Re: Fwd: [Autism-Mercury] SPECIAL EDITION - Autism: It's Not Just in the Head

[Guest guest]

You might be interested to know that the picture preceding this

article is an x-ray of a child's very distended belly. Amazing

article.

Anita

>

>

> In a message dated 18/03/2007 01:58:30 GMT Standard Time,

> chris_farley@... writes:

>

> Autism: It's Not Just in the Head

> The devastating derangements of autism also show up in the gut and

in the

> immune system. That unexpected discovery is sparking new

treatments that

> target the body in addition to the brain

>

> By Jill Neimark for Discover Magazine.

>

> This report comes from Discover Magazine, April 2007 edition,

> now on the newsstands. It is not available yet online. We urge you

> to purchase at least one copy, not only to support the

publication't

> copyright efforts, but also because there are impressive graphs and

> related material not reproduced here. This is the best,

> well-written overview of autism we have read recently, which is why

> it is presented here as special edition of the Schafer Autism

Report.

> Pass along your purchased copy of Discover to care providers

> who may only occasionally access the internet. You can also

subscribe

> to Discover magazine at _http://discovermagahttp://di_

> (http://discovermagazine.com/) -editor.

>

> " There were days I considered shutting the garage door and letting

the

> car run until I was dead, " says Colorado mom , of the

time nine

> years ago when she learned that both her boys-not just her

> firstborn-suffered from autism. n, her angular, dark-haired

older

> child, was diagnosed in 1996 at age 4. , her round-faced,

hazel-eyed

> younger son, was diagnosed in 1998 at age 2 1/2.

> But and n's story does not have a tragic ending. After

> interventions that included occupational and speech therapy, as

well as

> dietary change and nutritional supplements, both boys improved

> significantly. Their tale of slow, steady recovery reflects the

changing

> landscape of autism today. The condition, traditionally seen as

genetic and

> originating in the brain, is starting to be viewed in a broader

and very

> different light, as a possible immune and neuroinflammatory

disorder. As a

> result, autism is beginning to look like a condition that can, in

some and

> perhaps many cases, be successfully treated.

> That is astonishing news about a disorder that usually makes

headlines

> because it seems to be growing rapidly more widespread. In the

United

> States, the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders has increased

about

> tenfold over the past two decades, and a 2003 report by the

Centers for

> Disease Control suggests that as many as one in every 166 children

is now on

> the autism spectrum, while another one in six suffers from a

> neurodevelopmental delay. This explosion of cases has raised

countless

> questions: Is the increase real, is it the result of increased

awareness and

> expanding diagnostic categories, is it due to environmental

changes, or all

> of the above? There may be no single answer. But the public

concern about

> autism has caught the ear of federal lawmakers. The Combating

Autism Act,

> approved last December, authorized nearly $1 billion over the next

four

> years for autism-related research and intervention.

> Meanwhile, on the sidelines of that confusing discussion, a

disparate

> group-immunologistsgroup-immunologists<WBR>, naturopaths,

neuroscientistsgr

> turning up clues that are yielding novel strategies to help

autistic

> patients. New studies are examining contributing factors ranging

from

> vaccine reactions to atypical growth in the placenta, abnormal

tissue in the

> gut, inflamed tissue in the brain, food allergies, and disturbed

brain wave

> synchrony. Some clinicians are using genetic test results to

recommend

> unconventional nutritional therapies, and others employ drugs to

fight

> viruses and quell inflammation.

>

> -- > DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW < --

>

> SUBSCRIBE. . . !

> . . .Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.

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>

> Above all, there is a new emphasis on the interaction between

> vulnerable genes and environmental triggers, along with a growing

sense that

> low-dose, multiple toxic and infectious exposures may be a major

> contributing factor to autism and its related disorders. A vivid

analogy is

> that genes load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger. " Like

cancer,

> autism is a very complex disease, " says Craig Newschaffer;

chairman of

> Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University School of

Public

> Health, " and it's exciting to start asking questions about the

interaction

> between genes and environment. There's really a very rich array of

potential

> exposure variables. "

> In one way, the field seems like a free-for-all, staggeringly

> disordered because it is littered with so many possibilities. But

one can

> distill a few revolutionary insights. First, autism may not be

rigidly

> determined but instead may be related to common gene variants,

called

> polymorphisms, that may be derailed by environmental triggers.

Second,

> affected genes may disturb fundamental pathways in the body and

lead to

> chronic inflammation across the brain, immune system, and

digestive system.

> Third, inflammation is treatable.

> " In spite of so many years of assumptions that a brain disorder

like

> this is not treatable, we're helping kids get better. So it can't

just be

> genetic, prenatal, hardwired, and hopeless, " says Harvard pediatric

> neurologist Martha Herbert, author of a 14,OOO -word paper in the

journal

> Clinical Neuropsychiatry that reconceptualizes the universe of

autism,

> pulling the brain down from its privileged perch as an organ

isolated from

> the rest of the body. Herbert is well suited to this task, a

synthetic

> thinker who wrote her dissertation on the developmental

psychologist Jean

> Piaget and who then went to medical school late, in her early

thirties.

> " I no longer see autism as a disorder of the brain but as a

disor¬der

> that affects the brain, " Herbert says. " It also affects the immune

system

> and the gut. One very striking piece of evidence many of us have

noticed is

> that when autistic children go in for certain diag¬nostic tests

and are told

> not to eat or drink anything ahead of time, parents often report

their

> child's symptoms improve-until they start eating again after the

procedure.

> If symptoms can improve in such a short time frame simply by

avoiding

> exposure to foods, then we're looking at some kind of chemically

driven

> 'software' -perhaps im¬mune system signals-that can change fast.

This means

> that at least some of autism probably comes from a kind of

metabolic

> en¬cephalopathy-en¬cephalopathy-<WBR>a system wide process that

affect

> cirrhosis of the liver affects the brain. "

> In 1943 s Hopkins University psychiatrist Leo Kanner first

> described autism as a now-famous collection of symptoms: poor

social

> engagement, limited verbal and nonverbal communication, and

repetitive

> behaviors. Back then, autism was considered rare; Kanner first

reported on

> just 11 patients, and s Hopkins still has records of about 150

patients

> he examined in total. Even within this small group of patients,

other, less

> visible symptoms were evident. In his 1943 paper, " Autistic

Disturbances of

> Affective Contact, " Kan¬ner noted immune and digestive problems

but did not

> include them in the diagnosis. One reads with a shiver sentences

lifted out

> of vari¬ous case histories: " large and ragged tonsils. . . she was

tube-fed

> five times daily. . . he vomited all food from birth through the

third

> month. . . he suffered from repeated colds and otitis media. . . . "

> Herbert believes that the clues linking the obvious behavioral

> symptoms to more basic, but less obvious, biological dysfunction

were missed

> early on. " What I believe is happening is that genes and

environment

> interact, either in a fetus or young child, chang¬ing cellular

function

> allover the body, which then affects tissue and metabolism in many

> vulnerable organs. And it's the interaction of this collection of

troubles

> that leads to altered sensory processing and impaired coordination

in the

> brain. A brain with these kinds of problems produces the abnormal

behaviors

> that we call autism. "

> Herbert's full-body perspective helps make sense of the contu¬sion

> surrounding the diagnosis of autism and helps justify the

in¬creasingly

> common use of the plural " autisms " to describe the wide variations

in this

> disorder. As Newschaffer points out, " Children with Asperger's

syndrome

> certainly share a lot of the behaviors of those with more severe

autism. But

> is it the same disease, and is it caused by the same thing? A

number of

> significant features of autism are not part of the diagnostic

schema right

> now, but eventually, those features may end up distinguishing one

causal

> pathway from an¬other. How is a child sleeping? Does he or she

have

> gastrointestinal symptoms? By looking at those things we may see

risk-factor

> as¬sociations pop out that we've never seen before. "

> Herbert likens autism to a hologram: " Everything that fascinates

me is

> in it. It's got epidemiology, toxicology, philosophy of science,

> biochemistry, genetics, systems theory, the collapse of the

medi¬cal system,

> and the failure of managed care. Each child that walks through my

door is a

> challenge to everything I ever knew, and each child forces me to

think

> outside the box and between categories. "

> Each child's path to autism may be distinct, she says, but they may

> share common inflammatory abnormalities. She has shown through

morphometric

> brain imaging that white matter-which car¬ries impulses between

neurons-is

> larger in children with autism.

