Sally - autism review

[Guest guest]

many thanks, great stuff.

I have listed a few things in attch that I think have been overlooked in

his review but are relevant, he may like to have a read...

nx

Viral infections and autism:

ÒÉ.One proposed etiology for autism is viral infection very early in

development. Various viruses and other infectious pathogens have been

implicated as etiological factors, including several members of herpes

family, rubella, influenza, measles and mumps viruses. In addition,

individual cases of prenatal syphilis and toxoplasmosis each have been

reported in literatureÉ

The best association to date have been made between perinatal

cytomegalovirus and rubella viruses and autism. Athough detailed large

scale follow-up studies have yet to be carried out, numerous case

reports describe perinatal cytomegalovirus infection in association with

development of autism É It is estimated that up to 15% of

asymptomatic congenital infections by CMV in the neonatal period develop

persistent problems, which often involve neurological disorders and

which typically appear after a period of time, thus making diagnosis

difficult or impossible.. With regards to rubella virus, one follow-up

report on psychiatric and behavioral consequences of documented

congenital infection recorded significantly high rates of mental

retardation and behavioural pathology, including autismÉ..

Also worth noting is the finding that a large subset of subjects with

autism shows evidence of bacterial and/or viral infections not present

in age-matched controls É as well as a reduced response to vaccine

antigens, especially Bortedella pertussis ÉÓ

Links to abstracts and papers on:

http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/Infectious_Agents.html

Neuroaids should get lot more mention in relation to autism, as

symptoms in paediatric patients are identical to ÔcommonÕ autism.

Also good to know it is often responsive to antiviral therapies, many

instances of reversal of symptoms (re-gaining speech, social and

behavioural recovery etc) following antiretroviral treatments.

Mechanisms also interesting à predisposition/risk factors determined

as overexpression (polymorphisms) of chemokine receptors, leading to

subsequent intercellular calcium overload through overactivation of

membrane ca channels and through its influence of cAMP-dependent gene

transcription factor CREB. For details and links to abstracts on Paed

Neuroaids see the above link, scroll down to about 1/5 of page. Genetic

risks are detailed towards bottom of page, including how CCR5 genotypes

in children determine both speed of disease progression as well as the

degree of neurological impairment.

Additional monogenetic disorders linked to autism:

ÒÉThere are presently two identified genetically inherited disorders

of mutations in calcium channels with high incidence of autism.

syndrome is caused by mutations in CACNA1C, the gene encoding Ca(V)1.2

calcium channel, causing loss of channel inactivation and suspected

intracellular calcium overload. This dysfunction causes a multisystem

disorder including congenital heart disease, webbing of fingers and

toes, immune deficiency, intermittent hypoglycemia and cognitive

abnormalities. Frequent seizures, irregular sleep patterns, dysmorphic

facial features, myopia, motor abnormalities and small and decaying

teeth have also been recorded in affected individuals [15454078]. The

exact incidence of autism is unknown but could be as high as 80 percent.

A mutation in a calcium channel gene CACNA1F, encoding for Cav1.4 L-type

calcium channel, that results in retinal disorder and visual impairments

has been observed in a New Zealand familiy. Although female members of

the family display visual impairments, the symptoms are more severe in

male family members. Five of the affected males exibit intellectual

disability, with autism being present in three of those five individuals

É

http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/Genetic_Factors.html

another one is SLOS:

-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is a rare genetic condition of

impaired cholesterol biosynthesis, with most of affected individuals

simultaneoulsy exhibiting at least some of the symptoms of autism. The

figures on the rates of formal autism diagnosis in individuals with SLOS

vary but appear to be somewhere between 50-75 percent, among the highest

of single gene disorders associated with autism [16761297]. While

supplementing dietary cholesterol frequently eliminates or ameliorates

many of the feeding and growth problems of SLOS, it has been observed

recently the autistic behaviors of children with SLOS can also be

reduced or even eliminated by treatment with supplementary dietary

cholesterol. In addition to behavioural and language-delay problems,

individuals with SLOS often suffer from several gastrointestinal

problems, including severe reflux and constipation, immune deficiency

and sleep problems.

http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/Membrane_Metabolism.html

Several treatments, less widely known but very interesting:

TRANSFER FACTOR

Many positive parental reports (not collected/collated) using bovine TF.

nothing published apart from these one, (not bovine-derived):

Biotherapy. 1996;9(1-3):143-7.

Dialysable lymphocyte extract (DLyE) in infantile onset autism: a

pilot study.

