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Autism in the News July 15, 2008
Vaccine schedule linked to Autism in Monkeys
Laura Hewitson, from the University of Pittsburgh, is studying the effect of vaccine overload in monkeys. The vaccine schedule is comparable to that of human children in the 1990’s when autism rate exploded.
The authors noted that although macaque monkeys are commonly used in pre-clinical vaccine safety testing, the combined childhood vaccine regimen has not been studied. They believe that it may not be the single vaccine but the interaction of different vaccines or the schedule in which they are given that is the problem.
Research tested 13 monkeys, with 10 of them receiving doses of the vaccines according to the recommendations made between 1994 and 1999. Three monkeys served as controls and were not given any vaccines.
Assessment of primate development, cognition, and social behavior was done using standardized tests developed at the Washington National Primate Research Center. Also MRI and PET scans looked for brain changes after administration of the MMR.
Findings of the study found developmental delays, behavior problems, and brain changes in the vaccinated animals that are similar to specific neurological abnormalities commonly found in children diagnosed with autism. Vaccinated animals scored lower in tests of survival reflexes, color discrimination and reversal, and learning sets.
Scientists also found signs of severe chronic active inflammation in the gastrointestinal tissue in the vaccinated animals but not in the unexposed monkeys. This finding has been reported in the literature. Often children with regressive autism report severe GI ailments.
The studies address a major concern of parents and some health professionals concerning a possible link between the greatly stepped-up immunization schedule in the 1990s, including higher exposure to the mercury preservative, and autism.
Angie MacKewn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN
amackewn@utm.edu
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Autism in the News May 15, 2008
Clean Rooms Being Explored as Novel Treatment for Autism
www.post-gazette.com/pg/08132/880873-52.stm
An environmental pediatric clean room is a new treatment concept being explored at the Children's Institute in Squirrel Hill. Here young patients will stay in a pollutant-free "clean room," in an attempt to detoxify their bodies. This clean room plan will be the first of its kind in the American hospital system.
Dr. Scott Faber, a pediatrician with several hundred autistic patients and a waiting list six months long, is a believer that invading toxins cause autism.
The clean rooms were developed with help from Duquesne University. Patients with autism will stay in a 1,000-square-foot room kept mostly free of harmful chemicals and pollutants, using special air-filtering systems, ultraviolet lights, and air locks on doorways.
In addition, doctors would flush any chemicals out of the child’s body and boost their immune systems through nutritional supplements and dietary changes.
"What we would like to do is have kids live in this wonderful environment where they are exposed to almost none of the Industrial Revolution. And we wonder, if the chemicals come out and the heavy metals come out, will the children start improving?" Dr. Faber said. "Will they start showing signs of clinical improvement, such as language improvement and socialization improvement? Will they become less obsessive? Less fascinated?"
The Alcoa Foundation recently awarded the initial $200,000 in grant monies but this project will require an estimated $500,000 to fully design and at least $1 million in yearly operating support its first three years.
Clean rooms have been used in hospital settings for patients struggling with infectious diseases and transplants. They have also been used to treat children with autism, but only in patients' homes, largely in work by Virginia researcher and nutritionist Karen Slimak. Dr. Faber plans to make Ms. Slimak’s work more mainstream as it will be staged in a hospital setting.
"We're not saying this is the full cause" of autism and related illnesses, Dr. Faber said. "Obviously there are multiple causes, and there are going to be found many genetic causes, many environmental causes and many genetic-environmental interactions.”
Angie Mackewn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News May 2, 2008
Mercury Emissions Linked to Autism
tinyurl.com/6ao84s
Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found a relationship between pounds of industrial release of mercury and rates of autism as measured by distance from emission soure.
Dr. Palmer, Stephen Blanchard, Ph.D., of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and Robert Wood of the UT Health Science Center found that prevalence rates of autism in a community decreases by 1 percent to 2 percent with each 10 miles of distance from the emission source.
“This study was not designed to understand which individuals in the population are at risk due to mercury exposure,” Dr. Palmer said. “However, it does suggest generally that there is greater autism risk closer to the polluting source."
These results are consistent with other findings confirming greater amounts of mercury are found in plants and animals living closer to the pollution sources. For pregnant women exposed to constant low dose exposure to these pollutants during the critical window of neural development this may increase the risk for autism in her child.
