Researchers have identified a chromosomal abnormality that seems to increase a person's chances of developing autism.
A group of U.S. researchers, associated with a group of Boston-based hospitals known as the Autism Consortium, conducted complete genome scans of 1,400 samples of DNA from families of autistic children.
They found that in one per cent of people with autism, or similar disorders, a portion of chromosome 16 is either absent or duplicated. This is not inherited from the parents.
Read the rest here
Showing posts with label Autism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autism. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Friday, September 28, 2007
Another autism study
From today's NY TIMES The matter is far from settled based on these results.
Yet another study has found that a controversial vaccine preservative appears to be harmless. But the study is unlikely to end the increasingly charged debate about vaccine safety.
Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years (NEJM)The study examined whether thimerosal — a mercury-containing vaccine preservative that was almost entirely eliminated from childhood vaccines by 2002 — is associated with neurological or certain psychological problems in children ages 7 to 10.
Yet another study has found that a controversial vaccine preservative appears to be harmless. But the study is unlikely to end the increasingly charged debate about vaccine safety.
Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years (NEJM)The study examined whether thimerosal — a mercury-containing vaccine preservative that was almost entirely eliminated from childhood vaccines by 2002 — is associated with neurological or certain psychological problems in children ages 7 to 10.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Andrew Wakefield story links
Following the Andrew Wakefield story with interest. I'll be posting all sides/views of the story as info for readers. It's an important case to watch.
From the Scotsman
DOCTORS working on the research programme which sparked the MMR controversy recruited vulnerable children directly from their GPs for unnecessary invasive testing, a hearing was told yesterday.
From BBC: MMR doctor 'broke medical rules'
On the other side here's a piece interviewing some of Wakefield's supporters:
"This is a show trial that has nothing to do with the truth,” Bill Welsh, a campaigner from Edinburgh and a grandparent of Luke, aged 12, said. Luke cannot talk.
Here's the blog of Brian Deer. the journalist who investigated the so called Lancet Scandal.
This is an opinion piece by a GP, more of a humorous take on patient expectations of being paid a fiver to get a blood test.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article2110715.ece
If anyone has other pro-Wakefield links please comment because I'd like to upload both sides more equally.
From the Scotsman
DOCTORS working on the research programme which sparked the MMR controversy recruited vulnerable children directly from their GPs for unnecessary invasive testing, a hearing was told yesterday.
From BBC: MMR doctor 'broke medical rules'
On the other side here's a piece interviewing some of Wakefield's supporters:
"This is a show trial that has nothing to do with the truth,” Bill Welsh, a campaigner from Edinburgh and a grandparent of Luke, aged 12, said. Luke cannot talk.
Here's the blog of Brian Deer. the journalist who investigated the so called Lancet Scandal.
This is an opinion piece by a GP, more of a humorous take on patient expectations of being paid a fiver to get a blood test.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article2110715.ece
If anyone has other pro-Wakefield links please comment because I'd like to upload both sides more equally.
Monday, July 16, 2007
UK news report and discussion on Wakefield Autism case
UK news story
Here's a link to a news report in which two doctors, one a supporter of single vaccines and another British MP and doctor debate the Andrew Wakefield case and autism issues surrounding it.
Here's a link to a news report in which two doctors, one a supporter of single vaccines and another British MP and doctor debate the Andrew Wakefield case and autism issues surrounding it.
UK: Latest on Wakefield case
UKThe doctor who provoked a scare over a potential link between the MMR vaccination and autism paid children at his son's birthday party £5 each to give blood for his research, an inquiry heard today.
The General Medical Council (GMC) also heard allegations that Andrew Wakefield subjected several children to a series of inappropriate invasive medical tests and gave one an experimental drug.
Dr Wakefield and two other doctors who published the now infamous study linking the combined measles, mumps and rubella jab with bowel disease and autism could be struck off the medical register if the disciplinary panel finds them guilty of serious professional misconduct.
