Full genome sequencing for autism?

First full genome sequencing for autism: Promise for future diagnosis, prevention and treatment: "A collaborative formed by Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, has found full genome sequencing examining the entire DNA code of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their family members to provide the definitive look at the wide ranging genetic variations associated with ASD. The study published online today in American Journal of Human Genetics, reports on full genome sequencing on 32 unrelated Canadian individuals with autism and their families, participants in the Autism Speaks Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). The results include both inherited as well as spontaneous or de novo, genetic alterations found in one half of the affected families sequenced."

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Up To 75% Of Americans Functioning In Chronic State Of Dehydration ...

Chronic Dehydration More Common Than You Think « CBS Miami

Most people know that they are supposed to drink water, but up to 75 percent of Americans may be functioning in a chronic state of dehydration, according to new research.

...Water is necessary for the body to digest and absorb vitamins and nutrients. It’s also key to proper digestion, it detoxifies the liver and kidneys, and carries waste away, Webb said.

Medical marijuana halts chronic seizures in 6 year old

Medical marijuana all but halts Colorado 6-year-old’s chronic seizures | KDVR.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — For most of her life, 6-year-old Charlotte Figi has suffered from 20 to 60 seizures a day due to an incurable genetic disorder called Dravet Syndrome. After the use of medical marijuana, Charlotte has shown dramatic improvement 

A lengthy feature in an edition of this week’s Colorado Springs Gazette chronicles the youngster’s difficult journey 

Charlotte’s parents, Paige and Matt Figi, said the daily seizures made it impossible for Charlotte to have any kind of normal existence. The family had tried a number of remedies, like a special diet and dozens of prescribed medications, to combat the seizures. But each treatment exhibited negative side effects. 

While the diet appeared to ameliorate the seizures at first, the strict food restrictions prompted bone loss, plunging Charlotte into a preliminary stage of osteoporosis. She also suffered from respiratory, ear and bladder infections. The drugs put stress on her organs and some of the medications caused her to stop breathing. 

Paige and Matt said they had reached a stage of desperation. When the suggestion came to try a less conventional approach to their daughter’s disease, both were willing to overlook the controversial implications of a 6-year-old using medicinal marijuana. 

Because little research on medicinal marijuana usage for children existed at the time, finding doctors to treat Charlotte presented a challenge. But Paige persisted. Eventually, she found two doctors, Dr. Margaret Gedde and Dr. Alan Shackelford, to sign for a medicinal marijuana license and treat Charlotte.

Related:

• Medical Marijuana and Autism

Mendability: Sensory Enrichment Therapy and Brain Plasticity Sensory Enrichment Therapy and Brain Plasticity

Mendability: Home-Based Autism Treatment - Clinically Proven

Until recently, it was believed that the brain could not change after the first few years of life.

But new research has shown that the brain has the ability to change—grow new neural pathways and synapses—at any stage of life. This process is known as brain plasticity.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine believe that brain plasticity can be triggered by sensory enrichment.

So, we have developed an easily accessible sensory enrichment therapy you can do at home.

As brain plasticity is activated, the brain’s resiliency increases.

With the help of our personalized sensory enrichment therapy, the brain plasticity is then channeled to the areas that have the capacity to compensate for the maladaptive behavior.

Children With Autism and Therapy Dogs

Children With Autism May Benefit From Interaction With Therapy Dogs

Interactions with therapy dogs, or the introduction of an assistance dog into a household with a child who has an ASD, may help the child develop emotional attachments and interaction in a social setting based on simple and predictable patterns, without having to interpret verbal cues. The enhanced capability for social interaction they would achieve may then carry over to interpersonal communication and relationships.  

In the article "Use of Assistance and Therapy Dogs for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Review of the Current Evidence," Alessandra Berry, PhD and coauthors from Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy, describe the body of published study results as encouraging. They emphasize the need for larger, better designed studies in the future to confirm and build on these findings. 

Bacteroides and Autism

Bacteria boost fixes symptoms of autism in mice - health - 14 February 2013 - New Scientist

REPLACING missing gut bacteria in a mouse model of autism reverses adverse social behaviours and gut disorders associated with the condition. 

Last year, Sarkis Mazmanian and Paul Patterson at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena found that infecting pregnant mice with molecules from a flu virus caused autism-like symptoms in their offspring. The pups were less social, squeaked less and displayed repetitive behaviours. They also had a "leaky" gastrointestinal tract that allowed bacteria to move in and out of the lining. In addition, the bacteria present in their gut were significantly different from that found in mice without autism-like behaviour. 

Studies in humans have also identified links between gut bacteria and autism. For example, a 2011 study identified a significant lack of Bacteroides in children with autism. 

To investigate further, Mazmanian and Patterson fed mice with autism-like symptoms a common species of Bacteroides. The mice's gut cells subsequently appeared to have stronger connections to one another, and stopped expressing genes for signalling molecules that raise the immune response. The animals' behaviour changed as well: they stopped the repetitive behaviour and squeaked more when with the opposite sex. The work waspresented at a recent TEDx conference in Pasadena.

File under WTF. Curing Autism with Parasitic Worms?

Housecall for Health: Treating Autism With Worms « FOX News Radio


Top doctors say they are on their way to successfully treating autism…using parasitic worms. A team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine is leading a trial to see if TSO, the eggs of a whipworm, can cure the symptoms of autism.

In the past 20 years, doctors have used parasitic worms to help patients with Crohn’s Disease, and hope the worms’ effect on the immune system will stop the inflammatory response they believe is linked to autism.

Housecall for Health, I’m Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.

Timothy Syndrome and Autism

How Timothy Syndrome Mutation Causes Wiring Defects Associated With Cognitive Impairment

The present study reveals that a mutation of the disease-causing gene throws a key process of neurodevelopment into reverse. That is, the mutation underlying Timothy syndrome causes shrinkage, rather than growth, of the wiring needed for the development of neural circuits that underlie cognition. 

"In addition to the implications for autism, what's really exciting is that we now have a way to get at the core mechanisms tying genes and environmental influences to development and disease processes in the brain," said Dolmetsch, Senior Director of Molecular Networks at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. 

Reshaping the brain

Reshaping the brain: scientists reprogram neurons after birth | Ars Technica

they still don’t know how plastic they are—if they can change fates after they started differentiating down one particular path. In the context of brain injury, it would be useful to know if certain neural circuits could be reprogrammed and repaired by having the neurons that are already present change fates to adapt to the damage. But this has been challenging to determine, because changing the fate of specific neurons in the latter stages of differentiation has been technically difficult.