Chicago: America’s top pediatrician group advised that children should be screened for autism twice by the time they are two years.
At its annual meeting in San Francisco, the group presented the advice in two reports. The advice is meant to help both parents and doctors spot autism sooner so that therapy can begin as soon as possible. While autism has no cure, but early therapy can lessen its severity.
There are many warning signs that are indications for immediate evaluation. These include no babbling or pointing or other gesture by 12 months; no single words by 16 months; no two-word spontaneous phrases by 24 months; loss of language or social skills at any age.

Chicago: A simple blood test may be able to identify whether mild lapses of memory could be early stage of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said.

An international team of researchers explained 18 cell-signaling, or communication, proteins found in the blood predicted with 90 percent accuracy whether a person would develop Alzheimer’s disease.

They said tests for detecting the changes in these proteins could be used to predict the disease 2 to 6 years before its onset and may be beneficial in the search for treatments.