Autism

[Michaelangelica]

What is it?

ScienceWeek

Autism used to be called "Childhood Schizophrenia"

"Trust hormone" now tied to "mind reading," and increasingly, autism

Trust hormone” now tied to “mind reading”—and increasingly, autism

An unusual hormone has a growing list of documented powers, some of them surprising—and intriguing to scientists hunting autism treatments.

Dec. 13, 2006
Special to World Science

Researchers in recent years have intensely studied a hormone thought to be relevant to au*ism, a disorder that has stirred growing
alarm.
And the longer the scrutiny of the hormone, oxytocin, goes on, the longer grows a list of sometimes surprising powers attributed
to it. These are prompting scientists to propose the chemical might help treat autism.

The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test" involves viewing 36 photos of eyes, and judging which emo*tion or mental state each pair represents. A version of the test can be taken here.
Last year, one group identified it as a hormone that helps us to trust.
Now, researchers say it may also aid us with “mind reading,” or the ability to gauge other people’s emo*tions based on subtle social cues.

Oxytocin has long been known to regulate social interactions, among other things. And autism, which involves marked social difficulties, has been linked to low oxytocin levels.

Thus, the authors of two recent studies suggest oxytocin might help treat autism. One team also re*ported that such a treatment improved autistic patients’ ability to detect emotion in speech.

Oxytocin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Overview of Autism
What is Autism?

Autism is one of five disorders that fall under the umbrella of "Pervasive Development Disorders (PDD.)" The five disorders are Autism, Aspergers Disorder, Retts Syndrome, Child Disentegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Development Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). (Batshaw, 2002) Because Autism and other PDDs describe such a range of differences, "Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)" is the term increasingly used to describe individuals who characteristics of Autism. These individuals are sometimes said to be "on the spectrum." The three major areas of difference between typically developing individuals and people with Autism are communication, social interaction, and behavior (Batshaw, 2002). Not surprisingly, these three areas are heavily interlinked with each other in every day life. Some people with Autism are non-verbal, some are brilliant in mathematics or music, and some get PhDs. Each person is a unique individual with unique abilities and differences, just like any typically developing person. Autism affects some people very little, and some people quite a bit.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is made by a specialist. There is no blood test to determine if an individual is Autistic, nor is there any imagining technique. Diagnosis is made solely on the basis of behavioral observations, which are compared to the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (IV Edition) or DSM-IV for short (Batshaw, 2002). To see a complete listing of the criteria, see http://www.autism-biomed.org/dsm-iv.htm.

For parents, the symptoms of Autism can be very confusing and cause great concern. Raising any child presents challenges, and a child with Autism is certainly no easier. According to the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR,) the following warning signs warrant evaluation by a specialist:

* Not babbled or cooed by one year
* Not gestured, pointed or waved by one year
* Not spoken a single word by 16 months
* Not spoken a two-word phrase by two years
* Experiences any loss of any language skills at any age

NAAR also stipulates that the following concerns warrant a conversation with a healthcare provider about an Autism evaluation:

* Does not respond to his or her name
* Cannot tell or describe what he or she wants
* Experience any language delays
* Does not follow directions at all
* Appear at times to have a hearing impairment
* Does not know how to play with toys
* Has poor eye contact
* Appears to be in his or her own world
* Does not smile socially
* Has odd movement patterns
* Has unusual attachment to toys or other objects
* Regularly lines up toys or other items

(http://www.naar.org, 2005)

Autism is often misdiagnosed as attention defecit disorder (ADD), attention defecit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), oppositional defiance disorder, cognitive disabilities (mental retardation), childhood schizophrenia, sensory impairments, communication disorders, and neurodegenerative disorders. It is important to rule out and differentiate between disorders with the aid of specialists. (Batshaw, 2002)

How Common is Autism?

NAAR reports that Autism is on the rise, in fact 10 times more common today than a mere 10 years ago. Today, the disorder is detectable in 1 in every 166 births. (naar.org, 2005) The reason for the increase is complicated and unknown. Early and comprehensive evaluation accounts partially for the higher incidence. (Kalb, 2005) New research shows strong genetic predisposition as well as a complementary environmental interaction playing a part in the rise (Batshaw, 2002, Kalb, 2005). Currently, children are usually diagnosed by 2-3 years of age (naar.org). Differences are often retrospectively detectable at birth, with parents often voicing concern by 12-18 months (Batshaw, 2002). Irrespective of high prevalence and the high impact of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Autism research is pathetically under-funded (naar.org, 2005).

