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Reduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli.
Greater facial asymmetry has been consistently found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children without ASD. There is substantial evidence that both facial structure and the recurrence of ASD diagnosis are highly heritable within a nuclear family. Furthermore, sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behavioural characteristics have also been reported in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD, commonly known as the 'broad autism phenotype'.
There is increasing interest in the potential contribution of the gut microbiome to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous studies have been underpowered and have not been designed to address potential confounding factors in a comprehensive way.
We used population data on Western Australian singletons born from 1984 to 1999 (n = 398,353) to examine the sociodemographic characteristics of children...
Fetal head circumference (HC) growth was examined prospectively in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The etiology of autism spectrum disorders is unknown but there are claims of increasing prevalence in many countries.
Prenatal exposure to testosterone has been shown to affect fetal brain maturation as well as postnatal cognition and behavior in animal studies.
This is the first prospective study to identify an association between early life testosterone exposure and pragmatic language difficulties in girls
This paper discusses changes in diagnostic criteria, decreasing age at diagnosis, improved case ascertainment, diagnostic substitution, and social influences.
Evidence that some children also develop autistic symptomatology over time has raised suggestions that developmental language disorder...