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Gut Microbes Linked to Autism-Like Symptoms in Mice
sciencehabit writes "Many physicians and parents report that their autistic children have unusually severe gastrointestinal problems, such as chronic constipation or diarrhea. These observations have led some researchers to speculate that an ailing gut contributes to the disorder in some cases, but scientific data has been lacking. Now, a provocative study claims that a probiotic treatment for gastrointestinal issues can reduce autismlike symptoms in mice and suggests that this treatment could work for humans, too."
Imagine the implications of an autism vaccine.
I, for one, am looking forward to the inevitable
That chick that appeared on Playboy said so!
Playboy, you say? I'd let her vaccinate me
As a nerd I assume that "Playboy" is some playbook-gameboy hybrid?
Does it want to watch Wapner? Can it count cards? We need to come up with a better way of testing stuff out than on mice.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Nonsense, it's obviously the vaccines! That chick that appeared on Playboy said so!
Don't worry, she'll go on national TV and apologize for all the harm she's done then spend the rest of her life making restitution.
No sig today...
Firstly, they discovered that the autistic-model mouse had very different gut biota and suffered from digestive tract issues. The new bacterium didn't establish itself, but it did perturb the gut bacteria community to be closer to control mice, and reduced digestive tract issues.
Secondly, they discovered that this perturbation reduced the autism-model symptoms in the autism-model mice quite markedly.
Thirdly, they discovered a gut metabolite that was elevated in untreated autism-model mice versus control mice or treated autism-model mice. However providing that metabolite to control mice only caused an increase in anxiety behaviours, and not the specific autistic ones. So it's not just the metabolite which is responsible for the behaviours.
I wonder if there's some underlying difference in the neurology of the autism-model mice such that the metabolite "sets off" the autism-model behaviours rather than anxiety. Or perhaps the metabolite causes anxiety in both communities but the anxiety only then "sets off" the autism-model behaviours in the autism-model mice.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I was just thinking that too ...
Chill man, just have some yogurt.
Autism is genetic and is also influenced / is a function of the environment they are brought up in
Did you consider that it might not be passed on through DNA at all, and completely is a result of the environment, including the bacteria that your mum's side of the family have in their body? Or perhaps your DNA makes you more susceptible to these bacteria. I've been trying to figure out how exactly food affects my mood and behaviour for a while now..
which is totally what she said
They make people take a "food diary" when they think there's some sort of dietary involvement in a problem. You write down everything you consume so that you don't have to remember what you had in the three days before that migraine or outbreak of stomach cramps, or whatever. Could be interesting to blanket-issue food diaries and health questionnaires to a large population.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon
Isn't this the same thing Wakefield was trying to prove before he committed research fraud and started the whole "vaccines cause autism" nonsense?
TLR
A man no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India Company
If zis is vot zey call gut bacteria I'd hate to see bat bacteria
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
"Probiotic" is the little Shibboleth that makes this smell like woo.
If poop transplants can drastically improve health, why couldn't regulating your digestive system with probiotics? Yogurt is a probiotic. It has proven related health benefits. You're FUDding. Are you invested in Big Pharma? Or are you just being a dick?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Of course gut microbe play a role. Some aggressive species are able to attack the gut's cells, which cause the leaky gut syndrome, where food proteins not completely digested can enter the bloodstream. The immune system will seek and destroy them, every day, on every meal. That can trigger allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Moreover proteins from milk and wheat contains sequences that are hard to break down, and that can activate morphine receptors in the brain. They are called caseomorphins and gliadomorphins. Some (but not all) autists have success in reducing their symptoms by adopting a diet without diary product and gluten, and it is suspected this is for that reason.
The problem with food diaries is that some disorders take a long time to manifest, and a long time to clear up.
I have a sibling who suffered from chronic diarrhea for most of his adult life. It turned out he had undiagnosed celiac disease (inability for his digestive system to tolerate gluten from grains). He had tried a gluten free diet for weeks at a time many times just as an experiment, and it didn't help. It turns out that some celiac suffers need to eat fanatically gluten free (including using separate pots, pans, plates, and utensils from those that touch any form of gluten) for over six months before the symptoms improve.
He had done food diaries many times, desperate to have normal digestion, but it didn't help because of course having excellent records of what you ate yesterday or last week doesn't help if you need to make a change for half a year before it has any impact.
Didn't you hear? She cured her son's autism using a gluten-free diet and some other nonsense that you can probably read about in her book. Yes, Playboy Model cures a developmental disorder that scientists don't even have a complete understanding for yet. She must be a genius!
[end sarcasm]
(Disclaimer: Both my son and I have Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and claims that someone is going to "cure" me or my son are just insulting. A treatment to alleviate symptoms for the folks on the "low functioning" end of the spectrum maybe, but curing someone implies that there's something wrong with that person and I don't see Autism as "wrong", just as a different way of thinking - one that happens to come in very handy at times.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I suspect you'll see a lot of the same phenomena that Neilson Ratings used to encounter, where people wrote down that they had watched a National Geographic documentary instead of the 'The Man Show' that they actually watched. Probably the count of diary-noted rice cakes would exceed the number of rice cakes manufactured by an order of magnitude.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
its genetic and or environmental ... there is a history of Autism being blamed on whatever is convenient to blame it on
Which is it? Is autism a real neurological condition, caused by genetic and/or environmental factors, or is it a BS diagnosis used to excuse poor parenting?
there is a history of Autism being blamed on whatever is convenient to blame it on, rather than addressing the real issues, which when you get down to it, is about supporting the person in question, so they are more able to interact with people on a normal level
So having autism per se isn't a real issue? It's not neurological? Or is it such a mild neurological condition that the only "real issue" is "supporting the person in question"?
