The U.S. Department of Justice has announced an agreement under the ADA with HRB Tax Group Inc., H&R Block Tax Services LLC and HRB Advance LLC (H&R Block) to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing when providing income tax preparation services and courses. The settlement agreement requires, among other things, that H&R Block provide auxiliary aids and services, including sign language interpreter services.

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that when one copy of the SHANK3 gene in mice is missing, nerve cells do not effectively communicate and do not show cellular properties associated with normal learning. This discovery may explain how mutations affecting SHANK3 may lead to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The research is currently published in Molecular Autism.

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have begun a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test a potential drug treatment for Rett syndrome, the leading known genetic cause of autism in girls. The drug, mecasermin, a synthetic form of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), is already FDA-approved for children with short stature due to IGF-1 deficiency.

Desensitisation Approaches Effective Against Hayfever-Like Allergies: Immunotherapy given as pills or drops under the tongue is a safe and effective way to treat hayfever-like allergies caused by pollen and dust mites, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers say the approach is an attractive alternative to immunotherapy injections in children.

In the first combat-zone study of its kind, a research team led by Michigan State University found that soldiers with a positive outlook in the most traumatic situations were less likely to suffer health problems such as anxiety and depression.

Share of Cost, For Autistic Children, Early Intervention May Change Development Trajectory For Later Symptoms Of Disorder: Early intervention for children with autism, as young as 6 months of age, may change the development trajectory for later symptoms of the disorder according to a research project being spearheaded by the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis Medical Center.

American soldiers with combat-related PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) seem to have a significantly higher risk of having diminished concentration, poor memory, headaches, tinnitus and irritability, researchers from Minnesota reveal in an article published in Archives of General Psychiatry. They also found no link between concussion or mild traumatic brain injuries and long-term consequences.

Newly published research led by Professor Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) sheds important new light on how neurons in the developing brain make connections with one another.

A new treatment program teaches people who suffer from panic disorder how to reduce the terrorizing symptoms by normalizing their breathing. The method has proved better than traditional cognitive therapy at reducing both symptoms of panic and hyperventilation, according to a new study.

Vanderbilt University researchers may have found a clue to the blues that can come with the flu – depression may be triggered by the same mechanisms that enable the immune system to respond to infection. In a study in the December issue of Neuropsychopharmacology, Chong-Bin Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., Randy Blakely, Ph.D., William Hewlett, M.D., Ph.D.

The first drug to treat the underlying disorder instead of the symptoms of Fragile X, the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, shows some promise according to a new study published in the January issue of Science Translational Medicine. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center helped design the study and are now participating in the larger follow-up clinical trial.

Share of Cost, The Importance Of Timing In Ensuring Healthy Brain Development: Work just published shows that brain cells need to create links early on in their existence, when they are physically close together, to ensure successful connections across the brain throughout life. In people, these long-distance connections enable the left and right side of the brain to communicate and integrate different kinds of information such as sound and vision.

Stateline: In Oregon, A New Health Care Debate Awaits Oregon Governor-elect John Kitzhaber, a Democrat who will be inaugurated in Salem on Monday (January 10), is no stranger to the state’s top political office: He was a two-term governor between 1995 and 2003. .

A study published in The Lancet by Dr. Andrew Wakefield linking the MMR vaccine with autism was no more than “an elaborate fraud”, a report published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal reveals today. The 1998 study, which was later retracted by The Lancet, scared thousands of parents and is thought to have resulted in a considerable drop in vaccinations.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Public Hearings on Americans with Disabilities Act Regulations: DOJ scheduled three hearings to get the public’s input on possible changes to Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Transcripts and captioned webcasts of these hearings are now available. The third and final public hearing will be held on January 10, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. This hearing will also be broadcast live from 9:15 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (PST).  The comment period on these Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings closes on January 24, 2011.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Charges Supermarket Chain with Disability Bias: The EEOC has charged SUPERVALU INC., American Drug Stores LLC and Jewel Food Stores, Inc. (collectively referred to as “Jewel-Osco”) with failure to accommodate discharged workers in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) class action suit. Jewel-Osco terminated employees with disabilities at the end of medical leaves of absence, rather than bringing them back to work with reasonable accommodations. The company’s actions violated the ADA.