Latest MIND Institute Stories

Nine new projects to be funded New York, NY (PRWEB) April 09, 2012 The Autism Science Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to funding autism research, today announced the recipients of its annual pre- and postdoctoral fellowships. Six postdoctoral and three predoctoral grants will be awarded to student/mentor teams conducting research in autism interventions, treatment targets, early diagnosis, biomarkers, and animal models. This represents a 50% increase over last...

A new study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute is proposing that women suffering from obesity during pregnancy may increase their chances of having a child with autism. The study, published online in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that clinically obese mothers were 1-2/3 times more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism as normal-weight mothers without diabetes or hypertension. They were also more than twice as...

A major study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or another developmental disorder. Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) April 08, 2012 A major study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism spectrum...

Study finds possible association between some work exposures and risk for offspring Could parental exposure to solvents at work be linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their children? According to an exploratory study by Erin McCanlies, a research epidemiologist from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and colleagues, such exposures could play a role, but more research would be needed to confirm an association. Their pilot study is published online in...

Brain changes in infants as young as six months of age suggest that MRIs could be used to detect autism in children at least half a year before the emergence of other symptoms, according to a new study published online Friday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. According to Lara Salahi of ABC News, Dr. Joe Piven, director of the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities and senior author of the study, and colleagues studied 92 infants who...

Study highlights the interaction between epigenetics and genetics and exposure to a flame retardant in mice Mice genetically engineered to be susceptible to autism-like behaviors that were exposed to a common flame retardant were less fertile and their offspring were smaller, less sociable and demonstrated marked deficits in learning and long-term memory when compared with the offspring of normal unexposed mice, a study by researchers at UC Davis has found. The researchers said the study...

However, the study did not find differences in the brain size of girls with autism In the largest study of brain development in preschoolers with autism to date, a study by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers has found that 3-year-old boys with regressive autism, but not early onset autism, have larger brains than their healthy counterparts. The study is published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. It was led by Christine Wu Nordahl, a...

Findings show how brain's structure and genes affect autism and fragile X syndrome Research released today shows that scientists are finding new tools to help understand neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and fragile X syndrome. These studies show in new detail how the brain's connections, chemicals, and genes interact to affect behavior. The research findings were presented at Neuroscience 2011, the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting and the world's largest source of emerging...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of California, Davis, and BGI, the world's largest genomic institute, based in China, have signed a historic agreement that will change the landscape of genomic sciences in California and the Western states, and foster critical breakthroughs in the areas of food security and human, animal and environmental health. The new partnership will establish a state-of-the-art BGI sequencing facility for immediate use on the UC Davis...

Finding may lead to screening test to identify susceptibility to having an autistic child A study by researchers at UC Davis has found that pregnant women with a particular gene variation are more likely to produce autoantibodies to the brains of their developing fetuses and that the children of these mothers are at greater risk of later being diagnosed with autism. The finding is the first to demonstrate a genetic mechanism at play in the development of the neurodevelopmental disorder...