Early overgrowth: In their first few weeks of development, organoids with two intact copies of CHD8 (top) developed excitatory neurons more slowly than organoids missing a copy of the gene (bottom). Editor’s Note This article was originally published 11 January 2021, based on preliminary findings presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. The results […]
The Importance of Heart For thousands of years humans have considered the heart as the center of the universe. Indeed, in deference to this idea Egyptian royalty was buried with all organs removed except the heart. Our own society in 2012 continues this myth by relating many emotions such as love, hurt, grief and passion […]
Illustration by Laurenne Boglio Longer days in the Northern Hemisphere, longer threads about autism research on Twitter — welcome to the first Community Newsletter from Spectrum this February. Liz Pellicano, professor of education at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, threaded together 14 tweets full of COVID-19 lockdown lessons for autism education. The insights, published in […]
Social Boost: In a mouse model with impaired social behavior, an oxytocin injection activates a specific set of circuits. publisher’s Note This article was originally published as Conference Proceedings from the 2021 Society for Neuroscience Global Connectome Meeting on January 13, 2021. The results have since been published in Neuron. Infusions of the hormone oxytocin […]
research summary According to research in pediatric oncology, pediatricians may need more training to help families access school accommodation, particularly with virtual or hybrid learning formats. JAMA Pediatrics One in four people with a PTEN gene mutation has autism or features of it, according to a review of studies. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Modeling of […]
Research summary Analysis of the proteins in the stool of autistic children revealed altered levels of specific gut microbes and enzymes that metabolize carbohydrates. Journal of Proteomics Two commercially available wireless heart rate trackers are convenient and reliable for use with autistic children. Autism research Nutritional problems in children, especially those that persist into the […]
Subdued response: Organoids with microglia (bottom) show a lower interferon response (red) than organoids without microglia (top), suggesting that these immune cells help reduce cell stress. Adding non-neural brain cells called microglia to cortical organoids speeds up the rate of maturation of their neurons, increases the synchronization of their firing, and appears to reduce cellular […]
Immune response: rats exposed to certain antibodies in the womb have the molecules (green) in their brain. Courtesy Matthew Bruce / UC Davis Prenatal exposure to maternal antibodies can contribute to autism in different ways, depending on the antibodies involved, new unpublished studies suggest. Two research teams presented the results virtually at the Society for […]
Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño professor, University of California, Davis Studying post-mortem brain tissue from people with autism is critical to understanding the cellular and molecular changes associated with the disease. But this rare resource lacks diversity: most of the brains donated to science come from people of Western European ancestry. Cultural and linguistic barriers, as well as […]
Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño professor, University of California, Davis Studying post-mortem brain tissue from people with autism is critical to understanding the cellular and molecular changes associated with the disease. But this rare resource lacks diversity: most of the brains donated to science come from people of Western European ancestry. Cultural and linguistic barriers, as well as […]
Brain Boost: Electrical stimulation of the fornix weakened abnormal inhibitory signals in mice with CDKL5 mutations and restored their performance in learning and memory tasks. Manjurul / iStock Chronic electrical stimulation of the fornix, a bundle of nerve fibers deep in the brain, saves learning and memory deficits in mice with mutations in the autism-linked […]
Research summary Autistic people experience more stress in the course of their adult lives than non-autistic people, and people in poor physical or mental health are most affected. Health psychology People with autism are, on average, just as adept at a study task as people without prediction; The predictive ability correlates with the ratio of […]
