Autism News and Research

Latest Autism News and Research

$1M Myers Fellowship brings US research techniques to Melbourne

The Howard Florey Institute's inaugural Allan and Maria Myers Travel Fellowship has been awarded to world renowned neuroscientist, Prof Gerard Shaw, from the McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida College of Medicine.

20 Aug 2006

Autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain

A recent study provides evidence that autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain, and is not limited to the brain areas involved with social interactions, communication behaviors, and reasoning abilities, as had been previously thought.

16 Aug 2006

Rett syndrome can also strike males

The common thinking in the past had been that Rett syndrome only affects girls.

8 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys and girls

In the on-going search to find the cause of Autistic Spectrum Disorders, the latest research says different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls, and the discovery may help explain why the condition is more common in boys.

3 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls

Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects.

2 Aug 2006

New insights into brain organisation

Scientists have provided new insights into how and why the brain is organised - knowledge which could eventually inform diagnosis of and treatments for conditions like Alzheimer's disease and autism.

2 Aug 2006

Spatial organisation of the nervous system in primates and worms

Scientists have provided new insights into how the brain is organised - knowledge which could eventually inform diagnosis of and treatments for conditions like Alzheimer's disease and autism.

1 Aug 2006

Researchers identify earliest neuron in the embryonic human cerebral cortex

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes humans human.

24 Jul 2006

Cognitive changes in kids

Children aged about four suddenly become capable of recognising that an object can be described differently depending on how it is viewed.

17 Jul 2006

More children have autism

According to new research in the UK, autism and related disorders are possibly far more common than once thought.

17 Jul 2006

Key deficiencies found in brains of people with autism

In a pair of groundbreaking studies, brain scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that the anatomical differences that characterize the brains of people with autism are related to the way those brains process information.

13 Jul 2006

Researchers discover why brain areas fail to work together in autism

In people with autism, the brain areas that perform complex analysis appear less likely to work together during problem solving tasks than in people who do not have the disorder, report researchers working in a network funded by the National Institutes of Health.

12 Jul 2006

Fombonne's autism research is dangerously inaccurate

Fombonne, a thimerosal litigation expert witness on behalf of various pharmaceutical companies, will reportedly state that it is "very clear" there is no relationship between mercury-based thimerosal and the onset of autism.

11 Jul 2006

New model illustrates brain mechanisms that lead to autistic behaviors

Approximately 1.5 million children and adults in the U.S. have autism and it is estimated to be the fastest growing developmental disability with a 10 - 17 percent increase each year.

10 Jul 2006

New research promising for improving brain cell survival after brain injury

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have found a protein in the brain that can save neurons from dying after experiencing traumatic brain injury from incidents such as stroke, car accidents and falls.

10 Jul 2006

Court says autism therapy age limit is not a form of discrimination

A court in Canada has ruled that the government's refusal to provide expensive therapy for all autistic children older than five is not age discrimination.

10 Jul 2006

Doctors say lives are in jeopardy because the public has been misled over MMR vaccine

Britain's top paediatricians and childhood vaccination experts have come out in force to condemn how the public has been misled over the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

29 Jun 2006

Early marker for autism found in the placenta

A team from Yale School of Medicine have found an abnormality in the placenta which could be the first indication of autism and they believe the discovery could lead to a diagnosis of the condition at birth, rather than the standard age of two or older.

27 Jun 2006

Who is to blame for the measles epidemic in Britain?

Health officials in Britain say the country is in the grip of the worst outbreak of measles and have blamed the 20-year high on a loss of confidence in the MMR vaccination.

19 Jun 2006

New roles for growth factors

During embryonic development, nerve cells hesitantly extend tentacle-like protrusions called axons that sniff their way through a labyrinth of attractive and repulsive chemical cues that guide them to their target.

18 Jun 2006