WEEK OF NOVEMBER 28 TH
Research roundupRats that lack metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 have atypical social interactions and increased repetitive and anxiety-like behaviors, making them a potential model for studying molecular mechanisms of autism. PLOS One Neurons missing the gene FMR1 have unusually fast rates of protein ubiquitination, which tags molecules for destruction, a new method for visualizing the process at dendrites confirms. Cell Reports Receptive language skills, assessed by a word-picture matching task, predict speech production in minimally verbal autistic people. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments Maternal rheumatoid arthritis appears to increase the likelihood of having a child with autism, according to a meta-analysis of 10 studies encompassing more than 6 million participants. Frontiers in Medicine After age 40, autistic adults experience a faster decline in visual-memory skills than do nonautistic adults. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Health-care workers, educators and community members in Western China are generally aware of autism, but those who are older or live in more rural areas are more likely to hold misconceptions, according to a survey. Frontiers in Psychiatry A community-based early-detection program makes it possible to diagnose toddlers with autism nearly 3 years earlier than average. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics Different brain imaging methods result in dissimilar brain activation patterns in autistic adolescents doing a language task. Neuroimage: Reports