Researchers have added two new candidates to the arsenal of compounds that alleviate both the behavioral and molecular hallmarks of fragile X syndrome in mice that model the disorder. A third candidate, minocycline, improves some symptoms in children with the disorder.
Women who report being abused as children are more likely to have a child with autism, according to a new report from the Nurses’ Health Study, published 20 March in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Matthew Goodwin aims to use wearable sensors and computational techniques to help scientists understand hand flapping and other behaviors in children with autism.
Young children with autism have higher rates of obesity than the general population, says a study published 13 March in Childhood Obesity.
Folic acid supplements taken early in pregnancy reduce the risk of autism, according to a large Norwegian study published 13 February in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A handful of studies point to dietary deficiencies as a contributing factor in some forms of autism, suggesting that supplements — such as carnitine or certain amino acids — may help treat and even prevent the disorder.
A new study suggests that a questionnaire often used to screen for autism doesn’t work well in a rural, low-income group, highlighting the need for diverse screening tools.
A mother of two sons with mutations in the autism-linked gene neuroligin-4 helped broker collaborations between research teams. Her ultimate goal, she says, is to help researchers uncover new treatments for the disorder.
Small regions of DNA that are structurally prone to deletions and duplications are unlikely to play a major role in autism, according to research published 7 February in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
A new map highlighting brain circuits finds that regions involved in synthesizing information tend to vary more among people than those that govern sensory and motor functions.