Who Discovered Autism?

In 1943, Leo Kanner wrote a paper describing Autism as a specific disorder. Kanner used the term "Autism," a term that was coined in 1911 by a Swiss Psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler. Bleuler used the Greek root word "autos" with means "self" to describe an individual who seemed to attend only to some inner world. Kanner's description of Autism was used to create the defining criteria used today to diagnose Autism. (naar.org, 2005)

What is it like to have Autism?

Oftentimes, Autism is described in terms of how a person with Autism appears to other people. This viewpoint, although valuable for diagnosis, is limiting and promotes misunderstanding. The three areas of difference are outlined below in terms of how it feels to deal with Autism as a person who has Autism.

People with Autism have difficulty reading social cues, such as subtleties in language, gestures, facial expressions, intonation, eye contact, and body language. (Batshaw, 2002) People who are typically developing use this type of cueing tirelessly; forever sending and receiving messages that are frequently richer than the plain language that accompanies such cues.

Misreading or missing even a tiny intonation can change messages entirely. To understand such difficulty, one only has to remember how carefully crafted e-mail messages must be in order to send a message that would be simple to send using verbal speech in a face to face setting. Since people who don't have Autism are constantly gathering and sending social cues, it is difficult for people with Autism to engage in conversation, make friends, and perhaps most importantly, learn language.

If a person is unable to integrate visual stimulus (gestures, facial expression, body language) with auditory stimulus (speech, intonation), learning language becomes a difficult task indeed. Not only is language confusing and overwhelming, but it is unpredictable. On top of this, each person has their own style, speed, and accent.
Each person's face appears different. About 50% of children diagnosed with Autism will achieve verbal speech. (Batshaw, 2002) Some will use sign language, some will use gestures, some will use keyboards, and some will use PECS ( a way of exchanging pictures to relay ideas).
A few people with Autism will be unable to communicate.

"[The] characteristics described in the DSM-IV are just that: they are descriptions of coping behaviors and not descriptions, necessarily, of innate orientation." (Prince-Hughes, 2004) Because of difficulty associated with communicating and interacting with the confusing world of people, people with Autism develop behaviors that seem strange to typically developing people who don't understand. Many behaviors seem to have root in bringing order and predictability to the lives of people with Autism. This coping is understandable, since no person likes to live in chaos. Unfortunately, behavior that is not typical often leads to rejection, which gives people with Autism fewer opportunities to learn social reciprocity and language. This only leads to more coping behaviors, which leads to more isolation.

KSC Fitness Centers - An Overview of Autism

[mcewen]

There are as many 'causes' as there are theorists to discover them, but infinitely more 'cures' by others.
Cheers

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by mcewen

There are as many 'causes' as there are theorists to discover them, but infinitely more 'cures' by others.
Cheers

What exactly is this? Care to elaborate how it applies to the post immediately prior?

[mcewen]

hmm, newbie - perhaps I'm posting in the wrong bit of the 'thread'. My response or comment was with reference to the 'first' post, about the oxytocin being identified as a possible 'treatment' for autism. Apologies if I'm putting this in the wrong 'spot.'
Cheers
Whitterer on Autism

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by mcewen

There are as many 'causes' as there are theorists to discover them, but infinitely more 'cures' by others.
Cheers

Yes, in one reseach paper I read nealy everthing "worked' (for treatment).

One thing is interesting a Gluten Free Diet helps many Autistic children as it does Down's syndrome. Google it and see.

There is a Genetic Test now for Gluten sensitivity.

[mcewen]

Thanks for that, the CFGF diet is widely used with some startling results for some. However, one of my little chaps is 'neophobic' = eats less than 20 foods [7 currently] so if I cut anything out he might fade away completely!
All the best for the New Year and thanks for the tip

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by mcewen

Thanks for that, the CFGF diet is widely used with some startling results for some. However, one of my little chaps is 'neophobic' = eats less than 20 foods [7 currently] so if I cut anything out he might fade away completely!
All the best for the New Year and thanks for the tip

Do you have him on vitamin supliments?