The current study in Texas examined the mercury release from 39 coal-fired power plants and 56 industrial facilities and the rates of autism across 1 040 school districts throughout the state over a period of time. For every 1,000 pounds of mercury released by all industrial sources in Texas into the environment in 1998, there was a corresponding 2.6 percent increase in autism rates in the Texas school districts in 2002. These rates dropped by 1-2 percent for every 10 miles away from the source.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated environmental mercury releases at 158 million tons annually nationwide in the late 1990s, the time period studied by the Texas team. Most exposures were said to come from coal-fired utility plants (33 percent of exposures), municipal/medical waste incinerators (29 percent) and commercial/industrial boilers (18 percent). Cement plants also release mercury.
Implications from this study suggest that more attention be paid to mercury emissions and that more research is needed to find non-mercury polluting technologies. Further research is also needed on the effects of mercury on fetal development.
Palmer, R.F., Blanchard, S. Wood, R. (2008). Proximity to point sources of environmental mercury release as a predictor of autism prevalence. Health & Place.
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Autism in the News April 2, 2008
EPA Fails to Protect Children from Dangerous Chemicals
tinyurl.com/2qhhgh
Most people think that the Environmental Protection Agency is an advisory committee set up to protect the private citizen against compounds and products harmful to them. One of the EPA’s pilot committees, called the Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP), is set up to specifically protect children from these dangerous chemicals. The main method that the VCCEP uses to determine what is dangerous is through reports and recalls from companies that produce them. As ineffective as this may seem it was better than nothing, which is what is currently the case. Funding was pulled last year and key members of this group don’t know what is going on because they have not met.
Disbanding of this protection committee doesn’t stop the EPA administrators from making suggesting that this committee is proof that the government is concerned with children’s safety and protection.
After some research into this federally funded program and its committee members, The Journal Sentinel found several indiscretions including:
• Some panels deciding on the safety of chemicals were disproportionately staffed with scientists who had financial ties to chemical makers.
• Industry scientists often downplayed the risks that their chemicals posed. In one case, scientists underestimated by nearly 40 times the amount of a certain chemical found in the blood of people tested for the compound - a substance suspected of interfering with behavior and brain development.
• When pressed for more information about the chemicals they made, companiesoften refused or ignored requests by the EPA.
• The EPA did not keep a budget for the program and couldn't say how much was spent over the past eight years.
• The program's Web site describing the dangers of chemicals to children is so riddled with jargon that even pediatricians specializing in environmental health say they can't make sense of it.
Jay Berkelhamer, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a letter to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson last year, "The EPA should consider terminating this pilot and replacing it with a mandatory program with stricter deadlines and a more transparent, accountable review system."
Angie Mackewn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN 38238
amackewn@utm.edu
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Autism in the News March 25, 2008
Vaccine Skeptics Cause may have Caused Measles Outbreak
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/us/21vaccine.html?hp
In San Diego 12 children not vaccinated for measles fell victim to the illness. Of the 12, 9 did not receive the inoculation because of parent refusal and 3 were too young for the vaccination. A growing number of parents are refusing some or all vaccinations for their children, not out of religious freedoms, but out of fear that vaccinations cause autism and other neurological disorders.
To date, twenty states allow exemption from inoculation for personal reasons. In 1991, less than 1 percent of children in those 20 states with personal-belief exemptions went without vaccines; by 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, the percentage had increased to 2.54 percent, said Saad B. Omer, an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. These numbers have health officials worried.
“If you have clusters of exemptions, you increase the risk of exposing everyone in the community,” said Dr. Omer, who has extensively studied disease outbreaks and vaccines. Worldwide, 242,000 children die every year from measles, but it used to be near one million. The deaths have dropped 68% from 2000 to 2006 because of vaccination, say health officials. Dr. Mark Sawyer, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego says that, “Most of these parents have never seen measles, and don’t realize it could be a bad disease so they turn their concerns to unfounded risks. They do not perceive risk of the disease but perceive risk of the vaccine."
Angie MacKewn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN
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Autism in the News March 15, 2008
Vaccine Court Rules in Favor of Family
For the entire article go to: http://tinyurl.com/34ba8j
After hearing the Poling’s case in the federal vaccine court, medical evaluators at the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that vaccines were responsible for aggravating brain damage that resulted in autism spectrum disorder in 9-year old Hannah Poling. There are almost 5000 more families waiting for their day in court.
