Severe forms of autism could be linked to overgrowth of the brain’s outer layer that starts while a baby is in the womb, a new study finds. Toddlers with autism have cerebral cortexes — often referred to as “gray matter” — that are roughly 40% larger than those of children without the developmental disorder, researchers reported recently in the journal Molecular Autism. Further, the larger a toddler’s gray matter size, the more severe their social and language symptoms were later in life. “The bigger the brain, the better isn’t necessarily true,” said researcher Alysson Muotri, director of the stem cell program at the University of California, San Diego. Results show that in “toddlers with profound autism, there are more cells and sometimes more neurons — and that’s not always for the best,” Muotri noted in a university news release. One continuing mystery of autism is why some children with the disorder experience profound symptoms like developmental delay, social struggles and an inability to speak, while others have milder symptoms that improve with time. For this study, researchers used blood stem cells from 10 toddlers ages 1 through 4 to create brain cortical organoids — 3D models of the children’s cortexes, created though laboratory cell cultures. The gray matter of the cortex lines the outside of the brain, researchers said. It holds tens of billions of…  read on >  read on >

One in six patients serviced by a major California health care system said they used marijuana regularly, with many citing health reasons for doing so, a new study finds. In most cases, doctors may not know that weed is part of a patient’s daily life. “Patients may not tell their primary care providers about their cannabis use, and their doctors may not ask about it,” said study author Dr. Lillian Gelberg, a professor of health policy and management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). “Not asking patients about their cannabis use results in a missed opportunity for opening up doctor-patient communication regarding use of cannabis generally and for management of their symptoms,” Gelberg added in a UCLA news release. Relaxed laws around marijuana have greatly boosted Americans’ access to the drug. In total, 38 states, three U.S. territories and the District of Columbia now allow cannabis for medical use, and 24 of these states also permit recreational use. At the same time, the potency of all this cannabis has greatly increased, the researchers noted. Numerous studies have linked cannabis overuse to conditions such as new-onset psychosis. Concerned, a leading independent advisory board known as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended in 2022 that physicians routinely screen patients for cannabis use. In the study, Gelberg’s team looked at the medical records of almost…  read on >  read on >

Teenagers who are part of close-knit neighborhoods and families are less likely to have sex at a young age, a new study has found. On the other hand, teens’ schools have less influence on their sexual behavior, researchers report. “Our results echo other studies’ findings on the importance of families and neighborhoods in protecting youth from risky behaviors, and show that feeling connected to one’s local community can mitigate sexual risky behaviors,” said lead researcher Dr. Camila Cribb Fabersunne, a pediatrician with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Teens whose parents restricted their dating were 55% less likely to have sex by 10th grade, results showed. So were kids who spend less time alone when home (8% less likely), and who had tight-knit families (7% less likely). Teenagers from close-knit neighborhoods were 10% less likely to have sex by 10th grade, results show. However, no school factors were associated with delaying sex until later in high school, researchers found. Meanwhile, teens from disadvantaged neighborhoods with less education were about 24% more likely to have sex by 10th grade, researchers added. “Parents should not underestimate the impact they can have on their children,” said senior researcher Dr. Tracy Richmond, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “Simple parenting strategies like limiting dating can make a big difference on the timing of their child’s first sexual encounter, which…  read on >  read on >

One of the biggest obstacles to treating brain cancer is getting tumor-killing drugs past the blood-brain barrier that normally protects the brain from foreign invaders. Now, new research shows that ultrasound waves emitted from a device implanted in a cancer patient’s skull could be the key to getting chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs into the brain. This ultrasound technology allowed doctors at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago to get a small dose of these drugs past the blood-brain barrier, according to a report published June 6 in the journal Nature Communications. What’s more, the treatment boosted the immune system’s recognition of brain cancer cells, the researchers added. “This is the first report in humans where an ultrasound device has been used to deliver drugs and antibodies to glioblastoma to change the immune system, so it can recognize and attack the brain cancer,” said researcher Dr. Adam Sonabend, an associate professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “This could be a major advance for the treatment of glioblastoma, which has been a frustratingly difficult cancer to treat, in part due to poor penetration of circulating drugs and antibodies into the brain,” Sonabend added in a Northwestern news release. The study involved four patients with advanced brain cancer. They had already been treated with chemotherapy and had taken part in an experimental clinical trial, but…  read on >  read on >