PLT Test Blog

  Adult-sized people with autism can cause property damage and much worse. I am told that summertime raging is a common problem encountered by neurologists, but it remains poorly understood and usually remains untreated. The most common worry for parents of toddlers diagnosed with severe autism is their lack of speech. By the time these children reach adulthood, the biggest worry for parents is often aggression and self-injury. Often it is the mother who faces the worst episodes of aggression, which is a really cruel turn of events. Aggression is usually not present in young children with autism, in some people it never develops, but in others it later becomes established as a learned behavior and then you are stuck with how to deal with it. One of my own therapy targets has long been to improve cognitive function; this can indeed be achieved and then you can improve important daily living skills (adaptive function). Some steps that you can take to improve cognition, and indee...

Google have just discontinued Google+ Many people followed this blog via Google+  You can either follow by email (just to right of the blueberries), or follow by Blogger Blueberries A common criticism of this blog is that it is mainly about prescription drugs rather than OTC supplements. Today’s post is about a supplement that is highly regarded by our reader Ling. Pterostilbene is like a super potent version of resveratrol.   Resveratrol is quite well known and has long been put forward as having some potentially highly beneficial health effects, but in practise it is just too poorly absorbed to have much effect in humans. Pterostilbene is found in blueberries.   Also found in blueberries is Anthocyanin, which is worth a mention in this post, it is what gives blueberries their colour; very often it is the colour in a food that underlies part of its health benefit. This is why eating a mixed colour diet is a wise idea. Aronia is extremely rich in anthocyanins and Aronia...

A future baldness therapy (a JAK inhibitor) to treat some autism? Today’s rambling post has been pending for some time. It got left on one side, but is interesting and can be applied. As we know there are distinct sub-types of autism and fortunately so does Paul Ashwood at the UC Davis MIND Institute. He often splits his findings into regressive vs early onset autism.   Brief report: plasma leptin levels are elevated in autism: association with early onset phenotype? There is evidence of both immune dysregulation and autoimmune phenomena in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We examined the hormone/cytokine leptin in 70 children diagnosed with autism (including 37 with regression) compared with 99 age-matched controls including 50 typically developing (TD) controls, 26 siblings without autism, and 23 children with developmental disabilities (DD). Children with autism had significantly higher plasma leptin levels compared with TD controls (p<.006). When further sub-cl...