SFARI News

Mining for meaning

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:11:00 -0700

A new study pinpoints 27 regions of the genome that carry copy number variations in people with autism, but not healthy controls.

New 'mirror neurons' reflect the attention of others

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:18:00 -0700

Studying a new type of mirror neuron may help researchers better understand the brain impairments underlying characteristic deficits of autism.

Skinny genes

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:50:00 -0700

A behavioral study published earlier this month finds an intriguing link between autism and anorexia.

Study links autism to stem cell development

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:05:00 -0700

The molecular defects that cause some cases of autism may arise during the development of neuronal stem cells, according to a new theory bolstered by several independent animal and human studies.

Intelligently tested

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:19:00 -0700

On a non-verbal test of intelligence, people with autism perform surprisingly well — with accuracy equal to and speeds up to 40 percent faster than those of healthy controls.

Antidepressant does not relieve autism's repetitive behaviors, study finds

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:15:00 -0700

The popular antidepressant Celexa is no better than placebo at reducing repetitive behaviors in children with autism, according to a study published this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

EARLI signs

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:17:00 -0700

The newly launched Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) aims to find prenatal risk factors for autism by following 1,200 pregnant women who already have a child with the disorder.

Study identifies brain signatures of motor impairments in autism

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:11:00 -0700

Children with autism rely on conscious planning, rather than habit, to control their movements, according to the first brain imaging study to examine motor performance in the disorder.

Archipelago of autism

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:16:00 -0700

The question of whether autism is a disease to be cured or an identity to be preserved is addressed in a review of two new books in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Genetic changes during cell splitting may lead to autism

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:45:00 -0700

Spontaneous deletions and duplications of DNA, which appear with greater frequency in people with autism, sometimes arise after conception, according to a new article from Molecular Psychiatry.

Mice and men

Fri, 29 May 2009 14:06:00 -0700

The complete mouse genome, released this week, shows that people and mice may not be as similar as everyone has assumed.

Angelman syndrome gene tied to brain’s adaptability

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:22:00 -0700

A gene linked to autism and other developmental disorders can undermine the brain’s ability to change the strength of connections between neurons.

Road to recovery

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:10:00 -0700

Of the hundreds of presentations at IMFAR earlier this month, one got widely picked up: a study of children who ‘recover’ from autism.

Laser technique pins source of brain waves linked to autism

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:46:00 -0700

Researchers have for the first time identified the type of neurons that produce gamma rhythms, the high-frequency brain waves that are thought to go awry in autism and schizophrenia.

Flawed figures

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:38:00 -0700

A flaw in brain imaging analysis is more widespread than anyone realized: when choosing from the enormous amounts of data generated from an fMRI experiment, scientists often ‘double dip’, or use the same subset for setting up a hypothesis and for confirming it.

Brain images uncover candidate genes for schizophrenia, autism

Tue, 12 May 2009 08:12:00 -0700

Applying an emerging technique that combines genetic data and brain scans, researchers have identified two new genes involved in schizophrenia. The method, called ‘imaging genetics’, holds promise for linking genes to brain function in complex psychiatric disorders, including autism.

Motor memories

Fri, 08 May 2009 11:47:00 -0700

A few talks today at IMFAR suggest that procedural memory — which we use for everything from riding a bike to conjugating regular verbs — is impaired in people with autism.

Heads examined

Fri, 08 May 2009 06:30:00 -0700

Do children with autism have unusually large brains?

Visual contrast drives face recognition, study finds

Tue, 05 May 2009 07:16:00 -0700

The answer to a long-standing mystery in visual neuroscience may also help explain how people with autism perceive faces, according to a study published in March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Genome-wide study fingers first common risk factors for autism

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:56:00 -0700

Autism results from a diverse mix of common and rare genetic variants, many of which act in pathways that form and maintain connections between neurons. That's the message from the largest genome-wide association studies of autism to date, published online today in Nature.