PLT Test Blog

  Will Betahistine provide a benefit? Today’s post is the logical follow on from the post showing that the new drug compound E-100 gives a benefit in two models of autism. Another Potential Autism Therapy - novel compound E100 from Krakow, a combined histamine H3 receptor blocker (H3R antagonist) and an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor (AChEI) We saw that E-100 has two modes of action, thought to be complementary:- ·         Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) ·         Histamine H3 antagonists (H3R antagonist) I think our reader Rene is thinking along the lines I suggested that you might achieve the same effects with existing generic drugs.   One combination would be Donepezil plus Betahistine. Donepezil has long been studied in autism, a recent example is here: Improvement of Language in Children with Autism with Combined Donepezil and Choline Treatment The safety and efficacy of a novel combinati...

There has been little mention in this blog about fetal medicine, but it is an area that does hold great promise.   At the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, they have been surgically treating babies with spina bifida prior to their birth for nearly twenty years. Early surgical intervention to the spine even allows for malformation of the brain to be self-repaired and this is visible on MRI scans. Such prenatal treatment can be 100% successful, resulting in there being no physical disability in adulthood.  The more you read about neuroscience the more you realize how little we really know and so encouraging the brain to self-repair may indeed be the best strategy.  This is an avenue of research and not just with stem cells.  A similar approach is proving successful in treating skin cancer, you do not attack the cancer with drugs, you modify the immune system with a drug so it "wakes up" and does its job and kills the cancer cells.          S...

Brasil is the C-section capital of the world, wi th rates in the public sector of 35–45%, and 80–90% in the private sector . A recent study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, analysing 61 previous studies, has again shown a connection between birth by Cesarian Section and an increased risk of autism or indeed ADHD.  C-sections account for just 16% of births in Sweden, but 32% in North America. This of course prompted a reaction to reassure future mothers that they have nothing to fear, from experts in obstetrics who of course know nothing about the etiology of autism.   Mothers should be reassured, but trashing the study helps nobody.  Instead of a 1% risk of non-trivial autism, it rises to 1.3%. You still have more than a 98% chance of having a neurotypical child, all other factors being equal.  Without a medically necessary C-section, death is a real possibility. It was a couple of years ago that the Karolinska Institute highlighted the fact that those with s...