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AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Tuesday, December 4, 2001
INDEX:
* Letter From Andy Wakefield through Robert
Sawyer-A Statement
* Antipsychotic
Drugs Tied to Blood Sugar Trouble
* Autism
Twist: Poem 'Twas another night before Christmas
* Free
Printable Crafts for Kids
* Special
Education Bill Killed
* Stem
Cells, Forged Into Neurons, Show Promise For Brain Repair
*
Boy's Airport Injury Still A Mystery
* North
County Inland Autism Parent Support Group
******************************
Letter From Andy Wakefield
through Robert Sawyer-A Statement
The statement we wrote to our UK supporters and parents
appears below.
In view of your previous financial support for medical research
co-ordinated throught this charity, I write to inform you of a development
which will undoubtedly appear in the press over the next few days.
For some time, the future of the research at the Royal Free has been under
threat. However, I am pleased to tell you that I have reached an agreement with
the Royal Free and University College Medical School, whereby members of my
team, and the research they are conducting, are protected for the future as
long as sufficient funds are forthcoming to maintain their salaries.
In return, I will no longer be employed at the Royal Free, but will
co-ordinate a broadening of the research effort in order to resolve these
issues as swiftly as possible.. However, the Medical School will permit me to
continue close collaboration with my colleagues in Paediatric
Gastroenterology and elsewhere, including full access to all patient
records and data, both present and future. This has not been an easy decision,
but has been taken in order to safeguard the future of this work.
One great benefit of this arrangement is that I shall no longer have to
spend a considerable amount of time in distracting political negotiations with
the Medical School and will be able to devote 100% of my effort to the
research.
I anticipate being offered a research position in another institution once
news of this arrangement becomes published, and will inform you of any
offers received and accepted in due course.
Until then, please rest assured that the work is continuing apace and that the
only material change is that the Medical School will no longer have my name on
their establishment or pay my salary.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I
suggest that the offices of Visceral, the medical research foundation that
administers, co-ordinates and seeks funding for the projects underway in six
medical schools in Europe and the United States, is the best location at which
to contact me. Although I am physically in Visceral’s offices for only a
few days a month, Robert Sawyer or Nikki Carter should be able to find me
without too much difficulty. Once again, many thanks for your support.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Wakefield FRCS FRCPath
Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group
Trustee, Visceral
RobertSawyer@aol.com
******************************
Antipsychotic
Drugs Tied to Blood Sugar Trouble
By
Adam Marcus
HealthScoutNews Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthScoutNews) -- New research warns doctors who treat
adolescents for schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses to watch closely
for signs of blood sugar trouble.
Scientists have found that a class of widely used antipsychotic medications
significantly increases the risk of hyperglycemia, a dangerous surge in
blood glucose. The findings, from researchers at Duke University and the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), appear as a letter in the Nov. 28 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The research involves a relatively new family of compounds called atypical
antipsychotics, which include clozapine and its newer cousin, olanzapine.
These drugs have long been known to promote weight gain and increase the risk
of diabetes, or fan a smoldering case, although experts don't know why.
A paper this year in a Journal of Clinical Psychiatry supplement reports the
FDA has been alerted to more than 140 cases of new-onset diabetes in
patients taking clozapine. Three dozen cases involved ketoacidosis, a
potentially deadly complication of elevated blood sugar. The paper also cited
19 case reports of diabetes associated with the use of olanzapine, sold as
Zyprexa by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co.
Full text
to_blood_sugar_trouble_1.html"
title="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20011127/hl/antipsychotic_drugs_tied_to_blood_sugar_trouble_1.html"http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20011127/hl/antipsychotic_drugs_tied_to_blood_sugar_trouble_1.html
******************************
Autism Twist: Poem 'Twas
another night before Christmas
'Twas another night before Christmas, and all through
"their" house,
Still no connection is acknowledged, despite their autistic-like
mouse....
Too many vaccines still injected, hastily and without care,
In hopes that the mothers, are "internet" un-aware.....
***
I wish I knew then,
All now that I know......
To prevent what happened to my child,
On a night long ago - the night he went wild..........
Mamma was in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
We had just settled down, for our usual nightly nap.....
When from down the hall, there arose such a clatter!
We sprang from our bed, to see what was the matter.
