scientifically minded

Spotlight on: Jonathan Lerman

An Saturday article from Canada's National Post on autism and neurodiversity (which can be found here) included a link to a wonderful slideshow of works by autistic artists.  I am in love with these great charcoal drawings by 18-year old Jonathan Lerman.  At right is my favorite picks from the article - be aware that it looks even better when you click to magnify. 

A quick google search reveals a fairly large collection of Lerman's works here, at the KS Art Gallery.  Below are some favorites.  If you like these, I highly recommend you check out the whole collection. 

You can also read a 2001 New York Times biography of Jonathan here.

 

Anti-Quackery from Autism Hub

For those who wander onto this site looking for information about autism science, research, and quack-busting, here's a few blogs from the group over at Autism Hub.

Autism Diva Autism Diva has been up on the blogroll for a bit, but a little spotlighting never hurt anyone.  Also, you can thank the Autism Diva site for the wonderful picture at left.

Interverbal: Reviews of Autism Statements and Research "A critical look at science in the autism world."

Natural Variation - Autism Blog. "Dispels junk science in the autism field, scrutinizes questionable treatments, and exposes stereotypes and demeaning characterizations. This blog is part of the growing autism acceptance/neurodiversity movement."

The Hub also has what I think is the largest collection of blogs written by spectrum individuals or family members.  Check it out!

Temple Grandin on NPR

I'm a bit late finding this, but those with autism interests might want to check out this interview with Temple Grandin on NPR from earlier this month.  I first read Ms. Grandin's autobiography Thinking in Pictures five or six years ago and was astounded by it.  The book sparked an interest in autism that eventually led to my research work and my fascination with neuroscience and neuropsychology -- thank you, Temple Grandin!

Arguably the most famous living individual with autism, Temple Grandin boasts a highly successful career in the cattle industry and a prodigious collection of autobiographical works (which you can buy at discount here on Amazon).  Almost certainly the most public figure with autism, Ms. Grandin also has decades of practice communicating with people about what it's like to live as an autistic individual in the "neurotypical" world. 

If you've heard Grandin speak before, you might be surprised to hear her voice in this interview -- her typical monotonic "robot" voice has softened a bit over the years, as I'm sure she's aware.  She's grown expert in expressing her experience in a way that people without autism will understand, in part because over the course of a lifetime she's put a lot of effort into understanding how her way of being in the world diverges from the "neurotypical."  Grandin's a remarkable woman - take a read.

Check out the interview here - and don't miss her Beatles cover!

Reference: Temple Grandin.  Seeing in Beautiful, Precise Pictures.  Morning Edition, NPR, August 14 2006.
 
Picture: www.npr.org

NYT says: please vaccinate!

One more autism-related editoral for today.  Wednesday's New York Times ran an editorial flatly begging parents to continue vaccinating their children against measles.  Once almost completely eliminated in the USA, measles is again on the rise - for the most part as the result of falling vaccination levels in children.  From the editorial:

[An] outbreak in Indiana last year, which was detailed in a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine, provided evidence of what can happen to a triumph of public health when a community lets its guard down. A 17-year-old unvaccinated girl who visited an orphanage in Romania on a church mission picked up the virus there.

When the girl returned, she attended a gathering of some 500 church members that included many other unvaccinated children. Most had been schooled at home and thus avoided compulsory shots. Their families had access to the vaccine but declined the opportunity because of reports that it might cause autism or other problems. Their fears overrode assurances by health authorities that the vaccine is extremely safe and has no link to autism.

By the time the outbreak had run its course, 34 people had become ill. Three were hospitalized, including one with life-threatening complications. No doubt the toll would have been considerably higher had not most of the community been protected by vaccinations. The vaccine isn’t foolproof — two of the Indiana victims had been vaccinated — but it protects the vast majority of recipients.

You can find the full editoral here, and past Scientifically Minded coverage of the autism-MMR controversy here, here, and here.

Reference: Editorial, New York Times. "The Measles Vaccine Follies." Aug 9 2006.

Another call to arms over Autism screening

Chuck Colson over at Townhall.com has posted this editorial piece on the potential use of PGD to screen out embryos with autism (see left for a brief explanation of PGD).  Scientifically Minded covered a bit of this debate here a few weeks ago.  From the editorial:

Simone Aspis of the British Council of Disabled People drew the what-should-be obvious inference: “Screening for autism would create a society where only perfection is valued.” In the brave new world of the researchers, it is reasonable to fear “that anyone who is different in any way will not be accepted.”

Here in the states, bioethicist Ben Mitchell said that “if unborn children are being eliminated for a genetic disposition to autism, no one is safe . . . Today autism, tomorrow intelligence below 70 I.Q., the next day male pattern baldness. When will this madness stop?”

As in all things autism, the reader commentary section on this article is pretty intense.  Scroll down here to check it out.

