The Houston Chronicle: "Though Texas has the nation's lowest percentage of registered organ and tissue donors, several recent initiatives have more than doubled the state's donor rolls this year. The number enrolled in the Glenda Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry has ballooned since Jan...

An accurate, faster testing option to identify female carriers and other patients with genetic abnormalities that cause Fragile X Syndrome is now available to physicians in all fifty states with the recent approval in New York. Fragile X is the leading cause of inherited mental retardation and the most common known single gene cause of autism...

Curemark, LLC, a drug research and development company focused on the treatment of neurological diseases, announced that Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is participating in the company's Phase III clinical trials for CM-AT, Curemark's autism treatment. Saint Peter's is affiliated with the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia...

The National Autistic Society (NAS) has ramped up its legal campaigning with the launch of a new Autism Legal Network and a call for cases with the potential to change the law for the half a million people with autism in the UK. Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS said; "The NAS is evolving. Last year we successfully secured the landmark Autism Act...

Seaside Therapeutics, Inc. announced data from the largest randomized, placebo-controlled study conducted to date in individuals with fragile X syndrome. In a Phase 2 study of STX209, clinically meaningful improvements on global and specific neurobehavioral outcomes were observed in the general study population...

Asuragen, Inc. announced the results from two collaborative studies, one with the University of California Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and another with Rush University Medical Center, that demonstrate comprehensive molecular profiling of the Fragile X Mental Retardation (FMR1) gene using advanced PCR-based methods...

XenoPort, Inc. (Nasdaq:XNPT) announced that it has discovered a novel prodrug that has the potential to improve significantly the blood concentration of acamprosate compared with the currently approved formulation of acamprosate. Preclinical data on this new product candidate will be presented at the National Fragile X Foundation's 12th International Fragile X Conference in Detroit, Michigan...

Accelerated research findings leading to potentially significant new treatments for fragile X syndrome (FXS) will be presented to nearly 1,000 family members and professionals at the 12th International Fragile X Conference in Dearborn July 21-25...

Autism is the fastest growing developmental disorder in the world. With 1 child in 91 facing the disorder, the diagnosis is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined...

The National Autistic Society (NAS) has welcomed the establishment of the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support today, but urged that it must consider how to fund support for those with lifelong conditions, such as autism, who are less able to save and pay for their social care...

Using a new type of "vocal signature" technology that focuses on sound patterns rather than words in child vocalizations and baby talk, researchers in the US say they have proved in principle that it is possible to screen for autism spectrum disorders in young children; they also hope the new method will greatly enhance the study of language development because it...

A new automated vocal analysis technology could fundamentally change the study of language development as well as the screening for autism spectrum disorders and language delay, reports a study in the July 19 online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can demonstrate feeding problems, food refusal, and limited food preferences from infancy, but energy intake and growth are not affected...

Rubicon winner Dalila Pinto discovered a copying error in the DNA of trial subjects who suffered from autism or a similar condition. Some segments of their DNA were copied either once too often or missed out of the copying process. This is a highly promising result from the world's largest investigation into autism. The top journal Nature placed the results online on 9 June...

The Los Angeles Times' Blog: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved Wednesday to implement a major element of the new national healthcare overhaul, seeking a $1-million federal grant to strengthen the state's review of health insurance rates. Much of the money would pay for actuaries to evaluate premium hikes sought by insurers. ...

A York University study has shown for the first time how the drug misoprostol, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental defects associated with autism, interferes with neuronal cell function. It is an important finding because misoprostol is similar in structure to naturally-occurring prostaglandins, which are the key signaling molecules produced by fatty acids in the brain...

Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Pediatrics (OHSU, Portland, Oregon) is seeking roughly 50-100 volunteer families to participate in a vitamin D study. The goal of the study is to find out whether giving Vitamin D to the pregnant mother, who already has had at least one previous child with autism, can prevent the recurrence of autism in the newborn sibling...

MinnPost: "As expected, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has declined the opportunity for Minnesota to get an early shot at expanding Medicaid eligibility. The federal health plan calls for all states to expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults without children in 2014, but Minnesota was among a few states offered a chance to do it earlier...

Cellceutix Corporation (OTCBB: CTIX) is pleased to announce that they have completed another study in the research of KM-391, their novel compound being developed to treat the core symptoms of autism. Cellceutix is pioneering research in autism treatments and has been making solid progress with pre-clinical research as announced in previous press releases...

Mothers of children with autism see their careers disproportionally affected as they confront greater demands on their time, inflexible workplaces and increased medical costs, according to a new study by researchers at Washington State University Vancouver...