PLT Test Blog

Following up on recent posts about PAK1 , whose presence is required for 70% of cancers to grow and MIT have implicated in several types of autism, I have collected all the data I can find to make trials of PAK1 inhibition in autism.     I contacted the leading Japanese researcher who has developed PAK1 therapies for various kinds of tumor, mainly found in neurofibromatosis, but also brain tumors and even epilepsy.  He suggested the dosage of the CAPE -rich propolis from New Zealand and also suggested another drug called Fingolimod/Gilenya .   This drug is an immunomodulating drug, approved for treating multiple sclerosis , but it is also a PAK1 inhibitor.  It appears to cross the blood brain barrier.  The downside it that Gilenya is hugely expensive, costing around $50,000 a year.     While Tonegawa's group at MIT continue to develop their new PAK1 inhibitors, I am concerned that they will end up with a drug costing as much as Gilenya, whic...

In recent posts I introduced a substance called PAK1.   This substance is implicated in the mechanism behind many cancers and research at MIT showed that is also involved in autism, fragile X and schizophrenia. PAK inhibitors notjust for Cancer, Alzheimer’s and Neurofibromatosis, but also for Autism, Schizophrenia, Fragile X and Shank 3   In that post, I pointed out that a great deal of research is being done to create new drugs that act as PAK inhibitors, none of which are yet approved. But I also highlighted that Neurofibramatosis sufferers have been using a naturally occurring PAK inhibitor, called CAPE, that can be found in certain types of bee propolis. The researchers ended up choosing a New Zealand variety called BIO 30, but they also pointed out that certain Brazilian, and even one Chinese propolis, are known PAK inhibitors.   The problem with all natural “supplements” is the lack of consistency; it turns out that the PAK inhibiting power of BIO 30 varies from ye...

When used correctly, statistics are extremely useful to diagnose and solve all kinds of problems.  In the wrong hands, meaningless or mixed-up data can be portrayed as impressive statistics, on which other people faithfully rely, to form their opinions. Clearly there is nothing new in this; the phrase “lies, damned lies and statistics” was popularized by Mark Twain (1835-1910).  The advent of cheap computers and desktop publishing has made it possible for just about anyone to crunch some numbers and make impressive looking tables and graphs.   Along comes the internet and all of a sudden, somebody’s idea can go viral and be quoted back to them later, as a “fact”. This blog is based mainly on the blue skies research , being carried out at leading universities around the world.  I say “leading universities” because there are now so many universities/institutes, that not all academics are equal.  In the case of autism, it seems that the more someone publishes,...

Most readers of this blog are from the US, but in much of the rest of the world the diagnosis of autism is very much rarer.   Why is that?   And does it matter? I came across a perfect example of this recently.   A friend who lived in the Netherlands (north Europe), just relocated, back to the south of Europe.   In the Netherlands, his daughter was diagnosed with autism; the father, being a native of southern Europe, did not like this at all.   “On what basis do you say this?”, he asked the psychiatrist.   The psychiatrist would not discuss the diagnosis, other than to say that according to the American DSM , his daughter has autism. A few months later, the father takes his daughter for an assessment back home in southern Europe.   There he was told that it was nonsense to say the girl is autistic, she just has some mild obsessive compulsive behaviour.   The father now feels much better, the daughter feels no worse. We were discussing my Polypill...