PLT Test Blog

You may, like me, have wondered why so much autism research seems to mention Fragile-X syndrome and Retts syndrome.   Both Fragile-X and Retts are caused by the mutation of single genes, FMR1 and MECP2 respectively.  Autism can be caused by very many, seemingly unrelated things, both genetic and environmental. When you look at it objectively, there is a much closer comparison for autism, it is schizophrenia .   I know from the research I am reading that in fact autism and schizophrenia are intertwined and there is no boundary were one stops and the other starts.  Most likely some of the individual biological dysfunctions in autism are present in a greater/lesser degree in schizophrenia and vice versa.  This will be developed in later posts. For those interested in learning more about schizophrenia here is a nice PowerPoint presentation. https://files.itslearning.com/data/1512/469/SCHIZO%20PP.pptx Here are some excerpts:- ·     ...

      I cannot say whether there will ever be a “cure” for autism, but this blog has shown that certain types of autism can be treated today.  Actually, it is becoming much more like tuning. Tucked away in the scientific literature, you can find that some receptors in the brain respond very differently to small stimuli than to large ones, I found this intriguing but thought little more of it.  Then, in the recent post on Glutamate receptors, I saw a chart from the MIT researcher that showed how using drugs you could increase/decrease protein synthesis in the brain, to optimize neural performance.  Rather like tuning the ignition timing on your car, some people were a little ahead of where they should be (Fragile X) and others were a little behind (Rett’s).  By using the right dose of either a positive or a negative modulator (of the mGluR5 receptor) you could tune the brain for optimal performance. Source: Contributions of metabotropic glutamate recept...

The dentist is probably the worst place you can imagine to have to take a child with autism.   The same is true with many typical kids and even some adults. If you talk to older people about their childhood experience at the dentist, before high speed drills and the like, it was more like torture.   Times have changed, it is not just better equipment, but (some) attitudes have changed. For someone with autism, going to the dentist should not have to be a terrifying experience; people with autism actually have a high pain threshold.   True they have lots of sensory issues, but it seems to be the fact that they do not understand what is going on, that is the real problem. A better way There exist some very child-friendly dentists who are more than a match for a child with autism.   They can achieve what seems impossible, a calm and cooperative dental patient, who will sit back and let the dentist do his work. One such dentist has even made a training program for other ...

  Much of this blog to date has been connected with aspects related to the neurotransmitter GABA.   It did get rather complicated, but at least for me, it has been highly rewarding. I have identified treatable dysfunctions in Monty, aged 10 with ASD, using Bumetanide and now Clonazepam. It is also clear that a group of people with autism also benefit from treatment with R-baclofen, a potent GABA B receptor agonist. R-baclofen/Arbaclofen and Arbaclofen Placarbil are not commercially available.   The commercially available drug Baclofen contains R-Baclofen and another substance that, in-effect, works to oppose it and so may be much less effective. Based on the successful results of this investigation into GABA-related interventions, it would therefore make sense to look in detail at Glutamate, the other neurotransmitter that appears to be dysfunctional in many types of autism. As with GABA dysfunctions, there are already are some existing treatments for glutamate dysfunct...