PLT Test Blog

I think today's post is going to be one of my better efforts.  We are continuing with the theme of Cortisol, depression and stress; but we are going to add two further chemicals, both "social neuropeptides". The reason than today's post is worth reading is that it will bridge neurobiology and neuropsychology.   For me at least, psychology is light reading whereas biology needs more thought and understanding.  A social neuropeptide is a nice term not invented by me; it seems to come from Dr Stein from the University of Cape Town . Rather than understand everything about human hormones, we are just trying to understand stress and coping mechanisms, so that we can reduce or  just better manage autistic behaviours.  Cortisol Cortisol is a hormone that is very easy to measure; saliva samples will do just fine.  Cortisol levels, or changes in cortisol levels, tell us about how the body is coping with emotion stress.  We are not talking about oxidat...

Today starts a mini-series inspired by a reader’s comment about depression.   Angie, from Australia, pointed out that while the kids with ASD might not be depressed, many of the parents certainly are.   Not only will we address Angie’s point, but we will extend it a little and show how this can also help in our quest for the grail. Many people have stressful lives, but some have discovered a special way to overcome this.   I was reading an English newspaper recently and there was an article about a celebrity cook, Nigella Lawson, who is very popular on the BBC.   While Jamie Oliver appears not to overindulge on his own cooking, it appears that Nigella does. Nigella was giving her tips to losing those excess pounds or kilograms.   The interesting part was not the treadmill in the spare room, but her comment about singing extremely loudly while using it.   Here comes the science part.   Cortisol is an important hormone; and as we learnt previously when s...

G.I. Disorders, Epilepsy and M.R.   As was noted in the previous post, there are three large subgroups in autism; call them comorbidities if you prefer.   Taken together, these 3 subgroups must account for the majority of cases in autism. Since Monty is not affected by any of these three conditions, I am not equipped to research them in the depth they deserve.   If you have an autistic child affected by gastrointestinal disorders, epilepsy or mental retardation, why not participate and combine your own personal experiences, with a review of the research literature;    with Google Scholar it really is not so hard. Alternatively, anybody with a professional interest in these areas is equally welcome to join in.   Guest Blogger I will post your work un-edited on this blog.   We can then all help ourselves to apply practical science to solve the puzzle that is autism; the objective being to reverse it and not just theorize about it.   If you are inter...

Most kids love pizza; Monty is no exception and today he gets his own, by special deliver y. The first slice is that rather dull triad of impairments, which is taught to therapists learning about autism.  Autism is supposed to be the place where these three impairments overlap.  I was always rather underwhelmed by this; definitely a slice needing extra ketchup.  So based on what I have learned myself, and read in the literature I propose a more colourful pizza, which of course gets a fancy name. In the literature, whether or not there was a regression after birth, seems to be relevant in understanding the cause of autism, in that particular case.  It would also therefore be a factor indicating the appropriate therapy. You may be surprised to see "depression", but it is there because there are many biological markers in autism that are also present in people with depression (and other mental health disorders).  These will be dis...

I am again recommending to you the excellent collection of scientific research published all in one book called Autism: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation andImmune Abnormalities , edited by Chauhan, Chauhan and Brown.   It is seriously expensive, but if you manage to read it, you will likely know much more than your paediatrician. Assuming that most of you will not want to buy the book, I will be feeding you edited highlights over the coming weeks. Today’s insight is about heresy . Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492 and then Magellan’s circumnavigation of the Earth (1519–21) provided the final and indisputable proof that our world is spherical.     At different periods in time before this, the world had been thought of as flat, round, square and possible spherical. In 748 the then Pope Zachery heard complaints that Vergilius (Virgil) of Salzburg, who happened to be both an Irish churchman and amateur astronomer, was teaching a doctrine about the “rotundity of th...

In the research there are various scales to measure how autistic a child is, for example the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).  They are very subjective, but clearly better than nothing at all. I read a study on older children with ASD that was highlighting that as the children get older, they become less autistic.  In the CARS scale there are 14 behavioural areas to grade and then there is number 15, which is the general impression of the clinician.  In effect, number 15 is how autistic the clinicians feel the subject to be;  you would expect that number 15 would be consistant with the findings in the first 14 areas.  In the test the older children all showed a big improvement in areas 1 to 14, but not in number 15, which is the one that really matters.  This really means that either the use of CARS was inappropriate or CARS is flawed. As children get older the concept of "normal" changes.  So there is not m...

  Placebo effect in autism - Parent/Child Matrix        A big problem in autism research is the placebo effect.  It could be because the child found the therapy fun and liked all the attention and so showed improved behaviors; or it could be that the parents so desperately wanted to see an improvement, that they imagined it. In good research, half of the kids receives the trial drug and the other half receive a placebo.  But what happens when both groups show an improvement?  Well if both groups show equal improvement then the therapy has no value.  In almost all the research I have seen, the placebo group shows an improvement.  In one study the placebo group improved 70% on the behaviour rating scale. We need to conclude several things:- Good studies rely on assessment by clinicians, not parents If the therapy was fun and included lots of 1:1 attention, then the kid's behavior will improve, regardless of the medical ...