Picture: theage.com

July 2006 Autism Research Summary - Part 2

1) 27,749 AUTISTIC CHILDREN AGREE: MMR IS NOT THE PROBLEM: Ok, maybe the children don't, but their data do.  A research group from McGill University in Montreal examined health records of 27,749 children with autism spectrum disorders born between 1987-1998.  During this time period, MMR doses for the area underwent two dramatic changes: MMR vaccines were increased from a lower dose to USA-like levels, and then later dropped completely due to health concerns about the vaccine's possible link to developmental disorders.  In this enormous sample, no link whatsoever was found between vaccine use and the development of autism.  Autism diagnoses increased by approximately 10% per year regardless of which MMR dose was used or if the vaccine was used at all.  In fact, autism prevalence was highest after the MMR vaccine was dropped completely from the public health protocol.  The authors suggest that increasing autism rates in Montreal are probably best explained by changes in diagnostic criteria, improved diagnosis and awareness of the autism, and changing educational criteria for assistance-eligible disorders.

2) INCREASED CORTICAL THICKNESS IN AUTISM?: In the July 17th issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Antonio Harden and colleagues present preliminary evidence of increased cortical thickness in the brains of kids with autism.  Central to most complex brain functions, the cerebral cortex is the outermost, wrinkled layer of the brain - the "outside" part that you can see in most brain pictures.  Postmortem analyses on autistic and typically developing kids revealed significantly increased cortical thickness in the autism group.  Does this mean we've figured out why kids with autism are sometimes shown to have increased brain volumes and head circumference (i.e., 2b)?  Not necessarily.  As the authors note, the study is limited by a very small sample size, as are most postmortem brain studies - the authors were only able to conduct analyses on 17 autistic and 14 typically developing kids.  The jury is out on this finding until it can be replicated with a much larger group.

3) REDUCED NUMBER of NEURONS in the AMYGDALA: In another relatively small-sample study of postmortem brains, Cynthia Schumann and David Amaral examined cell density (how many neurons are packed into how much space) in the amygdalas of 9 people with and 10 people without autism.  The amygdala is a hot spot of research in autism because of the role it plays in emotional and social processing, particularly face processing -- areas of cognition in which individuals with autism tend to perform much differently than typical controls.  Although no overall differences in amygdala size were found, the amygdalas of people with autism had significantly fewer neurons than controls, particularly in the "lateral nucleus."  As the authors note, lower neuron levels could be due to 1) reduced production of neurons in the amygdala during early development, or 2) normal or even excessive neuron generation in early life followed by over-degeneration.  This data unfortunately doesn't help settle that battle, though Amaral tends toward the degeneration explanation in his public statements, i.e., in NPR's July 19th coverage of his work.

Reference 1: Fombonne, Zakarlan, Bennet, Meng, and McLean-Heywood. "Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and Links with Immunizations."  Pediatrics, July 2006.

Reference 2a:  Harden, Muddasani, Vemulapalli, Matcheri, Keshavan, and Minshew.  "An MRI study of increased cortical thickness in autism."  American Journal of Psychiatry, July 17 06.

Reference 2b: One example of increased head circumference and brain size findings: Hazlett, Poe, Gerig, Smith, Provensale, Ross, Gilmore, and Piven. "Magnetic resonance imaging and head circumference study of brain size in autism: birth through age 2 years."  Archives of General Psychiatry, Dec 2005.

Reference 3: Schumann and Amaral. "Stereological analysis of amygdala neuron numbers in autism."  Journal of Neuroscience, July 19 2006.

July 2006 Autism Research Summary - Part 1

** Disclaimer: This research review is not intended to be fully comprehensive - merely a summary of findings I've personally found to be interesting.  As is always the case in science, results should be understood as preliminary until replicated across many well controlled studies. ***

1) BRAIN CONNECTIVITY RESEARCH REVIEW: Gina Rippon and colleagues, from the University of Aston in the UK, offer a review of structural and functional connectivity research in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.  This group was one of the first to propose that abnormal connections between brain areas might explain some of the symptoms of autism.  The new article summarizes recent findings from MRI, fMRI, EEG, and DTI (diffusion tensor imaging) and suggests ways in which TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and MEG technology might be used to investigate functional connectivity in autism.  The authors assert that connectivity theories offer more compelling and complete explanations of autism than do traditional theory of mind, executive functioning, or "social brain impairment" hypotheses.  However, they are also careful to remind readers that the jury is still out on exactly how the brains of people with autism might be differently wired. 

For a relatively jargon-free review of connectivity hypotheses of autism, see this June 2005 Article in Science Magazine.

