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"Biological Test Provides Accurate,
Objective Evidence of Autism" the headline
on Dec 1, 2010 from Medscape Medical News
screams.
Ah, such statement still represents wishful
thinking. The study, done at Harvard, studied
the brain's white matter of 30 high-funtioning
autistic people 7 to 28 years old. They found
"less information was being exchanged
in the key areas of the brain responsible
for language, social functioning, and emotional
behavior." This is fine. But do the
results justify the headline? No. There is
a chicken-and-the-egg problem and a comparison
problem-- is the abnormal white structure
the casue of autism or the result of autism?
Does it cause the person to exchange less
info? Or the years of practising less info
exchange cause the white matter to deteriorate?
Obviously one needs to look at white matter
of very young autistic children like one
to two years old, and we need a control group
of normal children, or a group of developmentally
delayed children, to see if their white matter
is already different at that age.
Studies without control groups, even done
at Harvard, don't hold much water. Without
these experimental analyses, one can't proclaim
cause for autism and biological diagnosis
of it.
So sorry parents, more to the drawing
board.
A more convincing study suggests that the
mitochondria DNA in the brain is deficient
in autistic children. Published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association (Dec,
2010) by Dr. Giulivi of UC Davis, the study
used a control group of normal children ages
2-5 to compare with a group of 20 autistic
children of the same ages, and found significant
abnormalities of mitochondrial DNA, an important
component in supplying energy to the brain,
in the latter. Although such abnormalities
are also observed in Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar
disorder as Dr. Giulivi pointed out, its
presence in young autistic children contributes
to how the brain of autistic people might
be inherently different and furthers understanding
of the etiology of autism.
 Homepage
Dr. Hung's Biography
Autism Diagnoses Soars
Discrete Trials a Must for Autism
IEP - ins & outs
Myth and Facts about ADD/ADHD
Dr Hung's Focusing Therapy
Articles from It's Academic published by
Academic Guidance Services
Programs offered by Academic Guidance Services
Contact us at: DavidHung8@gmail.com
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