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Who cares about eye gaze?

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Early changes in eye gaze – or the time spent looking at another person’s face compared to the scene around them – is diminished in ASD. It starts to decline at about 12 months and is linked to later social communication behaviors. But many people wonder why this is an early developing behavior worth studying? Also, what happens in school age to kids that show poor eye gaze and infancy, and those who are on the “broader spectrum” but not a diagnosis in infancy – how do they fare at school age? Devon Gangi from UC Davis MIND Institute talks to us about both of these things and why baby siblings are so important

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33615438/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34008921/

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“ASADHD” – where does ASD and ADHD join together, and go their separate ways?

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One the surface, symptoms of ADHD and ASD may seem very similar.  However, they come from very different places.  The genetic and behavioral makeup may be on the same spectrum across the two disorders, but they are actually farther apart than you might think.  Dr. Meghan Miller from UC Davis MIND Institute who studies both ADHD and ASD and people with ADHD and ASD explains what those differences and similarities are, how to make the right diagnosis, and what’s on the horizon for treatments for ADHD in people with ASD.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31974800

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30535156

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30658861

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An ode to rats as animal models for autism

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This week, the lab of Dr. Jill Silverman at UC Davis published a study that showed the most similar types of social communication deficits in an animal model.  Her group, led by Elizabeth Berg, used a rat model, rather than a mouse, because rats exhibit both receptive and expressive communication.  Through a collaboration within the UC Davis MIND Institute and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, she tested an animal model of autism that shows a lack of expression of SHANK3.  SHANK3 mutations are seen in those with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome as well as in 1% of people with autism.  This new study opens up new ways to understand autism symptoms in an animal model, and moves autism research using animals forward significantly.   The references mentioned in the podcast are:

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29377611

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29126394

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27189882