> " It was the most absolutely outstanding piece of information in all

> the brain data looked at, " Herbert recalls of the years 2001 and

2002, when

> she was analyzing this brain imaging data. " People were saying,

don't look

> at the white matter, look at the cerebral cortex, but I knew we

had an

> important finding. "

> Could white matter become chronically inflamed? It may well be,

> according to new research from Pardo, a neurologist at

s Hopkins.

> In a 2005 study in the ls of Neurology, he found inflammation

in

> immune-responsive brain cells of autistic pa¬tients. " Patients

with autism

> report lots of immunological problems. We looked for the

fingerprints of

> those problems in the brain, " says Pardo. " We had brain tissue

from autistic

> individuals as young as 5 and as old as 45 and we found neuroglial

> inflamma¬tion in all of them. Neuroglia are a group of brain cells

that are

> iljPOl1ant in the brain's immune response. This inflam¬matory

reaction

> appears to happen both early and late in the course of the

disor¬der. If it

> happens early, it could dramatically influence brain develop¬ment.

We're

> very excited about this research because one potential treatment

approach,

> then, is to downregulate the brain's immune response. " To study

that

> approach, Pardo is collaborating on a pilot study funded by the

NIH to test

> minocycline, an anti-inflammatory antibiotic drug, on autistic

children.

> " Minocycline is a very selective downregulator of microglial

inflammation, "

> he says. " Neurologists already use it in multiple sclerosis and

> Parkinson's.P

> " What we've got here is a far more comprehensive set of

> char¬acteristics for autism, " says Herbert, " one that can include

behavior,

> cognition, sensorimotor, gut, immune, brain, and endocrine

abnor¬malities.

> These are ongoing problems, and they're not confined just to the

brain. I

> can't think of it as a coincidence anymore that so many autistic

kids have a

> history of food and airborne allergies, or 20 or 30 ear

infections, or

> eczema, or chronic diarrhea. "

> All this marks a Copernican-scale shift in our approach to the

> dis¬order. I myself was irresistibly drawn to the subject when

viewing an

> online video of a heavily affected 11-year-01d who, after a series

of

> chelation treatments to remove mercury, announced to his

mother, " Mom, I'm

> back from the living dead. " The statement was heart¬breaking in

its simple

> eloquence. Mercury chelation, in this particular child's case, was

a near

> panacea.

> Beck, of Oviedo, Florida, tells a similar story. Her son

> was diagnosed with autism in 2004 at about age 2. After 18

intensive months

> of treatment that involved chela¬tion-a treatment that draws heavy

met¬als

> out of the body-and dietary changes, among other therapies, Josh

appears

> neurotypical. " We took him to Dr. Gavin. a specialist at .

Nemours

> Children's Clinic, who administers the ADOS test, a diag¬nostic

test to see

> where on the spectrum a child falls, " she says. " After the two-hour

> evaluation, Gavin said he did not see the criteria for autism. In

her words.

> he was 're¬sponsive, curious, and active, able to en¬gage in. the

test

> without a problem, able to express himself clearly.' "

> But fascinating anecdotes aside, does hard evidence exist of

specific

> vulnerabil¬ity genes or how they might impair the im¬mune system.

brain. and

> gut-and most important, do we have any rational, reliable

approached to help

> repair the damage?

> The answer is a provisional yes.

> " We're beginning to understand that genetics is really about

> vulnerability,vulnerability,<WBR> " says neuroscientist Pal Levin,

director of

> Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Levitt and his

colleagues

> recently discovered that a com¬mon variant of a gene called MET

doubles the

> risk of autism. The finding was widely regarded as a breakthrough

because

> MET modulates the nervous system, gut, and immune system-just the

kind of

> finding that matches up with the emerging new view of autism.

> " Everyone was focusing on genes ex¬pressed in the brain, " says

Levitt,

> " but this gene is important for repair of the intes¬tine and immune

> function. And that's re¬ally intriguing because a subset of

autistic

> children have digestive and immune prob¬lems. " Equally interesting

is that

> the gene variant occurs in 47 percent of the popula¬tion -in other

words. it

> is just one contribut¬ing factor, and it probably works in concert

with

> other vulnerability genes. And finally, in a twist that intrigues

other

> researchers, the activity of the gene is affected by what is known

as

> oxidative stress - the kind of damage one sees with excessive

exposure to

> toxins. " As we identify other vulnerability genes like this, " says

Levitt,

> who hopes to engineer a mouse model of this gene variant for

study, " we may

> be able to develop effective interventions for children. "

> In other provocative research, Jill , director of the Autism

> Metabolic Genomics Laboratory at the Arkansas Children's Hos¬pital

Research

> Institute (and professor of pediatrics at the University of

Arkansas for

> Medical Sciences) has found that many children with autism do not

make as

> much of a compound called glutathione as neurotypical children do.

> Glutathione is the cell's most abundant an¬tioxidant, and it is

crucial for

> removing toxins. If cells lack sufficient antioxidants, they

experience

> oxidative stress, which is often found with chronic inflammation.

> In her most recent study, published in the American Journal of

Medical

> Genetics in 2006, found that common gene vari¬ants that

support the

> glutathione pathway may be associated with autism risk.

Intriguingly, this

> pathway is linked metabolically to the methylation pathway.

Methylation is a

> fundamental biochemical process that helps regulate which genes are

> expressed; abnormal methylation can cause disease. Because the

pathway

> provides the precursors to glutathione, impairments in methylation

can also

> called oxidative stress. " It's very provocative,called oxidative

stress. " It's

> that some autistic behaviors are a neurologic manifestation of a

> ge¬netically based systemic, metabolic derangement.ge¬netically

> ab¬normalities saw in this study have already been

associated with

> gastrointestinal and immunologic dysfunction.

> The good news is that oxidative stress in some autistic children

may

> be treatable with targeted nutritional intervention. and her

> colleagues have tracked eight autistic children who were taking

supplements

> of key nutrients in the methylation pathway-folinic acid,

trimethylglycine,

> and methyl-B12-and found a significant in¬crease in important

markers of

> methylation and glutathione synthe¬sis. The next step is to see if

the

> symptoms improve as well.

> and her colleagues just received a $2.4 million grant from

thA

> NIH. Part of which will be the sorting out the relationship between

> metabolism, genes, and behavior. " What would be incred¬ible is if

we could

> correlate individual differences in behavior with specific abnormal

> metabolites,metabolites,<WBR> " says. They will then look at

children

> months old, which is usually before autism is diagnosed. That

could help

> identify the causes of the disease, as well as permit earlier

intervention.

