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Once again, the health sections of newspapers and online sources are trumpeting, “Autism Linked to …”. Today, it’s “Autism Linked to Maternal and Paternal Age.”
In fact, this isn’t really news; it just confirms a 2006 study and an even larger 2010 study.
The problem I have with these news releases isn’t that autism is being linked to something. That part is good. I’m glad that research is ongoing, and that scientists are looking at the puzzle of autism from many different angles. What concerns me is that simply linking something to autism doesn’t show that there’s a cause involved.
Families in the Ottawa area have an unusual option when it comes to helping their autistic children relate to police: they can register their children with the police as part of a database that gives cops some insight into a child’s condition before the interaction starts.
This has some clear and basic advantages: the police know the child may not be able to respond to verbal cues, and may be easily triggered by the noise and light of sirens.
Is the rise in autism due to who you marry?
An interesting new theory on why there has been such a dramatic rise in diagnosed cases of children with autism, particularly Asperger’s, is being covered in Time magazine this week. It theorizes that more children are being born in the autistic spectrum because people with certain autistic traits are more likely to meet, marry and reproduce than in past generations.
Introduced by Simon Baron-Cohen (who happens to be the cousin of Sasha Baron-Cohen, of Borat fame), a neuroscientist and leading autism researcher, the theory of ”assortative mating” is based on anecdotal evidence, speculation, and what appears to be a pretty common-sense assessment of various societal trends.
Baron-Cohen noted in the late 1990′s that a shared cognitive profile (tendency toward “systemizing” (focusing on systems and how they work) and a notable lack of empathy) could be found among people with autism and, to a lesser extent, their relatives.
Gluten-free bread is a treat for kids on a GFCF diet
Over a quarter of kids with autism spectrum diagnoses follow some kind of special diet. A gluten-free casein-free diet is the most common. Parents keep their kids on this heavily restricted diets because they say the diets work miracles. They’re reported to improve everything from sleep to gastrointestinal problems to behavioral issues.
Do they really work? Parents swear by them, but there’s no science to back up the claims. In this week’s Science of Kids column, my colleague Heather explores the truth about the autism diet.
Recent studies have shown no benefit to autistic kids following a gluten-free diet. The studies have been small, though, and the results aren’t definitive. Legions of parents believe the diets improve life for their individual kids. What’s going on?
Serotonin's role in autism symptoms
Scientists at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio suggest that up to 30 percent of autism cases may involve a disruption in how the brain processes the neurotransmitter serotonin.
The team has been studying strains of mice that exhibit some of the behaviors characteristic of autism, such as difficulty with social interaction and repetitive behaviors.
In the current experiment, the researchers treated these mice with a drug called Buspirone, which increases the action of serotonin in the brain. With this treatment, the mice became more social and interacted with stranger mice more easily.
Here’s what that means for our understanding of autism’s causes and possible treatments: Continue reading »
In yet another blow to the vaccines-cause-autism theory, the vaccine court ruled today in three cases that there was not sufficient evidence to show that vaccines caused autism in three cases.
Parents of the three boys brought the cases alleging that thimerosal, a mercury derivative once commonly used as a vaccine preservative, caused their autism. The Special Masters of the Court of Federal Claims, who heard the cases, concluded that they failed to meet the burden of proof. Continue reading »
It’s always been tenuous at best, but the link between autism and vaccines has been dealt a final and devastating blow this week. The medical journal that printed the controversial study in the late nineties has fully retracted it.
In the wake of a medical panel’s announcement that the autism/MMR study’s author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, acted unethically in building the “evidence” that’s been used to support an entire crowd of anti-vaxers, the Lancet issued its announcement today. Continue reading »
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