The Minnesota Legislature has proposed the first bill of 2013 to reform insurance coverage for autism. The health care bill encompassing autism coverage reform was approved by the House of Representatives on Friday and by the Senate on Saturday. It is estimated that the changes would benefit 750,000 Minnesota residents who are insured by state-regulated [...]
A new research study published in the journal Entropy this April examines the long-term health effects of the popular herbicide RoundUp®, a product of Monsanto, finding significant associations with a variety of conditions “associated with the western diet”[i] including Autism Spectrum Disorder, gastrointestinal disorders, ADHD, and other developmental malformations. The study holds glyphosate—the active ingredient [...]
Today, four prominent autism research organizations announce their collaboration with the formation of Autism BrainNet, a national “brain bank,” to acquire brain tissue of recently diseased persons with autism spectrum disorder and disseminate for research purposes. The culmination of the Autism Tissue Program’s preexisting efforts in conjunction with the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), [...]
Jennifer Margulis, author of The Business of Baby, exposes the cultural assumptions and institutional practices dictating pregnancy, childbirth, and infant nurturing as influenced by corporate interests rather than based on the best medical evidence. Margulis is a Senior Fellow at Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, and an award winning parenting writer. In [...]
New research by the laboratory services company SynapDx aims to develop a blood test that accurately distinguishes between children who have autism spectrum disorders and those who have other developmental disorders. Based on research findings in 2012 that suggest blood as an indicator of gene expression associated with autism. The 2012 study analyzed the differences [...]
A new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry identifies patterns of epigenetic changes associated with autism by examining genetically identical twins with varying autism traits. This model allows the researchers to examine how environment regulates gene activity and affects neurological development. Lead author of the study, Professor Jonathan Mill of King’s College London, comments [...]
Researchers from The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics have designed a strategy for testing evolutionary adaptation (i.e. which genes are more likely to be passed on) and employed the strategy to identify genetic alterations affiliated with speech and language disorders. The study focused on the FOXP2 genetic region, which [...]
A study published today in the Journal of Current Biology reveals nuance in autistic social divergence, showing that children with autism tend toward practical procedure and efficiency, avoiding unnecessary or “silly” behavior that other children enact in social compliance. The study, conducted by Antonia Hamilton of The University of Nottingham in England, was a monkey-see-monkey-do [...]
Spectrum Neuroscience and Treatment Institute and ask Stefanie (mental health consultant) are excited for the upcoming Round Table Discussion entitled Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder: New Clinical Treatments, Policy and Research Perspectives. Speakers will discuss the new developments and current research in Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our speakers for this event will include Eric Hollander MD, Stephen [...]