Full story here
Profile on Andrew Wakefield here
The General Medical Council (GMC) also heard allegations that Andrew Wakefield subjected several children to a series of inappropriate invasive medical tests and gave one an experimental drug.
Dr Wakefield and two other doctors who published the now infamous study linking the combined measles, mumps and rubella jab with bowel disease and autism could be struck off the medical register if the disciplinary panel finds them guilty of serious professional misconduct.
Full story here
Profile on Andrew Wakefield here
Saturday, July 7, 2007
UK: New health fears over big surge in autism
From Sunday's (July 8th 2007) UK Observer:
The number of children in Britain with autism is far higher than previously thought, according to dramatic new evidence by the country's leading experts in the field.
A study, as yet unpublished, shows that as many as one in 58 children may have some form of the condition, a lifelong disability that leads to many sufferers becoming isolated because they have trouble making friends and often display obsessional behaviour.
Seven academics at Cambridge University, six of them from its renowned Autism Research Centre, undertook the research by studying children at local primary schools. Two of the academics, leaders in their field, privately believe that the surprisingly high figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine. That view is rejected by the rest of the team, including its leader, the renowned autism expert, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.
Read just published article in its entirety here
The number of children in Britain with autism is far higher than previously thought, according to dramatic new evidence by the country's leading experts in the field.
A study, as yet unpublished, shows that as many as one in 58 children may have some form of the condition, a lifelong disability that leads to many sufferers becoming isolated because they have trouble making friends and often display obsessional behaviour.
Seven academics at Cambridge University, six of them from its renowned Autism Research Centre, undertook the research by studying children at local primary schools. Two of the academics, leaders in their field, privately believe that the surprisingly high figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine. That view is rejected by the rest of the team, including its leader, the renowned autism expert, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.
Read just published article in its entirety here
Friday, July 6, 2007
Researcher sees link between vitamin D and autism
Globe and Mail
The growing prevalence of autism is one of the biggest scientific whodunits in the medical world, with few clues for its rising incidence.
But a U.S. researcher is advancing a controversial hypothesis: that autism is related to vitamin D deficiency during fetal development and early childhood.
Dr. John Cannell, a psychiatrist and prominent vitamin D advocate, says flagging levels of the vitamin in pregnant women and young children could be the elusive factor explaining the rising rate of autism.
The evidence for such a link is circumstantial, and autism experts describe the hypothesis as speculative. But Dr. Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit advocacy group, says autism rates have skyrocketed in lockstep with medical advice given to the public since the late 1980s to avoid all exposure to bright sunshine.
To read the rest of the story please click here
The growing prevalence of autism is one of the biggest scientific whodunits in the medical world, with few clues for its rising incidence.
But a U.S. researcher is advancing a controversial hypothesis: that autism is related to vitamin D deficiency during fetal development and early childhood.
Dr. John Cannell, a psychiatrist and prominent vitamin D advocate, says flagging levels of the vitamin in pregnant women and young children could be the elusive factor explaining the rising rate of autism.
The evidence for such a link is circumstantial, and autism experts describe the hypothesis as speculative. But Dr. Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit advocacy group, says autism rates have skyrocketed in lockstep with medical advice given to the public since the late 1980s to avoid all exposure to bright sunshine.
To read the rest of the story please click here
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Autism symptoms reversed in lab
BBC news story
Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice.
US scientists created mice that showed symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome - a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.
They then reversed symptoms of the condition by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain.
The study, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice.
US scientists created mice that showed symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome - a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.
They then reversed symptoms of the condition by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain.
The study, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Legal: Irish autism news story
Parents of autistic boy awarded €61,000
Irish Autism Action has welcomed today's award by the High Court of almost €61,000 to the parents of a six-year-old boy with autism because of delays by the Health Service Executive in treating him.
Mr Justice Michael Peart ruled there had been a breach in the HSE's duty of care towards Seán Ó Cuanacháin due to delays in providing him with therapy and intervention.