Your autism is mild. It may cause you anxiety, social difficulties and whatnot, but so can a million other things. If the spectrum went no further than your level, it would be a diagnosis of questionable value, and it wouldn't be more troublesome, or more difficult to treat than anxiety, social difficulties (oops, disorder), etc., not associated with an autism diagnosis.
Don't talk about your situation as though it had much to do with severe autism though - the kind where many of its sufferers can't speak, may have compulsions so severe that they cause severe bodily harm to themselves, and can never be left unsupervised. Comparing your condition to that is like comparing feeling a little blue to being so depressed you're about to jump off a bridge. Stop acting as though your situation allows you to speak authoritatively about the entire autism spectrum.
I am not the asshole, the real assholes are the parents who do not provide the required support to their kids and their answer to their kids behavioural issues is to keep them constantly duped up on ritalin and always look to blame it on something, rather than providing a healthier environment for their kids.
Whose experience are you talking about? If it's yours, then unless you were seriously abused and neglected, stop feeling sorry for yourself and blaming your parents for all your problems. If you're talking about others, I find it hard to take it seriously. "They're bad parents" is the oldest catch-all way to explain what you don't understand. With autism "blame the parents" has a particularly illustrious history, dating back to the old, damn science and pull a "psychological explanation" out of your ass, refrigerator mom theory.
their answer to their kids behavioural issues is to keep them constantly duped up on ritalin
Ritalin is generally used to treat ADHD, not autism. Risperidone is the most common pharmaceutical treatment, and also the only medication for which autism symptom treatment is an on-label use.
It would be nice if you used some name other than "Anonymous Coward" if you want to participate in protracted debates. If you're the OP though, and claim to also have an ADHD diagnosis, I agree that ADHD is a very questionable and certainly wildly overused diagnosis. Hence its "treatment" is often questionable. ADHD is not autism.
There's already a good lead that amino acid supplementation may cure a certain rare form of autism, but there are many different causes. It's important to note that the study wasn't done on humans (research ongoing), and the type presents with intellectual disability (retardation) and epilepsy.
So the above doesn't actually treat "autism", it treats certain debilitating aspects of it. The personality nuances may still be intact after treatment, we don't know for sure yet.
In the study we're discussing now, "autism-like" was a good choice of words. We're not actually certain the mice had autism: they simply displayed symptoms that scientists concluded were autistic.
In the end autism isn't studied enough to make any definite conclusions about anything. On a more philosophical note, however, imagine if there were an introvert vaccine that turned introverts into extroverts. Perhaps we're closing in on a point where we can alter people's personalities, which has some wide implications for the penal and mental health systems.
It's anecdotal and has no empirical backing. Pilot studies aren't showing promise, but a larger study is required to make any definitive conclusions.
It's likely because of the incidence of intestinal disorders, namely celiac disease, switching the diet is providing treatment for the specific disorder improves their children's symptoms, but isn't actually affecting the underlying autism.
That was what stood out to me. They noticed that the mice weren't as social, but they don't know WHY. I can't personally speak for the lower-functioning end of the Autism spectrum, but on the high functioning end (i.e. Asperger's Syndrome), the autistic individual WANTS very much to socialize, but literally doesn't know how. They can figure out how and "emulate" neurotypical enough to carry on conversations, but this is taxing on them and they can't keep it up forever without needing time to decompress. Like how an emulated application never runs as fast as a native application. Neurotypicals run "socializing" as a native app. Aspies emulate it (with varying degrees of success).
Add in the fact that Aspies can be so afraid of making a mistake while "emulating neurotypical" (possibly insulting someone) that it is easier and safer to just not interact at all. To the outside world, it looks like Aspies just are anti-social and would rather be left alone.
So maybe the mice really did want to socialize with other mice but didn't know the mouse social protocols that other mice knew instinctively. Or maybe there was another reason for their lack of socialization. At most, this might lead to treatments that remove some stumbling blocks which prevent autistic individuals from functioning in the neurotypical world. Not all stumbling blocks, but some of them. If it's a treatment that helps autistic individuals, great. If some woo folks grab onto this and start claiming to be able to "cure" autism by following their woo diet, very bad.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Didn't you hear? She cured her son's autism using a gluten-free diet and some other nonsense that you can probably read about in her book. Yes, Playboy Model cures a developmental disorder that scientists don't even have a complete understanding for yet. She must be a genius!
[end sarcasm]
And what's wrong with that? Don't forget that science is bogged down by belief. I also 'cured' my autism through diet and other 'nonsense'.
(Disclaimer: Both my son and I have Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and claims that someone is going to "cure" me or my son are just insulting. A treatment to alleviate symptoms for the folks on the "low functioning" end of the spectrum maybe, but curing someone implies that there's something wrong with that person and I don't see Autism as "wrong", just as a different way of thinking - one that happens to come in very handy at times.)
Oh grow up already. A cure doesn't mean you lose who you are, it means you discover more of who you are meant to be. Of course, most people, like you, are too scared shitless of being anything besides what they know and are comfortable with. Don't let your fears, biases, and beliefs affect your son, that would be more detrimental to him than any 'cure' could ever be. A point of view is only useful if one recognises it as just one tool in a full toolbox. If you can't change viewpoints at will then it is not a positive in your life, it means your reality is constrained. This applies to both NT's and autists.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.