> " We also plan to look at mitochondrial dysfunction, " We also plan

to l

> mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of the cell, they're also

the place

> where the most free radicals (which playa role in oxidative

stress) are

> produced. If the electron transport chain in the mitochondria is

faulty and

> you're not efficiently making ATP, you'll produce more free

radicals and

> deplete your glutathione. If this hypothesis turns out to be

correct, we can

> give nutrients like coen¬zyme Q10, magnesium, and acetyI-L-

carnitine to help

> stabilize the mitochondria. Now, this is just a hypothesis, but

that's the

> risk you take with science. You make your best guess and you carry

out your

> study and you see. "

> " It's interesting to see metabolic abnormalities addressed this

way, "

> says Isaac Pessah, chairman of Molecular Biosciences and director

of Center

> for Dis¬ease Prevention at the University of California at

. " I think

> glu¬tathione balance in the kids is potentially very important in

terms of

> toxic environmental exposures. "

> There is a growing sense, Pessah adds, that our heavily

> indus¬trialized, chemical-soaked environment-indus¬trialized, chem

> vulnerable genes in some individuals-vulnerable genes in some

indivi

> 2006, Harvard researchers boldly announced in The Lan¬cet that

industrial

> chemicals may be impairing the brain develop¬ment of children

around the

> entire world. And at a November 2006 conference at the University

of

> California at 's M.I.N.D. Institute, Pessah gathered experts

to discuss

> the clinical implications of environmental toxicology in autism.

Says

> Herbert, 'We discussed the enormous number of chemicals in our

environment

> and how little we know about chronic, low-dose, multiple exposures

and

> their effect on diseases like autism. Maybe the many autism cases

we are now

> seeing are a new illness of the current generation. "

> Several large-scale, federally funded epidemiological studies are

> -under way to pinpoint possible environmental triggers, as well as

early

> biomarkers of autism. 'We have to build a large enough study to be

able to

> look at both genes and environment together, " says Newschaffer,

who is a

> principal investigator on a study by the Cen¬ters for Disease

Control that

> will look at 2,700 children over the next five years.

> In another ambitious study, called the Autism Birth Cohort,

Co¬lumbia

> University and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health will

follow 100,000

> pregnant women for 72 months, studying their health and genetics

and testing

> everything from blood to urine samples. The hope is to discover

> environmental factors that contribute to autism risk, from diet or

infection

> to toxins like heavy metals, pesti¬cides, and the countless

synthetic

> molecules in products today.

> Other large, NIH- and EPA-funded studies are teasing out immune

> abnormalities that may contribute to autism. In research on more

than 700

> families with an autistic as well as a neurotypical child, Pessah

and his

> colleagues have found in the autistic child a signifi¬cant

reduction in

> immunoglobulins and an abnormal profile of cyto¬kines, which are

critical to

> immune response. " The immune system is involved in important

aspects of

> neurodevelopment,neurodevelopment,<WBR> " says Pes¬sah. " We've

found

> antibodies that we think may influence brain proteins. In the next

five

> years, as the study continues, we hope to reach about 1,600

families total.

> We need that many to get real statistical power. We hope to find

out what

> type of skewed immune response the typical autistic child has and

to isolate

> toxic exposures, such as proximity to highways or toxic waste

dumps. "

> Herbert argues that " we can address the disturbed pathways now,

before

> me gene hunters have definitive information. Genes, af¬ter all,

don't

> specify behaviors. They make regulatory factors that in¬teract in

highly

> complex ways. And as far as the impact of chemicals on

neurodevelopment,

> only about 20 to 30 of the 85,000 chemicals made have been

studied. We can,

> at the very least, try to modulate autism by treating the tissue

> inflammation.i

> In other words, treat now, before the gavel of science strikes a

final

> judgment, which might be decades away. That's what and her

husband,

> , did for n and : They blended mainstream

treatments like

> speech and occupational therapy with the best biomedical approaches

> available. I was told to take my boys home and love them, " recalls

.

> " The neurologist said don't ¬waste your time on alternative

treatments,

> nothing about them is proven. My boys could have ended up

institutionalized,

> or my hus¬band and I would have had to take care of them their

whole adult

> lives. When your child gets a diagnosis of autism, you lose the

child you

> were dreaming about, the one who will go to college, get mar¬ried,

become a

> parent. That just wasn't an option. "

> The boys first saw an alternative Colorado practitioner who had

been

> trained by group called Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!). DAN! was co-

founded in

> 1995 by the psychologist Bernard Rimland, whose own son was

autistic. DAN!

> treatments focus on intestinal is¬sues, detoxification, nutrition,

and

> neuroinflammation. Recommen¬dations include dietary restriction,

usually

> eliminating gluten (present in wheat and other grains) and dairy.

> " For weeks after stopped drinking milk, he had welts allover

his

> body, " recalls, " as if he were going through a detoxification

reaction.

> At the same time, he had his first formed, regular bowel movement.

His sleep

> improved. "

> Other DAN!-recommended treatments include detoxification to remove

> heavy metals and other suspected pollutants, nutritional

supplementation,

> and sometimes off-label use of anti-inflammatoriesand sometimes

off-label u

> medications. These so-called biomedical treatments range from

relatively

> inexpensive dietary changes cost¬ing a few hundred dollars a month

to doses

> of antifungal drugs that can cost several hundreds of dollars.

Many DAN!

> supplements play critical roles in the pathways studied by

scientists like

> Jill . DAN! practitioners are, of course, leaping into the

deep end of

> the pool before science has truly proved these treatments

effective, but

> there are many anecdotal cases of improvement. [NOTE: See PUBLIC

SERVICE

> ANNOUNCEMENT regarding the upcoming DAN! Conference following this

article.

> - editor].

>

> EVIDENCE OF HARM DISCUSSION LIST HEATS UP

> AS MERCURY LINK TO AUTISM QUESTION SPREADS

>

> >> PAPERBACK BOOK NOW OUT - CHECK AMAZON.COM

>

> An Evidence of Harm email discussion list has

> been created in response to the growing interest

> in the book and the issues it chronicles. Now over

> 1,500 subscribers. Here is where to subscribe

> (no cost): _http://groups.http://grohttp://groups_

> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EOHarm/)

>

> Not surprisingly, there has been criticism of the biomedical

> ap¬proach, especially when doctors promise too much or parents

hope too

> desperately for recovery. As notes, one mother killed

herself after

> seeking every possible treatment for her autistic daughter to no

avail,

> causing a furor among parents with autistic children.

> Some children just do not get better, no matter what the

> inter¬vention. Mumper is CEO of a group called Advocates

for

> Children and former director of pediatric education at the

Lynchburg Family

> Practice Program affiliated with the University of Virginia. Of

the 2,000

> children in her practice, about 400 have autism spectrum

disorders. She

> describes one boy whom " I have not helped despite my best efforts.

