Further refutation of Wakefield

Gut. 2002 Dec;51(6):816-7. Links
Effect of Pentavac and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on the
intestine.Thjodleifsson B, Davidsdottir K, Agnarsson U, Sigthorsson G,
Kjeld M, Bjarnason I.
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Hringbraut, Reykjavik, Iceland.

BACKGROUND: The safety of infant vaccination has been questioned in
recent years. In particular it has been suggested that the measles,
mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination leads to brain damage manifesting
as autism consequent to the development of an "enterocolitis" in the
immediate post-vaccination period.

AIM: To assess if MMR vaccination is associated with subclinical
intestinal inflammation, which is central to the autistic
"enterocolitis" theory.

METHODS: We studied 109/58 infants, before and two and four weeks after
immunisation with Pentavac and MMR vaccines, for the presence of
intestinal inflammation (faecal calprotectin).

RESULTS: Neither vaccination was associated with any significant
increase in faecal calprotectin concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS: The failure of the MMR vaccination to cause an intestinal
inflammatory response provides evidence against the proposed gut-brain
interaction that is central to the autistic "enterocolitis" hypothesis.

PMID: 12427783 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Mark Probert wrote:
Gut. 2002 Dec;51(6):816-7. Links
Effect of Pentavac and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on the
intestine.Thjodleifsson B, Davidsdottir K, Agnarsson U, Sigthorsson G,
Kjeld M, Bjarnason I.
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Hringbraut, Reykjavik,
Iceland.

BACKGROUND: The safety of infant vaccination has been questioned in
recent years. In particular it has been suggested that the measles,
mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination leads to brain damage manifesting
as autism consequent to the development of an "enterocolitis" in the
immediate post-vaccination period.

AIM: To assess if MMR vaccination is associated with subclinical
intestinal inflammation, which is central to the autistic
"enterocolitis" theory.

METHODS: We studied 109/58 infants, before and two and four weeks after
immunisation with Pentavac and MMR vaccines, for the presence of
intestinal inflammation (faecal calprotectin).

RESULTS: Neither vaccination was associated with any significant
increase in faecal calprotectin concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS: The failure of the MMR vaccination to cause an intestinal
inflammatory response provides evidence against the proposed gut-brain
interaction that is central to the autistic "enterocolitis" hypothesis.

PMID: 12427783 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

For the entire study:

http://gut.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/51/6/816

Note that they used the 5-in-1 vaccine and all the children survived.
Imagine that. Refutation of two of the bull**** claims of the anti-vacs.

"Mark Probert" wrote:
snip


http://groups.google.com/group/misc....6202cbf?hl=en&

Mon, Jun 5 2006

placing a person's name in a new thread is stalking and harassment

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.s...5274053f7816d7

Thurs, Jun 29 2006

Linda Tortures Readers

In the Matter of Mark Probert (Admitted as Mark S. Probert), a
Suspended Attorney, Respondent.
Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District, Petitioner.

92-02731

SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, SECOND DEPARTMENT

183 A.D.2d 282; 590 N.Y.S.2d 747

November 9, 1992, Decided

PRIOR HISTORY: [***1]

Disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Grievance Committee for the
Tenth Judicial District. Respondent was admitted to the Bar on
February 15, 1978, at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court in the Second Judicial Department, under the name Mark S.
Probert.

DISPOSITION: Ordered that the petitioner's motion to impose discipline
upon the respondent based upon his failure to appear or answer is
granted; and it is further,

HEADNOTES: Attorney and Client - Disciplinary Proceedings

Respondent attorney, who is charged with 22 counts of failing to
cooperate with investigations of alleged misconduct by the Grievance
Committee, and who has failed to answer or appear, is disbarred.

COUNSEL:

Frank A. Finnerty, Jr., Westbury (Muriel L. Gennosa of counsel), for
petitioner.

JUDGES: Mangano, P. J., Thompson, Bracken, Sullivan and Harwood, JJ.,
concur.

Ordered that the petitioner's motion to impose discipline upon the
respondent based upon his failure to appear or answer is granted; and
it is further,

Ordered that pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, effective immediately,
the respondent, Mark Probert, is disbarred and his name is stricken
from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law; and it is further,

Ordered that the respondent shall continue to comply with this Court's
rules governing the conduct of disbarred, suspended and resigned
attorneys (22 NYCRR 691.10); and it is further,

Ordered that pursuant to Judiciary [***2] Law § 90, the respondent,
Mark Probert, is commanded to continue to desist and refrain (1) from
practicing law in any form, either as principal or as agent, clerk or
employee of another, (2) from appearing as an attorney or
counselor-at-law before any court, Judge, Justice, board, commission
or other public authority, (3) from giving to another an opinion as to
the law or its application or any advice in relation thereto, and (4)
from holding himself out in any way as an attorney and
counselor-at-law.

