Posted on 02/18/2007 5:39:43 PM PST by Incorrigible
A team of New Jersey scientists believes it has found ways to detect biological risk factors for autism through simple urine and blood tests, a discovery that could lead to groundbreaking medical treatment for the neurological disorder.
The team of 16 scientists, mostly drawn from the campuses of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, say their findings, the result of more than two years of study on how the body breaks down fatty acids, could be a breakthrough for what is the fastest-growing developmental disorder in the nation, with no known cause or cure.
The UMDNJ researchers say they have found that children with autism are unable to metabolize key fatty acids that help the body fight inflammation that causes damage to the brain and other organs.
"It's an exciting story that's unfolding," said George Lambert, coordinator of the 15-member research team.
The potential treatment, members of the team say, is a kind of "therapeutic cocktail" tailored to each child, which would give them a dose of a "good" fatty acid that they are not able to make on their own. Team member Bernd Spur of UMDNJ-Stratford created the chemical process to replicate one of those good fatty acids.
"The pathway doesn't work (in the body), so we circumvent it," said Spur, a chemist.
Currently, the only way to diagnose autism is by a clinical assessment of symptoms, which include difficulty with communication and social interaction, as well as obsessive behaviors and interests. New Jersey has a high incidence of the disorder, affecting 1 in 94 children in the state, compared with 1 in 150 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Autism Bump
It is possible that this disease is a combination of biochemical and environmental factors. Those susceptible may require particular circumstances to activate the disorder.
However, the definition of autism has been expanded to such a degree as to make true numbers almost impossible to discover.
Babies need breast feeding.
There may be a link beween glutein and Casein and certain autistic spectrum disorders.
I agree completely. That is why I breastfed my, later diagnosed, autistic son.
bump
I had more in mind the theory about excessive exposure to television, computers, and flashing lights.
I think this might provide a clue into particular circumstances that activate the disorder.
Mercury, Autism and the Global Vaccine Agenda - Google Video
David Ayoub, M.D. goes through the relations of Mercury to Autism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6890106663412840646&q=vaccines+autism
Early Downward Trends in
Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal
of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines
http://www.jpands.org/vol11no1/geier.pdf
My sister-in-law swears that hers was normal before receiving a vaccination (I don't know which one or ones).
She adopted him at 2 weeks of age, I honestly don't know at what age this particular vaccination took place.
But these substances have been removed from vaccines, and yet autism continues at a high level. One of the papers you post claims a decline, but the levels shown in the graph on page 12 is still quite high.
While there may have been some impact, I don't think that's all there is to it.
Furthermore, the television theory is reasonable, because babies organizes their brains in response to visual and aural clues. Rapidly changing sound and images might reasonably cause infant brains to be miswired.
The onset of the symptoms would be diagnosed around the same time (age 2) as the MMR injection. Today they're getting better about diagnosis at even earlier ages.
I have video of my son flapping his hands and other typical behavior at around 18 months, long before the vaccinations.
I breastfed too and agree that its great but....funny how autism has skyrocketed at the same time that breastfeeding became popular again. Especially breastfeeding for a year or more!
jersey girl ping
I kept my son from receiving these shots. He developed symptoms early in his second year, but we thought it was because we had another child before he even turned 2 - wrote it off to sibling regression. That was a mistake on our part and kept him out of therapy for at least a year.
My point is that I don't point the finger at these shots unless they in some way affect a mother's abiity to pass on the genes discussed in this article - but that's a WILD guess.
This may be very wild, but I hav been watching UFO weekend on the History Channel most of the day, but...
With the increasing rate of this disorder, has anyone posited that this is a natural evolution of the species? If the planet was reaching a carrying capacity - not that we could ever know that, but the planet's ecosystems certainly would - is it not possible that our species is slowly withdrawing into our own brains? Is this possibly a step on our volutionary ladder? Brains changing the way they process information in order to deal with a different evel of technology? of environment? What if there is nothing wrong with our children other than they are more advanced than we are capable of understanding, of communicating?
My autistic son is 5 and he is slowly finding ways to communicate with me, but I can't help but notice that he always seems to have this look on his face like he's talking to a child rather than the other way around. Just throwing this out there to see if others have thought of this possibility.
PS. I think any human who thinks they know what is going on with our planet, whether global warming or other, is an egotist. Not one person on this planet can comprehend the cyles or patterns of this planet when they could be a billion years long. We're a grain of sand on the beach.
The increased rate is due to more types of mental handicap being dianosed as autism.
Yep- same here.
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