He is 17

> and still nonverbal and has horrible, erosive esophagitis in spite

of the

> fact that he works very closely with a gastroenterologist. He has

to sleep

> standing up and leaning over his dresser because of the pain, and

he has

> very id¬iosyncratic reactions to medications. And even though he is

> nonverbal, he can type anything to me. He's alpha-smart. The

horror is that

> he's trapped in a body that doesn't work. "

> " I hate the term 'full recovery,' " adds, " because of this

false

> hope. Some children do lose the diagnosis, but that's rare. I

don't think

> that should be out there as a goal. We need to accept [the kids)

and love

> them for who they are-because they are lovable. They're quirky. "

> 's boys benefited from their DAN! doctor, she says, but it was

in

> 2003, when she switched to a highly unconventional molecu¬lar

biologist and

> naturopath based in Maine, Amy Yasko, that she began to see more

striking

> changes. Yasko blends the new findings on methylation with a

scientist's

> background in the finer steps of fun¬damental detoxification

pathways in the

> body. However, she largely favors herbs, dietary change, and

nutritional

> supplements over pre¬scription medications. She monitors

biomarkers of

> detoxification in the urine as often as every week or two and

tweaks

> supplements accordingly. Her program is intensive and steeped in

molecular

> biology; her twice-yearly conferences are extremely dense,

scien¬tific, and

> intended to help parents become at least semiproficient in the

biology and

> chemistry themselves. It is a far cry from the old doctor-patient

model -

> Yasko works primarily on the internet now -- with phone

consultations, to

> interpret test results. She decided to do this when her waiting

list for

> individuals stretched to five years, and, she says, she felt she

was not

> helping enough children. e-mailed me about 40 charts of

metal " dumps "

> for both of her boys-urinalyses Yasko had ordered and charted on a

graph to

> show the excretion of everything from arsenic to aluminum,

mercury, and lead

> over time. " All these lit¬tle things started clicking after we

started with

> her, " says .

> " I call this approach biomo¬lecular nutrigenomics, after Bruce

Ames, a

> professor of biochemistry and molecu¬lar biology at the University

of

> California at Berkeley, " says Yasko. " He said that someday it

would become

> routine to screen individuals for polymorphisms and that

nutritional

> interventions to improve health were likely be a major benefit of

the

> genomics area. " Yasko tests for common polymorphisms in the

methylation

> path¬way, even though these findings are still preliminary. This

has made

> her controver¬sial among her peers. Yet several doctors and

scientists with

> autistic children ad¬mitted privately to using Yasko's services

while being

> unwilling to go on the record to support her.

> Yasko, who says she moved her hus¬band and three daughters from

> Connecti¬cut to a rural area of Maine to " hear the snowflakes fall

on the

> snow and get to that quiet place inside where I can think, " seems

immune to

> the controversy. " I was in a re¬search environment for a long

time, where

> you had to publish. Then I was in biotech for a long time, where

you had to

> keep ev¬erything quiet. When I began to focus on autistic

children, I made a

> decision that in¬stead of publishing in peer review journals, I

was going to

> go directly to the moms and help them. I knew in making that

decision I was

> going to get flak. That's OK. It was like I was on those cliffs

you see in

> the movies, and you're going to jump. You don't know if there's

water below,

> or enough momentum to get to the other side, but you just jump. "

> Today 's boys participate in individu¬alized programs at school

> and are being monitored in two national studies of families with

more than

> one autistic child-one at the Duke Center for Human Genetics,

an¬other at

> the University of Washington. has, in addition, been tested

three times

> at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center's toddler

development

> program. Both are still on the autism spectrum-but the incessant

tantrums,

> digestive problems, and infections have vanished. n no

longer chews on

> his shirt, flaps his arms, and grinds his teeth. In fact, he made

honor roll

> in his classes last year. Swift, the boys' schoolteacher

since the

> autumn of 1996, describes them as " sociable and on the whole very

happy,

> with a great sense of humor. is probably the most changed of

any

> autistic child I've ever worked with. "

> , who stopped speaking entirely at age 2, is now a font of

> creative language. I know this because and the boys spent a

weekend at

> my house. At lunch, poured a Vesuvius of ketchup onto his

plate and

> began transforming his french fries into boats that sailed across

the

> ketchup before they were disposed of in his mouth; he then began to

> entertain us by pretending he was an announcer at a regatta, where

he, of

> course, was winning the race. What had once been autism had erupted

into a

> gey¬ser of quirky creativity.

> The boys' blossoming, according to their mom, is one not easily

> measured on tests. " It's the length of their sentences, their

empathy and

> sense of humor. Last night we went by a house that was all lit up

for the

> holidays and joked, 'Does that guy want to be seen from

space?' When we

> used to take to the den¬tist, he would scream bloody murder

and we'd

> try to papoose him-put him on a board and wrap him in sheets, but

even that

> didn't work. so they put him to sleep just to clean his teeth.

Last year we

> went to the dentist. and he heard a little boy crying, walked over

to him,

> rubbed his back, told him it wouldn't hurt, and not to worry. My

heart was

> melting. "

> Can we cajole a mysteriously shuttered brain and body back toward

> normal? And if so, will autism give us new insight into other

disorders?

> Martha Herbert thinks so: " A lot of these metabolic pathways are

pretty

> fun¬damental to life. If we can crack the puzzle of autism and be

clear

> about how we did it, that may have huge implications for other

chronic

> environmentally triggered systemic illnesses. Autism could be a

much-needed

> wake-up call to us all " .

>

> PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

>

> Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) Conference: andria, Virginia

>

> An exciting and informative 3-day conference which focuses on

treating

> and defeating the devastating, life altering diagnosis of autism

will be

> held at the Hilton andria Mark Center from April 19-23, 2007.

> The Defeat Autism Now! network of parents, clinicians and

researchers

> is at the forefront of connecting research that makes a

difference, to

> treatments that lead to improvements in the quality of life for

autistic

> children and their families.

> In addition to bringing the most credible researchers and

clinicians

> to the podium, DAN! conferences provide a decision-making

framework for

> addressing the biomedical issues presented by individuals with

autism. There

> is no other conference on autism that devotes its entire agenda to

teaching

> parents and practitioners how nutrition, intestinal disorders,

> detoxification and other metabolic issues impact behavior,

attention, speech

> and the general health of children on the autism spectrum. The DAN!

> Conference focuses intensely on these important issues. The

upcoming 3-day

> conference in andria includes presentations on: Vaccine Safety,

> Biomedical Individuality and Effective Treatment Strategies using

the DAN!

> Approach., Nutritional and Dietary Foundations in Autism,

Commonalities

> Between the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and

Allergies,

> Assessing and Addressing the Role of Toxins in Autism, Genetic

Vulnerability

> to Environmental Toxins in Autism, Oxidative Stress and the

Metabolic

> Pathology in Autism, D4 Dopamine Receptors and Methionine Synthase

in the

> Human Cortex,.

> Investigations of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Autism and much

more!

> The conference will also feature a tribute to Bernard Rimland, PhD

who was

> the founder of the Autism Society of America, the Autism Research

Institute

> and the Defeat Autism Now! Movement. Dr. Rimland, who recently

passed away,

> spent the last half of his life showing the world that autism is

indeed

> treatable and recovery is possible. Conference participants will

hear from

> Dr. Rimland's colleagues and friends from around the world who

continue

> their collective quest to find answers to a condition that remains

on the

> rise. . DAN! is now known throughout the world as the premier

conference

> where parents and clinicians join together to learn the causes,

focus on

> effective treatments and celebrate the recovery of some children.

> Please join us for this potentially life changing event which

inspires

> hope as it outlines a path for treatment April 19 - April 23,

2007. at the

> Hilton andria Mark Center in andria, Virginia. More

information and

> conference registration is available at

_http://www.danconfehttp://www_

> (http://www.danconference.com/)

>

> COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The above items are copyright protected. They

are for our

> readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided

at their

> request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used

commercially without

> consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders,

follow

> the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each

item.

>

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or email

> to: _subs@..._ (mailto:subs@...)

> __________________________________________________________

> Lenny Schafer _editor@..._ (mailto:editor@...)

