News by Subject Medicine & Health

Most autism cases are in families with no previous history of the disorder. New mutations, that occur in offspring but not in their parents, might play a role. These mutations have now been found, not just in protein-coding genome areas, but also in regulatory regions. Many are in areas that influence gene activity in the brain's striatum, which coordinates motivation, planning and other aspects of cognition.

Survey findings indicate that the majority of employers have processes and practices in place for the inclusion of employees with and without disabilities, and that the commitment to the success of employees with disabilities is shared by supervisors and upper management. The findings offer insight into how effective these processes and practices are for all employees, and point to new directions for expanding their availability, and increasing their effectiveness for individuals with disabilities.

Cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating derivative from cannabis, has been shown to reduce seizures and autism-like behaviors in a mouse model of a genetic disorder, Dravet syndrome. Children with this devastating condition have difficult-to-treat epilepsy, cognitive impairments, and problems with social interactions. The researchers also studied how therapeutic effects of cannabidiol relate to changes in signaling between certain brain neurons.

School officials focused exclusively on bullying prevention efforts might want to consider the findings of a new study showing the highly damaging effects of multiple forms of victimization on school climate.

A special issue of Current Diabetes Review examining the management of diabetes in special populations: awareness of the needs of ethnic minorities, elderly patients, bariatric surgery patients, those with mental illness, and those being discharged from the hospital.

Women with disabilities are a third less likely to participate in breast cancer screening and a quarter less likely to take part in bowel cancer screening compared to women reporting no disabilities, according to a new paper published in the British Journal of Cancer by researchers from the University of Oxford.

Family and close friends play an integral role in helping people with childhood-onset disabilities attain quality employment as adults, a new study from Oregon State University has found.

MS researchers describe a new nonpharmacological approach to reducing cognitive fatigue in MS. Using functional neuroimaging, they showed the prospect of monetary reward stimulates the fronto-striatal network and reduces cognitive fatigue in MS and controls. This is the first study to demonstrate this effect in an MS population.

Innovations in Primary Care are brief one-page articles that describe novel innovations from health care's front lines.

This research was published in the September/October 2017 Annals of Family Medicine.