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,

I agree with you. Each time I have moved, my son has gotten less. I moved

from MD to TX to CA and wish my son was still receiving what he got in MD.

But even in land, I hear a lot has changed.

In a message dated 1/1/03 1:37:08 PM Pacific Standard Time,

hillsostack@... writes:

> Subj: Autism Study

> Date: 1/1/03 1:37:08 PM Pacific Standard Time

> From: <A HREF= " mailto:hillsostack@... " >hillsostack@...</A>

> Reply-to: <A

HREF= " mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy " >Texas-Autism-Advocacy@yahoog\

roups.com</A>

> To: <A HREF= " mailto:TLAutStudy@... " >TLAutStudy@...</A>

> CC: <A

HREF= " mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy " >Texas-Autism-Advocacy@yahoog\

roups.com</A>

> Sent from the Internet

>

>

>

> I reviewed with interest the recent Rhode Island autism study. I find it

> amusing that these studies always acknowledge the possibility that families

> are moving to their particular locale to obtain services for a child with

> autism. The superintendent of my school district in Texas (Humble ISD) has

> made that claim to families in our area. If every school district and

> state has this complaint, where are these families coming from and what are

> the " outstanding " services these entities are providing? I've yet to see

> them.

> Hill Sostack

>

>

>

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  • 6 years later...
Guest guest

I've read this sounds wonderful...we are learning so much more...

e

To: AutismBehaviorProblems Sent: Friday, April 3, 2009 1:08:53 PMSubject: autism study

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics took a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the .... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained .... > read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing .... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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Articles like this give me hope for my little guys future.

Sara

autism study

Science News

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics took a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the .... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained .... > read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing .... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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Guest guest

This is very interesting

I came across this same article after discussing my sons progress after

a case of roseola a few weeks ago which he had a high fever. She told

me she had heard of a study and to google it. Basically she was blown away by his articulation

progress and asked what happened in one week...lol.. I told her how he had

been sick and while sick was NOT sensory seeking, had awesome long gaze

eye contact, and popped out a few four word sentences, spontanious and totally

appropriate ones. I was in tears for days because he had so much progress.

He even took a piece of play doh and flew it in the air around his head and said

" airplane " We did not model this ever for him. He has no toy planes. I was picking up

his toys and he said " Momma no no ..my toy " this from a mostly one word boy.

Most of his gains faded alot but everything is better than before the illness. I

would not believe it if I didn't see it myself. I hope they continue these studies.

I also want to add that we dont kill a fever 100%. Never have with any of my kids.

Its what helps fight illness. But we try to keep it under 102 or 103 depending if he

is miserable ..then lower.

39 and Mom to threeTasha 22 ooops..new Mommy ( Grammy to Kyri 18/m)Casey-Mae 14..sweet as pieElijah 2 1/2.. ASD and beautiful

To: AutismBehaviorProblems Sent: Friday, April 3, 2009 3:40:50 PMSubject: Re: autism study

I've read this sounds wonderful... we are learning so much more...

e

From: Sara <sarapoli@mindspring .com>To: AutismBehaviorProbl emsyahoogroups (DOT) comSent: Friday, April 3, 2009 1:08:53 PMSubject: autism study

Science News

Share Blog Cite

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics took a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the ..... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained ..... > read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing ..... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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Guest guest

It is so encouraging to me too; Karac is one of those who acts very normal when he has fever. Pat K

Re: autism study



Articles like this give me hope for my little guys future.

Sara

autism study

Science News

Share Blog Cite

Print Email Bookmark

New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study i

n the journal Pediatrics took a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradr

enaline, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function

... "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

HR>

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA

MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

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www.cleinc.net

Autism Heroes

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www.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment Help

Optimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Tech

www.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDD

Gift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.

www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early Intervention

Early allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.

www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the .... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained .... &gt

; read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

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When karac had a fever, he said, "Grandmother, would you come over here and sit by me?" This from a mostly one word sentence boy. Pat K

autism study

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics to

ok a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter t

hat plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA

MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's Education

College is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.

www.cleinc.net

Autism Heroes

Portraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhD

www.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment Help

Optimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Tech

www.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDD

Gift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.

www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early Intervention

Early allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.

www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the ..... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained ..... > read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is=2

0on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing ..... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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Danny acts totally normal unless his fever goes over 105 which is very common - we are always fighting the 106s

Subject: Re: autism studyTo: AutismBehaviorProblems Date: Friday, April 3, 2009, 4:35 PM

It is so encouraging to me too; Karac is one of those who acts very normal when he has fever. Pat K Re: autism study



Articles like this give me hope for my little guys future.

Sara

autism study

Science News

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study i n the journal Pediatrics took a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradr enaline, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function .. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

HR>

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the .... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained .... > ; read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as20nine months of age is on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing .... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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Guest guest

Did you pass out? lol Thats awesome. Did he keep any gains Pat?

