Free Republic

Bumetanide, a diuretic approved to treat people with liver and heart disease, is currently being tested on mice and rats to prove its effectiveness in reversing and alleviating the effects of autism in people.

In an article published in Science, the researchers demonstrate that chloride levels are elevated in the neurons of mice used in an animal model of autism, and remain at abnormal levels from birth. These results corroborate the success obtained with the diuretic treatment tested on autistic children by the researchers and clinicians in 2012, and suggest that administration of diuretics to mice before birth corrects the deficits in the offspring. They also show that oxytocin, the birth hormone, brings about a decrease in chloride level during birth, which controls the expression of the autistic syndrome. . . . . A...

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to outfit autistic kids with tracking devices.

An 11-year-old autistic Middleboro boy’s claim that he was sexually assaulted by another youth inside his foster home was dismissed as “consensual” sex by child welfare officials charged with protecting him, in a stunning case the boy’s family and school officials charge was plagued by missteps by the embattled Department of Children and Families. According to DCF investigative reports, police reports and letters, the boy — then 11 but with the cognitive ability of a 5- or 6-year-old, his father told police — was allegedly sexually assaulted by another youth in the foster home while the parents slept during the...

A long-awaited study has confirmed the fears of Somali residents in Minneapolis that their children suffer from higher rates of a disabling form of autism compared with other children there. The study — by the University of Minnesota, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the research and advocacy group Autism Speaks — found high rates of autism in two populations: About one Somali child in 32 and one white child in 36 in Minneapolis were on the autism spectrum. The national average is one child in 88, according to Coleen A. Boyle, who directs the C.D.C.’s Center on...

Autism advocates are set to protest tomorrow against a quiet effort by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration to require annual flu vaccinations for all New York City schoolchildren.On Wednesday, with just three weeks to go until he leaves office, Mr. Bloomberg’s controversial Board of Health is set to vote on new rules that would force children as young as six months old to be immunized each year before December 31 if they attend licensed day care or pre-school programs.“Young children have a high risk of developing severe complications from influenza. One-third of children under five in New York City do not...

A Florida town has ordered an autistic Florida boy to relinquish the pet chickens his parents say have transformed him from a troubled little boy given to harming himself into a vibrant and happy preschooler

Susan Boyle revealed she has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. The Scottish singer who shot to worldwide fame in 2009 with her jaw-dropping performance on "Britain's Got Talent" was diagnosed last year, but has now decided to reveal her news publicly for the first time. Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Boyle said, "It was the wrong diagnosis when I was a kid. "I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself." Asperger's has...

Autism can be identified in babies as young as two months, early research suggests. US researchers analysed how infants looked at faces from birth to the age of three. They found children later diagnosed with autism had shown diminished eye contact - a hallmark of autism - in the first few months of life. The findings, reported in Nature, raised hope for early interventions to tackle autism, said a UK expert. In the study, researchers led by Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta used eye-tracking technology to measure the way babies looked at and responded to social clues. They...

For the first time, WA health authorities have allowed embryos to be screened to reduce the chance of a high-risk family having a child with autism. The Reproductive Technology Council approved the application for a fertility clinic to do a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, to screen for autism. There are no genetic tests for autism, so instead of looking for a gene mutation, the screening identifies the embryo's sex because boys are at least four times more likely to develop autism. It is a new frontier in embryo screening because, unlike other conditions with a distinct genetic basis, autism...

A Texas megachurch connected to a pastor who has openly questioned the benefits of modern medicine has been forced to host vaccination clinics after 21 members of the congregation contracted measles. The outbreak started when a person who contracted measles overseas visited Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, located about 20 miles north of Fort Worth, Texas. Officials with area health departments said those affected by the outbreak range in age from 4-months to 44-years-old. All of the school-age children with measles were homeschooled, and the majority of those who were infected had not been vaccinated. 'If it finds a...

When outbreaks arise among children, health officials are quick to state that it’s due to a breakdown in ‘herd immunity.‘ "Some" doctors parrot it too, without even looking at the research. They say it’s happening more often nationwide as states make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinations.

A devastating letter sent to the family of a teen with autism is hateful, but not a hate crime, police say. “Despite the hateful language used, the Crown Attorney’s office has advised that the content of the letter falls below the threshold for a hate crime,” Durham Region police said in a statement Tuesday. “However, there are other Criminal Code issues that are being considered.” The criminal code defines hate propaganda as a statement that advocates genocide, publicly incites hatred, or wilfully promotes hatred. Although the message in the anonymous letter has been spread widely by concerned family and friends,...

A family is in shock and a community has united after an anonymous hate letter was written about a young boy living with severe autism. Karla Begley told CityNews her son Max, 13, stays with his grandmother in the morning during the summer time. It was at that home in Newcastle where letter was delivered on Friday. “I was shaking when I was reading it,” Brenda Millson, Max’s grandmother, told CityNews. “It’s awful words. You don’t know why somebody would ever do such a thing.” The typed, one-page letter refers to the young boy as a “nuisance” and a “wild...

FULL TITLE: Autism breakthrough as 'genetic signature' in babies as young as a year found; blood test in the works A GENETIC "signature" of autism in babies as young as 12 months has been identified for the first time, an international conference is to be told. A simple blood test is now being developed and may be available in one to two years, Professor Eric Courchesne will tell the Asia Pacific Autism conference in Adelaide today. "This discovery really changes the landscape of our understanding of causes and effective treatments," says the director of the Autism Centre of Excellence at...

July 19, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Swedish study has found that children conceived with a certain type of in vitro fertilization (IVF) have a 51 percent increased risk of intellectual impairment – defined as an IQ score below 70. They also linked the procedure to a small increased risk for autism in cases of twins and triplets. Scientists studied data from 2.5 million births, and found the heightened risk in cases of babies conceived by a process in which the sperm is injected directly into the mother’s egg, known as Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). ICSI is used typically to...

Hey, I don’t know what you’ve been up to today, but if it’s feeling good about America in general, well, probably time to stop. Jenny McCarthy is joining The View. Before I get into this, a quick disclaimer: I haven’t ever actually watched The View, although I did read Wikipedia’s article “The View (U.S. TV Series)” from which I learned that the show features “mostly five women.” (Said article has a helpful if byzantine chart detailing which woman had which seat and for what time period. It’s cool, I guess, if that’s what you’re into.) I also should let you...

Enlarge Image Monkey business. Young rhesus monkeys that receive human antibrain antibodies in utero act oddly in social situations. Credit: Nancy Collins/Creative Commons "Antibrain" antibodies that slip through the placenta from mother to fetus during pregnancy may account for roughly a quarter of autism cases, a new study suggests. Some scientists say the work could lead to a blood test that accurately predicts whether a mother will bear a child with this immune-triggered form of the disorder—a claim that's raising eyebrows among skeptics. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a range of communication and social deficits estimated to affect 1 in...

An Ellington mother is upset after her son, who suffers from autism, was denied access to the swimming pool at a country club because he requires a flotation vest. Cristin Millen told Eyewitness News her 8-year-old son, Aiden Robert, was denied access to the Ellington Ridge Country Club. According to Millen, she signed up for a membership at Ellington Ridge Country Club and told them that Aiden Robert had autism and was required to wear a life jacket. Millen said she asked officials at the country club to check to make sure that was OK. When her husband Kevin called...

Pregnant women exposed to high levels of air pollution are up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Researchers looked at data going back to 1989 about 325 women who had a child with autism and 22,000 women who had a child without the disorder, then correlated that with pollutant levels at the time and place of birth and how much exposure the women would have had. In areas where diesel particulates or mercury in...