Autism

Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50% 2 years after fecal transplant

Post published:April 16, 2019
Post category:Food Health Science

April 9, 2019 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in every 59 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism, up from 1 in every 150 in 2000. They report that “about half a million people on the autism spectrum will become adults over the next decade, a swelling tide for which the country is unprepared.” The apparent rise in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its stubborn resistance to treatment has spurred a legion of researchers to enter the field and explore the disability in innovative ways. Recent research suggests our gut microbiomes affect brain communication and neurological health. Worldwide, interest is growing in the idea that changes in normal gut microbiota may be responsible for triggering various conditions. At ASU, a research team is exploring using the microbiome to treat autism symptoms. Image by Shireen Dooling Download Full Image Currently, effective treatments for ASD include behavioral…

What you need to know about vaccines, autism, and the hubbub over ‘Vaxxed’

Post published:November 14, 2018
Post category:Articles Family Health News Politics

By Rebecca Robbins March 31, 2016 A medical assistant prepares a vaccine at a Colorado clinic. John Moore/Getty Images The anti-vaccine documentary “Vaxxed” will premiere Friday in New York, giving critics a first look at a film that sparked a ferocious backlash in the scientific community. The film is directed by a discredited British researcher, Andrew Wakefield, known for promoting the debunked notion that vaccines are linked to autism. It had been set to premiere April 24 at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. But amid a storm of outrage, actor and festival cofounder Robert De Niro, yanked it from the schedule. Now, a small California distributor that had originally planned to distribute the film after the Tribeca premiere has hastily arranged Friday’s debut screenings. Here’s what you should know about the controversy: Who’s behind this film? One of the most scorned men in the medical world. Wakefield, who also co-wrote the film, helped launch and sustain an anti-vaccine movement that public health experts estimate is responsible for thousands of preventable…

Study Addresses ‘Too Many Too Soon?’ Vaccine Concerns

Post published:April 21, 2018
Post category:Articles Health

March 29, 2013 Today, the Journal of Pediatrics published the first major study to look specifically at a possible link between autism and increasing exposure to the immune-stimulating compounds in early childhood vaccines. The researchers analyzed the vaccination and medical records of more than a thousand children in three managed care organizations. They totaled each child’s exposure to the immune-stimulating compounds, or antigens, in vaccines up to age 2. (Vaccines vary in the amount of antigens they contain.) The researchers also totaled the maximum exposure to vaccine antigens that each child received in any single day. They then tracked the children’s development through at least age 6. They found no link between increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and higher exposures to vaccine antigens in the first two years of life or on any one day. More specifically, they looked for associations with regressive autism. This subtype of autism…