Prediction of autistic tendencies at 18 months of age via markerless video analysis of spontaneous body movements in 4-month-old infants.

Early intervention is now considered the core treatment strategy for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thus, it is of significant clinical importance to establish a screening tool for the early detection of ASD in infants. To achieve this goal, in a longitudinal design, we analyzed spontaneous bodily movements of 4-month-old infants from general population and assessed their ASD-like behaviors at 18 months of age.

The effect of hypergravity on the inner ear: CREB and syntaxin are up-regulated.

cDNA microarray analysis of differential mRNA expression in the rat inner ear under hypergravity identified 20 up-regulated and 2 down-regulated genes. The results demonstrated that various response and/or adaptation processes occur at the level of the peripheral organs. From among the genes assessed by microarray, up-regulation of CREB and syntaxin was confirmed by real time PCR and these two molecules were found to be immunocytochemically localized in the primary afferent neurons.

Microtubule associated protein (MAP1A) mRNA was up-regulated by hypergravity in the rat inner ear.

Differential display analysis of differential mRNA expression in the rat inner ear under hypergravity identified two down- and four up-regulated genes. The up-regulation of microtubule associated protein 1A (MAP1A) in one of these was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Since MAP1A is believed to work as a cell stabilizer connecting the actin with microtubule, this is possibly a response to strengthen this stabilizer under hypergravity.