Nat-n-Bio

Autistic children’s brains may grow too big, too soon. A new study links this unusual growth to abnormal gene activity that fails to prune unnecessary neural connections By Ferris Jabr  | March 22, 2012 | As a baby grows inside the womb, its brain does not simply expand like a dehydrated sponge dropped in water. Early brain development is an elaborate procession. Every minute some 250,000 neurons bloom, squirming past one another like so many schoolchildren rushing to their seats at the sound of the bell. Each neuron grows a long root at one end and a crown of branches at the other, linking[...] 

Las investigaciones en los últimos años han demostrado que los trastornos del espectro autista (TEA) tienen un componente genético poderoso. Pero hasta ahora los científicos no han podido entender con precisión cuáles son los genes implicados en esta enfermedad. Ahora se abre una nueva puerta para esta investigación gracias a la creación de una nueva herramienta: ratones con los mismos problemas de comunicación y sociales que se ven en los pacientes con autismo. Además de entender mejor el vínculo genético de la enfermedad, el modelo animal autista también podrá ser utilizado para[...] 

For Some With Autism, Jobs to Match Their Talents By DAVID BORNSTEIN Steen B. Iversen tests mobile phones for the Danish telecommunications firm TDC. Before landing his job two and a half years ago, Iversen, 50, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, spent more than 12 years looking for work. “It’s always been somewhat traumatizing,” he said. “I have had jobs, but I always got fired. People would laugh about me behind my back and laugh at me to my face. Those problems have more or less been a problem for me from childhood.” In the working world, Iversen said, his[...] 

Several new studies highlight the complexity of autism’s genetic roots, revealing why it strikes boys more than girls and offering clues for possible new treatments By Katherine Harmon The underpinnings of autism are turning out to be even more varied than the disease’s diverse manifestations. In four new studies and an analysis published June 8 researchers have added some major landmarks in the complex landscape of the disease, uncovering clues as to why the disease is so much more prevalent in male children and how such varied genetic mutations can lead to similar symptoms. PEERING[...]