Guest guest Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 The likelihood that a psychiatrist has a better way of chelating heavy metals is not very high. Although we're willing to listen. "And the cow jumped over the moon" [sPAM?] Uof L Neuroscientist So Close To Autism Breakthrough He's Using His Own Money To Fund Research His bio and other studies below.http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5146301 & nav=menu31_3UofL Neuroscientist So Close To Autism Breakthrough He's Using His Own Money To Fund Research July 14, 2006, 10:12 AM By Lori Lyle (LOUISVILLE) -- New findings could mean an incredible treatment for people with autism -- so incredible that a researcher at the University of Louisville is digging into his own pockets to make it happen as quickly as possible. WAVE 3 Medical Reporter Lori Lyle has more in this exclusive report. Dr. Casanova, a neuroscientist at the University of Louisville, is passionate about his research. His most recent published study finds drastic differences in the brains of autistic individuals. And now, with this knowledge, he's eager to move to the next step: treatment. The breakthrough discovery is the result of a 3-year study involving top scientists around the world. Dr. Casanova's team at the University of Louisville was responsible for conducting the study that analyzed tissue from 12 brains -- six of them taken from people with autism. He says the results are unquestionable, and explain symptoms exhibited from autistic patients, such as trouble speaking. "It means that we have uncovered something very important, because it has explanatory powers," Casanova says. The brain strands or minicolums of autism patients have more cells, but they are narrower and more densely packed -- which can limit the brain's ability to send messages. Dr. Casanova says that's because "there's not enough juice to actually power very long connections in the brain." Examining tissues from a normal brain and the brain of an autistic person, Dr. Casanova explains the differences. "The more bluish staining actually means more cells present," he says. More cells and smaller cells, making up tiny brain strands, or minicolumns. These minicolums take in information, process it and respond to it. But the increased amount of cells works to increase other abilities -- like mathematics. Armed with this knowledge, Dr. Casanova is ready to begin working on wiping out autism entirely. "Knowing the pathology, what is wrong with the brains of autistic individuals, opens the door to potential strategies that may actually even lead to a cure." Dr. Casanova's first step: developing a brain stimulator to bulk-up the brain strands. And he feels so strongly about the potential that he's ready to pay for it with his own money. "I approached the university, told them I needed equipment for preliminary studies and I would match the money with my own money." The cost for the equipment that could forever change the diagnosis of autism: $40,000. Dr. Casanova is confident he's on the verge of a major breakthrough. "Something good is about to happen," he said. Prevention is of course the main goal for a cure, and Dr. Casanova is working on that, too. He says research findings so far point to both genetics and the environment. Online Reporter: Lori Lyle Online Producer: Deve_______________________________________________________________ http://136.165.150.3/people/casanova/index.html F. Casanova, M.D. Gottfried and Gisela Kolb Endowed Chair in Psychiatry Associate Chair for ResearchDepartment of Psychiatry500 S Preston St Bldg 55A Ste 210Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1702502-852-4077502-852-4078 (Fax) Biosketch Dr. Casanova made his residency training in neurology and then spent 3 years doing a fellowship in neuropathology at The s Hopkins Hospital. During his stay at the s Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Casanova was in-charge of Pediatric Neuropathology, a fact which kindled his interest in developmental disorders of the brain. His clinical experience was enhanced by appointments as either a consultant or staff neuropathologist at Sinai Hospital (land), the North Hospital and the D.C. General Hospital. He spent several years as Deputy Medical Examiner for Washington, D.C., where he gained valuable experience in the post-mortem examination of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and child abuse. His expertise in the field was recognized by honorary appointments as a Scientific Expert for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and as a Professorial Lecturer for the Department of Forensic Science