Author: Autism Love

Unequal opportunities: Attaining “super principal investigator” status can be difficult for researchers who start with fewer resources. Stígur Már Karlsson / Getty Images Black and women researchers are less likely than their white male counterparts to have three or more grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) at one time, according to a…

Unconditional love: Love or affection without any limitations or conditions. You hear this term frequently, often associated with motherhood. This was certainly the case for me. Little did I know how the unconditional love I have for my children would take shape over the years. The moment I felt the first flutters and when I…

Last month we celebrated Autism Awareness Month as an organization by launching an official partnership with Champion Autism Network (CAN). We invited Becky Large, Executive Director of Champion Autism Network & CEO of Autism Travel Club, to be a guest author on the Miles blog to share more about CAN’s mission and what destinations can do…

Summary: Researchers discovered an oxytocin deficiency in patients with a rare vasopressin deficiency, a pituitary gland disease. This deficiency could potentially explain symptoms such as anxiety and social interaction difficulties that persist despite treatment. The findings suggest that disorders impacting vasopressin production may concurrently affect oxytocin production due to their close anatomical proximity. This breakthrough…

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Mohamed Fofana, a 4-year-old boy with autism described as nonspeaking, was found dead on the shoreline of Spectacle Island on Monday after being reported missing at Castle Island over the weekend. His death echoes similar cases of children with autism spectrum disorder who have either drowned or died near bodies of water…

Summary: Researchers have identified a potential new treatment method for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a leading cause of autism spectrum disorders. The method involves contracting the CGG trinucleotide repeat in the FMR1 gene, thereby restoring the essential FMRP protein expression necessary for brain development. The researchers utilized inhibitors of two kinases (MEK and BRAF) to…

Screening slip: Two papers based on a trial for the drug levodopa were retracted because the researchers failed to exclude participants who did not meet the trial’s inclusion criteria. Donald Iain Smith / Getty Images Two studies conducted at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City have been withdrawn because the researchers…

Mutations in any of 10 genes strongly linked to autism have several converging effects on brain size, activity and behavior in zebrafish via pathways that involve the proliferation of dopamine neurons and microglia, according to a new study. None of the mutations cause identical changes. But their varied effects on brain size occur largely in…

Futurity is your source of research news from leading universities. Cases of kids diagnosed with profound autism on the rise Over a 16-year period, the rate of profound autism doubled to 4.6 cases per 1,000 eight-year-olds. Children most likely to be diagnosed are poor, female, and non-white. (Credit: Getty Images) Share this Article You are…

Cell accelerator: Neurons (green) fire differently depending on whether the astrocytes (red) they are grown with are cultivated from people with or without fragile X. Courtesy of Rakhi Pal, Bharath Reddy and Sumantra Chattarji A change in the proteins secreted by astrocytes, star-shaped cells that support neurons, may contribute to the atypical firing patterns of…