Hannah Poling was developing normally until about age 19 months when she received several vaccines and fell ill. After recovering from the illness she lost her words, didn’t make eye contact and withdrew socially, and exhibited repetitive behaviors.
In Hannah’s case there were two factors that made her case different from other children. First, Hannah had suffered from ear infections earlier so she was behind in her vaccine schedule and had 5 inoculations for 9 diseases in one day. Also, Hannah suffered from a mitochondrial disorder where basic cell metabolism does not function properly. The vaccine court believed this condition put her at in a high-risk group when vaccines were introduced.
This case has many people concerned for different reasons. Dr. John Shoffner, the neurologist who identified Hannah Poling's mitochondrial disorder, is puzzled by the court's judgment because there have been no studies suggesting that childhood vaccinations cause mitochondrial diseases or worsen mitochondrial disease symptoms.
Also, public health officials want to reassure parents that vaccines are safe and beneficial. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), insisted that "the government has made absolutely no statement about indicating that vaccines are the cause of autism, as this would be a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today." Gerberding also pointed out that thimerosal (the mercury in vaccines) was eliminated from routinely administered childhood vaccines manufactured after 2001, and yet autism rates have continued to climb
Experts on autism spectrum disorders believe that a combination of genetic vulnerabilities and environmental factors cause autism. There is also agreement that autism is such a variable disorder in that there are a number of combinations of genes and external factors responsible for the disorder to appear.
“Younger children have an immature immune system that may not be equipped to handle an overload, says Dr. Judy Van de Water, an immunologist who works with Pessah at U.C. Davis. "Some vaccines, such as those aimed at viral infections, are designed to ramp up the immune system at warp speed," she says. "They are designed to mimic the infection. So you can imagine getting nine at one time, how sick you could be."
These events reinforce the reality that more research is needed in the area of autism because of its variability and interactive nature with genetics and environmental triggers.
The report was taken from the Schafer report. To see other articles on autism go to www.sarnet.org.
Angie MacKewn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN
amackewn@utm.edu
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Autism in the News February 13, 2008
Regressive Autism May be Linked to Mothers Immune System During Pregnancy
http://tinyurl.com/2c6an6
Researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and Center for Children's Environmental Health, led by Judy Van de Water, professor of rheumatology, allergy, and clinical immunology has been studying the effects of the prenatal environment on development.
Blood samples were taken from 61 mothers of children diagnosed with autism and 62 mothers of typically developing children. The IgG antibodies were extracted then exposed to fetal brain tissue through western blot analysis, which detects antibody reactivity to proteins.
Results revealed a highly specific reactivity pattern to 2 fetal brain proteins for 7 of the 61 samples in the autism group. Of the 7 that showed reactivity, 6 of them were diagnosed with regressive autism. No similar reactivity patterns appeared in the control sample.
Says Van de Water, "We're not entirely sure why the IgG response against fetal brain proteins was so specific for later onset autism. It's possible that early exposure to maternal antibodies sets in motion a biological path to autism with the behavioral outcomes not apparent until much later. It's also possible that an environmental exposure sometime after birth could be required to set this process in motion. We are hopeful that this study will help build our understanding of the foundations of the regressive form of the disorder."
This study will be continued on women who are pregnant and already have a child with autism, because such women are much more likely to have another child with the disorder.
"If women in this next phase of the study give birth to a child eventually diagnosed with autism, blood analyses from all stages of her pregnancy will give us a clear picture of the immune system factors that were in play during gestation and could have altered her child's neurodevelopment," Van de Water said. Van de Water suggests that combining a prenatal test with intervention preventing IgG exposure could protect some children from getting autism.
Dr. Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News January 7, 2008
New Study Tries to Prevent Autism in High Risk Infants
Researchers at the University of Washington have launched an 11.3 million dollar study into the prevention of autism. The autism center is currently looking for infants, 6 months or older who have siblings diagnosed with autism. This group is of particular interest to researchers because the rate of incidence increases from 1 in 150 to 1 in 20 when a sibling is diagnosed.
Those infants selected to participate in the study will be given a preliminary assessment and divided into two groups. Half of the infants will be monitored by specialists and referred for community treatment. The remaining infants will participate in a relationship intervention protocol with their mothers at the Autism Center. These mothers will be trained to engage their infants in eye contact and each mother and child will be videotaped interacting once a week for nine weeks. All infants will be evaluated at 12 months. Those in the treatment group will get to participate in an early intensive intervention program and reevaluated at 24 months.
