 |
Main Menu |
|
|
 Home Community Members options Forums Search Web
|
|
|
|
|
News- Page 3
|
MU Researchers Join International Effort to Search for Autism Causes
|
|
|
Posted by lightfoot on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (22:48:18)
By infoZine Staff
The University of Missouri's Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders is now part of a groundbreaking international effort to search for the causes of autism. A $1.6 million grant from The Simons Foundation makes the Thompson Center one of 13 university-based centers to be part of the Simons Simplex Collection project - the largest effort at gathering DNA samples from patients with autism and their families.
According to The Simons Foundation - a New York based philanthropic organization - the Simons Simplex Collection is a bold, new initiative to search for the causes of autism by collecting DNA samples at 13 sites from families with just one child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This initiative is different from past projects because it is focuses on families with just one child with autism, called simplex families.
Recent scientific findings suggest that there may be many forms of autism. There are core deficits that define Autism Spectrum Disorders, yet there is a great deal of variation in the behaviors and level of functioning among children and adults with some form of ASD.
"Autism is a collection of often quite distinct disorders that people have lumped together in the past," said Judith Miles, William S. Thompson Chair in Autism and principal investigator for the project at the Thompson Center site. "In the 1970s, every child with leukemia was treated the same way and very few survived. However, when we discovered childhood leukemia was a number of different disorders requiring different treatment strategies, the cure rate improved to 90 percent. This is what we want to do with autism."
To pick out different autism subgroups, the Simons Simplex project has developed the most comprehensive database of uniform information which will be collected on more than 3,000 families from across North America. It will be stored at a central repository and distributed to qualified investigators throughout the world.
"Using state-of-the-art, gold-standard measures in a very rigorous assessment will help us accurately characterize these children and will assist quality research regarding the mechanisms and causes of autism," said Stephen Kanne, co-investigator for the project at the Thompson Center and assistant professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions.
The grant requires the Thompson Center to provide 100 DNA samples to the Simons Simplex Collection each year for three years. The Thompson Center is actively recruiting families who have one child with autism between the ages of five and 17 and at least one unaffected sibling. Both biological parents must be able to participate. All testing is free for the families and they will be compensated with a small stipend. Families who would like to participate in the study may contact the Thompson Center at (573) 882-6081.
The other sites involved in the project are: University of Michigan, Yale University, Columbia University; Emory University; Harvard University; McGill University in Montreal; the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); University of Illinois-Chicago; Vanderbilt University, Baylor University and Washington University.
"We are thrilled to be part of the Simons consortium, which brings together the best autism research centers in North America," said Janet Farmer, co-director of the Thompson Center. "Each center was chosen because it brings a special area of expertise. This is the kind of cooperative research that is needed to comprehend autism."
Kansas City infoZine
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? |   |
|
|
|
|
New Research on Autism Raises More Questions
|
|
|
Posted by lightfoot on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (20:29:57)
By Lindsey Ward
What causes autism is a question that still looms among doctors and experts, but this latest report has created more insight into this mysterious disorder.
We sat down with an autism expert for these emerging details.
In a flood of new studies closely looking at autism, the latest has confirmed what many parents have told Doctor Ken Norwood for years, that a fever can temporarily unlock autism's grip on a child.
“It suggests that there may be something about what is going on in fever that could be affecting how the brain is working,†said Dr. Norwood, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Developmental Pediatrics at Kluge Childrens Rehabilitation Center.
The study examined 30 children between the ages of 2 and 18. Researchers found a temperature of 100 caused the most predominant symptoms of autism to weaken, briefly freeing children from their developmental disorders.
“They found that there was decreased hyper activity and irritability in the children who had fever, which sort of makes sense. Kids get more lethargic, maybe aren't as active, but what was really interesting is that they seem to have less unusual speech,†explained Norwood.
Doctor Norwood added, if indeed fever can normalize autistic behavior, it suggests the neuro pathways that are necessary for the child to act typically may be intact.
“That’s very exciting, because that then suggests that maybe we can come up with ways to make those neuro path ways to work like they are supposed to.†Norwood said.
