PLT Test Blog

Today’s post sounds complicated. We actually already know that the gene GABRA5, and hence the alpha 5 sub-unit of GABA A receptors, can affect cognition, but we do not know for sure in whom it is relevant. Most readers of this blog are lay people, as such we tend to be predisposed to the idea that autism is somehow “hardwired”, something that just happened and cannot be reversed. Some of autism is indeed “hardwired”, you cannot take an adult with autism and “re-prune” his synapses, to produce a more elegant robust network in his brain. But much can be done, because many things in the brain are changing all the time, they are not fixed at all. Today’s post is good example. GABA is the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. There are two types of GABA receptor, A and B. These receptors are made up of sub-units. There are many different possible combinations of sub-units to make GABA A receptors. These combinations are not fixed, or “hard-wired”; they vary all the time. ...

When Monty, now aged 11 with ASD, was diagnosed aged three and a half we were told that he had autism and “this may be indicative of the presence of an associated learning disability, but it is impossible at this stage to give a prognosis as to his future difficulties” and also “he is not yet able to take part in formal assessments of his cognitive ability. When his skills and ability to share interests with adults and to follow direction/instruction develop, it will be possible to formally assess his cognitive skills using standard measures.” Off the record, we were also told that he might develop epilepsy. We never measured his IQ and he has never had a seizure. With hindsight, it is interesting what they said about it being pointless to try and measure his IQ.  Apparently it is not uncommon to do just that. Improving Cognitive Function This post is about cognitive improvement, so do not be put off by the introduction to MR/ID.  Several regular readers who are using some of ...

  In earlier posts I have touched upon the problems of clinical trials in autism:- ·         Highly subjective, or ineffective, rating scales for autistic behaviours ·         Lack of biomarkers, or any other marker, to target a specific sub-types(phenotypes of autism ·         Very small sample sizes and often amateur execution, meaning the results cannot be replicated I think one of these problems has a ready solution, at least for verbal primary school children with ASD.   Assessment Week Last week, Monty aged 10 with ASD, had assessment week at school.   The academic subjects he participates in, are Maths, English and Science.   We have chosen to skip Geography, History and French.   Monty already has another second language. Following the tests at school, I decided to make a test of my own.   I stopped all of my therapies and waited to see what w...

Piracetam was first synthesized in 1964 by a Romanian scientist called Corneliu Giurgea, who was highly unusual.  He was educated in then communist Romania, followed by research in Russia and then at the University of Rochester in the US, before ending up in Belgium, eventually as the Head of Research at drug firm UCB and being a Professor at a Belgian university.   How this was possible under the strict form of communism followed in Romania,  I do not really understand. Anyway, Giurgea was clearly very resourceful and he decided to invent a new class of drugs, to be called Nootropic. He stated that Nootropic drugs should have the following characteristics: 1.      They should enhance learning and memory. 2.      They should enhance the resistance of learned behaviors/memories to conditions which tend to disrupt them (e.g. electroconvulsive shock , hypoxia ). 3.      They should protect the brain against var...