Diagnosis

Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children With and Without Autism

Submitted by dawnacrawford on January 1, 2010 - 09:50
Source: 
Environmental Health Perspectives, Hertz-Picciotto, Green, Delwiche, Hansen, Walker, Pessah
Link: 
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0900736
Date Published: 
January 2010
Year Published: 
2010

The Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study enrolled children 2-5 years of age. After diagnostic evaluation, they analyzed three groups: AU/ASD, non-AU/ASD with developmental delay (DD), and population-based TD controls. Mothers were interviewed about household, medical, and dietary exposures. Blood Hg was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to predict blood Hg from diagnostic status controlling for Hg sources.  Fish consumption strongly predicted total Hg concentration. AU/ASD children ate less fish. After adjustment for fish and other Hg sources, blood Hg levels in AU/ASD children were similar to those of TD children ; this was also true among non-fish eaters. The direct effect of AU/ASD diagnosis on blood Hg not through the indirect pathway of altered fish consumption was a 12% reduction. DD children had lower blood Hg concentrations in all analyses. Dental amalgams in children with gum-chewing or teeth-grinding habits predicted higher levels. After accounting for dietary and other differences in Hg exposures, total Hg in blood was neither elevated nor reduced in CHARGE Study preschoolers with AU/ASD compared with unaffected controls, and resembled those of nationally representative samples.

A Powerful Identify: A Vanishing Diagnosis

Submitted by Anonymous on November 3, 2009 - 10:48
Source: 
New York Times
Link: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html
Date Published: 
November 3, 2009
Abstract: 

Nobody has been able to show consistent differences between what clinicians diagnose as Asperger’s syndrome and what they diagnose as mild autistic disorder. Thus, there is a proposal to remove Asperger’s syndrome from the next edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual. But the change, if approved by the manual’s editors and consultants, is likely to be controversial. The Asperger’s diagnosis is used by health insurers, researchers, state agencies and schools — not to mention people with the disorder, many of whom proudly call themselves Aspies.

Mercury-Vaccine Link Disproven in Autism-Study

Submitted by Anonymous on October 19, 2009 - 10:50
Source: 
Reuters
Link: 
http://in.reuters.com/article/health/idINN0425071020080107
Date Published: 
October 19, 2009
Abstract: 

A new study provides more proof that childhood vaccines with mercury as a preservative -- no longer on the market -- did not cause autism. It found that the number of autism cases continued to rise through that period even though the preservative thimerosal -- nearly half of which is made of ethylmercury -- was removed from most vaccines in 2001.

Experts Summarize the State of Research in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Submitted by Anonymous on October 14, 2009 - 10:51
Source: 
Science Daily
Link: 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091014122049.htm
Date Published: 
October 14, 2009
Abstract: 

Scientific understanding and medical treatments for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have advanced significantly over the past several years, but much remains to be done, say experts from the Center for Autism Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who recently published a scientific review of the field.

CDC Finds Higher Incidence of Autism

Submitted by Anonymous on October 9, 2009 - 10:54
Source: 
Chicago Tribune
Link: 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-autism-tribuneoct05,0,5308671.story
Date Published: 
October 5, 2009
Abstract: 

About 1 in 100 8-year-old children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who will be releasing details of their study later this year. The rate -- significantly higher than the government's 2007 estimate of 1 in 150.

Utah Researchers Discover Another Genetic Link to Autism

Submitted by Anonymous on October 9, 2009 - 10:52
Source: 
Salt Lake Tribune
Link: 
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_13516284
Date Published: 
October 8, 2009
Abstract: 

An international consortium of researchers, including three from the University of Utah, has discovered yet another genetic link to autism. Studying the genes of more than 1,000 families -- including 150 from Utah -- who have more than one person with the disorder, the researchers found a region on chromosome 5 that is strongly associated with autism.

California Dept of Health Publishes Study on Autism and Maternal/Paternal Age

Submitted by Anonymous on October 5, 2009 - 10:55
Source: 
American Journal of Epidemiology
Link: 
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR09-87-CDPHPUBLISHESSTUDYONAUTISMANDMATERNALANDPATERNALAGE.aspx
Date Published: 
October 5, 2009
Abstract: 

Reviewing a larger population than in any other study of its kind, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has found that as parents age their risk of giving birth to a child with autism increases modestly. Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the new CDPH study shows that for each 10-year increase in a mother’s age, the risk of autism increased by about 38 percent. For each 10-year increase in a father’s age, the risk of autism increased by about 22 percent.

Op-Ed: Fight to Overcome Autism Gets Major Boost, Higher Priority

Submitted by Anonymous on October 5, 2009 - 10:53
Source: 
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Link: 
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_hl939
Date Published: 
October 5, 2009
Abstract: 

The federal government will provide nearly twice as much funding for autism research in the upcoming fiscal year as we had just three years ago. President Obama has made autism a focus from the first days of his presidency in hopes to counterbalance some of the new challenges Autism has created for for families, schools, and health care providers.

For the First Time, A Census of Autistic Adults

Submitted by Anonymous on October 3, 2009 - 10:55
Source: 
Time Magazine
Link: 
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1927415,00.html?xid=rss-health
Date Published: 
October 3, 2009
Abstract: 

On Sept. 22, England's National Health Service (NHS) released the first study of autism in the general adult population. The findings confirm the intuitive assumption: that ASD is just as common in adults as it is in children. Researchers at the University of Leicester, working with the NHS Information Center found that roughly 1 in 100 adults are on the spectrum — the same rate found for children in England, Japan, Canada and, for that matter, New Jersey.

Researchers identify how PCBs may alter in utero, neonatal brain development

Submitted by dawnacrawford on April 1, 2009 - 11:33
Source: 
PLoS-Biology, Pessah, et al
Link: 
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uoc--rih040609.php
Date Published: 
April 2009
Year Published: 
2009

In three new studies — including one appearing in the Public Library of Science - Biology (PLoS - Biology) — UC Davis researchers provide compelling evidence of how low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) alter the way brain cells develop.

The findings could explain at last — some 30 years after the toxic chemicals were banned in the United States — the associations between exposure of the developing nervous system to PCBs and behavioral deficits in children.