Researchers Find Weaker Brain Connections in Premature Babies

Researchers have found weaker brain connections along with increased chances of developing autism, ADHD and emotional disorders in premature babies. At the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, researchers reported that there exists strong evidence in favor of the fact that preemies are born with weak brain connections are more likely to develop various disorders.

Cynthia Rogers, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and her team compared MRI scans of the brains of 58 full-term babies with those of 76 babies born at least 10 weeks early. “We were really interested that the tracts that we know connect areas that are involved in attention and emotional networks were heavily affected”. By using two different types of MRI, researchers studied the nerve fibers that carry signals from one part of the brain to another. They also measured the intensity that how well different areas of the brain are communicating.

Study: Autism Begins In the Womb

The symptoms of autism may not be obvious until a child is a toddler, but the disorder itself appears to begin well before birth.

Brain tissue taken from children who died and also happened to have autism revealed patches of disorganization in the cortex, a thin sheet of cells that's critical for learning and memory, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Tissue samples from children without autism didn't have those characteristic patches.

Parents Nurturing, Affection Can Shape a Child's Brain Development

Parents do a lot more than make sure a child has food and shelter, researchers say. They play a critical role in brain development.
More than a decade of research on children raised in institutions shows that "neglect is awful for the brain," says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. Without someone who is a reliable source of attention, affection and stimulation, he says, "the wiring of the brain goes awry." The result can be long-term mental and emotional problems.

Oxytocin Found to Stimulate Social Brain Regions in Children with Autism

The hormone oxytocin has been generating excitement — and caution — among people who care about autism.

Scientists have been eager to see if oxytocin, which plays a role in emotional bonding, trust and many biological processes, can improve social behavior in people with autism. Some parents of children with autism have asked doctors to prescribe it, although it is not an approved treatment for autism, or have purchased lower-dose versions of the drug over the counter.

Scientifically, the jury is out, and experts say parents should wait until more is known. Some studies suggest that oxytocin, sometimes called the “love hormone,” improves the ability to empathize and connect socially, and may decrease repetitive behaviors. Others find little or no impact, and some research suggests that it can promote clannish and competitive feelings, or exacerbate symptoms in people already oversensitive to social cues. Importantly, nobody knows if oxytocin is safe or desirable to use regularly or long term.

Now, the first study of how oxytocin affects the brains of children with autism finds hints of promise — and also suggestions of what its limitations might be.

Study: Autism Linked to More Brain Cells

There's growing evidence that the brains of autistic children are very different from the brains of other youngsters. Now a new study that found an excess of brain cells in children with autism comes closer to pinpointing the origins of the condition: in utero versus in toddlerhood.
In research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), scientists at the University of California, San Diego, found that autistic children have about 67% more nerve cells in a part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex than children without autism. The prefrontal cortex is involved in processing social skills, communication, cognitive functions and language — all areas in which autistic children often show abnormal development.

Brain Balance Center Works on Rebuilding Nervous System of Children with Disabilities

SPRINGFIELD, Del. — The jungle gym and balls only shed a partial light on the approach the Brain Balance Center takes toward aiding child clients with behavioral and developmental challenges.
But the sensory motor exercises done here add to what operators say are a full program that addresses difficulties created by an imbalance of the connections between the two sides of the brain.
"This was more of a comprehensive approach," Joe Schneider, owner of the Delaware County Brain Balance Center, said.

Study: Early Baby Response to Emotions

From across the pond in London, a new study.

LONDON -- Babies can respond to emotions in a human voice at just three months old -- earlier than previously thought -- researchers believe.
The results of scans on 21 sleeping babies suggested the brain responded to the type of sounds being played.
Researchers said it had previously been unclear when human brains developed the ability to process voices and emotions.
Scientists hope to learn the difference between the way autistic and non-autisitc brains develop as a result.

Looking for Early Signs of Autism

A technology that monitors electrical activity in the brain could help identify infants who will go on to develop autism, scientists say.
The technology, known as electroencephalography, or EEG, is also providing hints about precisely how autism affects the brain and which therapies are likely to help children with autism spectrum disorders.
"Right now, the earliest we can reliably identify a child is, say, 3 years of age," says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. "Our work is designed to see [if we] can we do that in early infancy, long before any signs or symptoms of autism are apparent in the child's behavior."
If EEG lives up to its early promise, Nelson says, children with autism might start getting therapy before their first birthday.

Researchers Tie Brain Waves to Autism Risk

A simple checklist for behavioral signs and symptoms is all that is used by specialists to diagnose a child with an autism spectrum disorder. Although it is one of the fastest growing diagnoses among toddlers, there are no medical tests to screen for the disorder.
But a new study adds to mounting evidence that measuring brain activity during infancy could help determine whether a baby might be at higher risk of developing autism.
Researchers used electroencephalography, or an EEG, to measure the brain waves of nearly 80 babies from the time they were 6 months old until they reached age 2. Researchers found those who were already known to be at higher risk for autism -- those who had an older sibling on the spectrum -- showed a different brain wave pattern than those with no known risk for the disorder.

Study: Brain Wiring Linked to Autism

Too many tight connections in frontal-lobe circuits and too few long-distance links between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain may cause some of the language, social problems and repetitive behavior seen in autism spectrum disorders, according to a new study published in Science Translational Medicine. The research links a variant of the CNTNAP2 gene to this particular type of rewiring in the brain.

Link Between Epilepsy and Childhood Brain Development

A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
Described in the August 23 Advance Online issue of Nature Medicine, these new findings provide the first genetic link between childhood brain development and a seizure disorder that lasts throughout adulthood, and also identify a new pathway that controls how neuron circuits are "pruned" and matured.