at Washington University. Dr. Casanova spent 8 years helping to establish 2 of the most successful brain banks in this country: The s Hopkins Brain Resource Center (3 years) and the Brain Bank Unit of the Clinical Brains Disorders Branch at the National Institutes of Mental Health (5 years). At present, Dr. Casanova is well published in a multitude of postmortem techniques including neuronal morphometry immunocytochemistry, neurochemistry, and autoradiography. Research interests Dr. Casanova has had over twenty years of experience in the neurosciences. Although trained in the classical methods of neurology and neuropathology his interest has gradually shifted towards the study of abnormalities of cortical circuitry. His research has focused on the cell minicolumn, a vertical conglomerate of 80 to 100 neurons having a common latency of response to stimulation. Using computerized imaging analysis he has established the anatomical validity of the cell minicolumn. More recently Dr. Casanova has reported interhemispheric differences in the morphometry of minicolumns that could provide for the speciation of hominids. Localized in Broadmann area 22—part of Wernicke’s language region—the morphometric difference may play a role both in the development of language and in its disorders. His most recent studies have looked for the presence of abnormalities of minicolumnar organization and lateralization in the brains of patients who exhibit language disturbances, including autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and dyslexia. He has summarized his work on minicolumns and provided an overview of the field in recent reviews of the literature appearing in Brain and Brain, Behavior and Evolution. Latest news Nothing recent. Online resources Alopecia FAQ and coloring book Autism Netverse: A Literary Journey for the Autistic Mind Created by Vandna Jerath, co-author of the article “Autistic poetry as therapy” A summary of Dr. Casanova's work on autism by the National Alliance for Autism Research A summary of Dr. Casanova's work on schizophrenia from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Citations in popular press Ingrid Wickelgren: Autistic brains out of synch? Science 308, 1856-1858, 2005. Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. 2005 progress report on brain research: Arts and cognition. New York: Dana Press, 2005. Kendall : Opening a window to the autistic brain. PLoS biology 2(8):1054-1058. 2004 August 17. Lifting the veils of autism, one by one. New York Times, 2004 February 24. Recent publications Casanova MF. Neuropathological and genetic findings in autism: the significance of a putative minicolumnopathy. The NeuroScientist 2006; in press. Casanova MF, Switala AE, Trippe JT II. A comparison study of the vertical bias of pyramidal cells in the hippocampus and neocortex. Developmental Neuroscience 2006; in press. Casanova MF, Kooten IAJ van, Switala AE, Engeland H van, Heinsen H, Steinbusch HWM, Hof PR, Schmitz C. Abnormalities of cortical minicolumnar organization in the prefrontal lobes of autistic patients. Clinical Neuroscience Research 2006; in press. Casanova MF, Kooten IAJ van, Switala AE, Engeland H van, Heinsen H, Steinbusch HWM, Hof PR, Trippe J, Stone J, Schmitz C. Minicolumnar abnormalities in autism. Acta Neuropathologica 2006; in press. Casanova MF, Trippe JT II, Switala AE. A temporal continuity to the vertical organization of the human neocortex. Cerebral Cortex 2006; in press. El-Zehiry N, Casanova MF, Hassan H, Farag AA. Effect of minicolumnar disturbance on dyslexic brains: an MRI study. Biomedical imaging: Macro to nano, 1336-1339, 2006 Casanova MF, Trippe JT II. Regulatory mechanisms of cortical laminar development. Brain research: Brain research reviews 2006; 51(1), 72–84. Chance SA, Casanova MF, Switala AE, Crow TJ, Esiri MM. Minicolumn thinning in temporal lobe association cortex but not primary auditory cortex in normal human ageing. Acta Neuropathologica 2006; 111(5), 459–464. Kruesi MJP, Casanova MF. White matter in liars. The British Journal of Psychiatry 2006; 188(3), 293–294. Seelan RS, Janckila AJ, Parthasarathy RN, Casanova MF. The importance of using equimolar DNA for transfection analysis of the 5′ flanking promoter regions of genes. Analytical Biochemistry 2006; 349(2), 306–308. Casanova MF, ed. Recent developments in autism research. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005. [Table of contents] Casanova MF, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005. [Table of contents] Konkachbaev AI, Casanova MF, Graham JH, Elmaghraby AS. Automated recursive segmentation of large neocortical images using standard deviation as termination criteria. 