Autism may actually begin to develop

Autism may actually begin to develop when certain cells in the brain fail to properly develop in the womb, according to a new study from researchers at the
University of California at San Diego's Autism Center of Excellence.
For the study the researchers examined brain tissue from 22 deceased kids between the ages of 2 and 15, all of whom had been diagnosed with autism before
their death. They found that brain cells from the kids with autism lacked a key gene variant that develops in a healthy brain in early in utero.
"We found a novel aspect of cortical development never seen before that provides clues to the potential cause of autism and when it began," the researchers
explained. "The type of defect we found points directly and clearly to autism beginning during pregnancy


1 in 68 kids diagnosed with autism; better testing cited
One in 68 children in the United States has been diagnosed with autism, according to a report released Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, which noted that the rate has more than doubled in the past decade.
And it's likely to continue to climb, autism experts said. But the rate, while concerning, is probably not an indication that more children are developing
autism - instead, doctors and other health care providers are doing a much better job finding and diagnosing kids with the disorder.
The CDC report, based on data from 2010, looked at autism diagnoses in 8-year-old children in 11 states. Rates of the disorder jumped from 1 in 88 children
in 2008 and roughly 1 in 150 children in 2000.
The new report underscores the need for increased resources toward treatment and prevention tools, autism experts said Thursday. That's especially true given
that the cause of autism remains largely a mystery. And reflective of the increase in diagnoses is more strain on the services needed to take care of those
children.
"There is an urgent need to put these findings to work for children and families," said Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities, in a media briefing Thursday morning.