39 and Mom to threeTasha 22 ooops..new Mommy ( Grammy to Kyri 18/m)Casey-Mae 14..sweet as pieElijah 2 1/2.. ASD and beautiful

To: AutismBehaviorProblems Sent: Friday, April 3, 2009 5:40:07 PMSubject: Re: autism study

When karac had a fever, he said, "Grandmother, would you come over here and sit by me?" This from a mostly one word sentence boy. Pat K autism study

Science News

Share Blog Cite

Print Email Bookmark

New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics to ok a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter t hat plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response.. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the ..... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained ..... > read more

Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is=2 0on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing ..... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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No, but it gave me such hope that he had those words in him. It is such a puzzle. Pat K

autism study

Science News

Share Blog Cite

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics to ok a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter t hat plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response.. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et=2

0al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

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Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

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I haven't seen this but doesn't really run high fevers. This is so interesting and I can't wait to find out more. Kellie

To: AutismBehaviorProblems Sent: Friday, April 3, 2009 5:26:20 PMSubject: Re: autism study

No, but it gave me such hope that he had those words in him. It is such a puzzle. Pat K autism study

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New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body.

The new theory stems from decades of anecdotal observations that some autistic children seem to improve when they have a fever, only to regress when the fever ebbs. A 2007 study in the journal Pediatrics to ok a more rigorous look at fever and autism, observing autistic children during and after fever episodes and comparing their behavior with autistic children who didn't have fevers. This study documented that autistic children experience behavior changes during fever.

"On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It usually appears during the first three years of life. Autism is called a "spectrum disorder" since it affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. It is estimated that one in every 150 American children has some degree of autism.

Einstein researchers contend that scientific evidence directly points to the locus coeruleus–noradrener gic (LC-NA) system as being involved in autism. "The LC-NA system is the only brain system involved both in producing fever and controlling behavior," says co-author Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., dean emeritus and distinguished professor of neuroscience at Einstein.

The locus coeruleus has widespread connections to brain regions that process sensory information. It secretes most of the brain's noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter t hat plays a key role in arousal mechanisms, such as the "fight or flight" response.. It is also involved in a variety of complex behaviors, such as attentional focusing (the ability to concentrate attention on environmental cues relevant to the task in hand, or to switch attention from one task to another). Poor attentional focusing is a defining characteristic of autism.

"What is unique about the locus coeruleus is that it activates almost all higher-order brain centers that are involved in complex cognitive tasks," says Dr. Mehler.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler hypothesize that in autism, the LC-NA system is dysregulated by the interplay of environment, genetic, and epigenetic factors (chemical substances both within as well as outside the genome that regulate the expression of genes). They believe that stress plays a central role in dysregulation of the LC-NA system, especially in the latter stages of prenatal development when the fetal brain is particularly vulnerable.

As evidence, the researchers point to a 2008 study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, that found a higher incidence of autism among children whose mothers had been exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms during pregnancy. Maternal exposure to severe storms at mid-gestation resulted in the highest prevalence of autism.

Drs. Purpura and Mehler believe that, in autistic children, fever stimulates the LC-NA system, temporarily restoring its normal regulatory function. "This could not happen if autism was caused by a lesion or some structural abnormality of the brain," says Dr. Purpura.

"This gives us hope that we will eventually be able to do something for people with autism," he adds.

The researchers do not advocate fever therapy (fever induced by artificial means), which would be an overly broad, and perhaps even dangerous, remedy. Instead, they say, the future of autism treatment probably lies in drugs that selectively target certain types of noradrenergic brain receptors or, more likely, in epigenetic therapies targeting genes of the LC-NA system.

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr.. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Journal reference:

Mehler et=2 0al. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus.. Brain Research Reviews, 2009; 59 (2): 388 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresr ev.2008.11. 001

Adapted from materials provided by Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Email or share this story:

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA MLA

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2009, April 2). New Theory Of Autism Suggests Symptoms Or Disorder May Be Reversible. ScienceDaily.. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www.scienced aily.com­ /releases/2009/ 04/090401145312. htm

enlarge

Scientists have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible. (Credit: iStockphoto/ Marcin Pawinski)

Ads by Google

Advertise here

Asperger's EducationCollege is possible with CLE.. Support you need to succeed.www.cleinc.net

Autism HeroesPortraits of families meeting the challenge by Barbara Firestone PhDwww.AutismHeroes. org

Neurodevelopment HelpOptimized Liquid Nutritional Sup Clinically Tested Absorption Techwww.syndion. com

Proven Results for PDDGift your child a PDD free life. with LearningRx. Get Free ebook.www.LearningRx. com

