What makes the human brain special? The organ is certainly bigger than expected for our body size. And it has its own specialized areas, one of which is devoted to processing language. But now brain scans are showing that, deep inside, the way brain cells connect to each other is also part of the story.
A new study shows that different mammals –humans included — demonstrate common patterns in brain connections. But other studies show that our own species has a few twists of its own.
Read this story at Scientific American.
On February 6–7, 2020, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) convened a two-day workshop in New York City to explore the possibility of gene therapies for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Inspired by the recent, stunning successes of gene therapy for the fatal neuromuscular disorder spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and by the steady accumulation of genes confidently associated with ASD, SFARI welcomed a diverse collection of researchers to begin to think about whether a similar approach could be taken for severe neurodevelopmental disorders.
Negative results in recent trials of vitamin D supplementation have led researchers to question the best way of reaching those who are deficient.
In the late 1960s an international contingent of psychiatrists took up a monumental task: making schizophrenia mean the same thing to doctors around the world.
What are the earliest signs of autism? Do signs differ between genetically defined autism subtypes? What are cognitive milestones of early development for all children? Is there a way to study these aspects in animal models of autism?
Dan Feldman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studies the rodent somatosensory cortex, which is famous for its organized groupings of neurons, called ”barrels.” There, his lab has been testing an influential idea about autism: the excitatory-inhibitory (E-I) imbalance hypothesis. This proposes that an excess of excitatory signaling relative to inhibitory signaling in the brain leads to symptoms of autism.
The use of fish oils to improve cardiovascular health has been in and out of favour for decades, but positive results from a recent trial of Amarin’s Vascepa have created quite a stir — particularly as they come after a set of negative findings in 2018.