Annette Estes, associate director of the Autism Center will head the clinical assessment component of the study. Estes is excited about the research because they will be able to look for early risk factors of autism and the children will be exposed to early intervention
The National Institute of Child Health and Development is funding this research project.
Angie MacKewn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN 38238
amackewn@utm.edu
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Autism in the News December 4, 2007
Families Being Recruited for Largest Study on Risk Factors of Autism
In California, a research project called the Study to Explore Early Development, sponsored by the Department of Public Health and Kaiser Permanente, are currently enrolling families of children diagnosed with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders and a control sample of typically developing children for comparison. Researchers will be studying several genetic and environmental factors potentially related to developmental disorders. This is a 5-year study of 2700 children, born between September 2003 and August 2005 and their families.
The principal investigator, Dr. Lisa Croen, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland hopes that this study will provide vital information about how genes and the environment work to affect child development. She is hopeful that the results of the study will lead to the development of preventive strategies as well as enhance services and treatments for affected children.
Scientists will closely examine factors like family medical history, genetics and socio-demographic, lifestyle and environmental factors. Some data will be collected through interviews and exams, and by reviewing medical records, while biological data will be obtained through cheek swabs, and blood and hair sampling.
Since autism and other developmental disorders are on the rise, health professionals are concerned with early screening. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently indicated that all children are to be screened for autism between the ages of 18 and 24 months, even if there are no concerns from parents. It is thought that earlier detection paired with studies such as this one will help to minimize the effects of developmental disorders.
Dr. Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN 38238
amackewn@utm.edu
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Autism in the News August 27, 2007
Techology in the News
Use of Magnetoencephalography Promising Diagnostic Tool
University of Minnesota scientist, Dr. Apostolas Georgopoulas, is investigating the use of a technology known as MEG, or magnetoencelophalography, which tracks magnetic signals in the brain. In a study published Wednesday in the British Journal of Neural Engineering, six types of disorders could be identified based on differences in magnetic signals with 100% accuracy. The disorders included Alzheimer’s, chronic alcoholism, schizophrenia, facial pain, multiple sclerosis, and Sjougren’s syndrome (an autoimmune disorder). Currently, there are 700 MEG’s across the world, mainly used in research. If the technology continues to do what is being reported it may be developed and marketed as a diagnostic tool.
Accelglove Developed for Language Impaired
Electrical engineer, Josy’ Hernandez – Rubollar, at George Washington University in Washington has designed a glove which translates American Sign Language into text. Accelglove, may allow communication for deaf and others with language barriers. Researchers are also working to design a glove to translate sign language into speech. The glove should be available on the market in about one year. For more information you can contact Hernandez-Rubollar at 202-994-9425.
Denise Jones, BCBA
Lecturer in Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News August 7, 2007
Sarcasm
Children are able to detect sarcasm at about age 6, but don’t begin to see the humor intended until about age 10. Sarcasm is often perceived as mean-spirited by children. Sarcasm involves considering the literal meaning of words being spoken, then suppressing an urge to respond to the literal meaning, then finally looking for the true intent of the words based on facial expressions, intonation, and familiarity with the person speaking the words. Melanie Glenwright and Penny Pexman at the University of Calgary are exploring how children come to understand sarcasm and will explore whether children of different cultures and children with autism respond differently to sarcasm.
A Meta-Analysis of Social Skills Programs for Children with Autism
A study conducted at Indiana University will be published in this month’s Journal of Remedial and Special Education. The meta-analysis of 55 published studies on social skill programs for children with autism indicates that outcomes for social skills training were poor overall, but were more likely to result in positive changes than programs held in other environments. The review of studies focused on programs aimed at addressing skills such as group play, joint attention and language usage, or to improve performance of social behaviors, such as initiating interactions, responding to communication and maintaining interactions. The programs resulted in little change in the targeted behaviors.
Students receiving social skills in their usual classrooms have more favorable outcomes than those who received services in another setting. The authors suggest improvements in the design and implementation of programs including increasing intensity and frequency of programming, matching programs to skill deficits, and ensuring proper implementation.
