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Missed the Meeting on Language in Autism? Listen to this podcast

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Last week in North Carolina, the Meeting on Language in Autism was held, with 3 days of amazing presentations and lots of productive discussions about how language and speech develops and how people with autism communicate. This podcast describes the origins of language development and how intervention during toddlerhood can promote lifelong language abilities. To learn more about the meeting go to www.mola.org and to see the Autism Navigator, go to www.autismnavigator.org.

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Learn about your infant’s development from your own home

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Are you the parent of an infant? Are you wondering how you can get assessments on your child without having to struggle with your pediatrician’s time at a well- baby checkup? Are you interested in how your baby is thinking or communicating but your doctor says “it’s too early to tell?” A new study based out of Duke University is using remote computer based assessments to understand the very earliest markers of language and cognition to better predict later social development. The twist? It’s all done remotely. You can participate in research, get a gift card, and learn about your baby’s development all without leaving the house. This has been a struggle for many families and this may open the door for more video-based, but thorough, assessments.

Children Helping Science

sites.duke.edu/risebattery

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What the h**l is an induced pluripotent stem cell?

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The words “induced pluripotent stem cell” refer to a group of cells that are gathered from a person with a disorder, like autism, then changed or “induced” from a skin cell into an embryonic “stem” cell, and can be then made into baby brain cells, or baby heart cells or baby bone cells. This makes them “pluripotent”. This tool has been used in neurodevelopment disorders to help illustrate when the wiring of the brain starts to go off course. Things start to happen very early after conception and one of the only ways to study these things is by using either embryonic cells or these induced embryonic “stem cells”. The latter is more cost effective and more precise. This technology has an incredibly high potential in understanding autism, but it may never be used as a treatment. Nevertheless, knowing how and when brain development deviates is essential for understanding people with ASD.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-030-45493-7.pdf

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Super siblings!

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This podcast is dedicated to siblings of people with autism who are typically developing.  They play an important and beneficial role in development of socialization of those with ASD.  But sadly, they also have issues of their own, such as a high rate of issues like anxiety and depression.  Those siblings may be genetic carries of a specific mutation and not have an autism diagnosis, but have increased risk for schizophrenia and cognitive disability.  Finally, just because they are considered “typically developing” doesn’t mean they don’t have challenges with adaptive behavior.  However, they have a very special relationship with their brothers and sisters, and the world needs these strong advocates for the community.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30280363

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30248583

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.12985

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41436-018-0266-3.pdf

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Reusing and recycling autism data from brain tissue

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In a new study in animal models, researchers demonstrate how genetic variability in key risk genes leads to different brain development patterns.  Studying the brains of people with autism is challenging, since there are fewer resources to study.  However, scientists get creative and collaborative and re-analyze datasets previously published to look at different research questions.  That’s what happened this week in a collaboration between Brown University and UCLA, showing that as the activity of genes which controls the synapse goes down, so do genes affecting mitochondrial function.  Another brain tissue study showed that the stress of the endoplasmic reticulum, which is associated with the mitochondria, may be elevated.  Not all research data can be re-purposed again, which is why it is so important to study the brains of people with autism.  If you would like to learn more, go to www.takesbrains.org/signup

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29859039

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29761862

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29901787

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29926239

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Brain tissue: what has it done for autism lately?

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In order to ensure that researchers have enough brain tissue to understand autism spectrum disorders, the education and outreach campaign is being expanded past families to doctors and professionals that have access to tissue.  One of these groups is neuropathologists.  At their annual meeting this past week in Los Angeles, and entire afternoon was spent dedicated to autism and the features of autism in the brain.  A summary of the presentations is included in this podcast. Speakers emphasized that the way the brain works in childhood is not the same way it works in adulthood, and a study out of UCSD showed that the genes that are affected in children with autism are different than those in adults with autism.  The mechanisms of genes controlling the developing brain vs. those which affect ongoing maintenance are different.  This calls to make sure scientists understand all ages of people with autism, because as the brain changes, so do the needs of people with ASD.

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What is the focus this week? The unsung heroes of grandparents and clinicians

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Scientists have studied males compared to females with autism, but rarely has there been studies about what clinicians see as differences in these two groups.  Given that they provide insight on diagnosis, needs and access to services, it is kind of important to talk to them, and a study out this week in the journal Autism did just that.  You can find the full text here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/V5p3isSVAKDbdQf2jH4Q/full

Also, scientists are starting to understand the role of exposures in parents and how they affect diagnosis of autism in their children, but this week a new wrench was thrown into the wheel:  researchers in the UK found that grandparental exposures play a role in autism diagnosis too.  Luckily, this too is open access and you can read it for yourself.  It was covered in the media and we have perspective from a parent included.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46179

I discuss this second project with Jill Escher, founder of the Escher Fund for Autism and co-funder of the study.

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What came first? Impaired social behaviors or something else that changes social behavior?

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This week is a more philosophical, ideological discussion of the origins of social behaviors inspired by review articles written by Mayada Elsabbagh at McGill University and Boaz Barak and Guoping Feng at MIT. The focus of these papers are: when social behaviors emerge, and what brain regions are responsible for their existence. While Dr. Elsabbagh thinks of the question in terms of when behaviors and symptoms emerge in infancy, Drs. Barak and Feng consider the issue by comparing autism to Williams Syndrome. Williams Syndrome is very similar to autism except people with WS are hyper social and empathetic and sometimes gregarious. One tiny change on one area of one gene makes all the difference. This podcast doesn’t settle the question, but hopefully shows you listeners why there is a debate and how it is important for people with autism.