinical data from 383 new families participating in Autism Speaks Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) to researchers. AGRE is a resource for scientists that is comprised of clinical and biological data from families who have two or more children on the autism spectrum. These 383 families are part of a larger pool of 653 individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) bringing the total data available on people with an ASD to 3348. The family data also includes family members without an ASD bringing the total to 9335 individuals, which reflects an over 24 percent increase. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-autism-genetic.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:20:20 EST news271603179 (Medical Xpress)—Research by scientists from the Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland has uncovered new information about the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), to be published in the next issue of the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-advances-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:40:01 EST news271495490 The development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is much like that of children without ASD at 6 months of age, but differs afterwards. That's the main finding of the largest prospective, longitudinal study to date comparing children with early and later diagnosis of ASD with children without ASD. The study appears in the journal Child Development and has implications for clinical work, public health, and policy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-months-children-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:37:51 EST news270797855 The causes of autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex, and contain elements of both nature (genes) and the environment. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Autism shows that common genetic polymorphisms (genetic variation) can add up to an increased risk of ASD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-adding-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:25:02 EST news269497423 A new study published today in the journal Pediatrics (Epub ahead of print) found that nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are reported to wander or "bolt," and more than half of these children go missing. Led by researchers from the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), the nation's largest online autism research initiative and a project of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, this study provides the most comprehensive estimate of elopement occurrence in a United States community-based sample of more than 1,200 children with ASD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-children-autism-safe.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 08 Oct 2012 04:18:01 EST news268888667 Approximately 19 percent of children with a sibling diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will develop Autism due to shared genetic and environmental vulnerabilities, according to previous studies. For that reason, University of Miami (UM) psychologists are developing ways to predict the occurrence of ASD in high-risk children, early in life, in hopes that early intervention will lead to better outcomes in the future. Their findings are published in the journal Infancy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-babies-non-verbal-skills-outcomes-children.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:39:31 EST news268310364 (Medical Xpress)—One in 88 children has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that many children with ASD also experience anxiety, chronic gastrointestinal (GI) problems and atypical sensory responses, which are heightened reactions to light, sound or particular textures. These problems appear to be highly related and can have significant effects on children's daily lives, including their functioning at home and in school. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-children-autism-interrelated-health-issues.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:07:22 EST news267275232 Only 15% of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States have some form of paid work. Difficulties related to cognition, behavior, communication, and sensory processing can impact their ability to attain and retain employment. Now investigators report the task management and organizational features on personal digital assistants (PDAs) can help people with ASD function more successfully in the workplace. They have published case studies in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation demonstrating the use of Apple iPod touch PDAs as vocational supports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-app-apple-ipod-adults-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:33:39 EST news265862004 A series of open days for school pupils with autism have been held at the University following a three-year-long project funded by EPSRC during which researchers worked with the youngsters to develop a computer-based tutor aimed at improving their mathematics learning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-key-autistic-pupils.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 27 Jul 2012 05:23:51 EST news262585424 A new study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers found that 31 percent of children identified as at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at 12 months received a confirmed diagnosis of ASD by age 3 years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-questionnaire-parents-one-year-olds-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:55:48 EST news261402938 New research led by a medical geneticist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine points to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) among individuals whose parents or siblings have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-autism-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder-common.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:00:20 EST news260456637