2) EPILEPTIC BRAIN ACTIVITY UNLIKELY THE CAUSE OF REGRESSIVE AUTISM: In a Developmental Medicine and Childhood Neurology article, Gillian Baird and colleagues examine sleep-state EEG activity in 64 children with autism, 39 of whom were characterized as having "regressive" autism.  Importantly, the group conducted its own assessments of the children included in the sample to confirm that they met the criteria for the disorder.  Although the epileptiform (or epilepsy-like) EEG patterns during sleep were more prevalent in the autistic group than would be expected in the normal population,they were not present in all individuals and were not found to occur significantly more often in kids with regressive-type autism.  The main point, in the authors' words:  "Our results support other views that although some young children with autism have epileptiform discharges in sleep, there is no evidence that this is the cause of autism, or of the autistic regression."

3) "HYPOACTIVATION" of the AMYDALA DURING FACE PROCESSING:  Simon Baron-Cohen's group examines brain activity associated with face processing in adults with autism and an adult control sample.  The article, published in Neuropsychologia by head author Chris Ashwin, echoes the oft-published finding that individuals with autism show less amygdala activation when looking at faces than do "typically developing" individuals.  Main results: Controls show greater left amygdala and left orbito-frontal cortex than do autistic participants; the authors characterize these areas as involved in "attaching emotional significance to stimuli" and suggest that lack of activation in these areas is consistent with general social impairment.  Areas showing greater activation in the autistic group than in controls include the right anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral superior temporal sulcus.

4) NO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BIRTH MONTH and the DEVELOPMENT OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS: The title says it all.  A group headed by Alexander Kolevzon at the Mount Sinai school of medicine examined medical records of 211 individuals with autism.   No relationship whatsoever was found between birth month and autism.  Glad we could put this issue - which I didn't even know was under debate - to rest!

Reference 1: Rippon, Brock, Brown, and Boucher. "Disordered connectivity in the autistic brain: Challenges for the 'new psychophysiology.'"  International Journal of Psychophysiology, July 2006.  PubMed abstract here.

Reference 1b: Ingrid Wickelgren. "Autistic brains out of synch?"  Science Magazine, June 2005.

Reference 2: Baird, Robinson, Boyd, & Charman.  "Sleep electroencephalograms in young children with autism with and without regression."  Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, July 2006.  PubMed abstract here.

Reference 3: Ashwin, Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Riordan, & Bullmore.  "Differential activation of the amygdala and 'social brain' during fearful face-processing in Asperger Syndrome.  Neuropsychologia, In Press.  Online July 2006. PubMed abstract here.

Reference 4: Kolevzon, Weiser, Gross, Lubin, Knobler, Schmeidler, Silverman, & Reichenberg. "Effects of season of birth on Autism Spectrum Disorders: Fact or Fiction?"  American Journal of Psychiatry, June 2006. PubMed abstract here.
 

More fallout from the MMR controversy: measles outbreak in the UK

One more autism update today, a late post from Friday's Guardian:

Misplaced autism worries fuel measles outbreak
England is experiencing its biggest measles outbreak in 20 years, fuelled by the reluctance of some parents to have their children immunised because of now-discredited claims of a link between the MMR jab and autism.

...There have been 449 reported cases of measles since the beginning of the year, the Health Protection Agency said yesterday. That, in less than six months, is more than double the 438 for the whole of 2003. Last year there were only 77 cases.

Confidence in the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine fell after Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published research in the Lancet in 1998 hypothesising a link between the vaccine, given at 18 months and then four years, and bowel disease and autism. Part of the Lancet paper was later retracted after it was disclosed that Mr Wakefield had a conflict of interest: he had been paid to advise solicitors for parents of autistic children in his study whether there might be a case for compensation. He now faces professional misconduct charges brought by the General Medical Council.

But although the theory of a link between MMR and autism has been largely discredited and immunisation rates are steadily rising, they have not yet reached the 95% level which the World Health Organisation says is necessary to guarantee herd immunity. A year ago they stood at 70.8% in London, 82.1% in England as a whole and 83% for the whole of the UK.

Full article here:

Previous posting on the Wakefield's professional conduct mischarge and factors responsible for the scare can be found here and here.

Reference: Sarah Boseley. "Misplaced worries fuel measles outbreak."  The Guardian, July 16, 2006. 

Picture: Texas Department of State Health Services.

Screening embryos for autism

(extended post - click bottom link for full text)

To follow up Saturday's post on the use of prenatal genetic diagnosis for sex selection, I just found this article from yesterday's UK Times on the possible use of PGD for autism screening.  From the article:

A TEAM of doctors at one of Britain’s leading hospitals wants to create the country’s first “designer babies” free from autism... The technique, called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), has been used to create babies free from life-threatening illnesses such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and haemophilia.

NY Autism Shock Therapy

The American Journal of Bioethics' blog posted today about a New York state treatment program using shock therapy on autistic children:

Oddly, New York Refused to Fund Electric Shock Therapy for Autistic Children

This one is incredible to me. New York, easily the state spending the most on treating children with autism and other spectrum disorders, cut off the $50 million it was paying a school in Canton Mass for about 150 children because the school uses backpacks to shock the children with "bee sting"-like electric jolts when they misbehave:    

You can find the full post here.