News tagged with autism
Orangutans at Miami zoo use iPads to communicate
(AP) -- The 8-year-old twins love their iPad. They draw, play games and expand their vocabulary. Their family's teenagers also like the hand-held computer tablets, too, but the clan's elders show no interest.
May 09, 2012 |
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A bird's song may teach us about human speech disorders
(PhysOrg.com) -- Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists ...
Mar 06, 2012 |
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Autistic mice act a lot like human patients
UCLA scientists have created a mouse model for autism that opens a window into the biological mechanisms that underlie the disease and offers a promising way to test new treatment approaches.
Sep 29, 2011 |
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Better housing conditions for zebrafish could improve research results
Changing the conditions that zebrafish are kept in could have an impact on their behaviour in animal studies and the reliability of results, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
May 03, 2012 |
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DNA duplications may be responsible for genomic-based diseases
An important part of saving a species is often understanding its DNA. Through a collaborative effort including 14 scientists representing organizations across Europe and the United States, researchers have been able to analyze ...
Dec 28, 2011 |
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Researchers find gene critical to sense of smell in fruit fly
(Medical Xpress) -- Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities ...
Jan 19, 2012 |
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Autism
Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood. The two other autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and PDD-NOS, diagnosed when full criteria for the other two disorders are not met.
Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants. In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes, such as heavy metals, pesticides or childhood vaccines; the vaccine hypotheses are biologically implausible and lack convincing scientific evidence. The prevalence of ASD is about 6 per 1,000 people, with about four times as many males as females. The number of people known to have autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, partly due to changes in diagnostic practice; the question of whether actual prevalence has increased is unresolved.
Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure. Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful. An autistic culture has developed, with some individuals seeking a cure and others believing autism should be tolerated as a difference and not treated as a disorder.
For more information about Autism, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