Away to my child's room, I flew like a flash, tore off all his covers,
"What is wrong?!" I did ask.
My child was loudly screaming, for why I didn't know,
He was so hot and sweaty, he had a toxin like glow......
When what before my wondering eyes did appear?
It was a vaccine reaction, from his toe to his ear!
Being a sharp little mommy, very lively and quick,
I deduced in a moment - it was from too many sticks!
More rapid than eagles, my anger did rise,
As I cursed and I shouted, and called out bad names!
You vaccine manufacturers! You are harmful and lame!
Injecting poisons in a child, you must be insane!
To lack of research! To doctor's vaccinating while ill!
Now dash away! Dash away! Before another child's future is killed!
As I cope with my child, like a wild hurricane he does fly,
So many odd behaviors, he no longer looks me in the eye.
So off to my Pediatrician's, me and my child we flew,
After hours of tests, it was Autism -- who knew....
When finally back home, I felt so aloof,
No more singing or pretending..........Not under my roof.
Sometimes banging his head, sometimes spinning around,
He can escape a tall fence, with a leap and a bound.
He cannot handle touch, on his head or his foot,
When he did keep on clothes, they were tarnished with soot.
A roomful of toys, he doesn't really care,
He is happiest when alone, acting as if we're not there.....
Oh how I miss when his eyes, how they would sparkle and twinkle!
He loved to smell roses, always laughing and merry!
Now his sweet little fingers, can no more tie a bow.
Why the change that occurred? "They" say they don't know....
As I listen to their nonsense, tongue pressed hard in my cheek -
I feel the smoke circling, my head like a wreath.
They are two-faced and smelley, they said they researched -
That research I'm afraid, is as solid as jelly!!!!!
With ego's so plump, they're like a pompous old elf:
And I laughed when I listened to them, in spite of myself.
With a wink of their eye, and a twist of their pen,
They convince editors to print to us,
"There is no connection! Period! The end!"
Parent advocacy organizations, hoping to save future youth,
Urged Congressmen and lawyers, to uncover the truth.
Determined mothers, with the help of a Congressman who knows
Held the first ever hearings , then many lawsuits arose.....
The testimony began, "They can't prove vaccines are scary!"
But our researchers rebutted, --and did prove the contrary!
The judge read the decision: "You carelessly stole children's health,
And for that we award parents, all of your wealth."
The naysayers then sprang to their sleigh, after they were denied an
acquittal,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle.
***
Never under-estimated us parents, for our children we'll fight....
"For the Merry Christmas one day -- when a wrong is made right!
***
written by Michelle Guppy - for Brandon
******************************
Free Printable Crafts for Kids
DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids
DLTK's Crafts for Kids features a variety of fun children's crafts, coloring
pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of
our children's favorite cartoon characters. There are lots of printable
templates suitable for ages 2 and up. The site is run by Leanne, a mom with two
girls (ages 3 and 7) as her official craft testers and daddy as her technical
support.
******************************
Special Education Bill Killed
[By Greg Toppo, AP Education Writer.]
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-congress-education1201dec01
.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dpolitics%2Dheadlines <-- address ends here
Democrats blasted a successful Republican effort to block billions in
guaranteed funding increases for disabled students but say they'll come up
with a new proposal next week.
"Congress had found tens of billions of dollars to bail out the
airlines, help energy companies and give tax breaks to profitable
corporations in the last few months," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
"But
when children with special needs show up, we shut the door."
He commented after House Republicans on Friday defeated a proposal
that would have guaranteed annual $2.5 billion increases over the next six
years in federal funding for special education.
Saying they want to fund the program, GOP lawmakers worried that the
money could wind up coming from a program aimed at helping economically
disadvantaged children. "Why would we want to pit poor children against
disabled children?" said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Boehner offered an alternative -- $2 billion in additional annual
aid, but subject to the annual spending debates that Congress conducts each
year. Democrats rejected that.
The clash came on one of a few issues remaining on the education
bill, a priority on President Bush's domestic agenda.
The bill is expected to require annual math and reading tests for all
students in grades three through eight, with proposals to give federal money
for tutoring or transportation to families whose children attend schools
with persistently low test scores.
The bill also is expected to give states and school districts more
freedom over how they spend federal dollars.
