PLT Test Blog

Kempton Park Racecourse, near London - now known for its Hot Dogs A science-heavy post about microglia is in the works, but today’s post ties together some less complex issues. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a new book out called the Politics of Autism, by Dr Siegel. I did buy 2 copies, so I could give one away. It is a bit heavy going and I did skip some parts, but it is as expected a good read. The author does personally know/knew some of the “big names” in autism like Lovaas and even Bernie Rimland. I was interested to read that Lovaas basically cheated in his famous ABA “clinical” trial, where he showed amazing responses. All the trial participants that did not develop speech during the trial were “retired” during the trial. He rigged the result, by removing those less responsive to the trial therapy.   If you follow this subject, you will know that some Americans and Canadians get very upset when intensive ABA is not provided for free to their child, believing tha...

Google have just discontinued Google+ Many people followed this blog via Google+  You can either follow by email (just to right of the blueberries), or follow by Blogger Blueberries A common criticism of this blog is that it is mainly about prescription drugs rather than OTC supplements. Today’s post is about a supplement that is highly regarded by our reader Ling. Pterostilbene is like a super potent version of resveratrol.   Resveratrol is quite well known and has long been put forward as having some potentially highly beneficial health effects, but in practise it is just too poorly absorbed to have much effect in humans. Pterostilbene is found in blueberries.   Also found in blueberries is Anthocyanin, which is worth a mention in this post, it is what gives blueberries their colour; very often it is the colour in a food that underlies part of its health benefit. This is why eating a mixed colour diet is a wise idea. Aronia is extremely rich in anthocyanins and Aronia...

The entry to Bethlehem through the separation wall from the road to Jerusalem We recently visited Jerusalem, but our return flight was cancelled due to snow at our return destination.   As a result, we got to experience the inflight TV on Turkish Airlines as we came home via Istanbul.   The TV is nearly all family friendly American programming. I was surprised how many of the family programs now include characters with “autism” and even one character discussing her own IEP (Individual Education Plan). None of these characters would have been diagnosed with anything back in the days I was in school. My 15-year-old son with classic autism has never had an IEP; it feels like I am his IEP, but I am not complaining. What I did find interesting was an episode in which, when confronted by a 10-year-old Aspie asking her annoying personal questions, a teenage cheerleader just said “oh, you’re one of those special kids”. Special is a nice way of saying different and nobody would think o...

Stockholm, Sweden When most people think of Sweden, they probably think of Volvo cars, now actually Chinese, and Ikea.   Today you will have to add keeping detailed centralized medical records to the list. Today’s study included 142,691 individuals from the entire population of Sweden with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BPD), schizophrenia (SCZ), or nonaffective psychosis (NAP) who were 15 years or older and who were treated with psychiatric medication from October 1, 2005, through December 31, 2016.   It is relevant to readers of this blog because it shows that some of the same cheap generic drugs written about in this blog to modify aspects of autistic brain function do indeed show up as beneficial to those Swedes, with BPP, SCZ or NAP, who had by chance been prescribed those drugs for other reasons. Numerous genetic studies have shown that the genes miss-expressed in autism overlap with those miss-expressed in bipolar (BPD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). Clearly some people wil...

Myelination in the Central Nervous System (CNS)                  Oligodendrocyte myelinating multiple axons The previous post on myelin was this one. Myelin and Skill Acquisition, Treating MS, plus Tuning P2X7 In that post we saw that you can activate P2X7 receptors with an antihistamine called Clemastine and you can block P2X7 with another cheap antihistamine called Oxatomide. The P2X7 receptor plays a role in both inflammation and myelination and this receptor appears to be linked to neurological disorders including schizophrenia and even depression. In that post I also compared experimental MS therapies with experimental autism therapies. The yellow box means, we know it works, at least for some people, based on trial results. The widely available PDE4 inhibitor, Roflumilast, has been patented as a cognitive enhancer, but even at that lower dose it can make people vomit.   Ibudilast seems to have fewer side effects and is under inves...