Adults with autism spectrum disorder: Updated considerations for healthcare providers.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) eventually grow up and need to make the transition from pediatric services to adult. This is a diverse patient population.

A mutagenesis-derived mouse mutant with abnormal retinal vasculature and low bone mineral density.

Purpose: Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) is caused by mutations in the genes encoding low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP5) or its interacting partners, namely frizzled class receptor 4 (FZD4) and norrin cystine knot growth factor (NDP). Mouse models for , , and have proven to be important for understanding the retinal pathophysiology underlying FEVR and systemic abnormalities related to defective Wnt signaling. Here, we report a new mouse mutant, , which was identified by electroretinogram (ERG) screening of mice generated in the Jackson Laboratory Translational Vision Research Models (TVRM) mutagenesis program.

Adamts18 deletion results in distinct developmental defects and provides a model for congenital disorders of lens, lung, and female reproductive tract development.

The ADAMTS family comprises 19 secreted metalloproteinases that cleave extracellular matrix components and have diverse functions in numerous disease and physiological contexts. A number of them remain 'orphan' proteases and among them is ADAMTS18, which has been implicated in developmental eye disorders, platelet function and various malignancies. To assess in vivo function of ADAMTS18, we generated a mouse strain with inactivated Adamts18 alleles.

Impaired ADAMTS9 secretion: A potential mechanism for eye defects in Peters Plus Syndrome.

Peters Plus syndrome (PPS), a congenital disorder of glycosylation, results from recessive mutations affecting the glucosyltransferase B3GLCT, leading to congenital corneal opacity and diverse extra-ocular manifestations. Together with the fucosyltransferase POFUT2, B3GLCT adds Glucoseβ1-3Fucose disaccharide to a consensus sequence in thrombospondin type 1 repeats (TSRs) of several proteins. Which of these target proteins is functionally compromised in PPS is unknown.

Birdsong: is it music to their ears?

Since the time of Darwin, biologists have wondered whether birdsong and music may serve similar purposes or have the same evolutionary precursors. Most attempts to compare song with music have focused on the qualities of the sounds themselves, such as melody and rhythm. Song is a signal, however, and as such its meaning is tied inextricably to the response of the receiver.

Neural distribution of vasotocin receptor mRNA in two species of songbird.

The neurohypophyseal hormones vasopressin and oxytocin are produced and released within the mammalian brain, where they act via multiple receptor subtypes. The neural distributions of these receptors, for example, V1a and oxytocin receptors, have been well described in many mammals. In birds, the distribution of binding sites for the homologous neuropeptides, vasotocin (VT) and mesotocin, has been studied in several species by using synthetic radioligands designed to bind to mammalian receptors.