> Back issues: _http://tinyurl.http://tin_

(http://tinyurl.com/ylclr6)

> The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> SPECIAL EDITION - Autism: It's Not Just in the Head

>

>

>

> SAR " Healing Autism:

> Schafer Autism Report No Finer a Cause on the Planet "

> ________________________________________________________________

> Saturday, March 17, 2007 SPECIAL EDITION Vol. 11 No. 40

>

>

>

> >> PROMOTE YOUR 2007 EVENTS NOW - FREE <<

> Conferences * Presentations * Parent Meetings

> DEADLINE FOR APRIL AUTISM CALENDAR IS

> March 23!

>

> Submit listing here:

> http://www.sarnet.org/frm/cal-frm.htm

> CHECK OUT CALENDAR: http://www.sarnet.org/events/

>

>

>

>

> Autism: It's Not Just in the Head

> The devastating derangements of autism also show up in the gut and

in the

> immune system. That unexpected discovery is sparking new treatments

that

> target the body in addition to the brain

>

> By Jill Neimark for Discover Magazine.

>

>

> This report comes from Discover Magazine, April 2007

edition,

> now on the newsstands. It is not available yet online. We

urge you

> to purchase at least one copy, not only to support the

publication's

> copyright efforts, but also because there are impressive

graphs and

> related material not reproduced here. This is the best,

> well-written overview of autism we have read recently, which

is why

> it is presented here as special edition of the Schafer Autism

Report.

> Pass along your purchased copy of Discover to care

providers

> who may only occasionally access the internet. You can also

subscribe

> to Discover magazine at http://discovermagazine.com/ -

editor.

>

>

> " There were days I considered shutting the garage door and

letting the

> car run until I was dead, " says Colorado mom , of the

time nine

> years ago when she learned that both her boys-not just her

> firstborn-suffered from autism. n, her angular, dark-haired

older

> child, was diagnosed in 1996 at age 4. , her round-faced, hazel-

eyed

> younger son, was diagnosed in 1998 at age 2 1/2.

> But and n's story does not have a tragic ending.

After

> interventions that included occupational and speech therapy, as

well as

> dietary change and nutritional supplements, both boys improved

> significantly. Their tale of slow, steady recovery reflects the

changing

> landscape of autism today. The condition, traditionally seen as

genetic and

> originating in the brain, is starting to be viewed in a broader and

very

> different light, as a possible immune and neuroinflammatory

disorder. As a

> result, autism is beginning to look like a condition that can, in

some and

> perhaps many cases, be successfully treated.

> That is astonishing news about a disorder that usually makes

headlines

> because it seems to be growing rapidly more widespread. In the

United

> States, the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders has increased

about

> tenfold over the past two decades, and a 2003 report by the Centers

for

> Disease Control suggests that as many as one in every 166 children

is now on

> the autism spectrum, while another one in six suffers from a

> neurodevelopmental delay. This explosion of cases has raised

countless

> questions: Is the increase real, is it the result of increased

awareness and

> expanding diagnostic categories, is it due to environmental

changes, or all

> of the above? There may be no single answer. But the public concern

about

> autism has caught the ear of federal lawmakers. The Combating

Autism Act,

> approved last December, authorized nearly $1 billion over the next

four

> years for autism-related research and intervention.

> Meanwhile, on the sidelines of that confusing discussion, a

disparate

> group-immunologists, naturopaths, neuroscientists, and

toxicologists-is

> turning up clues that are yielding novel strategies to help autistic

> patients. New studies are examining contributing factors ranging

from

> vaccine reactions to atypical growth in the placenta, abnormal

tissue in the

> gut, inflamed tissue in the brain, food allergies, and disturbed

brain wave

> synchrony. Some clinicians are using genetic test results to

recommend

> unconventional nutritional therapies, and others employ drugs to

fight

> viruses and quell inflammation.

>

>

>

>

>

> -- > DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW < --

>

> SUBSCRIBE. . . !

> . . .Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.

> To Subscribe http://www.SARnet.org/

> $35 for 1 year - 200 issues, or No Cost Review Sub.

>

>

>

>

>

> Above all, there is a new emphasis on the interaction between

> vulnerable genes and environmental triggers, along with a growing

sense that

> low-dose, multiple toxic and infectious exposures may be a major

> contributing factor to autism and its related disorders. A vivid

analogy is

> that genes load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger. " Like

cancer,

> autism is a very complex disease, " says Craig Newschaffer; chairman

of

> Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University School of

Public

> Health, " and it's exciting to start asking questions about the

interaction

> between genes and environment. There's really a very rich array of

potential

> exposure variables. "

> In one way, the field seems like a free-for-all, staggeringly

> disordered because it is littered with so many possibilities. But

one can

> distill a few revolutionary insights. First, autism may not be

rigidly

> determined but instead may be related to common gene variants,

called

> polymorphisms, that may be derailed by environmental triggers.

Second,

> affected genes may disturb fundamental pathways in the body and

lead to

> chronic inflammation across the brain, immune system, and digestive

system.

> Third, inflammation is treatable.

> " In spite of so many years of assumptions that a brain

disorder like

> this is not treatable, we're helping kids get better. So it can't

just be

> genetic, prenatal, hardwired, and hopeless, " says Harvard pediatric

> neurologist Martha Herbert, author of a 14,OOO -word paper in the

journal

> Clinical Neuropsychiatry that reconceptualizes the universe of

autism,

> pulling the brain down from its privileged perch as an organ

isolated from

> the rest of the body. Herbert is well suited to this task, a

synthetic

> thinker who wrote her dissertation on the developmental

psychologist Jean

> Piaget and who then went to medical school late, in her early

thirties.

> " I no longer see autism as a disorder of the brain but as a

disor¬der

> that affects the brain, " Herbert says. " It also affects the immune

system

> and the gut. One very striking piece of evidence many of us have

noticed is

> that when autistic children go in for certain diag¬nostic tests and

are told

> not to eat or drink anything ahead of time, parents often report

their

> child's symptoms improve-until they start eating again after the

procedure.

> If symptoms can improve in such a short time frame simply by

avoiding

> exposure to foods, then we're looking at some kind of chemically

driven

> 'software' -perhaps im¬mune system signals-that can change fast.

This means

> that at least some of autism probably comes from a kind of metabolic

> en¬cephalopathy-a system wide process that affects the brain, just

like

> cirrhosis of the liver affects the brain. "

> In 1943 s Hopkins University psychiatrist Leo Kanner first

> described autism as a now-famous collection of symptoms: poor social

> engagement, limited verbal and nonverbal communication, and

repetitive

> behaviors. Back then, autism was considered rare; Kanner first

reported on

> just 11 patients, and s Hopkins still has records of about 150

patients

> he examined in total. Even within this small group of patients,

other, less

> visible symptoms were evident. In his 1943 paper, " Autistic

Disturbances of

> Affective Contact, " Kan¬ner noted immune and digestive problems but

did not

> include them in the diagnosis. One reads with a shiver sentences

lifted out

> of vari¬ous case histories: " large and ragged tonsils. . . she was

tube-fed

> five times daily. . . he vomited all food from birth through the

third

> month. . . he suffered from repeated colds and otitis media. . . . "

> Herbert believes that the clues linking the obvious behavioral

> symptoms to more basic, but less obvious, biological dysfunction

were missed

> early on. " What I believe is happening is that genes and environment

> interact, either in a fetus or young child, chang¬ing cellular

function

> allover the body, which then affects tissue and metabolism in many

> vulnerable organs. And it's the interaction of this collection of

troubles

> that leads to altered sensory processing and impaired coordination

in the

> brain. A brain with these kinds of problems produces the abnormal

behaviors

> that we call autism. "

