Teach the Brain Forums

Synapse is imortant.........URL retrieved 9-17-05 from the internet.
Best,
Rob URL: Neurobiology of Rett syndrome: a genetic disorder of synapse development
http://pevsnerlab.kennedykrieger.org/pdf...v_2001.pdf.

Sometimes depression hits hard with those who have these disorders and their caregivers.
The following is from internet retrieved today. Sept.20,2005
Best,
Rob

Causes of Depression

Substantial evidence from neuroscience, genetics, and clinical investigation shows that depressive illnesses are disorders of the brain. However, the precise causes of these illnesses continue to be a matter of intense research.

Modern brain imaging technologies reveal that, in depression, neural circuits responsible for the regulation of moods, thinking, sleep, appetite, and behavior fail to function properly, and critical neurotransmitters*chemicals that brain cells use to communicate* are out of balance. Studies of brain chemistry, including the effects of antidepressant medications, continue to inform our understanding of the biochemical processes involved in depression.

In some families, depressive disorders seem to occur generation after generation; however, they can also occur in people with no family history of these illnesses.10 Genetics research indicates that risk for depression results from the influence of multiple genes acting together with environmental or other nongenetic factors.

Very often, a combination of genetic, cognitive, and environmental factors is involved in the onset of a depressive disorder.11 Trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship, a financial problem, or any stressful change in life patterns, whether the change is unwelcome or desired, can trigger a depressive episode in vulnerable individuals. Later episodes of depression may occur without an obvious cause.

Good Morning,

I have located a terrific URL regarding autism spectrum disorders, PDD etc. There are discussions about brain neuroimaging...and brain anatomy and physiology that shows areas of concern. URL retrieved 9-21-05 from the internet.
This is a keeper......Long but worth taking the time to read.
Be well,
Rob
URL: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/autism.cfm#readNow
URL: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/williamspathway.cfm

hi all, being a mother of an autistic child this was an excellent source of information for me.. Do you feel that any kind of brain surgery will help in curing or say at least stop the progression of this degenerative disease. can you please help.

shikha Wrote:hi all, being a mother of an autistic child this was an excellent source of information for me.. Do you feel that any kind of brain surgery will help in curing or say at least stop the progression of this degenerative disease. can you please help.

Hi Shikha...Being the grandfather of an autistic child, I can certainly understand your anxiety and strong emotional feelings for your child. We are not physicians/medical doctors and would not be able to suggest or even imply that a certain type of procedure might work with an autistic child.

I am not sure where you read about surgery for an autistic child...but whatever you read, it is best to check this out with your child's physician. My best to you and your child. Remember one thing...your child will be the one that will need to adjust and seek alternative ways of learning. The parent will really need to support the child by also adjusting to new experiences that are difficult.
Be well,
Rob

hi shikha... Somebody just mentioned the other day that a MRI scan would detect the exact problem area and then go in for Neuro endoscopic surgery. I dont know what this is .. but you can ask your neurosurgeon about this...

samina Wrote:hi shikha... Somebody just mentioned the other day that a MRI scan would detect the exact problem area and then go in for Neuro endoscopic surgery. I dont know what this is .. but you can ask your neurosurgeon about this...

Hi

If you are talking about surgery for autism or pervasive developmental disorders, I don't believe the information that you heard is correct. I keep up on this daily. Always check with your physician as you say.
Best,
Rob

Hi
I would be highly sceptical of any surgical solution to Autism or PDD?
In regard to using an fMRI scan to detect the problem area.
Basically what an fMRI does, is to quantify blood-flow to brain regions.
Where increased blood-flow indicates current activity in the region.
Given any 'task', the relevant regions that are involved will show an increased blood-flow on the fMRI scan.
Therefore, it will identify if the typical spectrum of regions are being activated.
Or in the case of a 'Disorder', it will identify the lack of activition.

Though in relation to Autism, fMRI has also been used to support the Theory that Autism is not a disorder 'within' regions of the brain. But 'between' brain regions.
The "Under-Connectivity Theory". A white matter/ Myelination Disorder.

Geoff.

Hi, non-invasive high tech has come to medicine and that means that our special needs children will potentially benefit greatly from (f)MRI and PET...also new technology is working on electrical non-invasive
tech.

The question will be whether our special needs children will have access to the new high tech.

