News tagged with mental retardation

Children living near toxic waste sites experience higher blood lead levels resulting in lower IQ

Children living near toxic waste sites in lower and middle income countries such as India, Philippines and Indonesia may experience higher blood lead levels, resulting in a loss of IQ points and a higher incidence of mental ...

Health created May 06, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

First steps of synapse building is captured in live zebra fish embryos

Using spinning disk microscopy on barely day-old zebra fish embryos, University of Oregon scientists have gained a new window on how synapse-building components move to worksites in the central nervous system.

Neuroscience created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fragile X makes brain cells talk too much, research shows

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.

Neuroscience created Feb 20, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists find that two rare autism-related disorders are caused by opposing malfunctions in the brain

(Medical Xpress) -- Most cases of autism are not caused by a single genetic mutation. However, several disorders with autism-like symptoms, including the rare Fragile X syndrome, can be traced to a specific mutation. Several ...

Neuroscience created Nov 24, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

X-linked mental retardation protein is found to mediate synaptic plasticity in hippocampus

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved part of a puzzle concerning the relationship between changes in the strength of synapses – the tiny gaps across which nerve cells in the brain communicate ...

Neuroscience created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Workings of brain protein suggest therapies for inherited intellectual disability, autism

Researchers now have a much clearer understanding of how mutations in a single gene can produce the complex cognitive deficits characteristic of Fragile X Syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability. ...

Medical research created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Dark genome' is involved in Rett Syndrome

Researchers at the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program at IDIBELL led by Manel Esteller, ICREA researcher and professor of genetics at the University of Barcelona, have described alterations in noncoding ...

Genetics created May 02, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

When good habits go bad: Neuroscientist seeks roots of obsessive behavior, motion disorders

Learning, memory and habits are encoded in the strength of connections between neurons in the brain, the synapses. These connections aren't meant to be fixed, they're changeable, or plastic.

Autism spectrum disorders created Feb 16, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Study finds large proportion of intellectual disability is not genetically inherited

New research published Online First in The Lancet suggests that a high proportion of severe intellectual disability results from genetic causes that are not inherited. These findings are good news for parents, indicating a low ...

Genetics created Sep 26, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Protecting against aging at the molecular level

Research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute sheds new light on a gene called ATRX and its function in the brain and pituitary. Children born with ATRX syndrome have cognitive defects and developmental ...

Medical research created Apr 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Single protein targeted as the root biological cause of several childhood psychiatric disorders

A new research discovery has the potential to revolutionize the biological understanding of some childhood psychiatric disorders. Specifically, scientists have found that when a single protein involved in brain development, ...

Medical research created Oct 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

UK: Public OK with creating babies from three people

Britain's fertility regulator says it has found broad public support for in vitro fertilization techniques that allow babies to be created with DNA from three people for couples at risk of passing on potentially fatal genetic ...

Obstetrics & gynaecology created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Researchers discover new therapy for fragile X chromosome syndrome

Researchers at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Achucarro neurosciences centre have discovered a new therapy for the fragile X chromosome syndrome. This new therapy proposes the modulation of the cerebral ...

Medical research created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Youth with ASD have poor postsecondary outcomes

(HealthDay) -- Youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are at high risk for not participating in postsecondary education or employment, particularly in the first two years after high school, according ...

Autism spectrum disorders created May 14, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists identify gene linked to facial, skull and cognitive impairment

A gene whose mutation results in malformed faces and skulls as well as mental retardation has been found by scientists.

Genetics created Jul 05, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mental retardation

Mental retardation is a generalized disorder, characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age of 18. Once focused almost entirely on cognition, the definition now includes both a component relating to mental functioning and one relating to individuals' functional skills in their environment.

For more information about Mental retardation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: protein , neurons