Autism and Asperger

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Autism and Asperger

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Autism "Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old and seek help by the time the child is 2. Children with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication, social interactions, and pretend play. In some, aggression -- toward others or self -- may be present. Some children with autism appear normal before age 1 or 2 and then suddenly "regress" and lose language or social skills they had previously gained. This is called the regressive type of autism. People with autism may perform repeated body movements, show unusual attachments to objects or have unusual distress when routines are changed. Individuals may also experience sensitivities in the senses …"

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Asperger syndrome "The child with Asperger shows below-average nonverbal communication gestures, fails to develop peer relationships, has an inability to express pleasure in other people's happiness, and lacks the ability to reciprocate emotionally in normal social interactions. The condition appears to be more common in boys than in girls. There are likely genetic factors, but some theories suggest a prenatal infection may be to blame. While people with Asperger syndrome are frequently socially inept, many have above-average intelligence, and they may excel in fields like computer programming and science. There is no delay in cognitive development, in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, or in curiosity about the environment. Generally, there is no language development delay."

NHS (UK) - Autistic spectrum disorder "Autistic spectrum disorder is the term that is used to describe a group of disorders, including autism and Asperger syndrome. The word 'spectrum' is used because the characteristics of the condition vary from one person to another. Those with autism may also have a learning disability. Those who have Asperger syndrome tend to have average, or above average, intelligence, but still have difficulty making sense of the world. The causes of ASD are still unknown, and research is ongoing. However, research suggests that genetic factors may be involved, and there is also some evidence to show that the condition may be linked to environmental factors, such as pollution, or viruses like rubella (German measles). Recent research suggests that around 1 in 100 people have ASD in the UK. It is thought to affect four times as many males than females, although the reason for this is unknown."

NHS (UK) - Autistic spectrum disorder: Diagnosis for adults "Describing your experiences AS is characterised by something known as the triad of impairments. People with AS will be affected in some way by each of these impairments. The autistic spectrum is very broad and two people with the condition may have very different symptoms. No one person will have all the traits but most people with AS will usually have problems in the following three areas. Social communication Difficulty understanding gestures, body language and facial expressions, a lack of social motivation and difficulties making friends Social understanding Difficulties in group situations, problems understanding double meanings and jokes, and choosing topics that are not appropriate to talk about. Imagination This can include difficulty with imagining alternative outcomes and finding it hard to predict what will happen next. This frequently leads to anxiety and can show itself as: An obsession with rigid routines and severe distress if routines are disrupted. Problems with making plans for the future. Problems with sequencing tasks. Secondary traits of Asperger syndrome People with AS tend to have difficulties which relate to the triad but are not included within it. These can include: obsessive compulsive behaviours, obsessive interests in just one topic, social phobias, acute anxiety, depression, social isolation and clumsiness, often linked to a condition known as dyspraxia."

NHS - Autism: real story (Daniel and his family talk about how cycling has helped them all to cope with autism)

Highlighted Articles

Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the First 3 Years of Life (Nature Clinical Practice Neurology 2008) “The age at diagnosis of ASD ranges from 3 to 6 years, but there is increasing evidence that diagnosis in the second year of life is possible in some children. Early diagnosis will lead to earlier behavior-based intervention, which is associated with improvements in core areas, such as social functioning and communication. Early detection of—and intervention to treat—ASD is crucial because it is likely to lead to an improved outcome.”

A Prospective Study of Response to Name in Infants at Risk for Autism (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007) "Conclusions Failure to respond to name by age 12 months is highly suggestive of developmental abnormality but does not identify all children at risk for developmental problems. Lack of responding to name is not universal among infants later diagnosed with ASD and/or other developmental delays. Poor response to name may be a trait of the broader autism phenotype in infancy."

Structure of the Autism Symptom Phenotype: A Proposed Multidimensional Model. (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2007) "Conclusions: The pervasive developmental disorder symptom phenotype is composed of three domains or factors: social-communication, inflexible language and behavior, and repetitive sensory and motor behavior. Each child with pervasive developmental disorder can be characterized by these dimensions, which give an informative picture of the clinical presentation and a quantitative estimate of the severity of the disability."

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Autism and Asperger

Risk Factors

NEWS:

Antiflea Pet Shampoos with Pyrethrin May Play a Role in Autism “Compared with mothers of typically developing children, mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders were twice as likely to report that they had shampooed their pets with pyrethrin-containing antiflea/antitick shampoos around the time of their pregnancy, in a Californian case-control study that looked at household pesticide use.”

Autism And Schizophrenia Share Common Origin, Review Suggests “Ploeger's research reveals that in the period between 20 and 40 days after fertilisation, the embryo is highly susceptible to disruptions. In this period, early organogenesis, there is a lot of interaction between the different parts of the body. If something goes wrong with a given part of the body, it greatly influences the development of other parts of the body. As people with schizophrenia and autism frequently have physical abnormalities to body parts formed during early organogenesis, Ploeger concluded that the foundation for these psychiatric disorders is laid very early during pregnancy. The existence of a relationship between unhealthy behaviour during pregnancy and the subsequent development of schizophrenia and autism in the child was already known. However, Ploeger's hypothesis that the early organogenesis stage is the most critical, is new. Ploeger bases her hypothesis on an extensive study of scientific literature in this area. She often had to make use of related studies; although a lot of research has been done into prenatal influences on the development of schizophrenia and autism, little is known about the influence that the period between 20 to 40 days after fertilisation has. … Ploeger advises women to stop risky behaviour such as smoking, medicine use and stressful activities before they even become pregnant. If you only start to live healthily once you know that you are pregnant, the basis for a disrupted development of your child could already have been laid.”

