Research highlights include how we see faces in our dreams, understanding how young and old adults learn, helping stroke survivors speak using fMRI, an explanation about autism and facial recognition and ways to possibly forestall Parkinson’s disease.

Source: More Than 100 Scientific Abstracts Presented By GU/GUMC Researchers At Neuroscience 2008

The National Autistic Society (NAS) has launched a guide to assessing and supporting adults with autism after the charity’s I Exist campaign revealed a widespread lack of understanding and training in the condition amongst social care professionals. There is currently very little guidance for those who carry out assessments of need.

Source: Autism Help For Social Care Professionals - National Autistic Society, UK

Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism. The finding has led to speculation that existing drugs used to curb nicotine addiction might serve as the basis for potential therapies to alleviate the symptoms of autism.

Source: Link Between Nicotine Addiction And Autism

Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) has released a statement by its Vice President and Director of Programs Dr.

Source: CMPI Responds To Katie Couric And CBS Evening News’ Coverage Of Vaccines And Autism Myth

The UK Autism Foundation is delighted that the Patron of UKAF, Lee Scott MP has been short listed for the ePolitix Disability Champion Award 2008. Lee Scott MP has campaigned night and day for all people with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, not only in the London Borough of Redbridge but right across the UK.

Source: Autism: Lee Scott MP Shortlisted For E-Politix Disability Champion Award, UK

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are taking part in an international effort to gather DNA samples from 2,000 autism patients and their families over the next three years. The initiative, called the Simons Simplex Collection, is the first coordinated effort to create a database of information about families with only one autistic child.

Source: International Research Effort To Study Autism Joined By UIC

Thousands of the world’s top scientists and clinicians in the human genetics field are presenting their latest research at the 58th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania November 11-15, 2008.

Source: New Findings From Genome-Wide Association Studies

From a young age we are taught about the five senses and how they help us to explore our world. Although each sense seems to be its own entity, recent studies have indicated that there is actually a lot of overlap and blending of the senses occurring in the brain to help us better perceive our environment. Researchers J.E. Lugo, R.

Source: Combined Senses Give Us A Better View Of The World

The American Medical Association journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine has published a new study by researchers at Cornell University indicating evidence of an environmental trigger for autism among genetically vulnerable children. It is the first peer-reviewed study to positively associate the prevalence of autism to a factor related to the levels of precipitation in the areas in which children live.

Source: Cornell Researchers Study Showing Evidence Of A Major Environmental Trigger For Autism

Dame Stephanie Shirley one of Britain’s leading autism campaigners recently visited the London Borough of Redbridge for the first time to deliver an Autism Lecture in Woodford Green, Essex, on the invitation of the autism charity, the UK Autism Foundation. She is also one of the UK’s top entrepreneurs, arriving in Britain from Austria at the age of 5 years old; a child refugee fleeing the horrors of Nazi-occupied Germany.

Source: Dame Stephanie Shirley’s Successful UKAF Autism Lecture In Redbridge, England