Author: lrrowley

Douglas W. Maynard, PhD

Title: Parents as a Team: Mother, Father, a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and a Spinning Toy Citation: Douglas W. Maynard, T A McDonald, Trini Stickle. (2015) Parents as a Team: Mother, Father, a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and a Spinning Toy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Abstract: This paper is a single …

Researchers home in on why female newborns are better protected from brain injury

February 04, 2016 Adityarup “Rup” Chakravorty, Waisman Communications Each year, thousands of newborn babies suffer complications during pregnancy or birth that deprive their brains of oxygen and nutrient-rich blood and result in brain injury. This deprivation results in hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which can lead to long-term neurological issues such as learning disabilities, cerebral palsy …

Marsha R. Mailick, PhD

Legend: Fig. 1. Frequency of specific CGG repeat lengths >40 for men and women. Citation: Maenner MJ, Baker MW, Broman KW, Tian J, Barnes JK, Atkins A, McPherson E, Hong J, Brilliant MH, Mailick MR. (2013). FMR1 CGG expansions: prevalence and sex ratios. American Journal of MedicalGenetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics. 162B(5):466-73. Abstract: We have estimated …

Video game research shows promise for autism

At the age of 9, Xavier Hansen already has it figured out. Someday, he is going to be the boss. “He has great aspirations to make things,” says his mom, Gail. “His goals are to own a movie theater. He wants to be in charge. If he wants something, he’ll find a way to get it.”

UW researchers find possible treatment for Alzheimer’s

January 19, 2016 Channel 3000 University of Wisconsin researchers say they’ve found a treatment to clean up the plaques that form in the brain of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The research published in the journal Brain shows that compounds that inhibit two cellular proteins can help clean up the plaques found in the brain of …

Ruth Litovsky, PhD

Title: Listening effort, also known as cognitive load, is measured with pupil dilation (pupillometry). When speech sounds are degraded, people expend greater amount of ‘cognitive load’ to decipher the meaning of the speech. Legend: A:  Subjects listen to sentences while their pupil size is measured using an eye tracker. Stimuli are varied from highly natural …

Following newborns, so they may thrive

Jaden Cassidy is three years old and a whirlwind of energy. He bursts into the exam room, jumps on the exam table, flings off his jacket and cowboys boots and whirls around with a beaming smile, expecting—and getting—an enthusiastic round of applause. Jaden’s vibrant nature masks the difficult journey he and his family and friends …

James Li, PhD

Title: Item Response Theory Analysis of ADHD Symptoms in Children with and without ADHD Legend: The “continuum” of ADHD in children. The IRT analysis shows that there is minimal clinical difference (i.e., within 1 standard deviation of the mean) on the general ADHD factor between a child who scores a 9 and a child who …

Blue Sky Science: How do we hear?

How do we hear? And how can cochlear implants help those with impaired hearing? Waisman researcher Ruth Litovsky, PhD, answers these questions in the latest episode of Blue Sky Science, a collaboration of the Wisconsin State Journal and the Morgridge Institute for Research. Read the article here.

Janet E. Lainhart, MD

Title: Longitudinal changes in cortical thickness in autism and typical development Legend: Abnormal age-related cortical thickness trajectories in ASD. Coloured brain regions identify significant group differences in age-related cortical thickness changes. Each scan is represented by a dot and repeated scans are connected by lines. Regions depicted were significant both before and after controlling for …