Autism Cause: Brain Development Genes? Genes Missing in Autism Needed for Learning-Triggered Brain Growth “The good news is that a surprisingly large number of these mutant genes affect the on/off switches that control experience-triggered brain development. That's much better than missing the genes themselves, says study leader Christopher A. Walsh, MD, PhD, chief of genetics at Children's Hospital Boston and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "We are encouraged that some of these mutations do not seem to completely remove the gene altogether, but instead disrupt its on/off switches," Walsh tells WebMD. "That does offer hope we may be able to figure out other ways of activating the gene."“

Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources “A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source. … “We suspect low-dose exposures to various environmental toxicants, including mercury, that occur during critical windows of neural development among genetically susceptible children may increase the risk for developmental disorders such as autism,” the authors wrote.”

Chromosomal Abnormalities Play Substantial Role In Autism

Chromosome Abnormalities Raise Risk for Autism “Abnormalities on chromosome 16 appear to raise children's risk for developing autism, a new study suggests. The discovery, made by a consortium of autism researchers, pinpoints one of the causes of a disorder that is turning out to be as complex in its origins as it is in its symptoms. Not only is autism complicated, its incidence has grown rapidly in recent years, with an estimated one in every 150 children in the United States now struck by the neurological disorder. … According to the study, published Jan. 9 in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, a section of chromosome 16 is deleted or duplicated in about 1 percent of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). About 15 percent of autism cases have known genetic causes. … In most cases, the abnormality on the chromosome was not inherited from a parent but occurred de novo, happening during embryonic development. This means the chances of having another child with autism may be closer to 5 percent, as opposed to 50 percent if the abnormality was inherited, the researchers explained.”

Common Mechanisms May Underlie Autism's Seemingly Diverse Mutations: Study Implicates Disruption of Genes Regulated by Early Experience “The mutations may disrupt specific genes that are vital to the developing brain, and which are turned on and off by experience-triggered neuronal activity. A research team led by Christopher Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., and Eric Morrow, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard University, found two large sections missing on chromosomes in people with autism and traced them to likely inherited mutations in such genes regulated by neuronal activity. They report their findings in the July 11, 2008 issue of Science. … “The emerging picture of the genetics of autism is quite surprising. There appear to be many separate mutations involved, with each family having a different genetic cause,” explained NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. “The one unifying observation from this new report is that all of the relevant mutations could disrupt the formation of vital neural connections during a critical period when experience is shaping the developing brain.””

Leaky gut autism theory doubted “Children with autism do not appear to leak damaging proteins from their intestines, a study into the so-called "leaky gut" theory has suggested. It has been claimed autistic children cannot fully digest proteins found in many foods - and that the resulting peptides escape and affect the brain. But UK researchers found children with autism did not have more peptides in their urine than a control group. “

New study backs parent age-autism link “Advanced parental age does indeed appear to boost autism risk in children, and the risk is seen with both mothers and fathers, new research shows. "What we found was that actually it's both parents age, and when you control for one parent's age you still see the effect of the other parent's age, and vice versa," Dr. Maureen Durkin of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, the lead researcher of the study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, told Reuters Health. The findings may offer clues to understanding the causes of autism and why it's on the rise, but they shouldn't be used to guide family planning decisions, Durkin said. Even though the oldest child born to two older parents is three times as likely to be autistic than a middle or youngest child with younger parents, she explained, there's still a 97 percent chance that the higher-risk child will be perfectly fine. "The vast majority of children don't develop autism," she emphasized. “

Older Men More Likely To Father A Child With Autistic Spectrum Disorder - Royal College Of Psychiatrists “Children born to older fathers are at increased risk of having an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), according to new research published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. But the researchers found no link between increased maternal age and the risk of ASD.”

ARTICLES:

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Birth Weight and Gestational Age Characteristics of Children With Autism, Including a Comparison With Other Developmental Disabilities (PEDIATRICS 2008) “In multivariate analyses, birth weight of <2500 g and preterm birth at <33 weeks' gestation were associated with an approximately twofold increased risk for autism, although the magnitude of risk from these factors varied according to gender (higher in girls) and autism subgroup (higher for autism accompanied by other developmental disabilities). For example, a significant fourfold increased risk was observed in low birth weight girls for autism accompanied by mental retardation, whereas there was no significantly increased risk observed in low birth weight boys for autism alone.”

Genetic and environmental covariation between autistic traits and behavioral problems. (Twin Res Hum Genet. 2007)

Identifying Autism Loci and Genes by Tracing Recent Shared Ancestry (Science 2008) “ … suggest that defective regulation of gene expression after neural activity may be a mechanism common to seemingly diverse autism mutations.”

Perinatal and maternal risk factors for autism spectrum disorders in New South Wales, Australia. (Child Care Health Dev. 2008)

Risk factors associated with childhood asthma. (J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2008) “Conclusion: Childhood asthma was strongly associated with a family history of asthma and allergic rhinitis, the urban place of residence, having smokers as parents and early weaning from maternal breast milk. The results highlight the need to educate the parents about the risk of smoking and early weaning in the development of asthma.”

Risk of autism spectrum disorders after infantile spasms: A population-based study nested in a cohort with seizures in the first year of life (Epilepsia 2008)

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