Archive: https://archive.today/PZPN0 From the post: >>A landmark discovery by scientists has uncovered a common genetic fault linked to autism—raising hopes for a new generation of targeted treatments. While it has long been understood that autism often runs in families, exactly how inherited changes in DNA lead to the condition has remained unclear. Now, researchers at Kobe University in Japan have found that many of the mutations associated with autism appear to disrupt the brain's natural 'maintenance' system—the internal process that clears out waste and damaged material, allowing brain cells to function as they should. When this clean-up system fails, as the study suggests it does in many cases of autism, waste begins to build up inside nerve cells, damaging their ability to send and receive signals.