OPINIONBY: Per Curiam.

OPINION: [*282]

[**747] By decision and order of this Court dated September 29,
1989, the respondent was suspended from the practice of law until the
further order of this Court based upon his failure to cooperate with
the Grievance Committee. By further order of this Court dated June 4,
1992, the Grievance Committee was authorized to institute and
prosecute a disciplinary proceeding [*283] against the respondent
and the Honorable Moses M. Weinstein was appointed as Special Referee.

[**748] A notice of petition and petition was personally served upon
the respondent on July 2, 1992. No answer was forthcoming. The
petitioner now moves to hold the [***3] respondent in default. The
motion was personally served upon the respondent on August 14, 1992.
The respondent has failed to submit any papers in response to the
default motion.

The charges involve 22 counts of the respondent's failure to cooperate
with the Grievance Committee in its investigations into complaints of
professional misconduct.

The charges, if established, would require the imposition of a
disciplinary sanction against the respondent. Since the respondent has
chosen not to appear or answer in these proceedings, the charges must
be deemed established. The petitioner's motion to hold the respondent
in default and impose discipline is, therefore, granted. Accordingly,
the respondent is disbarred and his name is stricken from the roll of
attorneys and counselors-at-law, effective immediately

Source:

NY UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM, ATTORNEY REGIST. UNIT

Currency Status:

ARCHIVE RECORD

NAME & PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION

Name:

MARK PROBERT

Date Of Birth:

11/XX/1946

Gender:

MALE

Address:

1698 WEBSTER AVE

MERRICK, NY 11566

County:

NASSAU

Phone:

516-968-5572

EMPLOYER INFORMATION

Employer:

MARK S PROBERT ESQ

Organization:

PERSON

LICENSING INFORMATION

Licensing Agency:

NY STATE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION

License/Certification Type:

ATTORNEY

License Number:

1253889

Issue Date:

00/00/1978

License Status:

DISBARRED

License State:

NY

"Mark Probert" wrote in message
...
Mark Probert wrote:
Gut. 2002 Dec;51(6):816-7. Links
Effect of Pentavac and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on the
intestine.Thjodleifsson B, Davidsdottir K, Agnarsson U, Sigthorsson G,
Kjeld M, Bjarnason I.
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Hringbraut, Reykjavik,
Iceland.

BACKGROUND: The safety of infant vaccination has been questioned in
recent years. In particular it has been suggested that the measles,
mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination leads to brain damage manifesting as
autism consequent to the development of an "enterocolitis" in the
immediate post-vaccination period.

AIM: To assess if MMR vaccination is associated with subclinical
intestinal inflammation, which is central to the autistic "enterocolitis"
theory.

METHODS: We studied 109/58 infants, before and two and four weeks after
immunisation with Pentavac and MMR vaccines, for the presence of
intestinal inflammation (faecal calprotectin).

RESULTS: Neither vaccination was associated with any significant increase
in faecal calprotectin concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS: The failure of the MMR vaccination to cause an intestinal
inflammatory response provides evidence against the proposed gut-brain
interaction that is central to the autistic "enterocolitis" hypothesis.

PMID: 12427783 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

For the entire study:

http://gut.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/51/6/816

Note that they used the 5-in-1 vaccine and all the children survived.
Imagine that. Refutation of two of the bull**** claims of the anti-vacs.

TAAP (The Autism Autoimmunity Project)

"TAAP into the Truth!"






Studies that Count, Studies that Don't
F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP

Parents in England have a big choice: They can believe Andrew
Wakefield or they can believe Tony Blair, Liam Donaldson and Richard Horton.
They can trust Andy or they can trust the experts from the Committee on
Safety of Medicines and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization,
several of whom have ties with the drug company that distributes the MMR in
England.

We in the United States also have a choice between on one side,
clinical research, with real children and on the other, one more
epidemiological study by the CDC.

The following quotes from presentations on February 9, 2004 to the
Vaccine Safety Committee of the Institute of Medicine deserve attention:

"In light of encephalopathy, presenting in children as autistic
regression closely following MMR vaccination . The findings confirm a highly
significant statistical association between the presence of MV RNA in CSF
and autistic regression following MMR vaccination." Jeff Bradstreet MD,
Director, International Child Development Resource Center, Melbourne,
Florida.

