http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Children with autism see simple movement twice as quickly as other children their age, and this hypersensitivity to motion may provide clues to a fundamental cause of the developmental disorder, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-motion-perception-autism-underlying-disorder.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 08 May 2013 13:23:11 EST news287238180 (HealthDay)—A new study failed to find any evidence to back up a suggested association between Lyme disease and autism spectrum disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-evidence-lyme-disease-children-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:00:01 EST news286548097 Adding more color to your diet in the form of berries is encouraged by many nutrition experts. The protective effect of berries against inflammation has been documented in many studies. Diets supplemented with blueberries and strawberries have also been shown to improve behavior and cognitive functions in stressed young rats. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-evidence-berries-health-promoting-properties.html Health Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:22:01 EST news285783715 (Medical Xpress)—When the brains of those who have succumbed to age-related neurodegeneration are analyzed post-mortem, they typically show significant atrophy on all scales. Not only is the cortex thinner and sparser, but the hollow ventricles inside the brain are grossly enlarged. In the absence of any specific disease, these general trends are still familiar. It has traditionally been assumed that the dynamic microfeatures of aged brains—the growth of the fine neurites and the synapses they make—would similarly be degenerate. In other words, synaptic growth would have either entered some form of stasis, or alternatively, a state of permanent decay with replacement by matrix or scar tissue. Contrary to these expectations, recent research shows increased structural plasticity in the axonal component of synapses in the aged mouse cortex. Reporting in the current issues of PNAS, researchers provide evidence that the observed behavioral deficits in these animals may be due to an inability to maintain persistent synaptic structure, rather than because of a loss of plasticity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-dynamics-underlying-memory-aging-brains.html Neuroscience Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:51:03 EST news285429047 Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have discovered a brain anomaly that explains why some people diagnosed with autism cannot easily recognize faces—a deficit linked to the impairments in social interactions considered to be the hallmark of the disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-difficulty-autism-linked-group-neurons.html Neuroscience Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:41:11 EST news282832818 The most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism, fragile X syndrome, turns some brain cells into chatterboxes, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-fragile-brain-cells.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:36:01 EST news280586147 Researchers at the Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science, Fujita Health University and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan, along with colleagues from 9 other institutions, have identified an exceptional mouse model of schizophrenia. After screening over 160 mutant mouse strains with a systematic battery of behavioral tests, they identified a mutant mouse lacking the Schnurri-2 protein (Shn-2 KO) that exhibits behavioral deficits and other brain features consistent with schizophrenia. Shn-2 is an NF-kappaB site-binding protein that binds enhancers of major histocompatibility complex class I genes and inflammatory cytokines, which harbor common variant single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with schizophrenia. The Shn-2 KO mice display behavioral abnormalities that resemble the symptoms of human schizophrenia, including working memory deficits, impaired nest building behavior (a measure of self-neglect), decreased social behaviors, and anhedonia (loss of the ability to experience pleasure). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-induction-mild-inflammation-cognitive-deficits.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:50:11 EST news279366453 (HealthDay)—Adolescents who were born prematurely have reduced neuroplasticity, which may explain their motor, learning, and memory difficulties, according to a study published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-neuroplasticity-teens-born-prematurely.html Neuroscience Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:30:01 EST news274333507 (Medical Xpress)—A team led by Yale researchers has used pharmacological neuroimaging and computational modeling to examine large-scale functional organization in the human brain. Their novel approach has yielded important insights about how disruption of a specific molecular signaling mechanism within neural systems may contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia. The results are reported online ahead of print in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-explores-brain-disruption-foster-schizophrenia.html Neuroscience Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:51:47 EST news267871888 Mice genetically engineered to be susceptible to autism-like behaviors that were exposed to a common flame retardant were less fertile and their offspring were smaller, less sociable and demonstrated marked deficits in learning and long-term memory when compared with the offspring of normal unexposed mice, a study by researchers at UC Davis has found. The researchers said the study is the first to link genetics and epigenetics with exposure to a flame retardant chemical. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-common-flame-retardant-linked-social.html Genetics Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:01:17 EST news248619630 The anxiety and behavioral issues associated with excess MeCP2 protein result from overexpression of two genes (Crh [corticotropin-releasing hormone] and Oprm 1 [mu-opioid receptor MOR 1]), which may point the way to treating these problems in patients with too much of the protein, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-genes-affect-anxiety-behavior-mice.html Genetics Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:00:14 EST news245240348 It's still unclear what's different in the brains of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but evidence from genetic and cell studies points to abnormalities in how brain cells (neurons) connect to each other. A study at Children's Hospital Boston now provides visual evidence associating autism with a disorganized structure of brain connections, as well as defects in myelin -- the fatty, insulating coating that helps nerve fibers conduct signals and that makes up the brain's white matter. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-autism-involve-disordered-white-brain.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:23:38 EST news242313806 Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have been able to switch on, and then switch off, social-behavior deficits in mice that resemble those seen in people with autism and schizophrenia, thanks to a technology that allows scientists to precisely manipulate nerve activity in the brain. In synchrony with this experimentally induced socially aberrant behavior, the mice exhibited a brain-wave pattern called gamma oscillation that has been associated with autism and schizophrenia in humans, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-social-deficits-autism-schizophrenia-mice.html Medical research Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:30:26 EST news230992205