PLT Test Blog

There are numerous ideas about how to treat self injurious behavior (SIB) associated with autism. ARI (the former home of Defeat Autism Now) have just had their take on the subject published. https://www.autism.com/sib_book In this blog we have seen that Tyler has developed a BCAA (branch chained amino acid) therapy, based on the idea of Acute Tryptophan Depletion, to control his son’s type of self injury. The silver bullet for my son’s summer time raging and self-injury continues to be the L-type calcium channel blocker Verapamil. I think many people will be skeptical of both BCAAs and Verapamil, which is entirely understandable. Unlike other aspects of autism, which are hard to measure, self-injury is really easy to measure and so you know when you have cracked the problem; what other people think tends not to matter.   Now that Monty, aged 14 with ASD, has moved to secondary/high school the routine has changed a little and his assistant forgets to give him his midday dose of ver...

Amino Acids (AAs) are very important to health and it is important that all 20 are within the reference ranges, or there can be serious consequences.   Inborn errors of amino acid metabolism do exist and there are metabolic disorders which impair either the synthesis and/or degradation of amino acids . It has been suggested that a lack of certain amino acids might underlie some people’s autism. This seems to be the basis of one new autism drug, CM-AT, being developed in the US, but this idea remains somewhat controversial. In those people who have normal levels of amino acids, potential does exist to modify their level for some therapeutic effect.   Examples include:- ·         Using histidine to inhibit mast cells de-granulating and so reducing symptoms of allergy ·         Using the 3 branch chained AAs to reduce the level of the AA, phenylanine, which can drive movement disorders/tics ·   ...

Today’s post is about Tardive Dyskinesia which is a side effect eventually experienced by about 30% of people taking antipsychotic drugs, like risperidone, widely prescribed in both autism and schizophrenia. Enough money for your lifetime supply of a VMAT2 inhibitor? Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) is a disorder resulting in involuntary, repetitive body movements, which might think of as tics or grimaces. It appears that the longer the drug is taken the greater the chance of developing Tardive Dyskinesia. Predicting the long-term risk of tardive dyskinesia in outpatients maintained on neuroleptic medications. Tics are quite common in autism and not just in those taking psychiatric drugs. Tourette’s syndrome is a well-known tic disorder that does overlap with autism, it used to be considered rare, but now 1% of children are thought to be affected.   Some common Tourette’s tics are eye blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements. People diagnosed with Tourette’s might...

  Not cheap at about $1,000 for just 140mg Life extension may come as a surprise, but it is interesting because it is well studied and, in mice at least, easy to measure.  Most research into mTOR relates to cancer, but this is a very complex condition. With various feedback loops it means that sometimes the actual effect is the opposite of what was predicted.  For example, a substance that can help prevent cancer can actually become harmful later and promote its growth. Direct inhibition of mTOR with Everolimus and similar drugs (variants/analogs of Rapamycin , all called Rapalogs) has not been as successful as hoped in cancer research.  Trials of direct inhibition of mTOR will shortly start in one rare single gene type of autism ( TSC ).  The drugs are so expensive that many providers do not want to pay for them. As you will see mTOR is just one process in a cloud of interrelated processes.   Almost everything has a role/effect:- growth factors, cytokines,...