Obviously the schools cannot afford to pay for this...how will it be financed. Don't know as yet...but this particular URL retrieved 9-28-05 will discuss your special needs rights.....Wright's Law that is......
URL: http://www.wrightslaw.com/
Best,
Rob

Hi....Great resources for Autism and PDD etc. retrieved from the net 9-28-05.
Be well,
Rob URL: http://www.asperger.net/links.htm#bookstores

Hi.....Aspergers syndrome and high functioning autism are big part of the urls retrieved Oct.1, 2005 from the internet. Also (f)MRI and PET...
Url: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Auti...tnG=Search
URL: http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/cont...125/6/1247
Best,
Rob

Hi...Some interesting news retrieved from the internet October 31, 2005.
Be well, URL: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/autismcons...grants.cfm
Rob

Hi, This is an interesting news article that is worth taking a look at...retrieved from the internet November 4, 2005.
Thanks,
Rob

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/2936...e=r_health

National Institutes of Health: Vaccine Additive Linked to Autism

By Douglas Fischer for Red Orbit Breaking News
http://tinyurl.com/a5bhu

A mercury-laced preservative once widely added to pediatric vaccines exposes infants' brains to twice the neurotoxin previously suspected, offering evidence that health guidelines may underestimate the risk newborns
face, researchers say in a report being published today. The additive,thimerosal, has been used in vaccines since the 1930s and is almost 50 percent mercury by weight. Since 2001, manufacturers have gradually phased it out of almost all domestic pediatric vaccines, though it remains in use
overseas in cheaper "multidose" vaccines.
The study, being published today in Environmental Health Perspectives,a peer-reviewed publication of the National Institutes of Health, also chides health officials for abandoning an earlier recommendation that the
preservative be completely phased out and further studies conducted.
And it fuels the debate over the federal government's aggressive vaccination plan that subjects infants to a battery of shots some of which contain aluminum and other potentially harmful compounds in their first weeks of life.
"We're talking about a low-level delivery of a toxin given to a baby on the first day of its life," said mercury expert Boyd Haley, chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky, who was not involved in the study.
"What's needed is a total study of the sensibility of the vaccine program. Why would you want to vaccinate a baby on the first day of its life?"
The report is one of the first to look beyond mercury blood levels resulting from vaccines. Instead it examines both the amount and type of mercury reaching the brain. It suggests health officials examined the wrong compound and failed to look far enough when assessing the danger of mercury in thimerosal.
This is largely a past concern for the United States, given the predominance today of thimerosal-free vaccines. Both the study's lead author and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday urged parents to have their children vaccinated.
"That's the first message," said Thomas Burbacher, lead author and associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington's School of Public Health.
"The bottom line is that trying to assess the effects of acompound with very little or no data is not a good thing to do. ... Unfortunately, we started doing studies on this compound way too late. Basic information like
this should've been available decades ago."
The problem is very much alive for developing nations, however, where the additive is common. The World Health Organization has expressed interest in Burbacher's research.
The problem, Burbacher said, is that regulators trying to assess thimerosal's harm used as a benchmark methylmercury, a widely studied compound, rather than the little-known compound called ethylmercury in thimerosal. Both compounds cross the blood- brain barrier. But methylmercury breaks down slowly, whereas ethylmercury dissipates fairly rapidly,suggesting to regulators that a standard based on methylmercury would adequately protect infants. Burbacher and colleagues found ethylmercury's
fast breakdown leaves higher levels of so-called "inorganic" mercury in the brain. Inorganic mercury lingers in the brain for a year or more, potentially altering certain cells. A previous study has shown such damaged cells are also found in children with autism. Using monkeys, Burbacher found the brains of thimerosal-exposed infants had twice as much inorganic mercury as methylmercury- exposed infants. The Food and Drug Administration has never required testing of thimerosal's safety or of its safe exposure levels for newborns and children. Although high mercury levels particularly as a
result of vaccinations have long been suspected as a leading cause of skyrocketing autism levels, the CDC and Burbacher cautioned Wednesday against drawing any conclusion linking the two.
"To date, the vast majority of the science doesn't support an association between thimerosal and incidences of autism," said CDC spokesman Glen Nowak. But "at the end of the day, we still don't know what causes autism." Others, however, expect such links to become apparent as thimerosal
fades from use in the United States. Already, noted Haley, California's autism rates have decreased three of the past four quarters a first. "There's something in the vaccines doing it. That something is thimerosal."
The FDA's Web site on thimerosal and vaccinations, including a chart showing common pediatric vaccines and the date thimerosal was eliminated,can be found at http:// http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm.

Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer@angnewspapers.com.

Source: Oakland Tribune




DEFINITION * TREATMENT * PREVENTION
Autism is 1 in 150 children today, 1 in 68 families! TAAP (The Autism Autoimmunity Project) is a non-profit charity dedicated to obtaining funding for independent research into the cause, treatment and prevention of autism and other autoimmune disorders. Please learn from our mistake and 'Educate BEFORE You Vaccinate!' For more information visit our website at http://www.TAAP.info and 'TAAP into the Truth!'

