Autistic children are up to four times as likely as their non-autistic peers to have digestive problems, and several small studies show they may also have atypical microbial communities living in their guts. But whether those flora contribute to their autism traits remains unclear. The post The gut’…

The number of therapists certified to provide applied behavior analysis (ABA), a widely used autism therapy, has skyrocketed in the past two decades, yet more than half of all counties in the United States have none, according to a new study. These counties are home to many autistic children, howev…

Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began, clinical psychologist Janice Keener was floored when she reassessed a boy she had evaluated for autism in her clinic a few months earlier. During that initial visit, Keener hadn’t observed any of the repetitive behaviors the boy’s mother had described to…

Hello, and welcome to the Community Newsletter! I’m your host, Chelsey B. Coombs, Spectrum’s engagement editor. Our first post of the week comes from the Sheffield Autism Research Lab at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. The lab posted a link to its new paper in the journal Autism, …

The post Spotted around the web: Fuzzy diagnostic boundary, organoid oversight, women scientist setbacks appeared first on Spectrum | Autism Research News. Source: Spectrum News

Autism-linked mutations in the CUL3 gene may alter brain structure by disrupting the ‘skeletons’ of neurons, according to a new study. Like all cells, neurons contain long strands of protein that help them keep their shape. These strands, collectively called a cytoskeleton, also help ferry substance…

A gene that is poorly expressed in people with certain neurodevelopmental conditions is also essential for sleep, according to a new study in fruit flies. Many people with autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions have trouble falling asleep and slumbering soundly. This difficulty is often viewe…

Prenatal vitamins help ensure that a fetus has everything it needs to develop. Research indicates that too little — or too much — of certain substances during pregnancy can increase the child’s chances of having autism. But many of these studies are observational in nature and are not set up to prov…

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane Maria passed over Cayo Santiago, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico that is home to more than 1,500 non-native rhesus macaques. The eyewall, the most chaotic and destructive region of the storm, hit the island with 155-mile-per-hour winds, blowing in every directi…

Dysfunction in a brain circuit that regulates movement may contribute to some of the motor learning difficulties associated with autism, according to a new mouse study. The mice lack one copy of a chromosomal region called 16p11.2. Up to about one-third of people with this deletion have autism, and …

Hi there! I’m Grace Huckins, Spectrum’s editorial intern, your host for the Community Newsletter this week. Two new preprints on medRxiv have generated a buzz on Twitter. Both look at how common genetic variants, rare variants and sex interact to affect an individual’s chances of having autism. The …

A novel imaging approach enables researchers to capture 3D pictures of brain spheroids — spherical cultures of brain cells — and their internal structures. The method could help scientists study early brain development and better understand what goes awry in autism. Researchers usually image spheroi…

The post Spotted around the web: Sensory discrepancy, telling gestures, JAMA boycott appeared first on Spectrum | Autism Research News. Source: Spectrum News

Sluggish fetal head growth toward the end of the second trimester foretells poor performance on tests of cognition, language and fine motor skills at age 2, according to a new international study. By the time a child shows developmental delays, which are common in autism, “a lot of other things have…