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Autism in the News 8/2/07
Early Diagnosis of Autism
Dr. Rebecca Landa, Director of Kennedy Krieger Center for Autism and Related Disorders recently published a study in Archives of General Psychiatry support early diagnosis of autism. Through monitoring of social interaction and communication in infants at risk for autism she reports that about half of children with autism can be diagnosed around their first birthday. She identified signs of developmental disruptions which parents and pediatricians can look for:
- Abnormal communication with others. Rather than requesting help through gestures or vocalizations and eye contact, the infant may struggle with a task themselves without looking at another person.
- Compromised ability to initiate and share experiences with others. Infants will often follow parents gaze to a mutual object and then interact around that object. Children at risk for autism do not.
- Not using toys for purposes they were intended.
- Reduced variety of sounds, words, or gestures to communicate.
Landa hopes to standardize criteria for diagnosis of infants in order to initiate early intervention to maximize the child’s developmental abilities.
Instructions Increase Brains Response to Facial Expressions and Voice Tone
Children with autism often have difficulty understanding the intentions of others. Recent literature attributes some of this to an inattention to facial expressions and voice tone of others. Dr. Mirella Dapretto studied the brain of autistic children while they were instructed to pay attention to facial expression and tone of voice in discerning sarcasm in a speaker. The study, published in Archives of General Psychiatry, indicates that the brain can be trained to increase it’s response to the subtle cues of communication which allow us to understand other’s intentions. When children with autism were given these instructions, an area of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex which process what others intentions are is active. When no instructions were given, the area was not active in children with autism.
Denise Jones, BCBA
University of Tennessee at Martin
Psychology Department
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Autism in the News 7/ 16/07
Math and Autism Linked
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University will publish findings of a recent study suggesting an association between math and autism in the Journal of Human Nature. Talented mathematicians are at least twice as likely as the general population to have the disorder. Baron-Cohen compared undergraduate students in math with other disciplines (law, medicine) and found that those in math were more likely to have a sibling or parent with autism, pointing to genetics.
His theory is that there is a group of genes which codes for mathematical ability and autism. Finding the math genes could lead to a finding of genes associated with autism. He is currently gathering DNA from those good at English, but who are mathematically challenged.
IDEA Report Card Issued
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education published IDEA Report Cards for the 50 states and 8 territories. Only 9 states met the standards for educating children with disabilities. 41 states and 8 territories fell into the “needs assistance” or “needs intervention” categories. If these states do not significantly improve how children with disabilities are educated, they face sanctions, including loss of federal funds.
Weaknesses cited by the U.S. Department of Education include:
States fail to ensure that local school districts comply with the law.
States fail to comply with requirements about the transition from school to college or work. To look at your own state and how it did go to: http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/monitor/factsheet.html. To learn more about how this process works and what your state is required to do, read IDEA Report Cards: Did Your State Pass or Fail? http://www.wrightslaw.com/news/07/idea.report.cards.htm
Denise Jones, BCBA
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Autism in the News 6/25/07
Children with Autism can be Trained to Attend to Visual and Vocal Cues
http://www.physorg.com/news101739453.html
Research shows that children with autism spectrum disorders do not examine facial expressions or listen to vocal intonations during interactions. They often fail to pick up these communicative cues therefore missing the subtle intent of the interaction. Neuroimaging studies support this finding with evidence that the brain regions responsible for picking up these cues are not active.
A new study by UCLA researchers are finding that children with ASD can in fact be trained to pay more attention to facial expressions and vocal intonation. This training increase the activity of the medial prefrontal cortex, the area related to discerning intention in others.
This is one of the first studies of this kind and shows positive promise that training could minimize some of the social interaction deficits.
Higher Levels of Growth Hormone found in Autistic Boys
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=26691
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine have found that boys diagnosed with ASD have higher levels of growth hormone than boys without the disorder.
The elevated levels of hormone may help to explain the greater than normal head circumference of boys diagnosed with ASD. The boys diagnosed with autism also had a greater body mass index than the control group.
The study compared the weight, height, head circumference, and levels of growth-related hormones to growth and maturation in 71 boys with autism and with ASD to a group of 59 boys who did not have these conditions.
Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News 6/19/07
Rise in Autism Increases Demand for Educational Training
Jan Blacher, faculty chair of UC Riverside's Graduate School of Education, tells her students that years ago autism was considered a designer disease and it was studied because it was rare but interesting. Today Blancher remarks that every public school teacher will have to deal with a child diagnosed with autism at one time or another.
