The human brain undergoes extraordinary development in utero, with major growth continuing throughout childhood, especially during the first year. Scientists know a lot about how the neurons and circuits of the human brain develop in infancy, but a lack of specific knowledge about key elements has left doctors mystified by certain childhood disorders like SIDS and autism. Neuroscientists at Ludwig-Maximillians-University of Munich have made new revelations...
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[caption id="attachment_5226" align="aligncenter" width="584"] Mice with the NHE6 gene mutation show less dendritic branching. Using Neurolucida, researchers traced a GFP-labeled neuron reconstructed with confocal z stacks in a wild type mouse (left) and a mouse with a mutant NHE6 gene (right). Image courtesy of first author Qing Ouyang, PhD, Alpert Medical School, Brown University.[/caption] Children with the neurogenetic disorder Christianson Syndrome experience delays in language and...
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To a child with autism the world is an intense place. Strangers unnerve. Surprises unsettle. To cope, the autistic child creates his own internal world. It's placid, secure, and void of extremes. Though autism is one of the most common childhood developmental disorders in existence, affecting an estimated one in 110 children, we know little about how it works. Most theories suggest a deficiency in the...
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