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Autism spectrum disorders news

Genetics

In search for autism's causes, look at genes, not vaccines, researchers say

Earlier this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged that the search for autism's cause—a question that has kept researchers busy for the better part of six decades—would be over in just ...

Autism spectrum disorders

The United States CDC has abandoned science in its new advice about vaccines and autism

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its long-standing guidance about vaccines and autism.

Neuroscience

Protein abnormality illuminates communication struggles in autism

A DGIST research team identified that the mutation of the collybistin protein found in autistic patients weakens the brain's inhibitory synaptic function and leads to communication deficiencies. The results of this research ...

Neuroscience

Study maps brain wiring differences in youth with autism

Researchers at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have uncovered new insights into how brain wiring differs in children and young adults with ...

Autism spectrum disorders

What to know about the CDC's baseless new guidance on autism

The rewriting of a page on the CDC's website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Vaccines 'don't cause autism': How scientists figured that out

In the late 1990s, a theory gripped parents around the world: What if childhood vaccines—particularly the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine—cause autism? Nearly three decades later, the debunked theory has gained ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Transcranial pulse current stimulation found beneficial in autism

Twenty sessions of prefrontal-cerebellar transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) over four weeks in children aged 3 to 14 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can improve social functioning and sleep, according ...

Neuroscience

Compromised synapse-clearing ability linked to autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition in which affected individuals experience difficulties in social communication and exhibit restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior or interests.

Autism spectrum disorders

HHS clarifies: No new autism registry will be created

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it will not create a new autism registry, reversing an earlier announcement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Genetics

Predicting how an autistic child will develop cognitively

Will a child who's evaluated for autism later develop an intellectual disability? Can this be accurately predicted? Early-childhood experts in Quebec say they've have come up with a better way to find out.

Genetics

Study reveals new genetic mechanism behind autism development

Scientists from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) have uncovered a genetic link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a rare genetic condition called myotonic dystrophy ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Gut-brain link may affect behavior in children with autism

A new USC study suggests that gut imbalances in children with autism may create an imbalance of metabolites in the digestive system—ultimately disrupting neurotransmitter production and influencing behavioral symptoms.