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AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Thursday, November 22, 2001
Happy Thanksgiving!
INDEX:
* The Institute of Medicine Warns
* US Researcher Links MMR to Autism
* Speech & Prosody Of Non-Children With HFAut & Asperger Syndrome
* Early Speech Delay and Asperger's
* Deficit In Shifting Attention In HF Aut. But Not Asperger's
* The Asperger Syndrome (& HF Aut.) Diagnostic Interview
***************************************
The Institute of Medicine
The
Institute of Medicine warns of mercury exposure, in regards to
amalgam fillings for teeth and also the toxic metal used in the vaccine
industry. To see slide shows and presentations go to:
http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/Thimerosal+Agenda
***************************************
US Researcher Links MMR to
Autism
[By Alan R. Yurko.]
http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/6/2/2/0/0/9/index.htt
A highly respected and well-published scientist at the Utah State
University, Vijendra K. Singh has further linked autism to the MMR vaccine.
His study published in New Foundation of Biology, Elsevier Science BV 2001:
447-58 titled Neuro-immunopathogenesis in Autism provides brain autoantibody
and virus serology evidence that links autism to MMR and postulates autism
as a neuroautoimmune response that occurs at the neuroimmune biological
interface.
Singh found that autoantibodies to myelin basic
proteins were present
in 80% of autistic children but that none were found in the normal children
control group and only rarely in all other controls. These autoantibodies
attack the basic proteins that constitute myelin, which surrounds the
sheaths of nerve fibers. Regarding the virus serology, autistic children had
a significantly higher level of measles virus antibodies as compared to
controls, which suggests a temporal link of measles virus with autoimmunity
in autism.
Furthermore, Singh found a very important
serological association
between measles antibody level and antiMBP, which showed that the higher the
measles antibody titer the greater the chance of autoantibodies to myelin
basic protein. The shocking fact is that none of the children had a
wild-type measles infection, but they all had the measles mumps rubella
(MMR) vaccine.
Singh also offers hope. He notes an open label
trial of oral
Sphingolin (myelin containing autoantigen) is being assessed. Preliminary
results show significant improvement in autistic people, which further
support the neuroimmune pathogenesis in autism. -transcribed by Susan E.
Kreider
Vijendra K. Singh, Department of Biology and
Biotechnology Center,
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA 84322-5305
********************************************
Speech & Prosody Of
Non-Children With HFAut & Asperger Syndrome
Speech and prosody [intonation] characteristics of adolescents and adults
with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11708530&dopt=Abstract <-- address ends here.
Shriberg LD, Paul R, McSweeny JL, Klin AM, Cohen DJ, Volkmar FR. Waisman
Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 53705, USA. shriberg@waisman.wisc.edu
Speech and prosody-voice profiles for 15 male
speakers with
High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and 15 male speakers with Asperger syndrome
(AS) were compared to one another and to profiles for 53 typically
developing male speakers in the same 10- to 50-years age range. Compared to
the typically developing speakers, significantly more participants in both
the HFA and AS groups had residual articulation distortion errors, uncodable
utterances due to discourse constraints, and utterances coded as
inappropriate in the domains of phrasing, stress, and resonance.
Speakers with AS were significantly more voluble
than speakers with
HFA, but otherwise there were few statistically significant differences
between the two groups of speakers with pervasive developmental disorders.
Discussion focuses on perceptual-motor and social sources of differences in
the prosody-voice findings for individuals with Pervasive Developmental
Disorders as compared with findings for typical speakers, including comment
on the grammatical, pragmatic, and affective aspects of prosody.
PMID: 11708530 [PubMed - in process]
********************************************
Early Speech Delay and
Asperger's
Non-significance of early speech delay in children with autism and normal
intelligence and implications for DSM-IV Asperger's disorder
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11708393&dopt=Abstract <-- address ends here.
Mayes SD, Calhoun SL. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine,
USA. SueDMayes@aol.com
According to the DSM-IV, children with
Asperger's disorder do not have
significant cognitive or speech delays, whereas children with autistic
disorder may or may not. In our study, children with normal intelligence who
had clinical diagnoses of autism or Asperger syndrome were divided into two
groups: those with and without a significant speech delay.
The purpose was to determine if clinically meaningful
differences
existed between the two groups that would support absence of speech delay as
a DSM-IV criterion for Asperger's disorder. No significant differences were
found between the 23 children with a speech delay and the 24 children
without a speech delay on any of the 71 variables analyzed, including
autistic symptoms and expressive language.
Results suggest that early speech delay may be irrelevant to later
functioning in children who have normal intelligence and clinical diagnoses
of autism or Asperger syndrome and that speech delay as a DSM-IV distinction
between Asperger's disorder and autism may not be justified.
PMID: 11708393 [PubMed - in process]
********************************************
Deficit In Shifting Attention
In HF Aut. But Not Asperger's
A deficit in shifting attention present in high-functioning autism but not
Asperger's disorder
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11708391&dopt=Abstract <-- address ends here.
Rinehart NJ, Bradshaw JL, Moss SA, Brereton AV, Tonge BJ. Neuropsychology
Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Monash University, Clayton,
Victoria, Australia. Nicole.Rinehart@sci.monash.edu.au
The aim of this study was to examine executive
functioning, in
particular, attentional set-shifting deficits in high-functioning autism (n
= 12) and Asperger's disorder (n = 12). A large or global digit composed of
smaller or local digits was presented during each trial. The participants
indicated the presence of 1s or 2s by pressing the appropriate button.
These targets could appear globally or locally
Relative to IQ, sex and
age matched controls, reaction time to global targets in individuals with
autism was retarded when the previous target appeared locally. This
deficiency in shifting from local to global processing, however, was not
observed in individuals with Asperger's disorder.
The theoretical and neurobiological significance
of this dissociation
in executive functioning in these clinically related disorders was explored.
PMID: 11708391 [PubMed - in process]
********************************************
The Asperger Syndrome (& HF
Aut.) Diagnostic Interview
(ASDI): a preliminary study of a new structured clinical interview.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11708390&dopt=Abstract <-- address ends here.
Gillberg C, Gillberg C, Rastam M, Wentz E. Department of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goteborg, Annedals Clinics, Sweden.
christopher.gillberg@pediat.gu.se
The development of the Asperger Syndrome (and
high-functioning autism)
Diagnostic Interview (ASDI) is described. Preliminary data from a clinical
study suggest that inter-rater reliability and test-retest stability may be
excellent, with kappas exceeding 0.90 in both instances. The validity
appears to be relatively good. No attempt was made in the present study to
validate the instrument as regards the distinction between Asperger syndrome
and high-functioning autism.
PMID: 11708390 [PubMed - in process]
************************************
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