Fragile X syndrome (FXS), caused by lack of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), is associated with a high prevalence of autism. In people with duplication of a portion of chromosome 15 (Dup15q), about 80% also have a diagnosis of autism, presumably due to the genetic differences on chromosome 15. It is not clear whether […]
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Many people with autism experience sleep problems. This is one of the major issues that parents report about their young children with autism. Melatonin is one of the few remedies that seem to have some success in the treatment of autism-related sleep disorders. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain […]
Read More »We hope that you and your family have been having a wonderful summer. I am often asked why we need to study the human brain to understand autism. Can’t we just study mice brains and figure out what is different in autism? There are many answers to this question. At a global level, it is […]
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We are happy to share the Summer 2018 issue of the Autism BrainNet newsletter with you. The Autism BrainNet newsletter frequently summarizes the new science and outreach of this program. Read more here.
Read More »Welcome Ms. Lilliam Acosta-Sanchez – Outreach Manager for Autism BrainNet Welcome to summer! I hope that all of our readers are enjoying well-earned vacations that afford time for fun and reflection. As I’ve mentioned in previous messages, one of the essential elements in increasing the number of postmortem brain donations to Autism BrainNet is building […]
Read More »We are happy to share the Spring 2018 issue of the Autism BrainNet newsletter with you. The Autism BrainNet newsletter frequently summarizes the new science and outreach of this program. Read more here.
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A number of research papers have come out in the past few months that help refine our thinking about the genetics (1) and neuroanatomy of autism (2). While impressive, they reflect findings from a relatively small number of brains. They do suggest, however, that fundamental findings about the causes of autism can be made if […]
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Researchers at Autism BrainNet node UC Davis MIND Institute, led by Cynthia Schumann (picture is Thomas Avino, a lead author), found that while typically-developing children gain more neurons in a region of the brain that governs social and emotional behavior, the amygdala, as they become adults, people with ASD do not. The open access research published in […]
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In a paper published in Science, researchers at UCLA, led by Daniel Geschwind, MD, PhD, identified shared patterns of gene expression among distinct psychiatric disorders. Brains from individuals with Autism, using post-mortem brain tissue donated to Autism BrainNet, show significant gene expression similarity to brains of people with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Key genetic pathways […]
Read More »We are happy to share the Winter 2017 issue of the Autism BrainNet newsletter with you. The Autism BrainNet newsletter frequently summarizes the new science and outreach of this program. Read more here.
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