Autism may be caused by brain swelling due to immune system reaction

Note from Ilena: Perhaps the immune reaction is to the jabs.


Autism may be caused by brain swelling due to immune system reaction
15 Nov 2004


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=16379


Autism could be caused by an immune system reaction which causes the
brain to swell, say researchers at John Hopkins University School of
Medicine, USA. If this is so, we may one day be able to create a test
for autism, and perhaps even develop treatment to prevent it.

Unfortunately, we cannot diagnose autism until it has already
developed in the person - the earliest diagnosis takes place in the
second year of life when signs of communication problems appear in the
child (we don't really know whether it develops or not after birth,
whether it is already there before birth).

Professor Carlos Pardo-Villamizar , team leader, said to the BBC
"These findings open new possibilities for understanding the dynamic
changes that occur in the brain of autistic patients during childhood
and adulthood. Although they may lend themselves to the development of
new medical treatments for autism, much more research would be needed
to establish the validity of this approach."

The prevalence of autism has grown over the last twenty years. Some
people wonder whether there may be some environmental trigger. Others
suggest that diagnosis is much more accurate these days. Many people
in the past with Asperger's Syndrome were not classed as autistic -
today they are, hence the numbers of autistic people today are higher
than before. In most of the world, Asperger's Syndrome was not
recognised until 1994.

TYPES OF AUTISM

Several types have been defined along the autism spectrum, differing
in the severity of the symptoms and total disability and in the
combinations of autistic impairments with other disabilities. We
present brief accounts of some of these.

CLASSIC AUTISM, AUTISTIC DISORDER OR KANNER'S SYNDROME

The psychiatrist Leo Kanner of John Hopkins University first described
and named this syndrome based on 11 of his child patients between 1932
and 1943. He noted the following common features:

-- a profound lack of affect or emotional contact with others

-- an intense wish for sameness in routines

-- muteness or abnormality of speech

-- fascination with manipulating objects

-- high levels of visuo-spatial skills, but major learning
difficulties in other areas

-- attractive, alert and intelligent appearance.

Kanner's observations became the criteria for early studies of the
prevalence of autism. Children (and adults) with these features have
the full triad of impairments and represent the most severely disabled
end of the autism spectrum of disorders.

Autism organizations were first formed in the 1960s and 1970s by the
parents of children with classic autism. More recently these
organizations have been enlarged in scope and functions to serve those
with a wider range of autistic and pervasive developmental disorders.

ASPERGER'S DISORDER

First described by Hans Asperger of Vienna in 1944, whose work was not
generally known in English translation until 1981, the disorder was
not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM) http://www.autism-biomed.org/dsm-iv.htm until 1994.

Asperger's shares with autism a severe and sustained impairment in
social interaction, and restricted and repetitive patterns of
behaviour and interests. But people with Asperger's do not have the
significant delays in language, cognition, self-help skills or
adaptive behaviour that are typical in autism; they are often
physically clumsy and awkward, more obviously than children with
classic autism. Asperger's is often not recognized easily or early,
and may be misdiagnosed as Tourette's Syndrome, Attention Deficit
Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional
Defiance Disorder, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. As with autism,
the disorder is lifelong and no complete cure is known. Asperger's
disorder may be the largest type on the autism spectrum, affecting 35
in every 10,000 people.

People with Asperger's may have an exceptional talent or skill with
which they are preoccupied. It is conjectured that several people of
remarkable genius may have had Asperger's--including Albert Einstein,
Vladimir Nabokov, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bela Bartok and Andy Warhol. Of
Canadian interest is a front-page story in The Globe and Mail (1
February 2000) entitled "Was Glenn Gould autistic?" The possibility
that Asperger's Syndrome could explain Gould's social deficiencies,
obsessive perfectionism and intolerance of change was raised in the
1996 biography by psychiatrist Peter Oswald, Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy
and Tragedy of Genius, and is now elaborated by the musicologist
Timothy Maloney. Gould was acutely sensitive to light, sound and
temperature, and had a phobia about shaking hands as well as a limited
range of preferred foods. His bizarre mannerisms as a concert
performer could be understood as uncontrollable expressions of
Asperger's.

RETT'S SYNDROME

First identified by the Australian, Dr Andreas Rett, in 1965, Rett's
is a complex neurological degenerative disorder that affects only
girls. It is rarer than some of the types on the autism spectrum,
affecting 1 in every 10,000 girls. From onset at about 18 months of
age, its victims become profoundly and multiply disabled and dependent
on others for all their needs. Key symptoms include hypotonia (reduced
muscle tone) and such autistic-like behaviours as wringing and waving
hands. The discovery of the gene for Rett's syndrome was reported in
October 1999.

"Ilena Rose" wrote in message
...
Note from Ilena: Perhaps the immune reaction is to the jabs.


You bet, nearly all of it

"Ilena Rose" in her official capacity as the Directrix of
the FDA DE-listed, San Diego DE-licensed, and APPARENTLY DE-funct, Humantics
Foundation, wrote in message
...

Note from Ilena: Perhaps the immune reaction is to the jabs.

This is a medical opinion coming from someone who has a BA in psychology.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

BTW, you got talk.poltics.medicine wrong, again. Tsk. tsk.