"The current genetic research estimates that no more than 10% of all
autistic cases are genetic in origin. Simply put, the remainder 90% of
autistic cases is sporadic with a non-genetic etiology. I tend to think that
the sporadic form is by and large an "acquired" subset involving
autoimmunity. This subset is likely triggered by a virus, possibly measles
virus or MMR vaccine... Based upon our experimental research, it is
plausible to postulate that an atypical measles infection that does not
produce a typical measles rash but manifests neurological symptoms might be
etiologically linked to autoimmunity in autism. The source of measles virus
could potentially be MMR vaccine or a mutant measles strain, but more
research is necessary to establish either of these two
possibilities.Fundamentally, I tend to think that autistic children have a
problem of their immune system, which is the "faulty immune regulation."
Hence they have abnormal immune reactions to measles virus and/or MMR
vaccine" Vijendra K. Singh, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of
Neuroimmunology, Utah State University, an international expert in the
autoimmune causes of autism:

US Representative Dave Weldon, a physician, commenting on the on-going
clinical research said: "Mind you, half of Dr. Wakefield's theory has been
proven correct and accepted in the medical community. Hundreds of children
with regressive autism and GI dysfunction have been scoped and clinicians
are seeing the inflammatory bowel disease he first described. The NIH is
finally funding an attempt to repeat Dr. O'Leary's findings of measles RNA
in Wakefield's biopsy specimens, though I am disappointed it has taken this
long..A clinician in New York was poised to repeat Wakefield's work two
years ago, but he ultimately was refused by his IRB and then subsequently
had his clinical privileges withdrawn."

Instead of telling parents why they are suddenly losing their
children, the CDC just published another long, pedantic and rather useless
MMR "damage-control" epidemiological study: Age at First
Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in Children with Autism and School-Matched
Control Subjects: A Population-Based Study in Metropolitan Atlanta by Dr.
Frank DeStefano and others [Pediatrics Vol. 113 No. 2 February 2004,
259-266].

The authors did not discuss the causes of the present epidemic now
affecting the United States (1) and the world (2), but simply stated that
the MMR was unlikely to be the cause of regressive autism because children
diagnosed with autistic disorders in Atlanta, Georgia received their first
MMR vaccine at about the same age as unaffected children.

The CDC had previously published two local epidemiological studies, in
which serious increases in autism were documented (3, 4). It also funded a
third study in Denmark (5) that, though much publicized, was flawed and
irrelevant to the situation in the United States. That study also seemed to
have been primarily intended to exonerate the MMR vaccine and it will be
discussed in some detail later.

The CDC has never proposed, designed, funded or carried out a single
clinical study on autism.

The only credible way to prove that the MMR vaccination does or does
not precipitate autistic symptoms in children, who are genetically
predisposed and have been previously exposed to Thimerosal-containing
vaccines, is to compare affected children who have received the MMR vaccine
with children who have not. This is obviously practically impossible because
most children in Atlanta have received the MMR vaccine. The theoretical
question is therefo "How many children in Atlanta would have developed
autism if they had not received the MMR vaccine?"

A relatively easy study would be to compare the age of onset of
autistic symptoms in children vaccinated at 15 months and those vaccinated
at 30 months in Atlanta.

I believe, from my own research, that such a study will show that:

1. Autistic behavior follows MMR vaccination and
2. That fewer cases and less severe manifestations are noticed among
the cohort vaccinated at 30 months, since vaccination at a younger age
appears most damaging.

Another easy study would be to compare Measles, MMR and Myelin Basic

Protein antibody titers of children who developed autism shortly after
MMR vaccination in Atlanta to an equal sample of normal children similarly
vaccinated.

Dr. DeStefano states [under conclusions, page 259] "Similar
proportions of case and control children were vaccinated by the recommended
age or shortly after (ie, before 18 months) and before the age by which
atypical development is usually recognized in children with autism (i.e. 24
months)." The CDC, certain pediatricians and the MMR lobby have
consistently argued that autism is not due to the triple vaccine because
autistic symptoms are "usually first noted" around the time the MMR is
administered and that therefore the relationship between the two events is
casual and not causal; in other words just a coincidence. Historically, this
is not so.

