|
| Andhra Pradesh ~ India ~ International ~ City ~ Entertainment ~ Business ~ Bullion ~ Forex ~ Sports ~ Technology ~ Health ~ Features |
| Lung Cancer ~ Lung Cancer ~ Breast Cancer ~ Heart attack ~ All Health Topics |
|
Home
/ Health News / 2007 / September 2007 / September 12, 2007 Higher exposure to foetal testosterone linked to autistic traits |
Structure of key breast cancer target enzyme unraveled
A researcher at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute has moved a step closer to a cure, and possibly the prevention, of the most common type of breast cancer. ANI
Smoking claimed 673,000 Chinese lives in 2005
A multinational research team, led by scientists at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, has lent more force to the suggestion that smoking is a significant risk factor for mortality and disease. ANI
Genetic mutations can predict childhood leukaemia relapse
A collaborative study by American researchers has revealed that changes in a gene called IKAROS can help predict a high likelihood of relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). ANI
A study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that children who have faced exposure to higher levels of testosterone in the womb may develop autistic traits.
London, September 12 : A study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that children who have faced exposure to higher levels of testosterone in the womb may develop autistic traits.
The suggestion has come from the researchers who have been tracking a group of children since birth. The children are 8-year-olds at present.
The researchers say that questionnaires filled out by parents show that children who had experienced higher levels of testosterone in the womb generally have better pattern recognition and numerical skills, such as remembering car number plates. These children, however, are less keen on socialising, they add.
Whereas none of the kids was diagnosed with autism, the researchers said that the aforesaid traits, when taken to an extreme, were often present in autistic children. The researchers measured the level of testosterone in samples of amniotic fluid from 235 women who got the tests done for other clinical reasons, and they have been following the development of some of the children ever since.
The researchers had previously reported that babies who had experienced higher levels of testosterone in the womb tended to look at their mother less often when they were 12 months old. They also said that at 18 months, such children were more likely to have a smaller vocabulary than the others.
Now, the latest update on the children's progress presented at the British Association's Festival of Science in York by Simon Baron-Cohen suggests that the correlation between foetal hormone levels and autistic-trait behaviour continues as kids grow up.
Links between testosterone and autistic traits have been suggested before, and found in animal studies. The Cambridge study is starting to show biological evidence to back up the theories.
However, the researchers have yet not found any cogent evidence that testosterone levels actually cause autism, reports Nature magazine.
Baron-Cohen's team is now embarking on the mammoth task of comparing data from 90,000 amniotic fluid samples from the National Danish Biobank with psychiatric records, to check for association between testosterone and diagnosis of autism.
ANI
