Significant Overlap Of Genetic Signature for Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Depression And Alcoholism

Psychiatric Illnesses Share Similar Gene Activity, Study Suggests by Mark Lieber.  CNN.  February 13, 2018. 

A New High Tech Maze May Implications For Study Of Alzheimer's And Autism

Building A Better Rat Maze Could Help Us All Cooperate.  American Technion Society/Science Daily.  October 13, 2016

Early Intervention Key to Successful therapy For Autism

DNA Research May Led To Early Intervention For Children With Autism by Andy Steiner.  MinnPost.  September 28, 2016

Inability To Distinguish The Tactile Sensations Of Self And Others May Be Key To Autism Spectrum Disorder

Link Discovered Between Touch Of Individuals With Autism, Their Social Difficulties.  Ghent University/Science Daily.  September 15, 2016

Oxytocin Nasal Spray Shows Promise In Helping Kids Improve With Social, Emotional And Behavioral Problems

"Love Hormone" Nasal Spray Promising In Autism by Robert Preidt.  WebMD.  October 27, 2015.

ResearchKit, Apple Watch, IPhone Combine Against Autism, Epilepsy, And Melanoma

Apple Partners With Hospitals For New ResearchKit Studies on Autism, Epilepsy And Melanoma by AppleInsider Staff.  October 15, 2015.

Brain Activation Patterns In Response To Speech Could Be Key To Autism Treatment And Prognosis

In Autism, The Brain's Response To Speech Speaks Volumes by Melissa Healy.  The Lost Angeles Times.  April 9, 2015. 

"Use It Or Lose It" The Key To Brain Health

Our Amazingly Plastic Brains by Norman Doidge.  Wall Street Journal.  February 6, 2015.

Gene Mutations May Explain Why Autism Is Never Identical

Gene Mutations May Determine Severity, Type Of  Autism by Robert Preidt.  WebMd.  December 22, 2014.

Siri Provides Stimulation And Companionship To Autistic Child

To Siri, With Love by Judith Newman.  The New York Times.  October 17, 2014.

New Discipline, 'Mental Health Science', Proposed To Combine The Benefits of Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology

Experts Urge New Discipline Combining benefits Of Neuroscience, Psychology Treatments.  Science Daily.  July 18, 2014.

Mounting Scientific Evidence Links Pesticides And Autism

More Evidence Agricultural Pesticides Up Autism Risk by Megan Brooks.  Medscape Medical News.  June 23, 2014.

Computer That Recognizes 21 Emotions May Have Applications In Autism Therapy

Researchers Teach A Computer To Recognize 21 Different Human Emotions by David McNamee.  Medical News Today.  April 7, 2014.

Also the article mentions possible therapeutic applications for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Architecture Of Autism

The Architecture Of Autism by Michael Tortorello.  the New York Times.  October 9, 2013.

Approximately 500,000 individuals with autism will come of age in the next decade.  Housing these individuals will be a challenge as designers seek to address the specific needs of this population.  This article examines the approach of Sweetwater Spectrum near Sonoma California.

Genetic Link Of Autism and Cancer Identified: Unregulated Cell Growth May Be The Common Factor

Autism's Unexpected Link To Cancer Gene by Gina Kolata.  The New York Times.  August 11, 2013.

Follow the above link, read the article, and test your recall with a brief quiz.

(1)  About _______ percent of children with mutations in a gene call PTEN have autism.

(2)  True or False:  The finding recounted in this article clears up the causes of most cases of autism.

(3)  Not all individuals with this gene mutation will ____________________.

(4)  True or False:  Autism occurs naturally in the animal kingdom.

(5)  This link has led to the first clinical trial using the drug that ________________.

(6)  A Harvard geneticist offer the possibility that the cancer link to autism could merely be a manifestation of _________________________.

(7)  Like cancer, autism can involve ____________________.

(8)  ____________ is even more likely to result in autism than PTEN.

(9)  PTEN and tuberous sclerosis genes are part of the same network of genes that ____________

Brain "Social Gateway" Perhaps Key To Autism, Language Processing, and Cognitive Development

Brain Wave Study Sheds Light On Autism Among Toddlers by Geoffrey Mohan.  The Los Angeles Times.  May 31, 2013.

(1)  How and where the brain becomes active while processing words strong correlates with ____________________________.

(2)  These studies lend support to theories cannot master the fundamentals of learning ____________________.

(3)  Autistic brains fired up differently in that activity was ________________ as was typical by age 2.

(4)  Firing in the __________________ lobe was a strong predictor of how the children fared intellectually at ages 4 and 6.

German IT Firm Seeks Autistic Workers

German IT Firm Seeks Autistic Workers by Kate Connolly.  The Guardian.  May 22, 2013.

(1)  The German software giant SAP aims to train ________ workers with autism by 2020.

(2)  Among the positions for which autistic person will be recruited include ___________________.

(3)  The highly useful and marketable skills people who are autistic could bring to the computer industry are obsession _________ and an ability to analyze ______________.

Sex Differences In Autism

How Autism Is Different In Girls vs. Boys.  The Wall Street Journal.  In The Lab.  May 6, 2013.

(1) Autism affects more than _____% of the population.

(2)  Genetically speaking, there is growing evidence that girls are _______ from autism than boys even though there are substantially _______________ with girls than boys.

(3)  Kids with autism tend to look more at people's ________ than typically developing children who look at people's _______.

(4)  Boys who looked________  at the eyes were ______ socially disabled.  Girls who look ______ at the eyes were ______ socially disabled.

(5)  The notion that boys and girls with autism adjust to life in the same way is now (being confirmed, being questioned).

(6)  Girls are diagnosed with autism, on average, _______ than boys.

Clarity Produces A Transparent Brain

Brains As Clear As Jell-O For Scientists To Explore by James Gorman.  The New York Times.  April 10, 2013.

Clarity is the name of a new process that makes the brain and other organs transparent.  Unlike earlier processes this one preserves the biochemistry of the brain very effectively allowing repeated tests to highlight specific structures.  It is exciting to contemplate the effects a transparent brain can have on the treatment and diagnosis of schizophrenia, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder and other disorders.

Brain Research Effort Motivated by Curiosity And Practicality

Obama Launches Research Initiative To Study Human Brain by Jeff Mason.  Reuters.  April 2, 2013.

Basic curiosity motivates the search for a dynamic picture of the brain.  Practical benefits could be the creation of new jobs, industries, and opportunities.  Of course there is the practical concern raised by the prospect of 13.8 million people with Alzheimer's in the United States by 2050 according to a recent projection.