Autism News From Medical News Today

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause considerable social, communication and behavioral challenges. People with ASD often have issues with social, emotional, and communication skills. They might repeat certain behaviors and might not be comfortable with change occurring in their daily activities. Many people with ASD also have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to things. There is currently no cure for ASD. However, research shows that early intervention treatment services can improve a child’s development.

• What to know about autism

  Autism is a set of psychological behaviors often characterized by an emphasis on routine and repetition, fixed behavioral patterns, and impaired social interaction. There are many levels of severity in autism, which is why doctors view it as a spectrum rather than a fixed set of symptoms. Read on to learn more.

• What does autism look like in the brain?

  A new study offers a fresh perspective on how autism works in the brain. Symptoms, the authors say, may be linked to persistent connections in the brain.

• Autism: What is the link with zinc?

  Past research noted a connection between zinc and autism, but a new study takes a deeper look and helps to further uncover the link.

• Could poor protein trafficking be a factor in autism?

  Insufficiency in protein escorter ASTN2 causes receptors to accumulate on cell surfaces, disrupting communication between neurons, a new mouse study shows.

• Autism prognosis: Parental genes 'incredibly useful'

  While a main variant primes a person to develop a complex disorder such as autism, their 'genetic background' sets the 'clinical features,' a study finds.

• Pesticide may increase autism risk

  Levels of DDT, a once-common pesticide, in maternal blood have been linked with an increased risk of autism in the offspring in a new study.

News-Medical.Net Aspergers Syndrome News Feed

Latest Aspergers Syndrome News and Research

• First in-car study of rush hour pollution finds alarming results

  The first in-car measurements of exposure to pollutants that cause oxidative stress during rush hour commutes has turned up potentially alarming results.

• Developmental Split-Brain syndrome discovery

  Our group describes a new entity, which we refer to as “Developmental Split-Brain syndrome” which we discovered affected four individuals from three unrelated families. All affected individuals showed disruption of communicating tracts between the right and left side of the brain which meant that there is lack of coordination and communication between the two sides of the brain.

• Researchers discover 'Developmental Split-Brain syndrome' caused by biallelic mutations in DCC gene

  In a study published in Nature Genetics, Dr Saumya Jamuar, co-founder of Global Gene Corp and a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School, under the supervision of Prof Christopher Walsh and A/Prof Timothy Yu of Harvard Medical School, reports on a new disease entity that they discovered in their quest to map novel human disorders related to brain development.

• Augmented reality improves mental abilities of children with autism

  Augmented reality is of considerable help to children with disabilities and children with special educational needs (SEN) - autism, Asperger's syndrome, ADHD, and others. So says Veska Aleksieva, an experienced educational expert, regarding the products of Duard, a European-based company specialising in augmented reality

• Vanderbilt engineers develop virtual-reality driving environment to help teenagers with ASD

  Astronauts and pilots use them. So do truck drivers and Formula One race-car drivers.

• University of Derby introduces new MOOC to provide better knowledge on autism, Asperger’s and ADHD

  A new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to educate anyone interested in learning more about autism, Asperger’s and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been launched by the University of Derby.