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Autism Vox

Archive for the ‘Medicine’ Category

September 6th, 2008

There’s a Poem At the End of This

Here’s what readers have been saying in a very busy week in which we learned, or learned again, that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism:
Norah on whether the term “mild autism” is still in use and Larry on the “pop psychology typical of wired [magazine].”
Ongoing discussion about stem cell therapy as an autism treatment, […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 2 comments

September 3rd, 2008

Something(s) To Comment About

So as you may not, or may, have noticed, there is still some wonkiness going up with this blog. The good folks who handle are matters technological, software-related, and the like, have been working hard to migrate b5media’s blogs over to a new server and all should be well, webpages should load and updates occur, […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 18 comments

August 30th, 2008

False Prophets and Failed Poets

Sometimes I think this blog is in danger of becoming a vaccine blog, as vaccines are so frequently a topic here. There’s what some refer to as their right to vaccinate or not. There’ve been recent outbreaks of measles and mumps, with many cases among unvaccinated persons. There’s the fear that vaccines or something in […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 26 comments

August 3rd, 2008

A Very Hard Decision to Make

Autistic Teen To Violent to Handle: This is how the August 3rd Ottawa Sun describes 15-year-old Ian Reisch, who, his family fears, has recently become too violent in his behavior to remain at home. Ian’s caretaker, 26-year-old Jacob Weare, was left with a broken nose and was bruised and bloodied after Ian “lunged onto Weaver’s […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 20 comments

July 10th, 2008

Acetaminophen Use After Vaccination Linked To ……

A new study in the July 2008 issue of Autism finds that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder:
The present study was performed to determine whether acetaminophen (paracetamol) use after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination could be associated with autistic disorder. This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 20 comments

June 23rd, 2008

Rapamycin Reverses Learning and Memory Deficits in Mice

A letter abstract in the June 22nd Nature Medicine is entitled Reversal of learning deficits in a Tsc2+/- mouse model of tuberous sclerosis. Tuberous sclerosis is a rare genetic disease that affects the central nervous system and causes benign tumors to grow on the brain, kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin. Those with TSC […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 13 comments

June 1st, 2008

Last Week’s Top Posts

Now that it is the first of June, my son is down to his last two weeks of being at the school he’s been at for the past two years. He starts Extended School Year in the middle of June; it’ll be at the middle school and with the teacher who’ll be Charlie’s teacher in […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 0 comments

May 28th, 2008

A Pill for the Placebo Effect

Jennifer Buettner, who has three young children, has created a new company called Efficacy Brands which makes placebos for children. The company will see cherry-flavored dextrose tablets (”Obecalp”—-guess what word that is, spelled backwards?); $5.95 for a bottle of 50. Buettner came up with the idea while taking care of a niece with a “raging […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 21 comments

May 20th, 2008

So Is It Really Autism?: The search for medical signs

According to Dr. Fernando Miranda of the Bright Mind Institute, maybe not. A report in the May 19th Good Morning America/ABC News describes some children who were initially diagnosed with autism, and later found to have Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. For some of the children, anti-seizure medication has produced dramatic results and Dr. Miranda is said […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 26 comments

May 18th, 2008

This and Last Weeks Top Posts: Life on the Road with Charlie Means You Have to Pay Attention

I never got around to making a list of last week’s top posts last week so here’s two weeks of “top posts” about autism. Rather than arrange them in chronological order, I’ve arranged them by topic:
My son Charlie turned 11 last Thursday, on May 15th. Life on the road with Charlie is my constant theme […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 3 comments