FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER
Sacramento, California http://www.feat.org
November 7, 2001
News Morgue Search www.feat.org/search/news.asp
·
Antipsychotics for Neuro-Immune Dysfunction/Autism?
·
Autistic Kids Show Slower Attentional Engagement
·
Oxytocin & Autis. Disorder: Alterations In Peptide
Forms
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Researcher: Vaccine Preservative Doesn’t Cause Autism
·
Smallpox Vaccine: Balancing the Benefits and The Risks
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Letters to the FEAT Newsletter
A behavioural pattern analysis of hypoglutamatergic mice -
effects of four different antipsychotic agents.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11692287&dopt=Abstract
Nilsson M, Waters S, Waters N, Carlsson A, Carlsson ML. Department of Pharmacology, Institute of
Physiology and Pharmacology, Goteborg University.
In a hypoglutamatergic rodent model, we have observed certain
behaviours that might have relevance for the cognitive impairments seen in autism
and schizophrenia. Thus, hypoglutamatergic mice show defective habituation,
impaired attention, a meagre behavioural repertoire and a general behavioural
primitivization.
The aim of the present study was to characterise and
quantify changes in movement pattern in mice rendered hypoglutamatergic by
means of MK-801 treatment, using an automated video tracking system. Further,
the effects of four different antipsychotic drugs, the classical neuroleptic
haloperidol, the atypical antipsychotic clozapine, the DA D2/5-HT2A antagonist risperidone
and the selective 5-HT2A-receptor antagonist M100907, were compared with
respect to effects on NMDA antagonist-induced movement pattern alterations.
We found that each receptor antagonist had a unique effect
on the MK-801-induced behavioural primitivization. Haloperidol was unable to
affect the monotonous behaviour induced by MK-801, while risperidone, clozapine
and M100907 produced movement patterns of high intricacy.
PMID: 11692287 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
* * *
Eye movements, visual attention, and autism: a saccadic
reaction time study using the gap and overlap paradigm.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11690597&dopt=Abstract <-- address ends here. 1: Biol Psychiatry 2001 Oct 15;50(8):614-9 van
der Geest JN, Kemner C, Camfferman G, Verbaten MN, van Engeland H.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University
Medical Center,
The, Utrecht, Netherlands
Background: On the basis of the literature on autism, it
was hypothesized that children with autism have deficits in attentional (dis-)engagement
mechanisms.
Methods: A saccadic gap-overlap task was used to study
visual engagement and disengagement in 16 high-functioning autistic children of
about 10 years of age and 15 age- and IQ-matched normal control children. Subjects were asked to make saccadic eye
movements from a fixation point to a suddenly appearing target as fast as
possible. The saccadic reaction time was compared in two conditions: 1) the
overlap condition, in which the fixation point was continuously visible, and 2)
the gap condition, in which the fixation point was turned off 200 msec before
the target appeared.
Results: Although no differences between the groups in
either condition was observed, the gap effect (i.e., the difference in saccadic
reaction time between the overlap condition and the gap condition) was smaller
in the autistic group than in the control group.
Conclusions: We concluded that autistic children show a
lower level of attentional engagement.
PMID: 11690597 [PubMed - in process]
* * *
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11690596&dopt=Abstract
1: Biol Psychiatry 2001 Oct 15;50(8):609-13 Related
Articles, Books Green L, Fein D, Modahl C, Feinstein C, Waterhouse L, Morris M.
Wayne State University School of Medicine, (LG), Detroit,
Michigan, USA
Background: Oxytocin (OT) is synthesized as a prohormone
that is sequentially processed to peptides. These peptides are the bioactive amidated
form (OT) and the C-terminal extended peptides, OT-Gly, OT-Gly-Lys and
OT-Gly-Lys-Arg, which are designated together as OT-X.
As an extension of our previous study finding decreased
plasma OT in autism, studies were conducted to determine whether there were
changes in OT peptide forms in autistic children.Methods: Twenty eight male
subjects (97 +/- 20 months; range, 70-139 months), diagnosed with DSM-IV
autistic disorder through observation and semi-structured interview, were
compared with 31 age-matched nonpsychiatric control subjects (106 +/- 22
months; range, 74-140 months). Using OT antisera with different specificity for
the peptide forms, we measured plasma OT and OT-X in each group.
Results: T tests showed that there was a decrease in
plasma OT (t = 4.4, p <.0001), an increase in OT-X (t = 2.3, p <.03) and
an increase in the ratio of OT-X/OT (t = 4.5, p <.0001) in the autistic
sample, compared with control subjects.
Conclusions: The results suggest that children with
autistic disorder show alterations in the endocrine OT system. Deficits in OT
peptide processing in children with autism may be important in the development
of this syndrome.
