Autism 'affects male and female brains differently'

 

 

Autism affects male and female brains differently, a study has suggested.

UK experts studied brain scans of 120 men and women, with half of those studied having autism.
The differences found in the research, published in journal Brain, show more work is needed to understand how autism affects girls, the scientists say.
Experts said girls with the condition could be more stigmatised than boys - and it could be harder for them to be diagnosed at all.
Autism affects 1% of the population and is more prevalent in boys, so most research has focused on them.
In this study, scientists from the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine how autism affects the brain of males and females.
Male and female brains differ anyway - tissue volume is greater in males.
'Look-alikes' The study looked at the difference between the brains of healthy males and those with autism - and then healthy females and those with autism.

 

 End Quote Carol Povey, National Austitic Society

Carol Povey, Director of The National Autistic Society's Centre for Autism, said: "Historically, research on autism has been largely informed by the experiences of men and boys with the condition.

"This important study will therefore help our understanding of how the condition differs between genders."
She added: "Girls can be more adaptive than boys and can develop strategies that often mask what we traditionally think of as the signs of autism.
"This "masking" can lead to a great deal of stress, and many girls go on to develop secondary problems such as anxiety, eating disorders or depression.
"It's important that we build on this study and more research is conducted into the way autism manifests in girls and women, so that we can ensure that gender does not remain a barrier to diagnosis and getting the right support."

Bird flu strain in China 'passed between humans'

 

Researchers have reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the new strain of bird flu that has emerged in China.

The British Medical Journal said a 32-year-old woman was infected after caring for her father. Both later died.
Until now there had been no evidence of anyone catching the H7N9 virus other than after direct contact with birds.
But experts stressed it does not mean the virus has developed the ability to spread easily between humans.
By 30 June there had been 133 cases of H7N9 bird flu reported in eastern China and 43 deaths.
Most people had visited live poultry markets or had close contact with live poultry in the week or two before they became ill.
Intensive care Yet researchers found that the 32-year-old woman had become infected in March after caring for her 60-year-old father in hospital.
Unlike her father - who had visited a poultry market in the week before falling ill - she had no known exposure to live poultry but fell ill six days after her last contact with him.
Both died in intensive care of multiple organ failure.
Tests on the virus taken from both patients showed the strains were almost genetically identical, which supports the theory that the daughter was infected directly from her father rather than another source.
Public health officials tested 43 close contacts of the patients but all tested negative for H7N9, suggesting the ability of the virus to spread was limited.
The researchers said that while there was no evidence to suggest the virus had gained the ability to spread from person to person efficiently, this was the first case of a "probable transmission" from human to human.
'Strong warning sign' "Our findings reinforce that the novel virus possesses the potential for pandemic spread," they concluded.
Dr James Rudge, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that limited transmission between humans is not surprising and has been seen before in other bird flu viruses, such as H5N1.
He added: "It would be a worry if we start to see longer chains of transmission between people, when one person infects someone else, who in turn infects more people, and so on.
"And particularly if each infected case goes on to infect, on average, more than one other person, this would be a strong warning sign that we might be in the early stages of an epidemic."
An accompanying editorial in the BMJ, co-authored by Dr Rudge, concluded that while this study might not suggest that H7N9 is any closer to delivering the next pandemic, "it does provide a timely reminder of the need to remain extremely vigilant".

Amazon's Bezos buys Washington Post for $250 million

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Washington Post Company announced Monday it was selling its newspaper business, including the flagship Washington Post, to Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million.

Bezos, whose net worth has been estimated at over $25 billion, is acquiring the Post personally and not through Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500). He is gaining control of the newspaper from the Graham family, which has led it for decades.

The Post Company will change its name as part of the transaction, though a new name has yet to be announced. Shares rose 5.5% in after-hours trading Monday.
Washington Post Company (WPO) CEO Donald Graham said he and the rest of the company's leadership "decided to sell only after years of familiar newspaper-industry challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner who would be better for the Post."
"Jeff Bezos' proven technology and business genius, his long-term approach and his personal decency make him a uniquely good new owner for the Post," Graham said in a statement.
Related: The new news business
Bezos said in the statement that he understood "the critical role the Post plays in Washington, DC, and our nation."
"Our duty to readers will continue to be the heart of the Post," he said.
Bezos invested earlier this year in the financial news site Business Insider, and is also the founder of commercial space flight company Blue Origin. He has asked Katharine Weymouth to stay on as publisher and CEO of the Post, and Martin Baron to remain as executive editor, saying in a memo to employees that he will not be leading the newspaper day-to-day.
The deal also includes the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing.
The Post Company will maintain its ownership of media titles including Foreign Policy magazine, online magazine Slate and TheRoot.com, as well as education company Kaplan. It will also hold onto real estate assets including the Post's headquarters in downtown Washington, as well as cable operator Cable One and the Post-Newsweek network of television stations.
Among the Post Company's largest shareholders is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), which held roughly 23% of its common shares as of March. Buffett himself served on the company's board until 2011.
The Grahams control the company through their holdings of Class A stock.
Related: Buffett's Berkshire bets on Atlantic City newspaper
Bezos wrote in his memo to Post employees that the paper "will need to experiment" in the years to come, adding that he was "excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention."
"The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs," he wrote.
"There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy."
The news follows the New York Times Company's (NYT) announcement just days earlier that it had sold the Boston Globe for $70 million to sports magnate John W. Henry. Digital news company IBT Media, meanwhile, announced on Saturday that it had acquired the rights to current-affairs magazine Newsweek for an undisclosed sum.
For most of its 80-year history, Newsweek was owned by the Washington Post Company, which eventually sold it to audio industry pioneer Sidney Harman in 2010. It was later sold to media firm IAC (IACI), which abandoned the magazine's print edition last year.