Friday's meeting of the House-Senate conference committee, which is
producing the final bill, was packed with disabled students' advocates. As
lawmakers debated, a sign-language interpreter translated the proceedings.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who cosponsored the funding amendment with
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said he had talked to several parents waiting to
get into the hearing. "You think life is tough?" Harkin said.
"Go and talk
to those people out there."
The Senate last spring approved the special education measure, which
would have guaranteed an annual $2.5 billion increase for the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, specifying that the money be kept
safe from the yearly appropriations process.
It included $8.8 billion next year for special education programs;
funding would reach just over $21 billion in 2007, the last year of the
guaranteed increases.
Bush asked Congress to increase IDEA spending by $1 billion. House
appropriators raised that to $1.4 billion, but the money is not guaranteed
to increase each year. Opponents of the guaranteed money said it could lead
schools to place more students in special education classes instead of
getting them help in regular classrooms.
Boehner said the debate should wait until next year, when the special
education legislation is due for revision in Congress. He and others also
said the system should be overhauled before more money is poured into it. A
presidential commission on special education is due to report to Bush in
April.
School systems have long complained that the federal government
requires them to educate children with disabilities but doesn't give them
enough money for expensive evaluations, equipment and services.
IDEA, enacted in 1975, called for Washington to provide 40 percent of
funding for disabled youngsters' education. This year, the federal
government provided about 16 percent, or $6.3 billion. States and school
districts share a much larger burden.
"We have failed to meet that guarantee, and we have failed year after
year," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
About 6 million children receive special education funding, which
pays for school instruction and help for everything from dyslexia to
paralysis.
******************************
Stem Cells, Forged Into
Neurons, Show Promise For Brain Repair
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/uow-scf112801.php
In a set of meticulous experiments, scientists have demonstrated the
ability of human embryonic stem cells to develop into nascent brain cells
and, seeded into the intact brains of baby mice, further develop into
healthy, functioning neural cells.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology (December,
2001), a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along
with colleagues from the University of Bonn Medical Center, show that the
blank-slate stem cells taken from early human embryos can, in a laboratory
dish, be guided down the developmental pathway to becoming precursor brain
cells.
Transplanted into the brains of baby mice, the precursor cells
subsequently showed their ability to further differentiate into neurons and
astrocytes, the cell species that populate the different regions of the
brain and spinal cord.
The work represents a critical step toward a high-stakes payoff for
human embryonic stem cell technology - an inexhaustible supply of
transplantable neural cells and tissue to repair everything from spinal cord
injuries to the ravages of Parkinson's disease. The new work was conducted
largely at the WiCell Institute in Madison, Wis., and is now being continued at
the UW-Madison Waisman Center.
"This is a very important step. The cells work" as they should, says
Su-Chun Zhang, a UW-Madison professor of anatomy and neurology and the lead
author of the Nature Biotechnology paper. Co-authors include James A.
Thomson and Ian D. Duncan, also of UW-Madison, and Marius Wernig and Oliver
Brustle of the University of Bonn Medical Center.
The newly published work is critically important for two reasons: One,
it establishes the fact that human embryonic stem cells can be guided down
the developmental pathway to becoming brain cells and, two, it shows that
they can be transplanted into animals and further develop into the more
specific types of cells necessary for normal brain function.
"The neuron that we're seeing after transplant is almost identical to
what the neuron should be in the healthy brain," says Zhang. "These
are the cells that will be used, ultimately, to treat Parkinson's and other
central nervous system disorders." The human stem cells were transplanted
into the brains of newborn mice to co-opt the developmental cues that occur as
the animal grows and the brain develops.
"These transplanted cells had no experience in the brain, and we
wanted to see if they would mirror the development of the mouse brain,"
Zhang says. "And they do." Zhang stressed that the work, in essence,
is a
demonstration of a system for directing the cells to become the specific
types of cells needed for repairing the damaged or ailing brain. Key steps
yet to be performed before the technology can be attempted in humans is to
assess function and actually treat a condition such as Parkinson's in an
animal model such as primates.
"We are nowhere near clinical application," Zhang says. "It will
still
be some years before we can even try this in people." However, the new
work
is strong evidence that human stem cell therapies are likely to live up to
their billing as revolutionary treatments for a host of heretofore
intractable cell-based diseases.