27th Annual International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2531-2534, 2005. Casanova MF. Anomalías en los circuitos corticales en los cerebros de pacientes con autismo. In: Martos J, González PM, Llorente M, Nieto C, eds. Nuevos desarrollos en autismo: el futuro es hoy, 345-371. Madrid, Librería Paradox, 2005. Konkachbaev AI, Elmaghraby AS, Casanova MF. Recursive segmentation of minicolums using myelinated bundles. Proceedings of the 2nd International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, 52-55, 2005. Casanova MF, de Zeeuw L, Switala AE, Kreczmanski P, Korr H, Ulfig N, Heinsen H, Steinbusch HWM, Schmitz C. Mean cell spacing abnormalities in the neocortex of patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 133(1):1-12, 2005. Kruesi MJP, Casanova MF, Mannheim G, -Bilder A. Reduced temporal lobe volume in early onset conduct disorder. Psychiatry research: Neuroimaging, 132(1):1-11, 2004. Buxhoeveden DP, Casanova MF. Accelerated maturation in brains of patients with Down syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 48(7):704-705, 2004. Casanova MF. White matter volume increase and minicolumns in autism. ls of Neurology, 56(3):453, 2004. Casanova MF, Araque J, Giedd J, Rumsey JM. Reduced brain size and gyrification in the brains of dyslexic patients. Journal of Child Neurology, 19(4):275-281, 2004. Roy E, Casanova MF, Jerath V. Autistic poetry as therapy. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 17(1):33-38, 2004. Casanova MF. Intracortical circuitry: One of Psychiatry’s missing assumptions. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 254(3):148-151, 2004. Casanova MF, Araque J. Mineralization of the basal ganglia: implications for neuropsychiatry, pathology and neuroimaging. Psychiatry Research, 121(1):59-87, 2003. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Gomez J. Disruption in the inhibitory architecture of the cell minicolumn: implications for autism. The Neuroscientist, 9(6):496-507, 2003. Casanova MF, Lindzen EC. Changes in gray-/white-matter ratios in the parahippocampal gyri of late-onset schizophrenia patients. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11(6):605-9, 2003. Casanova MF. Modular concept of brain organization and the neuropathology of psychiatric conditions. Psychiatry Research, 118(1):101-102, 2003. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Switala AE, Roy E. Rett syndrome as a minicolumnopathy. Clinical Neuropathology, 22:163-168, 2003. Casanova MF. Preservation of hippocampal pyramidal cells in paraphrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 62(1-2):141-146, 2003. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Brown C. Clinical and macroscopic correlates of minicolumnar pathology in autism. Journal of Child Neurology, 17:692-695, 2002. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Switala AE, Roy E. Neuronal density and architecture (gray level index) in the brains of autistic patients. Journal of Child Neurology, 17(7):515-521, 2002. Buxhoeveden DP, Casanova MF. The minicolumn and evolution of the brain: a review. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 60(3):125-151, 2002. Casanova MF, Kruesi M, Mannheim G. Hippocampal pathology in two mentally ill paraphiliacs. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 115(1-2):79-89, 2002. Casanova MF, Rothberg B. Shape distortion of the hippocampus: a possible explanation for the reported pyramidal cell disarray in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 55(1-2):19-24, 2002. Buxhoeveden DP, Casanova MF. The minicolumn hypothesis in neuroscience. Brain, 125(5):935-951, 2002. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Cohen M, Switala AE, Roy E. Minicolumnar pathology in dyslexia. ls of Neurology, 52:108-110, 2002. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Switala AE, Roy E. Asperger’s syndrome and cortical neuropathology. Journal of Child Neurology, 17(2):142-145, 2002. Casanova MF, Buxhoeveden DP, Switala AE, Roy E. Minicolumnar pathology in autism. Neurology, 58:428-432, 2002. Casanova MF, s J, Brown R, Royston C, Bruton C. Disentangling the pathology of schizophrenia and paraphrenia. Acta Neuropathologica, 103:313-320, 2002. Buxhoeveden DP, Fobbs A, Casanova MF. Quantitative comparison of radial cell colums in developing Down’s syndrome and normal cortex. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 46(1):76-81, 2002. For earlier work, see the full curriculum vitae. Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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