A strategic plan to identify key neurophysiological mechanisms and brain circuits in autism.

Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cover a large variety of clinical profiles which share two main dimensions: social and communication impairment and repetitive behaviors or restricted interests, which are present during childhood. There is now no doubt that genetic factors are a major component in the etiology of autism but precise physiopathological pathways are still being investigated. Furthermore, developmental trajectories combined with compensatory mechanisms will lead to various clinical and neurophysiological profiles which together constitute this Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Demonstration of effective control of fast-ion-stabilized sawteeth by electron-cyclotron current drive.

In a tokamak plasma, sawtooth oscillations in the central temperature, caused by a magnetohydrodynamic instability, can be partially stabilized by fast ions. The resulting less frequent sawtooth crashes can trigger unwanted magnetohydrodynamic activity. This Letter reports on experiments showing that modest electron-cyclotron current drive power, with the deposition positioned by feedback control of the injection angle, can reliably shorten the sawtooth period in the presence of ions with energies >or=0.

Exploration of core features of a human face by healthy and autistic adults analyzed by visual scanning.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by disorders in social interaction and emotional reciprocity which can be explained by impairments of the ability to understand the mental states of others ("theory of mind") and recognition of facial expressions. These impairments may be related to the difficulties with face recognition characteristic of this disorder. Face perception plays a critical role in the development of social interaction and understanding of the internal emotional state of others.

Impaired cortical activation in autistic children: is the mirror neuron system involved?

The inability to imitate becomes obvious early in autistic children and seems to contribute to learning delay and to disorders of communication and contact. Posture, motility and imitation disorders in autistic syndrome might be the consequence of an abnormality of sensori-motor integration, related to the visual perception of movement, and could reflect impairment of the mirror neuron system (MNS). We compared EEG activity during the observation of videos showing actions or still scenes in 14 right-handed autistic children and 14 right-handed, age- and gender-matched control children (3 girls and 11 boys, aged 5 years 3 months-7 years 11 months).

Evaluation of protective effect of DNA vaccination with genes encoding antigens GRA4 and SAG1 associated with GM-CSF plasmid, against acute, chronical and congenital toxoplasmosis in mice.

To develop a multiantigenic vaccine against toxoplasmosis, two Toxoplasma gondii antigens, SAG1 and GRA4 selected on the basis of previous immunological and immunization studies, were chosen. We showed that DNA-based immunization with plasmids expressing GRA4 (pGRA4) or SAG1 (pSAG1mut) reduced mortality of susceptible C57BL/6 mice upon oral challenge with cysts of the 76K type II strain (62% survival). Immunization with pGRA4 and pSAG1mut, enhanced the protection (75% survival).