> Herbert's full-body perspective helps make sense of the

contu¬sion

> surrounding the diagnosis of autism and helps justify the

in¬creasingly

> common use of the plural " autisms " to describe the wide variations

in this

> disorder. As Newschaffer points out, " Children with Asperger's

syndrome

> certainly share a lot of the behaviors of those with more severe

autism. But

> is it the same disease, and is it caused by the same thing? A

number of

> significant features of autism are not part of the diagnostic

schema right

> now, but eventually, those features may end up distinguishing one

causal

> pathway from an¬other. How is a child sleeping? Does he or she have

> gastrointestinal symptoms? By looking at those things we may see

risk-factor

> as¬sociations pop out that we've never seen before. "

> Herbert likens autism to a hologram: " Everything that

fascinates me is

> in it. It's got epidemiology, toxicology, philosophy of science,

> biochemistry, genetics, systems theory, the collapse of the

medi¬cal system,

> and the failure of managed care. Each child that walks through my

door is a

> challenge to everything I ever knew, and each child forces me to

think

> outside the box and between categories. "

> Each child's path to autism may be distinct, she says, but

they may

> share common inflammatory abnormalities. She has shown through

morphometric

> brain imaging that white matter-which car¬ries impulses between

neurons-is

> larger in children with autism.

> " It was the most absolutely outstanding piece of information

in all

> the brain data looked at, " Herbert recalls of the years 2001 and

2002, when

> she was analyzing this brain imaging data. " People were saying,

don't look

> at the white matter, look at the cerebral cortex, but I knew we had

an

> important finding. "

> Could white matter become chronically inflamed? It may well

be,

> according to new research from Pardo, a neurologist at s

Hopkins.

> In a 2005 study in the ls of Neurology, he found inflammation in

> immune-responsive brain cells of autistic pa¬tients. " Patients with

autism

> report lots of immunological problems. We looked for the

fingerprints of

> those problems in the brain, " says Pardo. " We had brain tissue from

autistic

> individuals as young as 5 and as old as 45 and we found neuroglial

> inflamma¬tion in all of them. Neuroglia are a group of brain cells

that are

> iljPOl1ant in the brain's immune response. This inflam¬matory

reaction

> appears to happen both early and late in the course of the

disor¬der. If it

> happens early, it could dramatically influence brain develop¬ment.

We're

> very excited about this research because one potential treatment

approach,

> then, is to downregulate the brain's immune response. " To study that

> approach, Pardo is collaborating on a pilot study funded by the NIH

to test

> minocycline, an anti-inflammatory antibiotic drug, on autistic

children.

> " Minocycline is a very selective downregulator of microglial

inflammation, "

> he says. " Neurologists already use it in multiple sclerosis and

> Parkinson's. "

> " What we've got here is a far more comprehensive set of

> char¬acteristics for autism, " says Herbert, " one that can include

behavior,

> cognition, sensorimotor, gut, immune, brain, and endocrine

abnor¬malities.

> These are ongoing problems, and they're not confined just to the

brain. I

> can't think of it as a coincidence anymore that so many autistic

kids have a

> history of food and airborne allergies, or 20 or 30 ear infections,

or

> eczema, or chronic diarrhea. "

> All this marks a Copernican-scale shift in our approach to the

> dis¬order. I myself was irresistibly drawn to the subject when

viewing an

> online video of a heavily affected 11-year-01d who, after a series

of

> chelation treatments to remove mercury, announced to his

mother, " Mom, I'm

> back from the living dead. " The statement was heart¬breaking in its

simple

> eloquence. Mercury chelation, in this particular child's case, was

a near

> panacea.

> Beck, of Oviedo, Florida, tells a similar story. Her son

> was diagnosed with autism in 2004 at about age 2. After 18

intensive months

> of treatment that involved chela¬tion-a treatment that draws heavy

met¬als

> out of the body-and dietary changes, among other therapies, Josh

appears

> neurotypical. " We took him to Dr. Gavin. a specialist at .

Nemours

> Children's Clinic, who administers the ADOS test, a diag¬nostic

test to see

> where on the spectrum a child falls, " she says. " After the two-hour

> evaluation, Gavin said he did not see the criteria for autism. In

her words.

> he was 're¬sponsive, curious, and active, able to en¬gage in. the

test

> without a problem, able to express himself clearly.' "

> But fascinating anecdotes aside, does hard evidence exist of

specific

> vulnerabil¬ity genes or how they might impair the im¬mune system.

brain. and

> gut-and most important, do we have any rational, reliable

approached to help

> repair the damage?

> The answer is a provisional yes.

> " We're beginning to understand that genetics is really about

> vulnerability, " says neuroscientist Pal Levin, director of the

Vanderbilt

> Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Levitt and his

colleagues

> recently discovered that a com¬mon variant of a gene called MET

doubles the

> risk of autism. The finding was widely regarded as a breakthrough

because

> MET modulates the nervous system, gut, and immune system-just the

kind of

> finding that matches up with the emerging new view of autism.

> " Everyone was focusing on genes ex¬pressed in the brain, "

says Levitt,

> " but this gene is important for repair of the intes¬tine and immune

> function. And that's re¬ally intriguing because a subset of autistic

> children have digestive and immune prob¬lems. " Equally interesting

is that

> the gene variant occurs in 47 percent of the popula¬tion -in other

words. it

> is just one contribut¬ing factor, and it probably works in concert

with

> other vulnerability genes. And finally, in a twist that intrigues

other

> researchers, the activity of the gene is affected by what is known

as

> oxidative stress - the kind of damage one sees with excessive

exposure to

> toxins. " As we identify other vulnerability genes like this, " says

Levitt,

> who hopes to engineer a mouse model of this gene variant for

study, " we may

> be able to develop effective interventions for children. "

> In other provocative research, Jill , director of the

Autism

> Metabolic Genomics Laboratory at the Arkansas Children's Hos¬pital

Research

> Institute (and professor of pediatrics at the University of

Arkansas for

> Medical Sciences) has found that many children with autism do not

make as

> much of a compound called glutathione as neurotypical children do.

> Glutathione is the cell's most abundant an¬tioxidant, and it is

crucial for

> removing toxins. If cells lack sufficient antioxidants, they

experience

> oxidative stress, which is often found with chronic inflammation.

> In her most recent study, published in the American Journal

of Medical

> Genetics in 2006, found that common gene vari¬ants that

support the

> glutathione pathway may be associated with autism risk.

Intriguingly, this

> pathway is linked metabolically to the methylation pathway.

Methylation is a

> fundamental biochemical process that helps regulate which genes are

> expressed; abnormal methylation can cause disease. Because the

pathway

> provides the precursors to glutathione, impairments in methylation

can also

> called oxidative stress. " It's very provocative, " says. " It

suggests

> that some autistic behaviors are a neurologic manifestation of a

> ge¬netically based systemic, metabolic derangement. " Some of the

> ab¬normalities saw in this study have already been associated

with

> gastrointestinal and immunologic dysfunction.

> The good news is that oxidative stress in some autistic

children may

> be treatable with targeted nutritional intervention. and her

> colleagues have tracked eight autistic children who were taking

supplements

> of key nutrients in the methylation pathway-folinic acid,

trimethylglycine,

> and methyl-B12-and found a significant in¬crease in important

markers of

> methylation and glutathione synthe¬sis. The next step is to see if

the

> symptoms improve as well.