Schools are struggling to provide proper services for those diagnosed with autism but professionals say there is a need for educators to receive even more training with teaching children with autism.
Blacher says UC Riverside is looking at the feasibility of a Masters of Education program that would focus on autism, taking classes and conducting research related to the disorder.
“Junk” Genes Prove to be Useful
http://tinyurl.com/yt8pns
An international study in cellular function indicates that genes may play a minor role in a vastly complex system. A large amount of DNA once thought to be useless and labeled “junk DNA” now appears to play a key regulatory role in cellular processes. Also, the area of DNA found between genes could be triggers for disease.
More than 80 research institutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia have participated in the four-year, $42 million study, analyzing just 1 percent of the entire human genome and creating an inventory of the biologically functional elements.
The project is called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or ENCODE.
Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin +++
Autism in the News 5/21/07
Technology Helps Autistic Children
Dr. Gillian Hayes, a recent graduate of Georgia Tech College of Computing designed software during his PhD work to help improve data collection for behavior therapists working with children with autism. The device looks similar to a car’s keyless remote. You push the button which activates a recorder which captures the minutes immediately before, during and after the behavior.
Behavior therapists often have to count the number of behaviors occurring over a period of time. Sometimes these behaviors can occur very frequently. Taking time to mark each behavior manually takes away valuable time for intervention. This device allows the therapist to continue to work with the child while capturing the behavior of interest.
The device is currently being piloted at Haven Academy in Cobb County Georgia, but could be available commercially soon.
Autistic Behavior Seen in Infant Siblings
Researcher, Leslie Carver from the University of California, San Diego presented results of a study at the 2007 International Meeting for Autism Research in Seattle indicating that infants with older siblings who are diagnosed with autism fail to seek emotional cues from adults as other toddlers do.
“Social referencing” refers to checking the emotional displays of others and regulating our own emotions and behavior in response. Social referencing begins at age 1, but is impaired in individuals with autism. Siblings are at a higher risk for autism because of the genetic component to autism.
Denise Jones, BCBA
University of Tennessee at Martin
Department of Psychology +++
Autism in the News 5/14/07
Oxytocin Eases Symptoms of Autism
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003692973_autism04m.html
Evodokia Anagnostou, of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York was one of the researchers present at the International Meeting for Autism Research. In Anagnostou’s study 23 adults diagnosed with autism either received injections or a nasal spray of oxytocin or a placebo, or inactive ingredient.
Oxytocin is a hormone that is released during childbirth to stimulate contractions and during breastfeeding to help with milk secretion.
They found that the oxytocin eased some of the repetitive behavior, such as rocking, and improved their ability to identify emotions, such as anger and happiness, and helped them to relate to people better. Results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have supported the findings that oxytocin improved regions of the brain that are affected by autism.
"There are still a lot of questions, such as how to administer it daily," said Anagnostou. "But this is probably a promising avenue to pursue."
Facial Expressions not Processed by Those Diagnosed with Autism
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/529462/
Mari Davies, a UCLA graduate student in psychology, and Susan Bookheimer, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
This study compared the brain activity of 16 typically developing children with 16 children diagnosed with high-functioning autism. Both groups of children were asked to examine a series of facial expressions, like angry, fearful, happy, and neutral. In half of the faces the eyes were averted away from the child and in the other half of the pictures the face stared at the child.
When the normally developing children viewed the direct gaze faces a part of the brain called the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex(VLPFC)was activated, a brain region known for evaluating emotion. When they viewed the averted gaze face the brain activation in this same region was greatly reduced. In the children diagnosed with autism the VLPFC did not show activity for either face suggesting that this group do not process visual cues from another person’s eyes.
Researchers believe these findings suggest an explanation why someone diagnosed with autism have trouble picking up on social cues like body language and gestures.
Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News 5/3/07
Autistic Toddlers Study Photos of Faces
Avoiding eye contact is one of the characteristic features of Autism. A recent study from Yale University School of Medicine reveals that toddlers diagnosed with Autism have little trouble looking at photographs of faces. The results were presented at the May 3rd Meeting for Autism Research in Seattle.
The research used eye-tracking system to measure visual scanning patterns and their recognition of faces as well as abstract patterns. The findings may indicate that avoidance of eye contact in natural settings may be due to the complexity of stimuli associated with faces which results in heightened arousal. Further study in the area is needed.
