NICHD - News Releases

All News releases related to the Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) Branch

Your search for: All Related News Releases All Years returned the following 33 results:

10/19/09		NIH Newborn Screening Research Program Named In Memory of Hunter Kelly
The National Institutes of Health today announced the establishment of a research program to enhance newborn screening, in memory of the son of National Football League Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.

09/21/09		Item of Interest: Public Comment on the DRAFT Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Branch Report to Council
Each component of the NICHD reports its activities to the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development (NACHHD) Council, the federal advisory committee for the NICHD. The NACHHD Council follows all regulations set forth in the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

07/20/09		NIH Issues Research Plan on Fragile X Syndrome and Associated Disorders
The National Institutes of Health has developed a research plan to advance the understanding of fragile X syndrome and its associated conditions, fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency. Fragile X syndrome causes intellectual and developmental disabilities and results from a mutation in a gene on the X chromosome.

03/16/09		Researchers Develop DNA
Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease.

05/29/08		NIH Researchers Find That Rett Syndrome Gene is Full of Surprises
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has transformed scientists' understanding of Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes autistic behavior and other disabling symptoms. Until now, scientists thought that the gene behind Rett syndrome was an "off" switch, or repressor, for other genes. But the new study, published today in Science1, shows that it is an "on" switch for a startlingly large number of genes.

04/01/08		Newly Awarded Autism Centers of Excellence to Further Autism Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 1, 2008, the latest recipients of the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) program. These grants will support studies covering a broad range of autism research areas, including early brain development and functioning, social interactions in infants, rare genetic variants and mutations, associations between autism-related genes and physical traits, possible environmental risk factors and biomarkers, and a potential new medication treatment.

04/01/08		NIH Research Suggests Stimulant Treatment For ADHD Does Not Contribute To Substance Abuse Later In Life
Treating children as early as age six or seven with stimulants for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is not likely to increase risk of substance abuse as adults, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, the studies also showed treatment with stimulants did not prevent substance abuse later in adulthood. The studies, conducted by researchers at New York University School of Medicine (NYU) and the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Mass General) are being published in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry.

01/29/08		Thin Bones Seen In Boys with Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder
Results of an early study suggest that dairy-free diets and unconventional food preferences could put boys with autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at higher than normal risk for thinner, less dense bones when compared to a group of boys the same age who do not have autism.

01/22/08		NIH Develops Down Syndrome Research Plan
The National Institutes of Health has developed a research plan to advance understanding of Down syndrome and speed development of new treatments for the condition, the most frequent genetic cause of mild to moderate intellectual disability and associated medical problems. The plan sets research goals for the next 10 years that build upon earlier research advances fostered by the NIH.

10/01/07		Item of Interest: Public Comment on the DRAFT National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Plan on Down Syndrome
After many internal meetings and consultations and meetings with outside groups and scientists, the Working Group created a draft research plan with input from the outside scientific and family communities, at the request of Congress in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2007.

08/02/07		NIH Funds New Program to Investigate Causes and Treatment of Autism
The National Institutes of Health will intensify its efforts to find the causes of autism and identify new treatments for the disorder, through a new research program.

06/20/07		Researchers Discover Gene For Rare Skin Disorder
Researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have identified the gene that accounts for most cases of Goltz syndrome, a rare skin disorder that can also affect bone and eye development.

04/16/07		Researchers Discover Gene Crucial for Nerve Cell Insulation
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how a defect in a single master gene disrupts the process by which several genes interact to create myelin, a fatty coating that covers nerve cells and increases the speed and reliability of their electrical signals.

02/20/07		Largest-Ever Search for Autism Genes Reveals New Clues
The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has implicated components of the brain's glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11.

12/05/06		Brain's Fear Center Shrinks In Autism's Most Severely Socially-Impaired
The brain's fear hub Likely becomes abnormally small in the most severely socially impaired males with autism spectrum disorders , researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered.

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