> and her colleagues just received a $2.4 million grant

from thA

> NIH. Part of which will be the sorting out the relationship between

> metabolism, genes, and behavior. " What would be incred¬ible is if

we could

> correlate individual differences in behavior with specific abnormal

> metabolites, " says. They will then look at children between

18 to 24

> months old, which is usually before autism is diagnosed. That

could help

> identify the causes of the disease, as well as permit earlier

intervention.

> " We also plan to look at mitochondrial dysfunction, " she

says. " Since

> mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of the cell, they're also

the place

> where the most free radicals (which playa role in oxidative stress)

are

> produced. If the electron transport chain in the mitochondria is

faulty and

> you're not efficiently making ATP, you'll produce more free

radicals and

> deplete your glutathione. If this hypothesis turns out to be

correct, we can

> give nutrients like coen¬zyme Q10, magnesium, and acetyI-L-

carnitine to help

> stabilize the mitochondria. Now, this is just a hypothesis, but

that's the

> risk you take with science. You make your best guess and you carry

out your

> study and you see. "

> " It's interesting to see metabolic abnormalities addressed

this way, "

> says Isaac Pessah, chairman of Molecular Biosciences and director

of Center

> for Dis¬ease Prevention at the University of California at

. " I think

> glu¬tathione balance in the kids is potentially very important in

terms of

> toxic environmental exposures. "

> There is a growing sense, Pessah adds, that our heavily

> indus¬trialized, chemical-soaked environment-and the way it acts on

> vulnerable genes in some individuals-may be a major culprit. In

December

> 2006, Harvard researchers boldly announced in The Lan¬cet that

industrial

> chemicals may be impairing the brain develop¬ment of children

around the

> entire world. And at a November 2006 conference at the University of

> California at 's M.I.N.D. Institute, Pessah gathered experts

to discuss

> the clinical implications of environmental toxicology in autism.

Says

> Herbert, 'We discussed the enormous number of chemicals in our

environment

> and how little we know about chronic, low-dose, multiple exposures

and

> their effect on diseases like autism. Maybe the many autism cases

we are now

> seeing are a new illness of the current generation. "

> Several large-scale, federally funded epidemiological studies

are

> -under way to pinpoint possible environmental triggers, as well as

early

> biomarkers of autism. 'We have to build a large enough study to be

able to

> look at both genes and environment together, " says Newschaffer, who

is a

> principal investigator on a study by the Cen¬ters for Disease

Control that

> will look at 2,700 children over the next five years.

> In another ambitious study, called the Autism Birth Cohort,

Co¬lumbia

> University and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health will follow

100,000

> pregnant women for 72 months, studying their health and genetics

and testing

> everything from blood to urine samples. The hope is to discover

> environmental factors that contribute to autism risk, from diet or

infection

> to toxins like heavy metals, pesti¬cides, and the countless

synthetic

> molecules in products today.

> Other large, NIH- and EPA-funded studies are teasing out

immune

> abnormalities that may contribute to autism. In research on more

than 700

> families with an autistic as well as a neurotypical child, Pessah

and his

> colleagues have found in the autistic child a signifi¬cant

reduction in

> immunoglobulins and an abnormal profile of cyto¬kines, which are

critical to

> immune response. " The immune system is involved in important

aspects of

> neurodevelopment, " says Pes¬sah. " We've found the presence of immune

> antibodies that we think may influence brain proteins. In the next

five

> years, as the study continues, we hope to reach about 1,600

families total.

> We need that many to get real statistical power. We hope to find

out what

> type of skewed immune response the typical autistic child has and

to isolate

> toxic exposures, such as proximity to highways or toxic waste

dumps. "

> Herbert argues that " we can address the disturbed pathways

now, before

> me gene hunters have definitive information. Genes, af¬ter all,

don't

> specify behaviors. They make regulatory factors that in¬teract in

highly

> complex ways. And as far as the impact of chemicals on

neurodevelopment,

> only about 20 to 30 of the 85,000 chemicals made have been studied.

We can,

> at the very least, try to modulate autism by treating the tissue

> inflammation. "

> In other words, treat now, before the gavel of science

strikes a final

> judgment, which might be decades away. That's what and her

husband,

> , did for n and : They blended mainstream

treatments like

> speech and occupational therapy with the best biomedical approaches

> available. I was told to take my boys home and love them, " recalls

.

> " The neurologist said don't ¬waste your time on alternative

treatments,

> nothing about them is proven. My boys could have ended up

institutionalized,

> or my hus¬band and I would have had to take care of them their

whole adult

> lives. When your child gets a diagnosis of autism, you lose the

child you

> were dreaming about, the one who will go to college, get mar¬ried,

become a

> parent. That just wasn't an option. "

> The boys first saw an alternative Colorado practitioner who

had been

> trained by group called Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!). DAN! was co-

founded in

> 1995 by the psychologist Bernard Rimland, whose own son was

autistic. DAN!

> treatments focus on intestinal is¬sues, detoxification, nutrition,

and

> neuroinflammation. Recommen¬dations include dietary restriction,

usually

> eliminating gluten (present in wheat and other grains) and dairy.

> " For weeks after stopped drinking milk, he had welts

allover his

> body, " recalls, " as if he were going through a detoxification

reaction.

> At the same time, he had his first formed, regular bowel movement.

His sleep

> improved. "

> Other DAN!-recommended treatments include detoxification to

remove

> heavy metals and other suspected pollutants, nutritional

supplementation,

> and sometimes off-label use of anti-inflammatories, antivirals, and

allergy

> medications. These so-called biomedical treatments range from

relatively

> inexpensive dietary changes cost¬ing a few hundred dollars a month

to doses

> of antifungal drugs that can cost several hundreds of dollars. Many

DAN!

> supplements play critical roles in the pathways studied by

scientists like

> Jill . DAN! practitioners are, of course, leaping into the

deep end of

> the pool before science has truly proved these treatments

effective, but

> there are many anecdotal cases of improvement. [NOTE: See PUBLIC

SERVICE

> ANNOUNCEMENT regarding the upcoming DAN! Conference following this

article.

> - editor].

>

>

>

>

>

> EVIDENCE OF HARM DISCUSSION LIST HEATS UP

> AS MERCURY LINK TO AUTISM QUESTION SPREADS

>

> >> PAPERBACK BOOK NOW OUT - CHECK AMAZON.COM

>

> An Evidence of Harm email discussion list has

> been created in response to the growing interest

> in the book and the issues it chronicles. Now over

> 1,500 subscribers. Here is where to subscribe

> (no cost): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EOHarm/

>

>

>

>

>

> Not surprisingly, there has been criticism of the biomedical

> ap¬proach, especially when doctors promise too much or parents hope

too

> desperately for recovery. As notes, one mother killed

herself after

> seeking every possible treatment for her autistic daughter to no

avail,

> causing a furor among parents with autistic children.

> Some children just do not get better, no matter what the

> inter¬vention. Mumper is CEO of a group called Advocates

for

> Children and former director of pediatric education at the

Lynchburg Family

> Practice Program affiliated with the University of Virginia. Of the

2,000

> children in her practice, about 400 have autism spectrum disorders.

She

> describes one boy whom " I have not helped despite my best efforts.