Increased IQ with Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention
A research team from the University of Southampton, UK completed a two year study on the impact of early behavior intervention. The team found that the IQ’s of children who participated in the program showed substantial improvements and none regressed. Three quarters of the 23 children studied were able to be mainstreamed into school, compared with half of the 21 receiving other therapies.
The intervention consisted of 25 hours of intensive in home behavior interventions carried out by parents under the direction of a behavior consultant. The programs focused on improving eye contact and concentration as well as copying words or actions. Parents in the group who delivered the in home interventions report no higher level of stress than those in the parent group who did not deliver the therapy.
Sperm Mutation Lined to Autism
University of Iowa researchers have isolated a gene mutation in sperm cells of a father who does not have Autism, but passed the condition on to his two female children. The gene is neurexin 1. Thomas Wassink, M.D. reports that the deletion in the father’s sperm cells occurred while he was in gestation, therefore he was not affected, yet the children inherited a chromosome that was missing a small piece of DNA containing neurexin 1.
The deletion means that certain proteins which contribute to the synthesis of glutamate synapses do not form normally. This case will allow researchers to look in other families at this specific gene and its contributions to Autism.
Submitted May 4, 2007
S. Denise Jones, BCBA
UT Martin Psychology Department +++
AUTISM IN THE NEWS APRIL 16, 2007
Autism and Law Enforcement
Experts say a person with autism is seven times more likely than the average person to come in contact with a police officer — and far less adept at handling the encounter. “It’s education on all fronts,” said Kim Hetherington, an Autism Society board member. “People with autism need to learn how to cope, family members need to learn how to prepare them, and first responders need to know what to expect and what to look for. They need to know how to deal with someone with autism."
Dennis Debbaudt, who has worked with law enforcement, families, teachers and caregivers across the country and in Canada and the United Kingdom, has geared training to three groups: law enforcement; firefighters and first responders; and families, educators and care providers.
The first two sessions will focus on helping officials recognize autistic behaviors and characteristics; respond to autistic individuals; evaluate options for restraint, arrest and interviews; and work with families, organizations and schools. The final session will teach families, educators and caregivers to assess and manage risk, prepare for emergencies, create safe environments at home and away from home, and create support networks.
“It’s so easy for both sides to misinterpret actions during an encounter,” Hetherington said. “And the results can be tragic."
Many autistic people, for example, dislike being touched and are sensitive to shouting and stern, authoritative voices. A police officer’s demand to stop or to answer questions could trigger an autistic person’s “fight or flight” response, Hetherington said. “All reasoning shuts down. A person with autism might try to run from the officer, which could escalate the officer’s reaction."
Not Responding To Name May Be Sign of Autism
A child's failure to respond to his or her name at one year of age may be an early warning sign of autism or other developmental problems, researchers reported on Monday. The study, conducted at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, published in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, involved 101 children age one whose older siblings had autism, and who were therefore considered at risk. They were compared to 46 infants of the same age who were not believed to be at high risk of developing the disorder. With each child seated at a table with a small toy, a researcher walked behind and called his or her name in a clear voice. If the child did not respond after three seconds, the name was called again no more than twice.
All of the infants in the low-risk group responded to their name on the first or second call, the study said, compared to 86 percent in the at-risk group. For up to two years afterward the researchers followed 46 of the infants from the at-risk group and 25 from the low-risk group. They found that three-quarters of those who did not respond to their name at age 12 months had developmental problems at age 2. Of the children later diagnosed with autism, half had failed the test at one year, and of those who were identified as having any type of developmental delay, 39 percent had failed the name recognition test, the report said.
While the test will not find all children at risk for developmental problems, it is easy to administer, takes few resources and doctors might want to include it in child check-ups at age one, the study said. The finding is significant because earlier identification of autism offers the possibility of early intervention, which holds promise for improving outcomes.
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Autism in the News April 10, 2007
Paternal Link to Autism
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070125/asp/frontpage/story_7308461.asp
Scientists at the Manovikas Biomedical Research and Diagnostic Centre and other city institutions have found a possible paternal genetic link with autism. It has been long suspected that the cause of autism is complex and that several genetic and environmental factors are related to increased susceptibility to the disorder.
