People with mutations in the PAX5 gene have a distinct neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by a range of traits, including developmental delay, intellectual disability, seizures and autism, according to a new study of 16 children and young adults. Until now, genetic testing did not give people…

“So, have you found any autism in Africa?” the wealthy philanthropist asked, peering over his wine glass. It was 2012, and Petrus de Vries had just returned to South Africa after 20 years abroad. The University of Cape Town, where he had been hired to set up an autism research center, was hosting a …

Welcome back to By the Numbers, Spectrum’s data-centric take on autism research. Let us know what you think of the newsletter at niko@spectrumnews.org, and thanks for reading. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=docu…

Last month, Spectrum hosted a webinar with autism researchers Tony Charman and Catherine Lord, who co-chaired the Lancet Commission’s set of recommendations for the autism field. Conversations around the commission continue; yesterday, the European Council of Autistic People published an open lette…

Mice chemically coaxed to produce high levels of an autism-linked gut molecule have anxiety-like behavior and unusual patterns of brain connectivity, according to a study published today in Nature. The findings present a direct mechanism by which the gut could send signals to the brain and alter dev…

Just one-quarter of autism intervention studies provide data on the race and ethnicity of participants, according to a new study. The analysis, published in Autism in January, focused on educational or behavioral interventions given in schools and clinics to autistic participants aged up to 22 years…

“To be loved means first of all to be recognized as existing.” Thich Nhat Hanh By Jill MacCormack What does it mean to love and be loved? I cannot say for certain but I do know that what the great Vietnamese peace activist, poet and mindfulness meditation teacher, the late Thich Nhat Hanh said, th…

As regular readers know, this newsletter takes pains to highlight autism research tweets — but do tweets really help papers take flight? It’s tough to quantify the impact, beyond simple tallies of retweets and likes. A new paper this week attempts the calculation, linking social-media shares and new…

Michelle Goering “Let’s just drive over there, okay?” My nineteen-year-old had been trying to find a way to visit his high school. He’d last been there in March of 2020, a senior in his last semester. Looking back at my Google calendar for March 2020, I see nothing special noted on Friday the 13th. …

Mikayla Smith is currently in her final year at Oklahoma University, but already works weekends at KXII, a... The post Meteorologist Uses Sign Language To Tell All Of Her Weather Forecasts appeared first on The Autism Site News. Source: The Autism Site

The post Spotted around the web: Interneurons’ birthplace, alexithymia in autism, activating neurons with ultrasound appeared first on Spectrum | Autism Research News. Source: Spectrum News

Autism comes with a stereotype: shy, awkward, obsessed with tech, decidedly male. It’s an image that erases the many girls and women who are autistic, but it also reflects the reality that far more boys than girls have a diagnosis. Several studies put that sex ratio at about 3 to 1; among psychiatri…

Brandon Bussi is a star goalie for the Western Michigan University hockey team, one of the top ranked... The post Hockey Player Wears Special Goalie Mask to Honor Brother on the Autism Spectrum appeared first on The Autism Site News. Source: The Autism Site

Neuroscientist Konstantinos Zarbalis had a “mostly Greek upbringing” while growing up in Germany, he says. His father, who was born in Greece, was a cantor in a Greek Orthodox church in Munich, Germany, and Kostas, as he is known, attended a Greek school until university, completing a Ph.D. in molec…