MentalHealthDaily

SYNGAP1 Autistic Behaviors Linked to Seizure Type, Not Frequency

by GLOOM

MHD featured image for SYNGAP1 seizure semiology and autistic behaviors.

A 337-person SYNGAP1-DEE registry preprint found caregiver-reported autistic behavior scores linked most strongly to atypical absence seizures (n = 77; FDR-adjusted p = .001), while peak seizure-frequency ratings were not detectably associated with those behavior scores.1 Research Highlights Seizure type carried the signal: atypical absences were associated with higher caregiver-reported autistic behavior scores in 77 …

Autism Polygenic Scores Linked to Lower Neurite Density

by GLOOM

Editorial card showing diffusion-MRI cortical microstructure overlaid on a polygenic-score schematic, illustrating the association between autism PGS and reduced neurite density.

A 2025 paper by Gu et al. in Molecular Psychiatry — the largest study of its kind — finds that higher common-variant genetic risk for autism predicts lower cortical neurite density in 31,748 UK Biobank adults and 4,928 ABCD children.1 The effect is small in absolute terms but replicates across cohorts and methods. Research Highlights …

Autism vs. ADHD Connectome Study: Frontal-DMN Signal Tracks Autism Severity

by GLOOM

MHD featured image for autism, ADHD, and connectome-based symptom mapping.

A 166-child resting-state fMRI study found that clinician-observed autism severity, not ADHD severity, tracked connectivity strength between a left middle frontal gyrus node and the posterior cingulate/default mode network across children diagnosed with autism or ADHD without autism. The result is transdiagnostic, but asymmetrical: autism traits carried the connectome signal after ADHD ratings were controlled.1 …

Maternal COVID-19 and Autism Screening: 10.1% Positive MCHAT-R/F

by GLOOM

MHD featured image for maternal COVID-19 exposure, autism screening, and immune signatures.

A 745-child cohort found positive MCHAT-R/F autism screens in 22 of 218 children exposed to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy (10.1%) vs. 30 of 527 pre-pandemic controls (5.7%; p = 0.03).1 The same 2026 analysis added a small serum-proteomics layer: exposed newborns who later screened positive showed altered immune and metabolic markers, but the paper …

Autism EEG Study Finds 2 Opposite Excitation-Inhibition Subtypes

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of two opposing brain-network excitability profiles representing distinct autism neurosubtypes.

A 2026 medRxiv preprint did not find one simple autism excitation-inhibition signature. Bertelsen et al. found 2 EEG-derived E:I neurosubtypes in 286 autistic males: a 47% inhibition-dominant subtype with higher Hurst exponent and lower gamma, and a 53% excitation-dominant subtype with the opposite pattern.1 Research Highlights Two subtypes, opposite directions: in 286 autistic males ages …

Copy Number Variants Did Not Moderate ADHD or Autism Outcomes in ALSPAC

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of DNA strands and developmental timeline overlaid on a schematic young adult, conveying genetic moderation of childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes.

A 2026 ALSPAC analysis tested a narrow claim behind routine genetic screening for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD): whether rare copy number variants (CNVs; deleted or duplicated DNA segments) make young-adult outcomes worse than ADHD/ASD status alone would predict. In 8,414 people with usable CNV data, ADHD and ASD predicted worse …

Autism Gene-Expression Study Finds 3 Molecular Subtypes in 1,711 Samples

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of brain with three highlighted gene-expression patterns showing distinct autism molecular subtypes.

A 2026 RNA-seq analysis of 1,711 autistic probands found 3 gene-expression clusters: 425 people with more severe restricted and repetitive behaviors than the other clusters, 282 with milder symptoms and better adaptive function than the other clusters, and 1,004 with stronger social-communication impairment than the other clusters.1 The supported claim is molecular stratification, not a …