Scientists think the problematic social behaviour of people with autism is related to this vitamin deficiency.
One surprising trait that is linked to good social psychological knowledge.
The test could make it easier to detect autism in young children.
This strange autism symptom may provide a clue to better treatments.
This vitamin is central to the development of health neuronal connections.
Almost one in 50 children are diagnosed with autism.
The drug had no obvious side-effects.
The drug had no obvious side-effects.
A drug used to treat cancer could reverse the symptoms of autism in three days, new research finds.
Mice with autism given the drug showed a reversal in the social symptoms of autism.
The drug’s effects lasted three weeks, which in human terms is several years — so the drug appears long-lasting.
The drug — called romidepsin — is approved for fighting cancer by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Professor Zhen Yan, who led the study, said:
“We have discovered a small molecule compound that shows a profound and prolonged effect on autism-like social deficits without obvious side effects, while many currently used compounds for treating a variety of psychiatric diseases have failed to exhibit the therapeutic efficacy for this core symptom of autism.”
Previous studies have shown that autism suppresses the effects of over 200 genes and romidepsin restores most of these.
Professor Yan said:
“Autism involves the loss of so many genes.
To rescue the social deficits, a compound has to affect a number of genes that are involved in neuronal communication.”
The discovery relies on the fact that risk genes for autism and cancer overlap.
Professor Yan said:
“The extensive overlap in risk genes for autism and cancer, many of which are chromatin remodeling factors, supports the idea of repurposing epigenetic drugs used in cancer treatment as targeted treatments for autism.”
The study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience (Qin et al., 2018).
The compound is found in over 600 different drugs.
The compound is found in over 600 different drugs.
Acetaminophen — commonly known as Tylenol in the US and paracetamol elsewhere — has been newly linked to autism and hyperactivity.
It is the first study ever to find a link between mothers taking acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorders in their children.
The Spanish research followed 2,644 pairs of mothers and children over five years.
It found that 41% had been exposed to acetaminophen in the first 32 weeks of pregnancy.
The tests five years later found that children who were persistently exposed to acetaminophen during pregnancy had:
Boys in particular who were exposed to acetaminophen in the womb showed more autism spectrum symptoms.
Girls, though, were more prone to attention-related and hyperactivity problems.
Dr. Jordi Júlvez, one of the study’s authors, said:
“Paracetamol could be harmful to neurodevelopment for several reasons.
First of all, it relieves pain by acting on cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
Since these receptors normally help determine how neurons mature and connect with one another, paracetamol could alter these important processes.
It can also affect the development of the immune system, or be directly toxic to some fetuses that may not have the same capacity as an adult to metabolize this drug, or by creating oxidative stress.”
The study did not measure autism diagnoses, Dr Claudia Avella-Garcia, the study’s first author, explained:
“…although we measured symptoms and not diagnoses, an increase in the number of symptoms that a child has, can affect him or her, even if they are not severe enough to warrant a clinical diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental disorder.”
The different effects of acetaminophen on boys and girls could be vital, Dr Avella-Garcia said:
“The male brain may be more vulnerable to harmful influences during early life.
Our differing gender results suggest that androgenic endocrine disruption, to which male brains could be more sensitive, may explain the association.”
It is not yet known what the exact balance of risks and benefits is from using acetaminophen.
Further studies will be required to examine the link.
The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (Avella-Garcia et al., 2016).
Best autism treatment improved social skills and development and lessened symptoms.
Best autism treatment improved social skills and development and lessened symptoms.
The best way of treating autism involves training parents how to work with their children in the home environment, new research finds.
The 7-year-long study found that parents needed to be taught by clinicians how to use psychological strategies in their everyday lives, not just at a clinic (Wetherby et al., 2014).
Professor Amy Wetherby, director of the Autism Institute at Florida State and study principal, said:
“With our specialized methodology, we taught families to work with their children 20 to 25 hours a week in their everyday activities — not only play but also meals and snacks, caregiving, family chores — and taught them how to bring their children into that activity.
We also taught them how to go out in the community, how to take the child to a playground, to a grocery store, to a restaurant, and use these strategies.
We tried to help parents make interactions fun and fruitful learning moments. But we also taught the parents how to push their child — because their child has autism, and we are finding these children at this very critical moment when their brain is more able to learn.
If the parent can start early, then we are more likely to change the child’s trajectory of learning for the rest of their life.”
Typical strategies which parents are taught include encouraging toddlers to imitate others since this is one of the keys to learning.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, randomised 82 toddlers into two groups: in the first, parents were taught in a group and, in the second, clinicians visited their homes to show parents how to implement the strategies.
Professor Wetherby explained the results:
“For both, children improved in using words and autism symptoms.
However, children in the second group improved even more on understanding and social communication, demonstrating the impact of the individual sessions at home.”
While some previous studies have reported improved outcomes from similar strategies, they required clinicians to spend more time with children than is practical.
Other studies have successfully taught the required skills to parents in groups; yet, while parents seem to learn what’s required, children do not benefit.
Professor Wetherby believes they have found a good balance:
“We’ve come up with a treatment model that can teach parents to support their child’s learning during everyday activities, and we’ve documented that the children improved their developmental level, social communication skills and autism symptoms.”
Image credit: hepingting
Dozens of new genes associated with autism identified by new studies.
Dozens of genes associated with autism identified by new studies.
Data from 50 laboratories around the world has found that rare mutations in dozens of genes may be responsible for 30% or more cases of autism.
The mutations affect communication networks and vital biological mechanisms which change how or whether other genes are activated.
One hundred genes were identified by researchers, of which 60 were found to have a high chance of contributing to the risk of autism.
The majority of the mutations identified do not come from the parents but arise spontaneously in the sperm or egg just before conception.
The results come from two studies: one of over 2,500 families where a single child has autism but neither parent nor siblings have the condition and another using data through the Autism Sequencing Consortium (Iossifov et al., 2014; Rebeis et al., 2014).
Stephan Sanders, one of the study’s first authors said:
“Before these studies, only 11 autism genes had been identified with high confidence, and we have now more than quadrupled that number.”
Sanders estimates that this is just the tip of the iceberg — as many as 1,000 genes could ultimately be linked to the risk of a child developing autism.
While this might seem like bad news, Dr. Matthew W. State, a study co-author, said the outlook is not that poor:
“There has been a lot of concern that 1,000 genes means 1,000 different treatments, but I think the news is much brighter than that.
There is already strong evidence that these mutations converge on a much smaller number key biological functions.
We now need to focus on these points of convergence to begin to develop novel treatments.”
Dr. State continued:
“These genes carry really large effects.
That we now have a bounty of dozens of genes, and a clear path forward to find perhaps hundreds more, provides an incredible foundation for understanding the biology of autism and finding new treatments.”
Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT
Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.
