PLT Test Blog

A Guest Post by UK Charity Treating Autism If you are a reader of this blog and interested in all things autism, especially those things regularly discussed here, you may want to find yourself in London on the weekend of 18-19 June, attending a conference organised by a UK charity Treating Autism. The location is Brunel University campus - a stone’s throw from Heathrow airport, or a fun tube ride from Eurostar St Pancras station. If you can only attend one day make sure it is Sunday 19 th , as this day will feature presentations on most promising treatment approaches in autism including the one on bumetanide for autism titled ‘ Reducing symptoms of autism by addressing dysfunctional GABA: A chloride concentration story’ by none other than Dr Lemonnier himself. Prof Dr Athanasios Evangeliou of Papageorgiou Hospital Thessaloniki will be giving not one but two presentations: ‘Autism, epilepsy and metabolic disorders’ (am) and ‘ “ Alternative” treatments for Autism in mainstream clinical s...

Karolinska Institutet , the Medical University of Stockholm, viewed from garden next door It is sometimes disappointing how the level of understanding of Autism, even among supposed experts, is so very low. As readers of this blog are aware there is already a vast wealth of research in autism, highlighting many biological differences and comorbid medical conditions.  Not surprisingly this is reflected in life expectancy. Autistica, a UK Autism charity, is trying to raise $15 million to fund five years of research into why there is premature death in autism. This would be a complete waste of money, since the answers already exist in the literature if this “Autism Research” charity employed people who actually could/did read the research. This subject dates back to a Swedish study from last year that is languishing behind a pay wall, so no open access to it. The rather skimpy abstract: Premature mortality in autism spectrum disorder.     The rather underwhelming press re...

Italy has many attractions, one being Lake Como (Villa Clooney).  It is also the only western country still using Cardiazol, where it is used in a cough medicine Varanasi and the Ganges, not a place you could forget, particularly the smell. India is the only other country using Cardiazo l Today’s post draws on clever things going on in Down Syndrome research to improve cognitive function, but puts them in the perspective of the faulty GABA switch.  In the United States it is estimated that 250,000 families are affected by Down Syndrome.  It is caused by a third copy of chromosome 21, resulting in up-regulation of around 300 genes.  A key feature is low IQ, this is partly caused by a physically smaller cerebellum and it appears partly by the GABA switch.   Research has shown that the cerebellum growth could be normalized, but this post is all about the GABA switch.  In an earlier very science heavy post we saw how a faulty GABA switch would degrade cogniti...