Samsung likely to unveil new Galaxy Note on Sept. 4

With a 5.6-inch display screen, the Samsung Galaxy Note II leads a wave of smartphone-tablet hybrids.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Samsung expected to unveil new Galaxy Note on Sept. 4
• Invitation to Berlin event says to "note" the date
• The company's Note line leads a bigger-screen category

(CNN) -- It's becoming an annual tradition: Samsung will unveil the next generation of its Galaxy Note smartphone in advance of the IFA technology conference in Berlin. The company sent invitations to the press on Monday for an event on Sept. 4, two days before the first day of the conference.

Like previous device unveilings, Samsung is calling the event "Samsung Unpacked 2013." The event will be live streamed via the web, and Samsung will host a press event at the same time in New York City's Times Square for people to watch and get hands-on time with the devices.

SEE ALSO: 10 Free Android Apps You'll Use Every Day

Samsung isn't officially revealing information about the devices. However, the invitation and subsequent tweet include the phrase, "Note the Date" (emphasis added). Plus, at the two previous IFA events, Samsung released the first and second generations of its Galaxy Note smartphone, which have extremely large screens relative to other phones.

Thus, it's a foregone conclusion that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 3 (or III) at its September event. It's been almost a year since the company released the Galaxy Note 10.1. The question on everyone's mind this time: Just how big will Samsung go?

Competitors have responded to the Galaxy Note's success (now at 5.6 inches with the Note II) with large screen sizes as well, including the 5.5-inch LG Optimus G Pro and 5-inch Droid Ultra. Samsung itself debuted the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega earlier this year.

Samsung's other plans for Sept. 4 also remain unknown. Last year, it took the wraps off several new devices, including its ATIV line of Windows 8 PCs, the first phone to run Windows Phone 8, and the Android-powered Galaxy Camera point-and-shoot.

We'll likely see more focus this year, but Samsung could still surprise — perhaps with an entry into wearable computing. Its rumored smart watch is called "Gear."

What do you think Samsung has in store for Sept. 4? Let us know in the comments.

Washington Post just one of many wacky Bezos buys

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Jeff Bezos' purchase of the Washington Post is not the craziest thing he has put his money into.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos astonished the world Monday when he offered $250 million to buy the Washington Post.

But the out-of-left-field purchase didn't shock anyone who has followed the mogul's long history of strange investments.

Exhibit A: clocks.
Bezos has poured at least $42 million into a project called "The 10,000 Year Clock," which will be built into a mountain on his West Texas property and tick once every year. A cuckoo will come out every millennium.
"It's a special clock, designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking," said Bezos, in a letter on the project's website.
Bezos also has an obsession with outer space. He has invested in Blue Origin, a SpaceX competitor that aims to lower the cost of space travel. He also financed a deep-sea expedition to recover the remnants of F-1 rocket engines that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean after lifting the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon in 1969.
Related link: Bezos buys Washington Post for $250 million
The Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) CEO has made several investments in controversial Silicon Valley startups.
He helped lead a $37 million round of financing for Uber, the mobile app that connects customers to luxury drivers. Uber has bickered with taxi regulators in major cities, including Washington. He has also invested in Airbnb, the short-term vacation rental site that's also run afoul with several cities' regulators.
Though not every investment is off-the-wall, Bezos isn't afraid to use his money to take a political stand: He donated $2.5 million to Seattle-based Washington United for Marriage, which is one of the biggest contributions to the cause of legalizing same-sex marriage.
Bezos has not said much publicly about the desire to go into the newspaper business, but he is not new to media investments. He pumped $5 million into the news website Business Insider in April. Bezos was also an early investor in Twitter.
So for those skeptical of what kind of owner Bezos will be for the Washington Post, his past investments (particularly the clock) may offer some insight about his philosophy: forgoing immediate returns in hopes of building sustainable quality.

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Ice Age: Continental Drift

The cast of the previous three Ice Age outings all return for yet another installment of pre-human adventures.

Morgan Spurlock's New Britannia coming to Sky Atlantic

Morgan Spurlock's New Brittania
Sky Atlantic HD is proud to announce that Academy Award® nominee Morgan Spurlock will join the channel next year with Morgan Spurlock’s New Britannia, a lively new show in which the acclaimed American humourist will dissect the eccentricities of British culture.
Famed for his multi award-winning 2004 documentary, Super Size Me in which he ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days, Spurlock has carved out a successful career challenging society’s accepted norms and bringing wry humour to taboo subjects.
Unapologetically candid and shamelessly irreverent, no subject will be off-limits as Spurlock takes a comedy sideswipe at the behaviours and institutions which make Britain so… British.
Witty, off-beat and deliciously scathing, each of the 10x 60-minute shows will see Spurlock scrutinize one particular aspect of British society, with the help of some big-name guests from the worlds of comedy, celebrity and politics, from both sides of the Atlantic.
Amongst the topics covered will be the nation’s unique concept of Class, the intricacies of our view of Foreigners, and the distinctly British attitude towards Fame. Spurlock will travel the length and breadth of the country to discover and experience Britain’s traditions, institutions and behaviours first-hand; joining a real life Superhero on patrol, making Black Pudding in a Bury factory and sampling the newest speed dating craze in Britain’s capital.
Morgan Spurlock added: “Doing an original series in the UK is a dream come true for me. Ever since Super Size Me premiered here in 2004, I have wanted to create a show for British television and I’m thrilled that it’s finally happening with Sky Atlantic.”