News Archive

The latest research, clinical and policy news from the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute (ANDI) and its affiliated faculty.

 

Signs of anxiety in infancy may foreshadow autism

Fearfulness and shyness in babies and toddlers predict features of autism at age 7, according to a new study. But early...

Blocking key enzyme eases memory problems, anxiety in autism mice

Blocking an enzyme called ERK prevents some unusual behaviors and brain structure in mice missing a segment of chromosome 16....

Reward-system differences may underlie multiple autism features

The brain’s system for sensing pleasure and reward shows unusual activation patterns in people with autism, according to an...

Conditions that accompany autism, explained

More than half of people on the spectrum have four or more other conditions. The types of co-occurring conditions and how they...

Gene editing via nanoparticles may treat autism syndromes

Scientists have for the first time successfully delivered the gene-editing tool CRISPR into mouse brains and altered their...

Rat squeaks may reveal autism gene’s role in communication

Rats with a mutation in CACNA1C, a gene linked to autism, make fewer happy squeaks while playing than controls do, and ignore...

Autism mutation alters balance of gut bacteria in mice

Mice with a mutation in a top autism gene called SHANK3 have altered levels of certain gut bacteria, a new study shows....

Mutations in autism gene may trigger milder effects than does its loss

People with mutations in SHANK3 have intellectual disability and other features of Phelan-McDermid syndrome, the condition...

Some autism traits may show up later in girls than in boys

Girls with autism traits have fewer problems with social communication than boys do early on, but their skills worsen by...

Autism brains show widespread alterations in structure

The brains of people with autism show a variety of structural differences from those of controls, according to a large imaging...

To get an autism diagnosis, girls need worse social skills than boys

Girls with an autism diagnosis have more severe impairments in social communication than boys with the diagnosis, according to...

Use of certain social strategies linked to anxiety in autism

Children with autism often have trouble understanding others’ thoughts, and some may compensate for this by creating scripts ...

Girls with autism at high risk of sexual abuse, large study says

Many women with traits of autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report having been sexually abused as a...

Rise in U.S. autism prevalence stems mainly from ‘mild’ cases

The bulk of the increase in autism prevalence the United States between 2000 and 2012 can be attributed to children on the...

Infant seizures, maternal meds top list of risk factors for autism

Epilepsy in infancy and the use of prescription medications during pregnancy are the strongest of 29 known risk factors for...