October 18th, 2008
Jim shows me the New Jersey section of yesterday’s New Jersey Star-Ledger and a headline: A shot against vaccines: At the Statehouse, hundred protest new new requirements. There’s a big photo of a mother and her 20-month-old son; the rally’s purpose was to push for a bill to allow parents to skip some, or […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 2 comments
October 17th, 2008
Researchers from the Seaver and NY Autism Center of Excellence at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new method to detect copy number variants associated with autism spectrum disorders and have also found new chromosomal duplications that can be linked to autism.The study is published in the October 16th BMC Medical […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 5 comments
October 15th, 2008
“For families struggling with autism finding the latest treatments is a top priority,” begins an October 14th WCBStv story about “a controversial approach” that “is making headlines” (which, of course, has nothing to do with the actual efficacy of said approach). The approach is hyperbaric oxygen therapy and the doctor is Dr. James Neubrander, […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 1 comment
October 14th, 2008
Having considered prenatal genetic testing and autism, what about the possible influence of the environment of the womb on a developing baby? An October 10th article in Slate with the provocative title of Womb Raider asks if future health problems occur during gestation:
Recently, a study of 1,044 mother-child pairs found that 3-year-olds born to mothers […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 7 comments
October 14th, 2008
Currently, there’s no prenatal genetic test for autism. Long ago (as in “around the time I first started writing this blog”) I referred to such testing as “fighting word“: While some would welcome the notion of knowing that a child-to-be would have a disability, others have been quick to point out the possibility of people […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments
October 12th, 2008
If you haven’t already read Measles not worth the risk, an October 6th op-ed by epidemiologist John Laurence Kiely, go here. Kiely recalls having the measles and then pneumonia, and being hospitalized, and under an oxygen tent, and his mother’s distraught face. But, as he notes:
Most Americans don’t remember those days. Why? Because four years […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 9 comments
October 11th, 2008
No, we don’t “got milk” here; my small family all got sick this week; we’ve always got hope.
Got Autism? (asks PETA)
PETA puts up a billboard in Newark NJ and takes it down.
Is That a Tattoo With……Your Mom’s Cell Number?
Of Safety Tats and other ways to keep a child safe.
McCarthy’s, Er, “Autism” Pole
Jenny […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 1 comment
October 10th, 2008
Jim noted to me last night that the stock market is now pretty much back to where it was around the time Charlie was born.
Having spent the past ten days writing about vaccines and autism for the Science Blogs Book Club, it’s occurred to me that the whole vaccine-autism issue has been part of, and […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 2 comments
October 9th, 2008
Somewhat inevitably, I caught Charlie’s cold. Jim did too; both of my guys seem to be on the mend—Charlie was awake at five minutes to seven on Wednesday morning and ran out the door to catch the bus—while I found myself spending Wednesday coughing, sniffling, trying (trying) to clear my throat and drinking Airborne […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 7 comments
October 7th, 2008
So after a sunny Sunday topped up with exuberant bike riding and one of his all-time favorite meals at his all-time favorite Jersey hamburger stand, Charlie woke up on Monday morning with heavy-duty sniffles, a gurgly cough, and a hot forehead. Jim had gone out to wait for the bus while I got Charlie ready […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 9 comments
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