Saturday, June 15, 2013

Study Debunks Lyme Disease-Autism Link - US News and World Report

Study Debunks Lyme Disease-Autism Link - US News and World Report: Although a prevalence of Lyme disease as high as 20 percent (or even higher) has been reported in children with autism, the new research found no cases of Lyme disease in children when testing recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was done.

Drug shows benefit for children with autism - thenews.com.pk

Drug shows benefit for children with autism - thenews.com.pk: Children on arbaclofen did improve on an overall measure of autism severity when compared to kids taking an inactive placebo, said lead researcher Dr. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, an associate professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. He is to present the findings Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in Spain.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Autistic disorder and phospholipids: A review

Autistic disorder and phospholipids: A review: Dysregulated phospholipid metabolism has been proposed as an underlying biological component of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autistic disorder (AD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This review provides an overview of fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism and evidence for phospholipid dysregulation with reference to the membrane hypothesis of schizophrenia. While there is evidence that phospholipid metabolism is at least impaired in individuals with AD, it has not been established whether phospholipid metabolism is implicated in causal, mechanistic or epiphenomenological models.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Autism discovery paves way for early blood test and therapeutic options

Autism discovery paves way for early blood test and therapeutic options: The study, led by GGC's Director of Research, Charles Schwartz, PhD, (left) and Staff Scientist, Luigi Boccuto, MD, (right) found that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) showed significantly decreased metabolism of the amino acid L-tryptophan when compared to both typical controls and individuals with other neurodevelopmental disorders. Cells from individuals with autism metabolized L-tryptophan at a decreased rate whereas cells from individuals without autism did not show this change.

Trinity Study: High-Fat Diet Could Help Autism - Courant.com

Trinity Study: High-Fat Diet Could Help Autism - Courant.com: Masino said the ketogenic diet has been used for decades to treat epilepsy and is known to significantly reduce and, in some cases, eliminate, patients' seizures. More recently, the diet has been studied as a means to treating other neurological disorders, including autism. A 2003 study out of Greece found that 18 of 30 children with autism showed improvement.

Why Kids With Autism May Avoid Eye Contact | LiveScience

Why Kids With Autism May Avoid Eye Contact | LiveScience: Children with autism often have difficulty making eye contact, and now a new study suggests this may be due in part to how their brains process visual information, rather than being purely a social deficit.

'Sensory-Focused' Autism Therapy Shows Early Promise – WebMD

'Sensory-Focused' Autism Therapy Shows Early Promise – WebMD: "What we've done here for the first time is give humans a sensory-enriched environment and found out that a neurological disorder -- autism -- responds favorably. We saw a 600 percent greater likelihood of having a positive clinical outcome in individuals that had enriched environments compared to those receiving the standard care that children have been receiving for autism up to this point," said study author Michael Leon, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the University of California, Irvine.

Nearly one-third of children with autism also have ADHD

Nearly one-third of children with autism also have ADHD: In a study of the co-occurrence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in early school-age children (four to eight years old), researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute found that nearly one-third of children with ASD also have clinically significant ADHD symptoms