Autism News and Research

Latest Autism News and Research

ARUP Laboratories introduces Affymetrix CytoScan HD Array

ARUP Laboratories, a leading national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory and a leader in innovative laboratory research and development, is pleased to introduce its newest SNP-based microarray technology, the Affymetrix CytoScan HD Array.

23 Aug 2011

News highlights: Calif. ruling limits medical damages; appeal filed in case challenging Ariz. Medicaid cuts

The state Supreme Court handed insurers and business groups a major legal victory -- and personal injury lawyers an equally big setback -- on Thursday by imposing limits on medical damages in one of the era's closest watched civil cases. The issue in the case, Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, was whether an injured party could collect the full medical care costs billed by doctors and hospitals, or the lesser amount that the medical providers accepted from an insurance company.

20 Aug 2011

New Therapy Grants Program supports innovative approach to treat epilepsy

The Epilepsy Therapy Project (ETP) and the Epilepsy Foundation (EF) announced today a New Therapy Grant to potentially help those with treatment resistant epilepsy.

19 Aug 2011

IRSF announces new Rett syndrome translational research awards

The International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) announced today that it is awarding over $650,000 to support eight cutting-edge projects that aim to accelerate translational research to develop treatments for Rett syndrome.

19 Aug 2011

State roundup: Opposition to Calif. health insurance regulation bill

Supporters of controversial legislation to give state regulators power to approve, deny or modify changes in health insurance rates have returned from their summer recess to find added opposition as they push for its passage before the session wraps up. Gov. Jerry Brown's finance officials came out against Assembly Bill 52 at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing this week, raising concerns about the costs of the rate-regulation proposal.

19 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 18, 2011

"The SSI program for children is rapidly expanding, with the biggest increase among kids with mental, behavioral and learning disorders, including ADHD, speech delays, autism, and bipolar disorder. But as it pulls in children like Hulston, the program is sparking criticism in Congress.

18 Aug 2011

Autism risk in siblings of autistic children is higher: Study

A new study reveals that parents with an autistic child have a 19% increased chance of getting another one with a similar disorder. Experts said the study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is the most comprehensive of its kind and should be used to counsel families.

17 Aug 2011

Study: Eye contact seems to act as an invitation for mimicry

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but how do our brains decide when and who we should copy? Researchers from The University of Nottingham have found that the key may lie in an unspoken invitation communicated through eye contact.

17 Aug 2011

Study investigates autism spectrum disorder, sibling recurrence

The risk that an infant with an older sibling with autism also will develop the disorder, previously estimated at between 3 and 10 percent, is substantially higher at approximately 19 percent, a large, international, multi-site study led by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute has found.

16 Aug 2011

Mice with enzyme deficiency are unable to properly assess threat

Do you run when you should stay? Are you afraid of all the wrong things? An enzyme deficiency might be to blame, reveals new research in mice by scientists at the University of Southern California.

12 Aug 2011

Roundup: Report finds Calif. fails to discipline 710 doctors; GOP takes 4 of 6 races in Wis.; obesity and poverty in Miss.

California's medical board failed to discipline 710 troubled doctors even as they were disciplined by hospitals, surgical centers and other health care organizations in the state, according to a report released Tuesday.

11 Aug 2011

Mercury and autism link strengthened

The researchers from Swinburne University in Melbourne surveyed 522 Australian survivors of Pink disease - a form of mercury poisoning common in the early 20th century - found one in 25 of their 398 grandchildren aged six to 12 had an autism spectrum disorder.

10 Aug 2011

Research shows six-fold risk of autism in grandchildren of acrodynia survivors

Researchers from Australia have identified an ancestry of Pink Disease (Infantile Acrodynia) as a risk factor for Autism Spectrum Disorders.

10 Aug 2011

Insight into how brain organizes during development

Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have taken an important step in identifying how the brain organizes itself during development. The findings, published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology today, describe - in more detail than ever before - the consequences of the loss of a key molecule involved in establishing proper brain architecture during brain development.

3 Aug 2011

Post-traumatic stress disorder drug risperidone not working: Study

According to a new study a medication commonly used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans may not be effective in reducing overall PTSD severity.

3 Aug 2011

New insight into causes of pronoun confusion in autism

Autism is a mysterious developmental disease because it often leaves complex abilities intact while impairing seemingly elementary ones. For example, it is well documented that autistic children often have difficulty correctly using pronouns, sometimes referring to themselves as "you" instead of "I."

2 Aug 2011

NSU, Immunotec collaborate to determine effects of Immunocal on children with ASD

Immunotec Inc. announces that Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Florida is conducting a study to determine the effects of Immunocal on the behaviours of children with autism spectrum disorder.

27 Jul 2011

Conference to discuss autism research and awareness in Bangladesh, South East Asia

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh, the Centre for Neurodevelopment & Autism in Children, and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hosted the first regional conference titled "Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities in Bangladesh and South East Asia."

26 Jul 2011

fMRI scans can identify biological signs of autism in toddlers

The biological causes of autism are still not understood. A diagnosis of autism is only possible after ages three or four and the tests are subjective, based on behavioral symptoms. Now, in research that appeared in Neuron, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California, San Diego have found, for the first time, a method that can accurately identify a biological sign of autism in very young toddlers.

26 Jul 2011

Fragile X syndrome study to reveal more

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability in the world. Medical experts, including the Mater Hospital's Dr Helen Heussler, are today launching a new push to uncover the secrets of a disorder that affects a child born in Australia every week. Fragile X is passed from parent carriers who often exhibit very few symptoms. Estimates suggest more than 100,000 Australians either carry the gene mutation that causes Fragile X or have the syndrome, yet the vast majority have not been diagnosed, according to the Fragile X Association of Australia.

25 Jul 2011