The researchers analyzed sequences of a gene called reelin in a group of 58 autistic children and a control group of 80 children with no neurological disorders as well as their parents. Italian scientists have shown that reelin, a gene related with brain development, may play a role in the susceptibility to autism. They found a significant transmission of a variant of the gene, reelin, from the father.
“The reelin variant we’ve observed is very common in India, but by itself, it does not lead to autism,” says Usha Rajamma, a geneticist and the principal investigator in the project. “Autism is a multi-factor disorder and only when the right combination of all the susceptibility genes and the environmental factors are present does a person get autism.”
International studies indicate that 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,000 people in India have autism. According to these numbers, India may have nearly two million autistic persons.
This study is based on a small sample size and more research has to be done using greater numbers. You will find the original article in this month’s American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.
Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News April 2, 2007
Video Modeling Effective Intervention with Autistic Children
Two studies led by Scott Bellini at Indiana University show that videos which show exemplary behaviors can help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders develop social and daily living skills. The first study was an analysis of 23 studies on video modeling and video self-modeling (children are shown footage of themselves performing desired behaviors). Improvements in areas of behavioral functioning, social-communication skills, and functional skills were seen as well as improvements being maintained after the program ended and improvements which transferred to other settings not found on the videos.
In a second study, two preschool children with ASD viewed footage of themselves interacting positively with peers. The videos were effective in increasing social interaction. The second study, the videos were implemented in a classroom setting by teachers. Bellini suggests that this intervention can be carried out with minimal disruption to the teacher or classroom.
Autistic Children Able to Read Eyes- Infer Intentions of Others
Autistic children can infer others mental states based on a person’s eyes. University of Nottingham researcher, Dr. Elisa Back found that using moving images of faces, autistic children were able to identify the mental state of others. This is contrary to previous research, likely due to a procedural variation in which moving images were used rather than still images, which have been used in previous studies.
Submitted by
Denise Jones
Lecturer in Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in the News March 26. 2007
Three States Report Increases in Those Diagnosed with Autism
Statistics say that the rates of autism increased in New Jersey, Oregon, and Minnesota in 2006/2007. Numbers from the Vaccine Autoimmune Project for Research and Education (VAP). http://www.vaproject.org/ and the department of education for the three states report that in NJ there is an increase of 965 children diagnosed from ages 6-21 and an increase of 93 children between 3-5 years of age. This puts NJ’s numbers to 7, 663 diagnosed with autism. In Minnesota the numbers are now 8, 613, up 1, 163 children age 6-21 and up 82 between the ages 3-5. Oregon numbers went up 649 from 6-21 and up 66 for those between the ages of 3-5 to an overall rate of to 5, 459. It is not suggested that the upsurge in diagnosed children was due to vaccination or mercury.
Parents Convinced the DAN! Alternative Approach Will Bring Their Children Back
http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=147858&zoneid=500
The DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) approach apparently grew out of an international meeting in 1995 attended by medical specialists and scientists. This approach is based on the premise that autism develops in individuals with a genetically heightened intolerance of certain foods and common environmental toxins. Prenatal exposure to toxins through the mother’s diet, medications, dental fillings and other sources, along with vaccines, antibiotics and other substances commonly experienced by babies and young children, set off a self-perpetuating metabolic storm. The result in these children with low tolerance comes in the form of neurological symptoms and behaviors associated with autism-related disorders.
DAN! Health practitioners try to eliminate the toxins that triggered the drastic behavior and cognitive changes so that individuals can regain their neurological health. Children in this program are put on special diets and are given supplements and other remedies. Many parents also use interventions such as Applied Behavioral Analysis and special education programs in their public schools.
Parents can spend up to $12, 000 or more on this 2-year treatment plan for practitioner visits, special foods and nutritional supplements for their child, and laboratory testing. Mainstream physicians warn parents that this program is not scientifically tested and may be giving parents false but expensive hopes. Many parents that subscribe to the DAN! Protocols feel it is a gamble they are willing to take if it brings their child back to them.
Angie MacKewn
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Tennessee at Martin
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Autism in News March 5, 2007
Autism Gene Identified
The Autism Genome Project began in 2002 when 120 scientists from over 50 institutions began to work together and share their samples, data and expertise to aid in identifying autism susceptibility genes. The project was funded by Autism Speaks, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of autism and raising money for research, and the National Institutes of Health.
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