Posted on

Another groundbreaking study thanks to brain tissue

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The media accurately described a recent study from Dan Geschwind’s lab at UCLA as “groundbreaking”.  That’s because the findings help people with autism better understand how and why their symptoms are different to other mental conditions, specifically bipolar depression and schizophrenia.  It turns out the gene expression patterns in the brains of people with autism are similar to those with bipolar depression and schizophrenia, but not alcoholism or major depression.   It also offers hope for a more accurate biological signature of autism that can be distinguished from bipolar depression and schizophrenia.    Below is a graph that represents these different profiles, and if you want to read a version of the article that is available online (but before it was peer reviewed in the journal Science) you can find it here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/02/18/040022.full.pdf Gandal

Posted on

More on that Korea Daily mess. Plus early detection of ASD does improve outcomes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This podcast was going to be dedicated to new early detection research which shows what the USPSTF has been looking for – the link between early detection, early intervention, and improved outcomes in a community setting.  Those findings are still included this week, but there is a slight diversion in theme.  The podcast will also include  an explanation of the immune/microbiome study published in Nature and misrepresented  by Korea Daily.  The study is important, however, the media sensationalized the findings and did the research no favors by labeling it a “major cause”.   Learn what the study did and what it actually discovered in this week’s podcast.

 

Here are the references of the studies mentioned in the podcast:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28902840

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28905160

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27474118

 

 

Posted on

Exploiting genetics to understand environmental risks for autism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

On March 13th, Dr. Mark Zylka from UNC gave a 60 minute overview of how researchers are using autism-relevant genetic mutations in cells to start to understand the interactions between genetics and thousands of environmental factors on gene expression.  He pointed out the convergence of pathways in how genes and these environmental factors worked in the brain, and they included:  neuroinflammation, early brain development, turning neurons on and off, and cell signaling.  Dr. Valerie Hu from George Washington University commented on the important impact of these results and perspective from her lab studying epigenetically modified genes, like RORA, which also may be sensitive to common chemicals found in our environment.  The entire webinar, including the questions that they were able to answer from participants, is found here.

Posted on

To see differences in the brains of males and females with autism, you have to look at the brains of males and females with autism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Last month, UC Davis researcher Cyndi Schumann used resources for the Autism BrainNet to look at what causes differences in the rates of diagnosis between males and females.  Consistent with other studies on this topic, males and females don’t show differences in the rates of autism genes, but rather in the way that the brain controls other genes that code for things like neuroinflammation and development.  Clearly more studies are necessary but it is consistent with the Female Protective Effect in autism.  The full text can be found here:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5294827/

And also, there was a study on genital herpes and autism that CNN got totally wrong.