However, Justice Peart said that Seán had since made very good progress and awarded damages in line with that finding.
Justice Peart also delivered a 270-page judgment in which he outlined his reasons for refusing to compel the State to provide a certain type of education for Seán.
full story here
Irish Autism Action has welcomed today's award by the High Court of almost €61,000 to the parents of a six-year-old boy with autism because of delays by the Health Service Executive in treating him.
Mr Justice Michael Peart ruled there had been a breach in the HSE's duty of care towards Seán Ó Cuanacháin due to delays in providing him with therapy and intervention.
However, Justice Peart said that Seán had since made very good progress and awarded damages in line with that finding.
Justice Peart also delivered a 270-page judgment in which he outlined his reasons for refusing to compel the State to provide a certain type of education for Seán.
full story here
Sunday, May 6, 2007
You and Yours: Interesting ASD series BBC radio 4 programmes
Here's a link to a comprehensive series of radio programmes on Autism and Asperger's syndrome that ran on BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/features/autism.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/features/autism.shtml
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Recommended Reading: Not Even Wrong by Paul Collins
I believe in reading widely on the topic of different learning styles and one of the advantages of this approach is occasionally you alight of a treat on a book like Paul Collins: Not Even Wrong: A father's journey into the long history of autism. (published by Bloomsbury USA in 2005). While I am not personally dealing with autism, there are always parallels in these kinds of journeys, (also it's a very wide spectrum, I would guess most artists fall somewhere along it) so I read voraciously on the topic regardless. Not Even Wrong takes the form of a hybrid of memoir and history. Collins depicts his own experience as his young son Morgan is diagnosed autistic, while he concurrently researches this book, which at times feels pleasingly like a travelogue because he crosses back and forth to England and Europe to complete his research. It's to Collins credit that his writing style is so engaging, he possesses this handy knack of putting these precise, additional details that absolutely put the reader where-ever he's describing. So whether it's the school, doctor's office, the house of eminent autism expert Dr Simon Baron-Cohen or the graveyard, where he's trying to locate the grave of a historic feral child The Wild Boy, it's all very immediate.
This is the kind of book that reminded me of how important it is to remain flexible with whatever life hurls your way. It's a very uplifting book and many parents will take courage from his experience. There are also important historical perspectives and experiences of autistics in the book reminding us that autism has a long history, perhaps one that has yet to documented extensively. A brave and intelligent book -- highly recommended.
This is the kind of book that reminded me of how important it is to remain flexible with whatever life hurls your way. It's a very uplifting book and many parents will take courage from his experience. There are also important historical perspectives and experiences of autistics in the book reminding us that autism has a long history, perhaps one that has yet to documented extensively. A brave and intelligent book -- highly recommended.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Study Puts Rate of Autism at 1 in 150 U.S. Children
Study Puts Rate of Autism at 1 in 150 U.S. Children
About one child in 150 develops autism or a related disorder like Asperger’s syndrome by the age of 8, according to a study released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, which looked at cases of so-called autism spectrum disorders in 14 states in 2000 and 2002, is the most rigorous analysis to date of the disorders’ prevalence in the United States. It confirms recent estimates, which put the number at roughly one in 160 children — higher than the one-in-200 estimate made in the 1980s.
The analysis also found that delays in diagnosis were common: an average of at least a year and a half from the time parents first reported odd speech problems or other social deficits, typically around the age of 3.
Read rest of article on New York Times here
About one child in 150 develops autism or a related disorder like Asperger’s syndrome by the age of 8, according to a study released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, which looked at cases of so-called autism spectrum disorders in 14 states in 2000 and 2002, is the most rigorous analysis to date of the disorders’ prevalence in the United States. It confirms recent estimates, which put the number at roughly one in 160 children — higher than the one-in-200 estimate made in the 1980s.
The analysis also found that delays in diagnosis were common: an average of at least a year and a half from the time parents first reported odd speech problems or other social deficits, typically around the age of 3.
Read rest of article on New York Times here
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