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Depression perception; MYT1L mice; brain signal variability

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 17 February.

By Jill Adams
18 February 2025 | 1 min read
  • Autistic adults with depression—unlike their autistic peers without it—perceive their autism traits and social interactions more harshly than do objective measures of these characteristics. Molecular Autism
  • Mice carrying a variant of the autism-linked gene MYT1L display physical, neurological and behavioral traits analogous to those seen in people but live just as long as wildtype mice. Scientific Reports
  • Brain signal variability—a measure of neural dynamics and flexibility—is lower in autistic people than in their non-autistic peers, and it changes with age. Molecular Autism
Research image of brain signaling.
Functional noise: Autistic people have less variable brain signaling in several regions during resting state than their non-autistic peers.
  • Deleting the MECP2 gene in adult mice spurs an immediate down-regulation in gene expression and subsequent changes in physical and behavioral measures. Neuron
  • Rats exposed to maternal autoantibodies throughout gestation show altered populations of cytokines and growth factors, as well as changes in gene expression and neuronal development. Molecular Psychiatry
  • Autistic researchers may face challenges, but there are many ways to thrive, writes Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the journal Science, who recently disclosed he is autistic. STAT

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