In Brief

A strain of mice with autism-like behaviors is missing a corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Two studies published this month investigate the link between these two features.

Differences in brain activity that distinguish children with autism from controls may lessen with age, according to a meta-analysis published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Two proteins involved in shuttling other proteins between the outside and inside of a cell show a distinct pattern of expression in autism brains, according to a report published 19 March in Molecular Psychiatry.

Most children with autism who have language delay at age 4 are able to speak later in childhood, according to a study published in the April issue of Pediatrics.

Infection during pregnancy may alter the chemical tags that are added to histones, proteins that form a spool for DNA, according to a study published 9 February in Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Drugs that target these tags may treat neuropsychiatric disorders, the researchers say.