PMID: 11690596 [PubMed - in process]
* * *
[By Bill Krasean in the Kalamazoo Gazette.]
http://kz.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20011106kfam6krasean1106.fr
m
Thimerosal, a vaccine preservative some parents worry is
linked to autism, has been virtually eliminated from childhood vaccines. That
despite a lack of evidence to show a direct link between thimerosal and any
illness, said Dr. Gary Freed, head of general pediatrics at the University of Michigan
and a nationally recognized authority on vaccine safety.
“Vaccines have always been safe,” Freed said. “Any
concerns about vaccine safety, however, are taken very seriously by the
manufacturers and the government. “Parents are concerned about their children, and
that’s wonderful. But they need to remember that these vaccines prevent serious
illnesses.”
Worries about a link between thimerosal, which contains a
trace of mercury, surfaced over recent years with an apparent increase in the incidence
of autism. Autism often appears about the same time children are undergoing the
series of immunizations prior to starting school.
Thimerosal has been used as a vaccine preservative since
before World War II, Freed said. The incidence of autism appears to be rising
over the past decade, although Freed said it’s not clear whether the apparent
rise is simply a better recognition of the condition or a real increase.
Last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the National Institutes of Health asked the Institute of Medicine to
establish an independent, expert committee to review immunization-safety
concerns. The first report on measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism was
issued in April. In October the institute released its second report on
thimerosal and neurodevelopmental problems, noting two major conclusions: l The
evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a cause-and-effect relationship
between exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and the neurodevelopmental disorders
of autism, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and speech or language delay.
The hypothesis that exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines could be
associated with neurodevelopmental disorders it is based on indirect and incomplete
information.
Hepatitis B, Hib and DTaP vaccines formerly contained
thimerosal. MMR, polio, varicella and pneumococcal vaccines have never
contained thimerosal. As of October,
the vast majority of the supplies of DTaP, Hib and hep B vaccines are without
thimerosal or hold only trace amounts.
Thimerosal may be gone from vaccines, but the issue is
hardly settled.
A coalition of law firms went to court across the
nation early last
month to try to force the pharmaceutical industry to study
whether trace amounts of mercury in vaccines cause autism and other brain
damage. The lawsuits were filed as class actions and led by an Oregon woman who
says her 3-year-old son became autistic after getting vaccinations containing
mercury in thimerosal, according to The Associated Press.
A law firm representing the woman formed a coalition of
more than 35 law firms across the country representing families in at least 25
states, said the AP. Damages could be sought if a link is established.
Freed said thimerosal has been used as a preservative for
so long that most Americans have been exposed to it. He noted that while
parents should be tuned to things that could harm their children, they need to
keep in mind the difference between an association and cause and effect.
“Striking a match is associated with lung cancer since a
match can be used to light a cigarette,” he said. “The reality is that it’s not
the match that causes lung cancer. It’s the cigarette. Vaccines are like that
match and lung cancer.
“Every childhood condition such as autism existed before
there were vaccines. If a parent decides not to vaccinate a child for fear of a
reaction, they are doing more harm than good.”There is no data showing that vaccines
and autism are linked. There is very good data to show that vaccines prevent
very serious diseases.”
This opinion column was written by Gazette staff writer
Bill Krasean, who can be reached at 388-8577 or bkrasean@kalamazoogazette.com.
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* * *
Smallpox Vaccine: Balancing the Benefits and The Risks
Despite increased public demand, the potential for severe
reactions must be weighed against the threat of the disease before beginning
widespread inoculations.
[By Susan J. Landers, AMNews.]
http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_01/hlsb1112.htm
In recent weeks, the world has become a different place—one
in which fears of smallpox have re-emerged for the first time in decades.
Parents are calling pediatricians asking if their children
could be vaccinated against the feared disease. But, of course, they can’t be.
There are reported to be only about 15 million doses of the vaccine in the nation—vaccine
that was basically left over from 1972, when the country’s mass vaccination
program ended.
In addition, physicians are cautioning those eager to
receive the vaccine for themselves or their family members that the live-virus preparation
of infectious vaccinia virus that is used to inoculate people against smallpox
carries its own risks.
“This is not an innocuous vaccine,” said Donald Henderson,
MD, director of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at John Hopkins University
in Baltimore. He was recently named head of a federal advisory committee to
assist the government in deciding when and if to begin another widespread
smallpox vaccination program. Dr. Henderson is also known for his work in
helping to rid the world of smallpox years ago.
“Before a recommendation could come forward to use
smallpox vaccine, I think there would have to be a demonstrated risk,” said
Timothy Flaherty, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees. “And right now,
without having had a case of smallpox in the world since the early 1980s, there
is no reason to use smallpox vaccine.”
