After analyzing the birth history of over 400,000 schoolchildren, Scottish researchers found that the risk of autism and/or special educational needs (SEN) were 1.16 times greater for babies born at 37 to 39 weeks of gestation, compared to those born at the full 40 weeks. This finding has important implications for the timing of elective Cesarean deliveries...

Children with autism have a different chemical fingerprint in their urine than non-autistic children, according to new research published in the print edition of the Journal of Proteome Research...

Inner structure of nerve synapses defective in patients / Human geneticists from Heidelberg publish in Nature Genetics Researchers working with Professor Gudrun Rappold, Director of the Department of Molecular Human Genetics at Heidelberg University Hospital, have discovered previously unknown mutations in autistic and mentally impaired patients in what is known as the SHANK...

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Senator Wants HHS Website To Drop New Breast Cancer Screening Recs," Katherine Hobson, Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog": In her post, columnist Hobson addresses a question that arose after Sen. David Vitter (R-La...

Prometheus Research Informatics was featured in multiple new presentations at the annual International Meeting for Autism (IMFAR), the leading conference on autism research. The presentations at IMFAR detailed results relating to studies on autism symptoms, cognition, clinical phenotypes, genetics, treatment, and social function...

UCSF scientists have discovered a new stem cell in the developing human brain. The cell produces nerve cells that help form the neocortex - the site of higher cognitive function - and likely accounts for the dramatic expansion of the region in the lineages that lead to man, the researchers say...

Following a two and a half year investigation, the UK's General Medical Council (GMC) has determined that Andrew Wakefield, the 53-year old doctor who published research and made public statements suggesting that the MMR vaccine caused autism, is guilty of serious professional misconduct and ruled that he be struck off the medical register...

Preschool social interaction with children with autism improves parent-child interaction, but does not appear to offer clinically significant improvements in autism symptoms, researchers in the UK reported this week in The Lancet...

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a drug that improves communication between nerve cells in a mouse model of Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (PMS). Behavioral symptoms of PMS fall under the autism spectrum disorder category. The research will be presented Friday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in Philadelphia...

Families with children diagnosed with autism will demonstrate Innovative Technologies for Autism on Friday May 21 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon , while researchers will be presenting technology innovations in a half day session from 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m...

A popular belief that specific dietary changes can improve the symptoms of children with autism was not supported by a tightly controlled University of Rochester study, which found that eliminating gluten and casein from the diets of children with autism had no impact on their behavior, sleep or bowel patterns. The study is the most controlled diet research in autism to date...

Having a child with autism can put stress on the parents' marriage, and a frequently cited statistic leads to a common perception that the divorce rate among these families is as high as 80 percent. But a study to be released at a news conference by researchers from Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore found that a child's autism has no effect on the family structure...

Sleeping newborns are better learners than thought, says a University of Florida researcher about a study that is the first of its type. The study could lead to identifying those at risk for developmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia...