A 2026 Leigh syndrome study combined a cell-type-specific deep-learning screen with a 2,250-drug yeast survival screen and found the same drug family from both directions: azoles, with talarozole and sertaconazole lowering lactate release by 20% in SURF1-mutant midbrain organoids.1 The finding is preclinical, but it is stronger than a single in silico hit because the …
A 2026 developing Human Connectome Project analysis of 438 full-term neonates found that the newborn cortex already had an adult-like folding hierarchy: gyri connected most strongly to other gyri, sulci connected most weakly to other sulci, and structure-function coupling shifted near 41 to 42 weeks postmenstrual age.1 Research Highlights Gyri were already high-connectivity hubs: across …
A 2026 Human Connectome Project MRI study linked asymmetric anterior cingulate cortex sulcal pattern to lower delay discounting in 390 healthy young adults: asymmetric ACC morphology predicted a higher delay-discounting area under the curve, meaning delayed rewards lost less value.1 The finding is not a diagnostic scan for impulsivity, but it puts an early-formed cortical-folding …
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 …
A 2026 Nature Communications study found that Mecp2 overexpression deregulated approximately 5,000 genes in mouse neural progenitor cells but only approximately 500 mostly small-change genes in mature neurons, with the same progenitor-vs-neuron split reproduced in human iPSC-derived cells.1 For Rett syndrome gene therapy, that is the useful calibration: extra MeCP2 is most dangerous when it …
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 …
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 …