Moreover, the work performed by Zhang and his colleagues exhibited an
important ancillary result: the complete absence of teratomas or tumors in
the mice that received the cell transplants. Of concern in any potential
stem cell therapy is that tumors may arise from contamination of precursor
cells by undifferentiated cells.
"We put a lot of cells, in one instance half-a-million, in a mouse,"
says Zhang. "The more cells you put in, the more likely you are to have a
tumor. The absence of tumors shows our methods for purifying the precursor
cells are pretty good."
******************************
Boy's Airport Injury Still A
Mystery
Police seek clues from medical records
[By Eric Firpo News-Press, Santa Barbara, Calfornia.]
http://news.newspress.com/topsports/1130airport.htm
Thursday's showers probably washed away key blood stains, so police
now hope medical records will provide clues as to how a 6-year-old autistic
boy was injured after he wandered onto a runway at the Santa Maria Public
Airport.
Tucker Sheller is in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and his condition
was upgraded Thursday from serious to fair. He suffered a head wound and a
broken elbow in the unexplained incident Monday night.
The boy lived in a trailer park on airport property. He slipped away
as his mother, Theresa Sheller, was in the process of moving out of her
mobile home on Blosser Road.
There is a chain-link fence between the trailer park and the runways.
But the boy, who is unable to speak due to his autism, may have squeezed
through the bars of a gate loosely chained shut.
Or he may have entered through a nearby vehicle gate at the end of
Blosser Road by walking in behind an unsuspecting driver who had punched a
code to get inside.
There is speculation that the boy may have been drawn to the airport
by the presence of Monster.com's orange blimp, lit up that night like a huge
pumpkin.
What police do know for sure is this: Just before 6 p.m. Monday, a
Marine Corps pilot practicing take-offs and landings radioed the air traffic
tower that he had flown over a child just as he was about to touch down.
Then, about 6:30 p.m., Tucker's mother checked him into the emergency
room at Marian Medical Center. He had a broken left elbow and a jagged
inch-long vertical gash in the middle of his forehead, and his face and
sweatshirt were covered in blood.
At first, the pilot thought he may have hit the boy. He told
investigators he was about 10 feet off the ground when he glimpsed Tucker
off to his left. "He was close enough to see that it was a child and that
he
was wearing a green sweatshirt," said Lt. Mike Cordero of the Santa Maria
Police Department.
The pilot landed to check out his plane on a well-lit ramp and found
no sign that the aircraft had struck the child, nor did a more thorough
aircraft inspection later by military investigators at the pilot's home
base, the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration looked at the
boy's wounds, took into account the twin-engine turbo-prop flown by the
pilot, and fairly quickly discounted the possibility that the plane had hit
the boy, police said.
Investigators assume that the plane, traveling at about 100 mph, would
have killed Tucker had it struck him.
"The FAA right now does not believe the plane hit him," said Lt.
Cordero. But if the plane didn't hit Tucker, what happened?
He could have been knocked off his feet by the blast of the engines as the
plane passed him, flight safety experts said. Or the same force could have
kicked up a rock that cut his head, police surmise.
But it's the absence of blood that has authorities most puzzled.
Doctors say Tucker's head wound could have been caused by a fall onto a hard
surface, said Lt. Rad Mawhinney, and that it would have bled profusely --
and, in fact, it did.
In another tough-to-explain twist, it's a perfectly clean wound. There
was no dirt, grass, sand, pebbles, pieces of asphalt or debris of any kind
in the cut or near it, or anywhere else on the boy's body, Lt. Cordero said.
Three times before Thursday's rain fell, crime scene experts combed
the area between where Tucker was seen by the pilot and where he was found
by two young men who were helping the boy's mother move.
There is plenty the boy could have tripped on in the dark, police say.
Metal electrical boxes lie on uneven, grassy ground. There's asphalt and
some concrete. A stack of steel girders is piled along the fence line not
far from the trailer park.
Not a speck of blood was found anywhere. "We've checked them all,"
Lt.
Mawhinney said.
On Wednesday, police finally found traces of blood on the chain-link
gate Tucker and the two young men squirmed through after the boy was found,
but that doesn't explain how he got hurt.
Nor is the blimp believed to be involved. It was under 24-hour watch
and has since left the airport, though police still want to interview the
guard on duty that night.
