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 »

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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 »

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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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Strike another one against Jenny McCarthy: the special diet that the actress claims cured her son’s autism is nothing but a bunch of hooey. Or at least so say the researchers in this months issue of the Pediatrics.

The study completed by researchers at Harvard has been reported by the AP to refute the concept of “autistic enterocolitis,” one of the buzzwords for the pro-diet crowd (including McCarthy) that essentially means kid with autism have a special inflammatory bowl disease. Continue reading »

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Much ado has been made of the new study saying the numbers of autistic kids in America are much higher than the already high numbers advocates have been using for years. But hidden inside the study comes an even more shocking figure.

More than a third of the parents included in the study in Pediatrics reported their kids were no longer autistic. Continue reading »

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