Side effects and adverse reactions from the smallpox
vaccine range from fever to tissue necrosis and extensive lesions to
encephalitis. A death rate of one per 1 million vaccinations is noted by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the threat that terrorists could spread the
disease to a largely unprotected population has led the federal government to
press for stepped-up production of the vaccinia vaccine.
Acambis PLC, a British company with facilities in
Cambridge, England, has already signed a contract to produce about 50 million
doses of the vaccine, and many of the nation’s largest vaccine manufacturers
are bidding on a federal contract to produce more.
The heads of the major pharmaceutical companies recently
outlined a range of initiatives intended to help protect the public health.
Among the initiatives are offers of free antibiotics to treat those exposed to
anthrax and offers to develop and manufacture a smallpox vaccine.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson
recently pledged that there will be enough vaccine for all Americans if the
need arises. Key to physicians and others familiar with the dangers posed by
the vaccinia vaccine are the words “if the need arises.”
“I would never recommend it for mass inoculations at the
present time,” said Robert Edelman, MD, associate director for clinical
research at the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Dr. Edelman is leading one of four newly funded studies to
measure the effectiveness of the existing stock of smallpox vaccine and to
determine whether the current supply can be diluted in order to make more
doses.
“In a mass vaccination, you’re going to have several
hundreds of deaths from the vaccine alone,” he said. “About one in a thousand
people will have some kind of reaction to the vaccine and I’m not talking about
fevers and chills, they come with the territory,” said Dr. Edelman.
The vaccine for smallpox was long known to carry danger,
but the risk of getting the highly contagious disease, which carries a fatality
rate of 30% or more, posed an even greater danger several decades ago.
Today, members of the public may be aware of the dangers
posed by the vaccine, speculated Dr. Edelman. “But even though the risk of
getting smallpox due to a bioterrorist event is small at the moment, people are
so frightened and anxious that they are willing to take risks. It’s a mind-set like
everything in life.”
With the potential for severe reactions so great, Michael
J. Scotti, MD, AMA senior vice president for professional standards and a
retired Army Medical Corps general, cautioned that vaccinia immune globulin—used
to treat complications of the vaccinia vaccination—needs to be available and a
distribution system in place.
However, VIG can only be derived from those recently
vaccinated for smallpox. Except for a small number of smallpox researchers, no
one has been vaccinated recently, noted Dr. Scotti. “If you are going to
inoculate a million people, you might not have enough VIG.”
Another item that may be in short supply is the bifurcated
needle used to administer the vaccine. Instead of a simple injection, the
procedure involves rapidly making 15 scratches, each about five mm long, using
a forked needle that holds the proper amount of vaccine. The process draws blood
and provides the vaccine with a route into the body.
If the vaccine “takes,” a pox will develop after about
seven to 10 days that eventually dries up and forms the traditional scar that
can be seen over the deltoid muscles of those people who have been successfully
vaccinated.
But even those who were inoculated as children may no
longer be fully protected.
Since the vaccine is thought to lose effectiveness after
10 years, a revaccination would be necessary.
While vaccine production no longer involves live calves,
thus ensuring a cleaner process, many physicians would like to see a newer,
safer version of the vaccine developed so that if or when the decision is made
to prophylactically vaccinate the whole U.S. population, there will be no issue
of balancing the risk of the vaccine against the benefit of protection from the
disease.
* * *
Thank you for publishing the NIDS Research Hypothesis,
November 6, 2001. I would like to comment
on your editor’s note, particularly the statement that “the treatment protocols
generate less enthusiasm.” How can a
parent be more enthusiastic about heavy metal chelation or about secretin injections
than about restricting allergic foods and treating a viral infection? My son (dx autistic disorder) has been a
patient of Dr. Goldberg’s for three years. Today he is in kindergarten and is almost indistinguishable from
his peers. He can talk, play, pretend,
and socialize - recently he even told me a joke! I am highly enthusiastic about Dr. Goldberg’s treatment protocol.
My son’s lab work confirmed an elevated level of HHV6
virus and a lowered level of Natural Killer cells. He has multiple food allergies. He has never had chelation, secretin injections, or ABA. Will I ever really know that this treatment
is why my son has done so well?
Maybe. Maybe not. However, I have had the opportunity to
challenge the theory with another child, my son in second grade. He was diagnosed with ADD, dyslexia, and central
auditory processing disorder. After
running Dr. Goldberg’s suggested labs we discovered that he had an even higher
level of HHV6 titers than my child with autism; he also had lowered NK cells
and multiple food allergies - including gluten and casein. While we haven’t begun the prescription drug
treatment for my older son, simply removing dairy from his diet has made an
amazing difference in his ability to read.
* *
Your newsletter is excellent and so helpful. Bless you for your efforts.
The latest edition “Is the Common Cold, Herpes the Source
of Autism?” is absolutely fascinating.
>> DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW <<
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