Police next want to more closely examine the boy's X-rays and bring in
a forensic specialist to give them a better idea of exactly what could have
caused the boy's cut.
"I think the medical records and the doctors' opinions are going to
really help us a lot," Lt. Mawhinney said.
Meanwhile, airport officials are trying to deflect the suggestion that
lax security contributed to the boy's injury. The fence along the airport
perimeter is checked twice a day, said airport General Manager Gary Rice.
It's eight feet high and topped with three strands of barbed wire,
which Mr.
Rice said meets FAA regulations.
If regulations were not followed, the airport could be fined, said FAA
spokesman Jerry Snyder.
Kids in the trailer park knew one of the codes to open the vehicle
gate. That has since been changed, Mr. Rice said, as have other codes. And
signs will be placed asking drivers to make sure no one sneaks in behind
them.
A tighter chain now closes the gap that police suspect Tucker slipped
through.
"We've clamped that up and clamped up the gate that's down from it. I
don't know what else to do," Mr. Rice said. "I had our insurance guy
out
here the next day and he said, 'You've taken every precaution. You don't
have a breach of security.' I think it would be a tough concept to put
forward that there's some negligence on the airport."
It's an issue FAA and police officials said is a legal question that might
take a civil court to answer.
Whether that will happen is uncertain. Tucker's mother has declined,
through hospital spokespeople, to speak to the press. Mr. Rice said some
blame lies with Ms. Sheller, who told police Tucker was missing for perhaps
20 minutes before he was found.
A trailer park resident and neighbor of Ms. Sheller said she mostly
kept to herself and usually stayed inside with Tucker. But she said the boy
did slip away once before, when Ms. Sheller was moving in about two months
ago. Sara Ortiz said the boy got on his bike and rode into Orcutt. His
family found him at a shopping center about a mile away, she said.
******************************
North County Inland Autism
Parent Support Group
Newsletter for December 2001
Family Outing for December:
Event: Bowling
When: December 7th, Friday, 6:30 p.m. (late arrivals welcomed)
Location: Poway Fun Bowl
Address: 12941 Poway Road
Directions: Approximately 3.5 miles east of I-15 on Poway Road.
Come on out for the fun of it. Bumper rails and special assistance ramps are
available.
Regular Monthly Support Group Meeting:
No regular meeting for December. Regular meetings will resume in January. Watch
for the next newsletter for details.
Special Event:
Annabel Stehli and Terrie Silverman to discuss auditory integration training.on
Thursday, December 20, 2001 7:00-9:00 p.m., at Penasquitos Luthern Church ($5
fee at door). See below for additional
Family Outing for January:
Event: Pizza Night
When: January 4th, Friday, 6:30 p.m. (late arrivals welcomed)
Location: Graziano's Pizza Restaurant
Address: 12165 Alta Carmel Ct
Directions: Exit I-15 on Camino Del Norte, travel east approximately 1 mile;
turn left on to Paseo Lucido; then the next left on to Avenida Venusto;
followed by the next left on to Alta Carmel Ct.
"Come on out for pizza, arcade games, or just conversation!"
Other Stuff:
We are looking for your ideas for subjects and speakers for the support group
meetings. If there is a subject that you would like to have discussed more in
depth, and/or know of someone who would like to speak at our meetings, please
bring your suggestions to the next meeting. We are trying to line up speakers
for the winter and beyond.
In an effort to get this newsletter out faster, we are sending it out via
e-mail. All of you for which we have an e-mail address have received this
letter via that media. Everyone else has received it via snail-mail. If you
would like to receive this letter through e-mail, just drop us a note at
dasbury@home.com. Please mention "Autism Newsletter" in the subject
line and include your name and address within the contents.
Our chapter autism library is open for business. We have several books on the
subject dear to our hearts. The North County chapter has populated sixteen
local public libraries with books on autism. We have that list of books.
Checking out a chapter book requires a check to be left as a deposit, to be
returned with the return of the book. Please see Carolyn Asbury at the monthly
meetings for further details.
Please be advised, for non-chapter members, an on going policy remains in
effect that after six months of no attendance at the monthly meetings nor other
contact with this chapter, you will be dropped from this mailing list.
Thought For the Month: "The probability that we may fail in the struggle
ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
(Abraham Lincoln).
For further information, please contact Kimberly Thompson at 858.748.3230
******************************
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