PLT Test Blog

Capric Acid (C10) is so named because it smells like a goat (Goat in Latin = Caper) Photographer: Armin Kübelbeck, CC-BY-SA , Wikimedia Commons Rather than Goaty acid, C10 is called Capric acid, or indeed Decanoic acid (after its 10 carbon atoms). Today’s post is indirectly again about ketones, because if you eat a Ketogenic Diet (KD) you are likely to consume a fair amount of Capric acid (C10). I have written a lot in this blog about mitochondria, even though I do not think my son has mitochondrial dysfunction. Clearly many people with autism do have a lack of one or more of the critical mitochondrial enzyme complexes that allow glucose to be converted to ATP (usable energy), by the clever process OXPHOS ( Oxidative phosphorylation). The “rate limiting” enzyme is usually Complex 1, meaning that is the one it is most important not to be short of. Another favourite, but obscure, subject of this blog is PPAR gamma. P eroxisome proliferator-activated receptors ( PPARs ) are a group of p...

The Milaneses and their shops                                               Another school year has begun, which is always a good time for Monty, with ASD now aged 15. He loves his small international school; he has been there since was 3 years old. School is fun because he gets lots of attention and stimulation. Other children are surprisingly nice to him and the teachers get to meet someone with autism. In kindergarten and the early years of primary/junior school boys with autism often get taken care of by some of the nicer girls. It is like having a live human doll to mother. It is amazing how this pattern repeats among different children with autism. This gradually seems to fade away as girls discover that they need to be cool and kids with special needs tend not to be cool. We had a visit over the summer from a Dutch girl who was one of these nice little girls when she...

Child displaying elongated eyelids typical of Kabuki syndrome Source: Given by Parents of children pictured with purpose of representing children with kabuki on Wikipedia.   The syndrome is named after its resemblance to Japanese Kabuki makeup. As we have discovered in this blog, autism is just a condition where certain genes are over-expressed and other genes are under-expressed. Put like that makes it sound quite simple. Methylation of histones can either increase or decrease transcription of genes. The subject is highly complex, but we can keep things simple. The child in the photo above has Kabuki syndrome and is likely to exhibit features of autism.  In most cases this is the result of a lack of expression of the KMT2D/ MLL2 gene which encodes a protein called Histone-lysine N-methyltransferase .   Unfortunately, this is quite an important protein, because it promotes the “opening of chromatin”.   It adds a “trimethylation mark to H3K4”, just think of it as a pi...