I worked as a nurse with autistic kids 30 years ago

I just read the blog reference you gave. I ddn't read it all (Is it you?)
but was stopped in my tracks by this

“What is the badest smell dear?”
“It is you! You are the badest smell. You are worster than peanuts!”

Do some/one/all, autistic children have heightened sense of smell?
See the fragrance & perfume thread (and check your CP rep)

PS
This NIH study is something to look at

A version of a gene has been linked to autism in families that have more than one child with the disorder.
Inheriting two copies of this version more than doubled a child’s risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder,
. . .
While most previous studies had focused on genes expressed in the brain, Levitt’s team saw a clue in the fact that some people with autism also have gastrointestinal, immunological or neurological symptoms in addition to behavioral impairments. They focused on a gene that affects such peripheral functions . ..

WebWire® | Gene Linked to Autism in Families with More Than One Affected Child

The stomach has its own brain according to Dr. Dean Edell.
( seen in The Odd Body 2 S juan)

NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DAMAGE IN AUTISM: AN INFECTION-BASED MODEL
Exposure of the fetus and newborn infant around the time of
birth ("perinatal exposure") to infectious agents and toxins has
been linked to the pathogenesis of certain human neuropsychiatric
disorders, particularly *autism.
But the mechanisms by which environmental factors such as infectious agents and toxins interact with developing immune and neural systems to create neurodevelopmental disturbances are only poorly understood.
Autism disorders occur as frequently as 1 in 500 children, a
rate that may be increasing in some geographical regions.

ScienceWeek

Here:
Entrez PubMed
are 15 papers on Borna virus and Autism
eg

1: Lancaster K, Dietz DM, Moran TH, Pletnikov MV.
Abstract Abnormal social behaviors in young and adult rats neonatally infected with Borna disease virus.
Behav Brain Res. 2007 Jan 10;176(1):141-8. Epub 2006 Jul 21.
PMID: 16860408 [PubMed - in process]
2: Libbey JE, Sweeten TL, McMahon WM, Fujinami RS.
Abstract Autistic disorder and viral infections.
J Neurovirol. 2005 Feb;11(1):1-10. Review.
PMID: 15804954 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Michaelangelica]

Drugs and autism
Supringly small number of good studies.
Those that have been done often are in very small samples
Very few, if any, drugs help a lot
SEE
Pharmacologic Treatment of Behavioral Symptoms in Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders/Robert L. Findling
D'Alliance

You may have to register.
It is painless.

[Michaelangelica]

Autism-spectrum disorder reversed in mice - health - 08 February 2007 - New Scientist

Autism-spectrum disorder reversed in mice
Movie Camera

* 19:00 08 February 2007
* NewScientist.com news service


* Is YouTube just what the doctor ordered?
* 02 January 2007
* 'X' marks the spot in hunt for autism genes
* 08 September 2006
* Older dads boost risk of autistic children
* 04 September 2006
* Search New Scientist
* Contact us

Web Links

* Rett Syndrome, NINDS
* Rett Syndrome Research Foundation
* Adrian Bird, University of Edinburgh
* Science

The symptoms of Rett syndrome – a genetic disorder that causes mental retardation and impairs movement – have been fully reversed in a mouse model of the disease, researchers report.

The findings give hope that scientists might one day find a cure for the condition and related illnesses, including autism. But experts caution that developing such treatments for humans will take many years.

Rett syndrome is almost exclusively confined to girls – about 1 in every 10,000 - 15,000 girls born in the US develop the condition. The distressing disorder typically becomes apparent by age two and involves a regression in language skills and the loss of mobility.

[Michaelangelica]

News in Science - Autism gene scan unveils two new clues - 19/02/2007

Autism gene scan unveils two new clues

Will Dunham
Reuters


Monday, 19 February 2007

DNA
Up to 90% of autism may have a genetic basis (Image: iStockphoto)
The most extensive findings to date on the genetics of autism has pinpointed two new genetic links that may predispose children to develop the complex brain disorder.
The study incriminated a gene called neurexin 1 as a possible susceptibility gene for autism.

This gene is involved with glutamate, a brain chemical previously implicated in autism that plays a role in early brain development.

A previously unidentified region of chromosome 11 also was implicated.

Earlier research in this field has identified regions on chromosomes 2, 7 and 17 as having a link with autism.

The glutamate system seems to pop up in a lot of medical things I read these days.
Anyone know what it is?
Does it have anything to do with MSG?