Janie Shelton and colleagues at the University of Califonia at Davis reported that women over 40 years of age who give birth have an increased risk of the child having Autism. By studying a large sample of births, the researchers were able to disentangle the relative contributions of maternal and paternal age to the likelihood of having a child with Autism.
This study conflicts with some previous research that pointed at paternal age as a factor in Autism (see the EBD Blog page by Leslie Feldman on Fathers’ Age as Contributor to Risk for Autism). The Shelton et al. analysis expressly examined the relative contributions and points at maternal age as an independent factor. Additional research will help to clarify the relationships.
Continue reading ‘Maternal age increases risk of Autistic offspring’
During the 40 weeks after receiving a brief course of ω-3 (“omega three”) polyunsaturated fatty acids, adolescents at risk for psychotic disorders were less likely to progress to psychotic status than similar peers who did not receive the supplement. In the study by G. Paul Amminger and colleagues, the youths in the treated group also had fewer positive, negative, and general symptoms of psychosis and improved overall functioning than those in the control group.
The youths in the treated group received a supplement of two fish-oil capsules twice a day for 12 weeks, and the controls received a placebo of coconut-oil capsules. The researchers then monitored their status and symptoms for the following 40 weeks.
Continue reading ‘Fish oil and adolescent psychosis’
Writing in Molecular Psychiatry, L. Palmieri of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Pharmaco-Biology, University of Bari (Bari, IT) and colleagues reported the results of a small-n study of levels of metabolic transporters in the brain tissue of individuals with and without Autism. They compared the contents of samples from the brains of individuals with Autism and individual without Autism (matched on the bases of sex, age, and time after death that the samples were obtained). They found aspartate-glutamate carrier activity was increased by excessive calcium levels in brains of the Autistic individuals.
Continue reading ‘Excessive levels of calcium mark brains of individuals with Autism’
Thanks to a comment by reader DrFoo (AKA ‘Rollen’), I was alerted to an interesting study about variation in the rates of Autism in different ethnic populations. The news releases say that the incidence of Autism among Hispanics is lower than it is among non-Hispanic white peers.
These news releases refer to a study entitled “Explaining Low Rates of Autism Among Hispanic Schoolchildren in Texas” by Raymond Palmer and colleagues. Here’s the abstract:
In data from the Texas Educational Agency and the Health Resources and Services Administration, we found fewer autism diagnoses in school districts with higher percentages of Hispanic children. Our results are consistent with previous reports of autism rates 2 to 3 times as high among non-Hispanic Whites as among Hispanics. Socioeconomic factors failed to explain lower autism prevalence among Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas. These findings raise questions: Is autism underdiagnosed among Hispanics? Are there protective factors associated with Hispanic ethnicity?
I’ve not had time to examine the issue closely, but I have a few links:
The full citation is close to what follows…
Palmer, R. F., Walker, T., Mandell, D., Bayles, B., Miller, C. S. (2009). Explaining low rates of autism among Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas. American Journal of Public Health, 100, pp-to-come. 10.2105/AJPH.2008.150565
A new study from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) puts the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) at 0.9% (one in every 110) of 8-year-old children. Writing in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Catherine Rice of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities reported the results of her study 18 December.
In what is called a surveillance study, Ms. Rice examined educational and medical records of children age 8 in 2006, because that age appears to be a peak age for prevalence of ASD. Research teams from sites that participate in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network monitor public health records. Ms. Rice’s report aggregated the data from 10 sites.
Continue reading ‘New prevalence study of ASD’
I’m going a little afield here, as this is not about children or youth. Still, I thought it might be interesting to a reader or two. Using images of the brains of adults with Autism and other adults without Autism, Michael Lombardo and colleagues examined activity in two parts of the individuals brains considered to be involved in thinking about oneself or about others. They found that the individuals with Autism showed differences from their not-Autistic matches in the area of the brain (cingulate cortex) that is active during social interactions and bonding.
All of the participants who had Autism diagnoses (N=29) were pretty high functioning. They were, on average, 26 years old, their average full-scale IQ was almost 116, and on the ADI-R social, communication, and repetitive scales their average (SD) ratings were 17.87 (4.73), 14.83 (3.58), and 5.78 (2.71) respectively.
Continue reading ‘Self- and other-referents in Autism’
Alert readers will know that I have found fault with the recommendations on about.com about Learning Disabilities, so this post endorsing an article on about.com may come as a surprise. In “How to Choose the Wrong Treatment for Your Child with Autism,” about.com’s Lisa Jo Rudy got a lot right. Ms. Rudy provides an extensive list of don’ts that merit support.
Continue reading ‘Autism treatment recommendations’
Professor Lauren Weiss and colleagues form the Autism Consortium published a paper in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine today that provides further and stronger evidence about genetic problems underlying Autism. They have identified changes in genetic structure that appear in a small number of children but not in those children’s parents.
Continue reading ‘More de novo findings’
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