Autism causes

Thimerosal is a preservative used in vaccines that has been purported to cause autism in children. The assumption is that thimerosal, also known as ethyl mercury, causes similar effects as methyl mercury, which has neurotoxic and nephrotoxic... 

Faulty Wiring and/or Developmental Delay. Remember that neurotransmission moves through brain circuits. Some mental illnesses may be caused by misconnections in the circuitry that can result in the brain s equivalent of crosstalk that occurs when telephone lines are crossed. Examples of this problem are the so-called neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, certain forms of mental retardation, and possibly schizophrenia. 

The peptide, melatonin, has been implicated in autism. Excess melatonin is thought to decrease learning, memory, attention, emotionality, motivation and pain responses (reviewed Chamberlain Herman, 1990)—all behaviours that are abnormal in autism. Melatonin, released from the pineal gland, is implicated in controlling serotonin and POMC (proopiomelanocortin) peptides, such as beta-endorphin, and an elevation may contribute to, or cause, the serotonin and opioid abnormalities (Chamberlain Herman, 1990). 

There have been numerous trials of use of the atypical antipsychotics in patients with developmental disabilities, but most of these trials were uncontrolled open-labeled studies or case reports (Aman and Madrid, 1999). Findings were reported for 86 adults and 1 child with prominent self-injury. The reports of adults assessed clozapine (1 report) and risperidone (4 reports). Improvement was observed for a majority of participants in all of these trials. The patients presented with a multitude of conditions, ranging from nonspecific MR and associated behavior problems, to pervasive developmental disorders (including autism), to various psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and manic disorder. Self-injury appeared to respond to treatment regardless of concomitant condition. In the only clozapine report with a child (who had autistic disorder), a mean dose of 283 mg/day caused a transient reduction in self-injury. 

Rodier PM. The early origins of autism new research into the causes of this baffling disorder is focusing on genes that control the development of the brain. Sci Am 2000 28(2) 56-63. 

Combination vaccines are more convenient in use and are exploited in the familiar DPT and MMR vaccines. However, there is always the possibility of autoimmune reactions and an increased risk of side effects. As noted, these issues have been obscured legally by claims that autism in children is caused by such combinations or the use of thiomersalate as a mercurial preservative. Scientifically it is probably safe to say that these side effects have not been demonstrated convincingly but these issues have caused difficulties for the manufacturers. 

The co-3 fatty acids have numerous important functions, especially in the brain. Accordingly, a deficiency of DHA and EPA may cause dysfunction of the central nervous system and probably also the retina, thereby resulting in impaired vision. In addition, there is a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders that have been associated with decreased levels of especially DHA and AA, such as, for example, schizophrenia and depression [3], post-traumatic stress syndrome, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Since no primary inherited defect of essential fatty acid interconversion has yet been described, no specific explanations for the essential fatty acid concentration changes are readily available. 

Splawski I, Timothy KW, Sharpe LM, Decher N, Kumar P, Bloise R, Napolitano C, Schwartz PJ, Joseph RM, Condouris K, Tager-Flusberg H, Priori SG, Sanguinetti MC, Keating MT (2004) Ca(V)1.2 calcium channel dysfunction causes a multisystem disorder including arrhythmia and autism. Cell 119 19-31. 

Deth R, Muratore C, Benzecry J, Power-Charnitsky VA, Waly M. 2007. How environmental and genetic factors combine to cause autism A redox/methylation hypothesis. 

The suggestion that measles/MMR immunization can cause autism has not been confirmed. Autism is characterized by absorption in self-centered subjective mental activities (such as day-dreams, fantasies, hallucinations), especially when accompanied by marked withdrawal from reality. 

Data from an earlier study have been reanalysed to test the hypothesis that MMR vaccine might cause autism but that the induction interval needs to be short (495). Evidence for an increased incidence was sought using the case-series method. The study used data on all... 

MMR vaccines, including booster doses. The results of this study, combined with results obtained earlier by the same authors, provided powerful evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes autism at any time after immunization. 

A conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics on new challenges in childhood immunizations was convened in Oak Brook, IL, on 12-13 June 2000 and reviewed data on what is known about the pathogenesis, epidemiology, and genetics of autism and the available data on hypothesized associations with Crohn s disease, measles, and MMR vaccine. The participants concluded that the available evidence did not support the hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes either Crohn s disease or autism or associated disorders. They recommended continued scientific efforts directed to the identification of the causes of autism (69). 

Suddendorf Many other acknowledged deficits that characterize autism, such as obsession with routine, stereotyped behaviour, preoccupation with parts of an object, echopraxia and echolalia, can hardly be explained as secondary deficits caused by a defect in a presumed social cognition module. Autistic children also have a deficit on creativity tasks. The clinical picture is far more complex than a malfunctioning discrete module for social cognition. 

What do Gulf War Syndrome, Katrina Cough, Aerospace Syndrome, and epidemic increases in the incidence of autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), birth defects, asthma, mailroom illness, spontaneous abortion, and many cancers have in common Each of these can be associated with a single causative agent, but each can also be associated with environmental exposure to chemical mixtures that do not contain any of the known causative agents. 

Our inability to defend ourselves against new chemicals and mixtures often results in epidemics of disease. For example, asthma, autism, infertility, and many cancers affect different parts of the body and seemingly have different etiologies. All, however, can be related to a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to chemicals. All are less prevalent where chemical exposures are lower, for example, in rural areas. All have known single chemical exposure causes and they can all be related to low level exposure to chemical mixtures. The toxic effects of chemical mixtures are explored in the chapters that follow. 

Jick H, Kaye JA. Epidemiology and possible causes of autism. Pharmacotherapy 2003 23(12) 1524—30. 

The developing human brain is much more susceptible to injury caused by toxic agents than the brain of an adult. Probably all potential neurotoxic compounds would also cause damage to the developing brain and at much lower doses [1], Indeed, neuro-developmental disorders in children such as attention deficit, mental retardation or autism are often associated with the exposure to chemicals in the environment during early fetal and postnatal development [1-3]. 

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