Although the study is another chapter in autism research, it opens up a whole new book of questions
Norwood says it's very important more studies are conducted on the topic. This was the first research looking at fever and autistic behavior.
It is believed that one out of every 166 kids is diagnosed with autism.
19NEWS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
UA researchers help devise autism test
|
|
|
Posted by lightfoot on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (20:28:22)
By Adam Jones
Diagnosing autism early in a child’s life can be difficult and is usually done by observation and conversation with parents.
Researchers have been looking for some sort of measurable, distinguishable trait in the brain to show some degree of the neurological disorder, and a team of researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Alabama believe they found one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Read More... (3.4 KB) | |
|
|
|
|
Mother's antibodies tied to development of regressive autism: study
|
|
|
Posted by lightfoot on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (11:18:52)
Scientists have identified a potential new cause of autism in children, by examining what happens in the womb before a baby is born.
Researchers at the Sacramento, California-based UC Davis MIND Institute and Center for Children's Environmental Health have found that in mothers of children with autism, antibodies in their blood bind with the brain cells of the fetus, possibly interfering with brain development and resulting in latent autism.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Read More... (2.28 KB) | comments? | |
|
|
|
|
Autism Study : Infants Needed in Puget Sound Area
|
|
|
Posted by lightfoot on Monday, February 25, 2008 (23:54:47)
sole source: Journal Newspapers article by Elizabeth Griffin on 2/5/08
The University of Washington is pioneering an autism-prevention study, and Puget Sound infants are needed for presymptomatic evaluation.
Researchers at the University of Washington were recently granted $11.3 million to work on the prevention of autism.
Their work will be the first study done with a pre-symptomatic population who are thought to be at risk for autism because they have an autistic sibling.
While the latest research shows that autism affects as many as one in every 150 newborns in the United States, about one of every 20 infants who have an older sibling with autism will develop the disorder.
“This is the first trial attempt to intervene and treat infants who are at risk for autism at the earliest time that symptoms are present,†said Annette Estes, associate director of the UW Autism Center and research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavior science, who will head the clinical assessment component of the new study.
Researchers hope to work with 200 families in the course of this five-year study. “We are eternally optimistic,†said Sara Webb, research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, in regard to the amount of subjects needed for the study. “You have to be to undertake something of this scope.â€Â
Participation in the study benefits families in several ways - they are provided with a thorough assessment of their baby’s development, language and IQ at 6, 12 and 24 months.
Its like a well-baby checkup for autism and language difficulties, said Webb.
For families who already have one child with autism, a professional evaluation of their second child can be important. Webb has observed that parents with an autistic child are anxious when a second child is born and feel the need to watch them to make sure they are all right. She hopes that through participation in this study, their stress can be reduced.
All of the infants in the study will be assessed and monitored for development through age 2. Of these, 100 will be chosen to participate in a more intensive program involving Promoting First Relationships - a therapy that focuses on the interactions between an infant and his or her primary caregiver.
Primary caregivers will be trained to engage their infants in eye contact and each caregiver and child will be videotaped interacting once a week for nine weeks.
Through observation of pre-symptomatic infants, the group hopes to identify possible biological factors of autism and provide early intervention for those who have them or who display behavioral indications of the developmental disorder. The gold-star result of the study, according to Webb, would be that with early detection and intervention fewer children would develop autism and those who do would suffer from fewer symptoms of it.
Other research has shown that the earlier the intervention the better the outcome in treating children with autism, said Estes.
One of our goals is to be able to identify autism as early as possible before obvious symptoms show up so we can intervene while the connections in a childs brain are still plastic.
The group will also try to identify genetic markers for autism through brain imaging. “Right now we cant reliably identify autism until about 24 months of age. We will be looking at genetics, neurobiology and a number of early behavioral measures to predict which children will develop autism,†Estes said.
Families that wish to participate in the study must live in the Puget Sound area and be willing to come to the UW Autism Center in Seattle.
For more information, contact the UW Autism Center at (800) 994-9701 or find information on the Internet at http://depts.washington.edu/uwautism/.
Dyslexia Tutor: News-Resources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
|
Latest: 
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 2
Overall: 7321
Members: 0
Visitors: 2
Total: 2
1: