BT August 2019

BT Buzz
Autism: New clues on its
beginning
Researchers at the University of North
Carolina Health Care unveiled how
a particular gene helps organize the
scaffolding of brain cells called radial
progenitors necessary for the orderly
formation of the brain. Previous studies
have shown that this gene is mutated in
some people with autism. The discovery,
published in Neuron, illuminates the
molecular details of a key process in
brain development and adds to the
scientific understanding of the biological
basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
a condition linked to brain development
and estimated to affect about one in 59
children born in the United States.
“This finding suggests that ASD can be
caused by disruptions occurring very
early on, when the cerebral cortex is
just beginning to construct itself,” said
study senior author Eva S. Anton, PhD,
professor of cell biology and physiology at
the UNC School of Medicine and member
of the UNC Neuroscience Center and the
UNC Autism Research Center.
Sudoku
5 2 6
9 4
4 6 9
9 4 7 5
1 7 8 3
3 5 7 1
7 5 6
5 3
2 1 8
Solutions:
5 1 9 4 3 8 2 6 7
8 6 2 9 1 7 3 4 5
4 7 3 2 6 5 1 8 9
6 9 8 3 4 1 7 5 2
1 4 7 5 2 6 8 9 3
2 3 5 8 7 9 6 1 4
7 8 4 1 5 2 9 3 6
9 5 6 7 8 3 4 2 1
3 2 1 6 9 4 5 7 8
10 BabyTalk | August 2019