Autism Early InterventionEarly allergy testing may be lead to recovery not just treatment.www.SageMedLab. com

Related Stories

New Protein Implicated In Autism (Mar. 27, 2007) — Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. Although several genes are associated with autism, none lie in the ..... > read more

Toward A Long-sought Saliva Test For Autism (Jan. 13, 2009) — Researchers are reporting discovery of abnormal proteins in the saliva of autism patients that could eventually provide a clue for the molecular basis of this severe developmental disorder and could ... > read more

New Model For Autism Suggests Women Carry The Disorder And Explains Age As A Risk Factor (July 26, 2007) — A new model for understanding how autism is acquired has just been developed. Researchers analyzed data on autism incidence and found a previously unrecognized pattern. The pattern can be explained ..... > read more

A class=blue href="http:/ /www.sciencedail y.com/releases/ 2007/12/07120809 2451.htm" target=_blank rel=nofollow> Brain Overgrowth In One-year-olds Linked To Development Of Autism, Study Says (Dec. 10, 2007) — Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infant's first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research. These findings support concurrent research which has ... > read more

Gene That May Lead to Autism Identified (Mar. 14, 2007) — Yale School of Medicine autism experts are part of a global research consortium to identify a gene and a region of a chromosome that may lead to autism in children. Researchers speculate that there ... > read more

New Research Tool Can Detect Autism At 9 Months Of Age (May 21, 2008) — The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is=2 0on the horizon. The Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while t he babies ... > read more

Epilepsy Drug Taken When Pregnant May Increase Risk Of Autism In Children (Dec. 9, 2008) — A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child's risk of developing ..... > read more

Autism's Fogged-up Mirror (Jan. 3, 2005) — People with autism experience less activity in the brain neurons that specifically trigger human empathy, according to a new study by UdeM researcher Hugo Théoret. The professor in the ... > read more

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I was very excited to read this study too! Its about time they start making

progress on this! Our oldest son is very mild (completely mainstreamed) but DOES

have autism and a lot of speech issues where he switches words around, leaves

out words, and basically talks like he is going around his elbow to get to his

thumb, lol. My dh and I have noticed since he was very young that when he gets a

fever his speech gets DRAMATICALLY better. In fact, if he comes in our room in

the middle of the night, I can tell if he's sick before I even open my eyes just

by hearing him talk.

My favorite part of what the dr said was that this is a good sign in that it

shows that whatever part of the brain is affected, it must not be irrepairably

damaged, which is a good point. Unfortunatley, my younger son does not show any

improvements with a fever, he is more affected by his autism though.

Good news nonetheless, its nice to hear someone is working on this!

>

> J does better when he has a fever too. Lois

> Re: autism study

>

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Guest guest

How old is your youngest? My son had a fever last year with a bad flu.

He didnt have any gains. It could depend on the illness. I think the fever was

the main factor but this time my son had roseola which is just a fever and after

4 days a rash ( lasted 12 hours ) if the child is seriously ill like vomiting, strep throat or

other..the gains might not show.

39 and Mom to threeTasha 22 ooops..new Mommy ( Grammy to Kyri 18/m)Casey-Mae 14..sweet as pieElijah 2 1/2.. ASD and beautiful

To: AutismBehaviorProblems Sent: Friday, April 3, 2009 9:19:36 PMSubject: Re: autism study

I was very excited to read this study too! Its about time they start making progress on this! Our oldest son is very mild (completely mainstreamed) but DOES have autism and a lot of speech issues where he switches words around, leaves out words, and basically talks like he is going around his elbow to get to his thumb, lol. My dh and I have noticed since he was very young that when he gets a fever his speech gets DRAMATICALLY better. In fact, if he comes in our room in the middle of the night, I can tell if he's sick before I even open my eyes just by hearing him talk. My favorite part of what the dr said was that this is a good sign in that it shows that whatever part of the brain is affected, it must not be irrepairably damaged, which is a good point. Unfortunatley, my younger son does not show any improvements with a fever, he is more affected by his autism though. Good news nonetheless, its nice to hear someone is working on

this!>> J does better when he has a fever too. Lois> Re: autism study>

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He is 4 1/2. That is a good point, it definitely could be dependent on the

illness. From a lot of what I've read about the fever-related improvements, a

lot of them are behavior-related instead of speech improvements. My youngest

does seem a lot calmer with a fever though. But just as the critics of the

phenomenon have questioned, I also wondered if the behavior improvements were

just because of the lethargy people normally feel when sick. Who knows? I really

like to see them following up on this anecdotal (and now some scientific)

evidence!! :)

> >

> > J does better when he has a fever too. Lois

> > Re: autism study

> >

>

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That is so interesting; maybe they are finally on to something. Wouldn't that be great!! blessings, Pat K

Re: autism study

J does better when he has a fever too. Lois

Re: autism study

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