Hi Rob,
In relation to this, I would mention Thimerosal is still used for Flu Vaccines.
Where given the current concern by Govt's internationally with Bird Flu.
They are attempting to stock-pile enough Vaccine to innoculate their entire populations.
Where I suspect that Thimerosal is being used?
I have read that it is used for Multi-dose Vials, rather than Single dose.
Though for such a mass innoculation, no doubt multi-dose viles will be used?

Yet of further concern, is that an Addendum was added to the Homeland Security Bill, which prevents the producers of Thimerosal from being sued for damages as a result of Thimerosal.
No doubt in years to come, people will look back and wonder how Govt's got away with it?

Geoff.

Hi,
Good information retrieved from the internet November 20, 2005.
URL: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/williamspathway.cfm
Best,
Rob

Hi....Studies on Autism at UCLA are really showing something....Retrieved Internet December 5, 2005.
URL: http://dgsom.healthsciences.ucla.edu/new...ad_id=6672
Be well,
Rob

December 14, 2005
Hi ,
We have many many GABA neurotransmitters in our body. It seems that this has become a serious interest of researchers who are looking for a cause for Autism/PDD. There is a large volume in text form scheduled to be released this week or next by the publishers. I will get more information for us soon. I try not to get over excited but this is serious research.....to what end I do not know. That is why I will follow up on this.
Best,
Rob

Hi,

If a William's Syndrome child (special needs) can have an innate propensity for music and really shine then why a label of mentally retarded on a Binet IQ test. It is manifest that the child has large deficits in the areas of IQ testing...but in the light of multiple intelligences reasoning, the child can be very excellent and proud of him or herself that will carry a long ways in the extolling of learning motivation substrates for that child.
Children and adults learn better when things are positive...we know about the deficits; they know about the deficits....now let us expatiate the things that are good.
Don't put neurologically untypical people in a box.
Be well,
Rob

Hi, Retrieved from internet 12-20-05.
Be well,
Rob URL: http://ladders.org/

Hi, Good read and excellent resources retrieved on the internet December 21, 2005.
Best,
Rob
URL: http://www.autismresearchnetwork.org/AN/

Hi
I promised you that I would keep tabs on a text regarding the neurotransmitter GABA and Autism.....Here is the 12-21-05 URL from Amazon dot Com. regarding the book....It is very expensive.
Best,
Rob URL:Gaba in Autism and Related Disorders, Volume 71 (Hardcover)
by Dirk Marcel Dhossche (Editor)

January 7, 2006

Neuroimaging continues to improve and with it, we may find out more questions or answers with these terrible pervasive development disorders. At the present time the concensus of scholarly opinion is that the earlier the children affected begins intervention the better. There is a host of types of interventions so....I suggest that you get help from your medical team to help with this decision.
Best,
Rob

Good Morning Good urls retrieved from the internet 1-09-06.
Best,
Rob
Url: http://spnl.stanford.edu/disorders/autism.htm
Url: http://www.msnusers.com/TheAutismHomePag...auses.msnw
Url: http://sidesearch.lycos.com/?query=AUTIS...rch%2Ehtml
Url: http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/

Hi,

It seems that we are neuroimaging autism spectrum and other pervasive developmental disorders with some regularity. What is being found, I suspect will be more forthcoming within 2006-07. The science community is gearing up for even newer forms of non-invasive technologies, which I think is great. As far as I know what can be agreed upon from scientists and therapy experts is: Notwithstanding what ever is found with the non invasive tech[at this time], the best thing to do is work with your physicians AND begin early intervention as soon as possible. Early intervention ...how early...between you and your physician...but early intervention is helping children to improve. As I have mentioned before, my granddaughter has autism. She is now eight....she began early intervention about age 2-3. Her parents and her grandmother and I are together in contining her intervention therapy for years to come....if not for life. We are together with the goal for our granddaughter to be able to function as independently as possible. We believe this goal is attainable based on her progress thus far at eight years of age. We are aware that learning does not occur in a straight line....so it is difficult to project...but she will make it.
Best,
Rob

Good Evening

Last night I spend about a half an hour looking at this particular url from RDI that was retrieve for the net 1-19-06. At first you think it is just a commercial and maybe it is.....however if you take type to look at the entire site you will be quite taken by the approach they use for intervention. I am very familiar with the program and it works for many autistic children and PDD children.
Best,
Rob URL:http://www.rdiconnect.com/