The latest autism research news stories with ASF Chief Science Officer Alycia Halladay
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What more appropriate podcast to end 2019 with than the summary of advances of scientific research of autism spectrum disorders? The SAB of ASF and the CSO categorized the highlights in science into 8 categories which are outlined in this 30 minute podcast. You can also read them on the ASF website here. Thank you for listening to the ASF Weekly Science Podcast in 2019, and talk to you in 2020!
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Thank you to the American Academy of Pediatrics for publishing an updated guide for their 67,000 members about identification, evaluation and management of children on the autism spectrum. Pediatricians have a lot of things going on every day and could use a primer, or a condensed guide, on what the basic level of care should be for kids and families affected by ASD. Here, thanks to Drs. Susan Hyman, Susan Levy and Scott Myers, from the council of the AAP on children with disabilities, they have one. This podcast will summarize the main points of what the guidance document says. Please download it and share it by clicking here: https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2019/12/15/peds.2019-3447.full.pdf
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While autism organizations might not always agree on everything, there is something that we all feel is unacceptable and is priority for research: racial, ethnic, and poverty – induced inequities in access to services for ASD. This podcast covers what scientists know about these disparities, and highlights new research that is doing something about them. There is much more that needs to be done in this area, and while some of this is not new news, its information we all need to hear.
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Hot off the press: new data from a collaboration between the BSRC and geneticists in Canada demonstrate the utility of genetics to predict either ASD or atypical development in infant siblings of children already with a diagnosis. Researchers have been trying to develop more precise biological mechanisms to make predictions in these infants, because they have a 15x greater chance of having a diagnosis, they can’t afford a “wait and see” approach. Also, while genetics had originally been thought to be irrelevant to some brain pathology in ASD, it’s now been shown possible that it contributes to the immune hyper activation in the brain. This week, Dr. Matt Anderson from the Autism BrainNet describes “blebs” in the cells of the brain caused by t-lymphocytes. What causes them? Genes? something else? Thank you to Dr. Anderson for joining in this podcast to explain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31801954
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31591744