Kanner's autism was known as Infantile Autism because affected
children exhibited symptoms in early infancy. The more recent form of the
disease, Regressive Autism, occurs at a older age with symptoms usually
starting at 18 to 24 months or later: A child, most often a boy who is
developmentally, socially and verbally on par for his age, suddenly stops
acquiring new words and skills in the second year of life and then actually
regresses, losing speech, cognitive abilities and social dexterity. Many
parents have reported and documented such regression in their children after
MMR vaccination.

Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Founder and President of the Autism Research
Institute (ARI), a full-time professional research scientist in the field of
autism for 45 years, stated after a thorough analysis of the extensive ARI
database: "Late onset autism, (starting in the 2nd year), was almost unheard
of in the '50s, '60s, and '70s; today such cases outnumber early onset cases
5 to 1, the increase paralleling the increase in required vaccines." (6)

The study by DeStefano, though dazzling with figures and tables proves
little, just like the epidemiological studies by Taylor, Kaye and Dales that
were supposed to have previously "convincingly proven that there is no
relationship between MMR vaccination and autism". Interestingly, Kreesten
Meldgaard Madsen, author of "A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps and
Rubella vaccination and Autism", (5) the study funded by the CDC stated
"Studies designed to evaluate the suggested link between MMR vaccination and
autism do not support an association, but the evidence is weak and based on
case-series, cross-sectional, and ecologic studies; No studies have had
sufficient statistical power to detect an association, and none has a
population-based cohort design" (References 10-16)." In the Madsen
bibliography, reference 10 is the first Taylor study (The Lancet); reference
11 is the one by Kaye (BMJ) and reference 12 is the study by Dales (JAMA).
For reasons known only to him, Dr. DeStefano still mentioned the Taylor,
Kaye and Dales studies as reliable and listed them as references 23, 22 and
19 respectively.

Dr. DeStefano and Associates describe the Madsen MMR study as
"particularly persuasive". In fact, that study, because of an integral flaw
in its design, could not have shown, that indeed there had been an increase
in autism after routine MMR vaccination was initiated in Denmark.

The following is part of the analysis by Dr. Gary Goldman and myself
of data from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, the same data that
Madsen used. It clearly shows that there has been a serious increase in
autism in children under 14 in Denmark in the last few years. (Graph I)


Graph I Incidence of Autism in Denmark by Age Group
Source: The Danish Psychiatric Central
Register

The MMR vaccine was introduced in Denmark in 1987. It has been
estimated that only 70% of the 15-month old children received the triple
vaccine in 1987-1988. The percentage of vaccinated toddlers then reached and
remained at 80 to 88% for several years. It is estimated that in the last
three years about 95% of the 15-month old children in Denmark received the
MMR vaccine.

The present rise in autism in Denmark has clearly started 4 to 5 years
after the introduction of the MMR vaccine and it appears to correspond with
the percentage of children who received the MMR.

The mean age at the time of diagnosis in Denmark is probably around
4.7 years ("The mean age at diagnosis for autism was 4 years, 3 months, and
for autistic spectrum disorders 5 years, 3 months.") Approximately 25% of
autism cases in Denmark are reported in children under the age of 5 with the
remainder 75% of affected children being reported when they are 5 to 19
years old. Given these percentages, any inferences about disease in the
under-5 group, in which the disease has not yet become manifest, are
potentially flawed.

The 2,129,864 person-years reported in the Madsen study divided by the
number of children 537,303 indicates that the average age of the children in
the study is less than 4 years (range 1 to 7 years). Those children would be
5 to 12 years old in 2003. Because the mean age at diagnosis is 4.7 years in
Denmark, the Madsen study could NOT have detected many of the cases of
autism that were subsequently diagnosed when these children were older,
thereby missing the temporal connection between MMR vaccination and autism.

The 0-4 year old group of children (Graph I, black) remains the lowest
from 1980 to 1991, because autism was/is rarely diagnosed under the age of 4
in Denmark. The prevalence of autism in that age group starts climbing after
1991, 4 years after the introduction of the MMR vaccine, to become the
second highest by 1993.

The 5 - 9 age group is the earliest cohort that received the MMR
vaccine after coverage has improved and is also old enough to be diagnosed.
There are consistently more and more affected children in this age grouping.

The 10 -14 age group (dark green) represents the earlier cohort that
first received the MMR vaccine, but at lower coverage rates. Those affected
children aged 10 to 14 in 2003 were aged 1 to 5 in 1994. They reflect the
startup of the autism increase associated with the startup and progression
of the MMR vaccination program.

The 15 -19 age group (light green) were aged 1 to 5 in 1989; their
number increases but at a much slower rate than in the younger age groups.

