http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers are interested in exploring how sunlight, sleep and screens (like those on computers and TVs) may affect those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), says Dr. L. Eugene Arnold, a child psychiatrist and ADHD expert at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's Nisonger Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-expert-explores-sunlight-affect-adhd.html Attention deficit disorders Fri, 17 May 2013 08:07:11 EST news287996818 With a better understanding of underlying mechanisms that cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder in the Old Order Mennonite population, referred to as Pretzel syndrome, a new study reports that five children were successfully treated with a drug that modifies the disease process, minimizing seizures and improving receptive language. The study, by researchers including experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-intractable-seizures-halted-experimental-treatment.html Neuroscience Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:00:02 EST news286026034 Children whose mothers take the antiepileptic drug sodium valproate while pregnant are at significantly increased risk of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, suggests a small study published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-exposure-antiepileptic-drug-womb-linked.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278789774 Down syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is the leading cause of genetically defined intellectual disability. In the brain, Down syndrome results in alterations in the connections between neurons and a reduction in the development of new neurons (neurogenesis) that usually occurs during learning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-lithium-cognitive-function-syndrome-mice.html Neuroscience Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:00:17 EST news273754265 A new study demonstrates the dynamic role cilia play in guiding the migration of neurons in the embryonic brain. Cilia are tiny hair-like structures on the surfaces of cells, but here they are acting more like radio antennae. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-cilia-neuronal-migration-brain.html Medical research Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:32:37 EST news271956681 Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown that a single protein plays an oversized role in intellectual and behavioral development. The scientists found that mutations in a single gene, which is known to cause intellectual disability and increase the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, severely disrupts the organization of developing brain circuits during early childhood. This study helps explain how genetic mutations can cause profound cognitive and behavioral problems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-uncovering-secrets-intellect-behavior-emerge.html Genetics Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:00:12 EST news271580736 Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified five rare mutations in a single gene that appear to increase the chances that a boy will develop an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-mutations-autism-susceptibility-gene-boys.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:53:29 EST news261302002 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute suggests that women who consume the recommended daily dosage of folic acid, the synthetic form of folate or vitamin B-9, during the first month of pregnancy may have a reduced risk of having a child with autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-folic-acid-intake-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 14 Jun 2012 06:52:54 EST news258875529 New research by scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine may have pinpointed an underlying cause of the seizures that affect 90 percent of people with Angelman syndrome (AS), a neurodevelopmental disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-brain-cell-imbalance-account-seizure.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:10:01 EST news258215785 (HealthDay) -- Children with autism given a squirt of a nasal spray containing the hormone oxytocin showed more activity in brain regions known to be involved with processing social information, a small study found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-nasal-hormone-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 16 May 2012 16:10:02 EST news256399301 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have rewritten the job description of the protein TopBP1 after demonstrating that it guards early brain cells from DNA damage. Such damage might foreshadow later problems, including cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-protein-dna-brain-tumor-suppressor.html Neuroscience Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:53:41 EST news254400789 A major study of the relationships between maternal metabolic conditions and the risk that a child will be born with a neurodevelopmental disorder has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism or another developmental disability. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-maternal-obesity-diabetes-autism-developmental.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:01 EST news253087182 More than two-thirds of human genes have counterparts in the well-studied fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, so although it may seem that humans don't have much in common with flies, the correspondence of our genetic instructions is astonishing. In fact, there are hundreds of inherited diseases in humans that have Drosophila counterparts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-scientists-human-diseases-flies.html Genetics Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:57:35 EST news250765047 (Medical Xpress) -- A study by researchers at UC Davis has found that pregnant women with a particular gene variation are more likely to produce auto-antibodies to the brains of their developing fetuses and that the children of these mothers are at greater risk of later being diagnosed with autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-genetic-variant-auto-antibodies-linked-autism.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:06:34 EST news238226771 (Medical Xpress) -- Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine researchers, working with an international team of colleagues, have identified a gene that may play a role in causing a neurodevelopmental disorder that includes intellectual disability, seizures and autism spectrum disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-gene-intellectual-disability-epilepsy-autistic.html Genetics Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:21:30 EST news237198081 Children and adults with social withdrawal due to Fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability and the most common known single gene cause of autism, may benefit from an experimental drug under study by pediatric neurologists at Rush Children's Hospital at Rush University Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-clinical-trial-medication-social-fragile.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:22:58 EST news230383370 Proposals recommending routine screening of all children for autism gets a thumbs down from researchers at McMaster University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-routine-screening-autism.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:20:05 EST news227073834 Much about autism is unknown, but researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are working to learn more about the neurodevelopmental disorder and its most effective treatments. A team of researchers from URMC joins researchers from across the world in San Diego this week for the 10th annual International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-rochester-autism-imfar.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sat, 14 May 2011 06:40:09 EST news224573979 Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder on the autism spectrum, is marked by relatively normal development in infancy followed by a loss of loss of cognitive, social and language skills starting at 12 to 18 months of age. It is increasingly seen as a disorder of synapses, the connections between neurons that together form brain circuits. What hasn't been clear is why children start out developing normally, only to become progressively abnormal. New research from Children's Hospital Boston, published in the April 14 issue of Neuron, helps unravel what's going on. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-brain-diverge-autism-spectrum-disorders.html Neuroscience Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:01:59 EST news221918497