On May 14, 2009, at 11:18 AM, Jeffrey Nagelbush wrote: > Has anyone heard anything about this new theory of autism and its > possible treatment? > > http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp- > documentid=100237035
To which Paul Brandon queried: >Wouldn't the appropriate term be 'hypothesis'? Right. And the article to which this item refers, namely Mehler MF, Purpura DP. Brain Res Rev. 2009 Mar;59(2):388-92. Autism, fever, epigenetics and the locus coeruleus. use that word in their abstract, part of which reads: "Some children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit improved behaviors and enhanced communication during febrile episodes. We hypothesize that febrigenesis and the behavioral-state changes associated with fever in autism depend upon selective normalization of key components of a functionally impaired locus coeruleus-noradrenergic (LC- NA) system" The "some children" improving during fever claim is intriguing, especially as the MSN article claims there is now "objective research" confirming this. Possibly they have in mind the article by Curran et al (2007) in _Pediatrics_ where autistic children were observed during and after recover from fever. They observed a transient calming effect on their behaviour during fever. Of course, the trick is to distinguish this from any non-specific effect of illness, but the authors hopefully but cautiously note "the data suggest that these changes might not be solely the byproduct of general effects of sickness on behavior." I do object to the claim in the MSN article that "Until recently, virtually all mainstream neuroscientists and child psychologists would have said developmental disorders such as autism cannot be reversed", the "untill recently" presumably referring to this new hypothesis on fever. Ironically just a few days earlier, the same msn.com carried an article which instead proclaimed "Study suggests kids can "recover" from autism. It's at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30645770/ Stephen Curran, LK et al. Pediatrics. 2007 Dec;120(6):e1386-92. Behaviors associated with fever in children with autism spectrum disorders. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