Lastly, the 20 - 24 age group (brown) shows only a slight increase
starting in 1994 possibly because few if any of this cohort, received the
MMR vaccine at a vulnerable age.

Even when one takes into account the classification change that took
place in 1993/1994 and the addition of outpatients to the database in 1995,
it is evident, when five additional years are considered, that the
conclusions of the Madsen group are invalidated and that the data appears to
support the hypothesis that increases in autism in Denmark, may be
correlated with increases in percentage coverage and number of children
receiving MMR vaccination.

It is likely that in Graph I, the 0 - 4 year group of affected
children represents those who were not generally diagnosed earlier, that the
5 - 9 age group represents the highest increase that occurred after
wide-spread coverage of the MMR vaccine and that the 10 - 14 age group
represents the earlier cohort that first received the MMR vaccine, but at a
low coverage rate.

It is possible that the rate of autism will now level off at the
higher rate since children receiving MMR immunization have now saturated the
age groups and replaced individuals in the age groups that were previously
unvaccinated.

Approximately 65,000 babies are born every year in Denmark. Graph I
shows the early slow ramp-up period due to low vaccination rates. When MMR
vaccination coverage improved beyond a certain level, from 1993 to 2001,
there was a steady and increasing trend in autism every year. That gradual
rise leveled out after the entire cohort aged 10 was almost "completely"
vaccinated (vaccine coverage at 95%). It is entirely possible that many of
the children of the most affected 5 to 9 group, could have started with
symptoms as early as the second year of life.

The prevalence rate of autism in Danish children under the age of 14
has increased by 729% from 17.67 per 100,000 Population in 1980 to 146.42 in
2002. (Graph II)


Graph II Children with Autism under Age 14 In Denmark per
100,000 Population.
Source: The Danish Psychiatric Central
Register.

The prevalence of autism in children and teens under the age of 14 in
Denmark, which was 131.42/100000 in the 7 years before the MMR vaccine,
increased by 542% to 843.73/100000 in the last 7 years. Indeed, the
prevalence of autism in that group was 11% higher (146.42/131.42) in 2002
alone than in the combined 7 years before the introduction of the MMR
vaccine.

Two doses of MMR are administered in Denmark, one at age 15 months,
and one at age 12 years. The data suggest that the main concern is the
vaccination given at age 15 months.

The prevalence of autism in Denmark in the 0 to 14 year-olds leveled
off in the last 3 years, when toddler MMR coverage reached the 95 - 98%
level. The reason why this did not take place in the United States in the 90's
was probably because pediatric vaccines in the US contained Thimerosal,
further supporting the argument that the study was flawed in principle
because countries with strikingly different vaccination practices cannot and
must not be compared.

Conclusions

Autism has increased in Denmark after the introduction of the MMR
vaccine as evidenced by the fact that the rate ratio i.e. the incidence of
autism after vs. before MMR vaccination is 8.8 (95% C.I., 6.3 to 12.1) among
5 to 9 year old Danish children.

The Madsen study did not reveal this statistically significant
increase.

Dr. DeStefano and his colleagues at the CDC should research the causes
of Regressive Autism rather than defend a vaccine in trouble.

Parents are more likely to forgive errors than cover-ups.

References:

1. Yazbak FE. Autism in the United States: a Perspective. J Am Phys
Surg 2003;
8:103-107
Available at http://www.jpands.org/vol8no4/yazbak.pdf.
(accessed February 10, 2004)

2. Yazbak F E. Autism seems to be increasing worldwide, if not in
London. BMJ 2003;328:226227.
Available at
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conte...328/7433/226-c
(accessed February 10, 2004)

3. Prevalence of Autism in Brick Township, New Jersey, 1998:
Community Report.
Available at www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/pub/BrickReport.pdf.
(accessed February 10, 2004)

4. Yeargin-Allsopp M, Rice C, Karapurkar T, Doernberg N, Boyle
C, Murphy C.
Prevalence of autism in a US metropolitan area. JAMA
2003;49-55.

5. Madsen MK, et. al. A population-based study of measles mumps
rubella vaccination and
autism. NEJM 2002;347:1478-1482

6. The Autism Epidemic is Real and Excessive Vaccinations Are the
Cause
A Statement: Bernard Rimland, PH.D.July 14, 2003
Available at: http://autismautoimmunityproject.org/Rimland.htm
(accessed February 10, 2004)

F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP
TL Autism Research, Falmouth, Massachusetts
E-mail:
February 25, 2004

© 2004