He is 17

> and still nonverbal and has horrible, erosive esophagitis in spite

of the

> fact that he works very closely with a gastroenterologist. He has

to sleep

> standing up and leaning over his dresser because of the pain, and

he has

> very id¬iosyncratic reactions to medications. And even though he is

> nonverbal, he can type anything to me. He's alpha-smart. The horror

is that

> he's trapped in a body that doesn't work. "

> " I hate the term 'full recovery,' " adds, " because of

this false

> hope. Some children do lose the diagnosis, but that's rare. I don't

think

> that should be out there as a goal. We need to accept [the kids)

and love

> them for who they are-because they are lovable. They're quirky. "

> 's boys benefited from their DAN! doctor, she says, but

it was in

> 2003, when she switched to a highly unconventional molecu¬lar

biologist and

> naturopath based in Maine, Amy Yasko, that she began to see more

striking

> changes. Yasko blends the new findings on methylation with a

scientist's

> background in the finer steps of fun¬damental detoxification

pathways in the

> body. However, she largely favors herbs, dietary change, and

nutritional

> supplements over pre¬scription medications. She monitors biomarkers

of

> detoxification in the urine as often as every week or two and tweaks

> supplements accordingly. Her program is intensive and steeped in

molecular

> biology; her twice-yearly conferences are extremely dense,

scien¬tific, and

> intended to help parents become at least semiproficient in the

biology and

> chemistry themselves. It is a far cry from the old doctor-patient

model -

> Yasko works primarily on the internet now -- with phone

consultations, to

> interpret test results. She decided to do this when her waiting

list for

> individuals stretched to five years, and, she says, she felt she

was not

> helping enough children. e-mailed me about 40 charts of

metal " dumps "

> for both of her boys-urinalyses Yasko had ordered and charted on a

graph to

> show the excretion of everything from arsenic to aluminum, mercury,

and lead

> over time. " All these lit¬tle things started clicking after we

started with

> her, " says .

> " I call this approach biomo¬lecular nutrigenomics, after

Bruce Ames, a

> professor of biochemistry and molecu¬lar biology at the University

of

> California at Berkeley, " says Yasko. " He said that someday it would

become

> routine to screen individuals for polymorphisms and that nutritional

> interventions to improve health were likely be a major benefit of

the

> genomics area. " Yasko tests for common polymorphisms in the

methylation

> path¬way, even though these findings are still preliminary. This

has made

> her controver¬sial among her peers. Yet several doctors and

scientists with

> autistic children ad¬mitted privately to using Yasko's services

while being

> unwilling to go on the record to support her.

> Yasko, who says she moved her hus¬band and three daughters

from

> Connecti¬cut to a rural area of Maine to " hear the snowflakes fall

on the

> snow and get to that quiet place inside where I can think, " seems

immune to

> the controversy. " I was in a re¬search environment for a long time,

where

> you had to publish. Then I was in biotech for a long time, where

you had to

> keep ev¬erything quiet. When I began to focus on autistic children,

I made a

> decision that in¬stead of publishing in peer review journals, I was

going to

> go directly to the moms and help them. I knew in making that

decision I was

> going to get flak. That's OK. It was like I was on those cliffs you

see in

> the movies, and you're going to jump. You don't know if there's

water below,

> or enough momentum to get to the other side, but you just jump. "

> Today 's boys participate in individu¬alized programs at

school

> and are being monitored in two national studies of families with

more than

> one autistic child-one at the Duke Center for Human Genetics,

an¬other at

> the University of Washington. has, in addition, been tested

three times

> at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center's toddler

development

> program. Both are still on the autism spectrum-but the incessant

tantrums,

> digestive problems, and infections have vanished. n no longer

chews on

> his shirt, flaps his arms, and grinds his teeth. In fact, he made

honor roll

> in his classes last year. Swift, the boys' schoolteacher

since the

> autumn of 1996, describes them as " sociable and on the whole very

happy,

> with a great sense of humor. is probably the most changed of

any

> autistic child I've ever worked with. "

> , who stopped speaking entirely at age 2, is now a font of

> creative language. I know this because and the boys spent a

weekend at

> my house. At lunch, poured a Vesuvius of ketchup onto his

plate and

> began transforming his french fries into boats that sailed across

the

> ketchup before they were disposed of in his mouth; he then began to

> entertain us by pretending he was an announcer at a regatta, where

he, of

> course, was winning the race. What had once been autism had erupted

into a

> gey¬ser of quirky creativity.

> The boys' blossoming, according to their mom, is one not

easily

> measured on tests. " It's the length of their sentences, their

empathy and

> sense of humor. Last night we went by a house that was all lit up

for the

> holidays and joked, 'Does that guy want to be seen from

space?' When we

> used to take to the den¬tist, he would scream bloody murder

and we'd

> try to papoose him-put him on a board and wrap him in sheets, but

even that

> didn't work. so they put him to sleep just to clean his teeth. Last

year we

> went to the dentist. and he heard a little boy crying, walked over

to him,

> rubbed his back, told him it wouldn't hurt, and not to worry. My

heart was

> melting. "

> Can we cajole a mysteriously shuttered brain and body back

toward

> normal? And if so, will autism give us new insight into other

disorders?

> Martha Herbert thinks so: " A lot of these metabolic pathways are

pretty

> fun¬damental to life. If we can crack the puzzle of autism and be

clear

> about how we did it, that may have huge implications for other

chronic

> environmentally triggered systemic illnesses. Autism could be a

much-needed

> wake-up call to us all " .

>

>

>

> PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

>

>

> Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) Conference: andria, Virginia

>

>

> An exciting and informative 3-day conference which focuses on

treating

> and defeating the devastating, life altering diagnosis of autism

will be

> held at the Hilton andria Mark Center from April 19-23, 2007.

> The Defeat Autism Now! network of parents, clinicians and

researchers

> is at the forefront of connecting research that makes a difference,

to

> treatments that lead to improvements in the quality of life for

autistic

> children and their families.

> In addition to bringing the most credible researchers and

clinicians

> to the podium, DAN! conferences provide a decision-making framework

for

> addressing the biomedical issues presented by individuals with

autism. There

> is no other conference on autism that devotes its entire agenda to

teaching

> parents and practitioners how nutrition, intestinal disorders,

> detoxification and other metabolic issues impact behavior,

attention, speech

> and the general health of children on the autism spectrum. The DAN!

> Conference focuses intensely on these important issues. The

upcoming 3-day

> conference in andria includes presentations on: Vaccine Safety,

> Biomedical Individuality and Effective Treatment Strategies using

the DAN!

> Approach., Nutritional and Dietary Foundations in Autism,

Commonalities

> Between the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and

Allergies,

> Assessing and Addressing the Role of Toxins in Autism, Genetic

Vulnerability

> to Environmental Toxins in Autism, Oxidative Stress and the

Metabolic

> Pathology in Autism, D4 Dopamine Receptors and Methionine Synthase

in the

> Human Cortex,.

> Investigations of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Autism and

much more!

> The conference will also feature a tribute to Bernard Rimland, PhD

who was

> the founder of the Autism Society of America, the Autism Research

Institute

> and the Defeat Autism Now! Movement. Dr. Rimland, who recently

passed away,

> spent the last half of his life showing the world that autism is

indeed

> treatable and recovery is possible. Conference participants will

hear from

> Dr. Rimland's colleagues and friends from around the world who

continue

> their collective quest to find answers to a condition that remains

on the

> rise. . DAN! is now known throughout the world as the premier

conference

> where parents and clinicians join together to learn the causes,

focus on

> effective treatments and celebrate the recovery of some children.

> Please join us for this potentially life changing event which

inspires

> hope as it outlines a path for treatment April 19 - April 23, 2007.

at the

> Hilton andria Mark Center in andria, Virginia. More

information and

> conference registration is available at

http://www.danconference.com/

>

>

>

> COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The above items are copyright protected. They are

for our

> readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided

at their

> request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used commercially

without

> consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders,

follow

> the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each item.

>

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