Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the California Department of Public Health, as well as from five other sites nationwide, today will begin enrolling families in the largest study to date investigating the genetic and environmental factors that may cause autism and other developmental disabilities.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins’ McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine today are releasing newly generated genetic data to help speed autism research. The Hopkins data, coordinated with a similar data release from the Autism Consortium, aims to help uncover the underlying hereditary factors and speed the understanding of autism by encouraging scientific collaboration.

The Autism Consortium, a group of researchers, clinicians and families dedicated to radically accelerating research and enhancing clinical care for autism, announced today that it has completed the first genome scan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through its Autism Gene Discovery Project and has released the reference data set to a database that autism researchers around the world can use.

University of California, Irvine scientists have discovered how to reverse the learning and memory problems inherent in the most common form of mental impairment.

(Westminster, UK) Lee Scott, member of parliament for Ilford North and member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health has called on the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to provide ring fenced funding for Autism Services undertaken by local authorities. His call was issued on the 'Autism Action' DVD released by the Autism Awareness Campaign UK in Autism Awareness Week.

(London, UK) Autism campaigners in Great Britain have released an appeal to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Children's Secretary Ed Balls in a DVD titled 'Autism Action.' The DVD has been released by the Autism Awareness Campaign UK to coincide with Autism Awareness Week in the UK which runs from 1st October - 7th October 2007.The 'Autism Action' film is directed by Ian McLeod.

Hallmarks of autism are characteristic behaviors - repetitive motions, problems interacting with others, impaired communication abilities - that occur in widely different combinations and degrees of severity among those who have the condition.

A hallmark of human nature is the ability to share information and to comprehend the thoughts and intentions of others. This capability involves social cognition (the cognitive processes involved in social interaction) and makes a significant contribution to the foundations for language development, as well as social competence. It also sets us apart from other primates.

(London, UK) An appeal to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on autism and Asperger's Syndrome was launched earlier this week, on You Tube. The Autism Awareness Campaign UK is calling on Gordon Brown to launch a national strategy on autism and a 10 year plan of action on autism.

Mice containing a mutated human gene implicated in autism exhibit the poor social skills but increased intelligence akin to the title character’s traits in the movie “Rain Man,” researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have genetically engineered mice that harbor the same genetic mutation found in some people with autism and Asperger syndrome.

The findings, from a study conducted by researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Florence, and Western Australia, might help to explain some of the core social deficits associated with the disorder.