Fudenberg HH. Neurolmmuno Therapeutics Research Foundation

Spartanburg, S.C., USA.

40 infantile autistic patients were studied. They ranged from 6

years to 15 years of age at entry. 22 were cases of classical infantile

autism; whereas 18 lacked one or more clinical defects associated with

infantile autism ( " pseudo-autism " ). Of the 22 with classic autism, 21

responded to transfer factor (TF) treatment by gaining at least 2 points

in symptoms severity score average (SSSA); and 10 became normal in that

they were main-streamed in school and clinical characteristics were

fully normalized. Of the 18 remaining, 4 responded to TF, some to other

therapies. After cessation of TF therapy, 5 in the autistic group and 3

of the pseudo-autistic group regressed, but they did not drop as low as

baseline levels.

Publication Types: * Clinical Trial

PMID: 8993773 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4: J Autism Dev Disord. 1980 Dec;10(4):451-8.

Transfer factor immunotherapy of an autistic child with congenital

cytomegalovirus.

Stubbs EG, Budden SS, Burger DR, Vandenbark AA. Publication

Types: * Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. *

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

PMID: 6100889 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

VAGAL NERVE stimulation:

Pediatr Neurol. 2000 Aug;23(2):167-8.

Left vagal nerve stimulation in six patients with hypothalamic

hamartomas.

JV, Wheless JW, Schmoll CM. Pediatric Epilepsy Research

Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri 64108, USA.

Six patients with medically refractory epilepsy secondary to

hypothalamic hamartomas were treated with intermittent stimulation of

the left vagal nerve. Three of the patients had remarkable improvements

in seizure control. Four of these six patients had severe autistic

behaviors. Striking improvements in these behaviors were observed in all

four during treatment with intermittent stimulation. This finding

suggests that vagal nerve stimulation can control seizures and autistic

behaviors in patients with hypothalamic hamartomas.

PMID: 11020644 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

CAMEL MILK:

http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=198987527 & ETOC=RN & from=searche\

ngine

(camel milk has been used for chronic viral infections with some

success, esp hepatitis and and CMV. Also reportedly effective as a

diabetes treatmentÉ) A small scale trial for ASD going on in Kenya at

present I believe, circumstances allowingÉ

ACCUPUNCTURE:

Several published papers, sadly no translation from Chinese apart from

abstracts à can be seen by typing autism acupuncture in pubmed search

engine

Also not widely known about autism:

Brain Dev. 2005 Oct;27(7):509-16.

Reduced cardiac parasympathetic activity in children with autism.

Ming X, Julu PO, Brimacombe M, Connor S, s ML. Department

of Neuroscience, New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, Newark, 90 Bergen

Street, DOC 8100, NJ 07103, USA. mingxu@...

Many of the clinical symptoms of autism suggest autonomic

dysfunction. The aim of this study was to measure baseline

cardiovascular autonomic function in children with autism using the

NeuroScope, a device that can measure this brainstem function in

real-time. Resting cardiac vagal tone (CVT), cardiac sensitivity to

baroreflex (CSB), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), diastolic blood

pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) were

recorded in three different groups of children. The symptomatic group (n

= 15) consisted of those with autism who exhibited symptoms or signs of

autonomic dysfunction. The asymptomatic group (n = 13) consisted of

children with autism but without symptoms or signs of autonomic

dysfunction and the healthy children were in the control group (n =

117). The CVT and CSB were significantly lower in association with a

significant elevation in HR, MAP and DBP in all children with autism

compared with the healthy controls. Further more, the levels of CVT and

CSB were lower in the symptomatic than in the asymptomatic group. The

levels of CVT and CSB were not related to age in all the three groups.

These results suggest that there is low baseline cardiac parasympathetic

activity with evidence of elevated sympathetic tone in children with

autism whether or not they have symptoms or signs of autonomic

abnormalities.

Publication Types: * Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 16198209 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

several animal models of autism are very interesting, for example

hypoxic ones:

ÒÉNeonatal hypoxia has been hypothesised to play an etiological role

in development of autism. In animal models, hypoxia and hypoxic brain

lesions are associated with some of autism-related neurobehavioral

symptoms, including withdrawal in social and novel situations,

diminished exploration in novel fields and repetitive behaviours..Ó

links to studies on

http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/Hypoxia_Ischemia.html

you are probably aware of many perinatal virus-induced rodent models of

autism, details and links again on this page, near to top of page:

http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/Infectious_Agents.html