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Autism spectrum disorders news

Neuroscience

Study links gene-regulating brain circuit formation to autism and seizures

The gene neuropilin2 encodes a receptor involved in cell-cell interactions in the brain and plays a key role in regulating the development of neural circuits. Neuropilin2 controls migration of inhibitory neurons as well as ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Study shows autistic individuals enrolled in Medicaid and receiving federal housing support grew 70% from 2008–16

Affordable and stable housing is critical to improving health across a person's lifespan. People with disabilities, including autism, comprise a significant share of people in need of housing assistance. However, the intersection ...

Genetics

New findings expand genetic knowledge of autism underpinnings

Hundreds of novel genetic variants across an ancestrally diverse cohort of 195 families, including 222 people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have been identified by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, expanding ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Autism diagnoses rising among U.S. children, adults

Big surges in new autism diagnoses among young adults, as well a rise in diagnoses for girls and young women, have driven a near-tripling of U.S. autism cases in just over a decade, researchers report.

Neuroscience

How the brain plans ahead to predict the world

Your brain not only processes what you see but continuously makes predictions based on your experiences. This process may be less finetuned in people with autism.

Neuroscience

Brain organoids reveal autism biology and potential treatments

Using stem cells generated from patients with a rare and severe form of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, Scripps Research scientists have grown personalized "mini-brains" (or organoids) to study the disorder ...

Genetics

Increased autism risk linked to Y chromosome, study finds

Increased risk for autism appears to be linked to the Y chromosome, a Geisinger Health System study has found, offering a new explanation for the greater prevalence of autism in males. The results are published in Nature ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Are autistic adults more vulnerable to criminal exploitation?

In a new study, Flinders university researchers have tested the commonly held belief that autistic adults are more prone than non-autistic adults to criminal exploitation due to difficulties in recognizing criminal intent.

Autism spectrum disorders

Research finds neurons look different in children with autism

There is new evidence that the cells responsible for communication in the brain may be structured differently in children with autism. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Pandemic-era babies do not have higher autism risk, finds study

Children born during the first year of the pandemic, including those exposed to COVID in utero, were no more likely to screen positive for autism than unexposed or pre-pandemic children, found researchers from Columbia University ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Q&A: Researcher discusses autism in young adulthood

Our understanding of autism has changed significantly in the past years. Previously viewed as a rare childhood disorder with a focus on deficits and pathology, autism is now recognized as a common, lifelong and heterogenous ...