What do you think is the main cause of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder?

POLL: What do you think is the main cause of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder?
1) The contaminates, adjuvants, and preservatives (mercury, etc) in vaccinations given to infants and children
2) The age of the parents . . .
3) The genetic weaknesses of affected infants and children . . .
4) Unknown environmental toxic substances . . .
5) Bacterial and/or viral intestinal infection . . .
6) High fever and/or infection experienced by the expectant mother . . .
7) the use of Tylenol or other non-aspirin drugs . . .
8) Option number one through seven above . . .
9) More than one option above, explain below . .
10) None of the above
11) I have no opinion
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Autism

What do you think is the main cause of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder?

1) The contaminates, adjuvants, and preservatives (mercury, etc) in vaccinations given to infants and children

2) The age of the parents . . .

3) The genetic weaknesses of affected infants and children . . .

4) Unknown environmental toxic substances . . .

5) Bacterial and/or viral intestinal infection . . .

6) High fever and/or infection experienced by the expectant mother . . .

7) the use of Tylenol or other non-aspirin drugs . . .

8) Option number one through seven above . . .

9) More than one option above, explain below . .

10) None of the above . . .

11) I have no opinion . . .

______________________________

What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder?


[link to www.nimh.nih.gov]

[link to www.niehs.nih.gov]

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Estimated Enrollment: 2000
Study Start Date: September 2001
Estimated Study Completion Date: September 2006

Detailed Description:
The causes and contributing factors for autism are poorly understood. Evidence suggests that incidence is increasing, but diagnostic changes and improvements may be playing a role. Both genetic and environmental factors appear to play a role. Autopsy studies demonstrate structural changes in the brain and clinical investigations reveal neurophysiologic differences in information processing in autistic versus normal children. Members of our team recently demonstrated altered levels of certain neuropeptides at birth in children who later developed autism.

This case-control study is the first large-scale epidemiologic investigation of underlying causes for autism and triggers of regression. This study capitalizes on the strengths of the case-control design, which is well suited to examine a broad array of factors for rare conditions that are thought to be multifactorial. Comparisons will be made with both general population controls and mentally retarded children.

The aims are to assess the influence of exogenous exposures, the role of susceptibility factors, and the interplay between these two in the etiology of autism and its phenotypic variation. Chemicals with known or suspected neurodevelopmental toxicity, such as PCB’s, certain pesticides, and metals, are being investigated. This study pursues several hypotheses that have recently gained attention, including the combined measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and mercury present in vaccines given during infancy and early childhood. Additionally, biochemical susceptibility is examined through characterization of metabolic, immunologic, and neuronal gene expression profiles and genetic polymorphisms.

[link to www.clinicaltrials.gov]

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Parents are right: children with autism experience more GI symptoms By Kelly Lenox

Hertz-Picciotto, lead researcher on the study, also launched the CHARGE study, the first large, comprehensive population-based study of environmental factors in autism, and the landmark MARBLES study of early environmental and biologic predictors of autism. (Photo courtesy of UC Regents)


“GI problems may create behavior problems, and those behavior problems may create or exacerbate GI problems,” noted Virginia Chaidez, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at UCD at the time of the study. “One way to try to tease this out would be to begin investigating the effects of various treatments and their effects on both GI symptoms and problem behaviors.” (Photo courtesy of UC Regents)

Researchers at the University of California, Davis (UCD), have found that young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delays are at least three times more likely to experience frequent gastrointestinal (GI) problems than are typically developing children.

[link to www.niehs.nih.gov]

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Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is a group of conditions that affect how a child functions in several areas, including speech, social skills and behavior. Symptoms of these disorders vary greatly and range from mild to severe.

There are three main types of ASDs (1):

Autistic disorder (also called classic autism): Affected individuals often have severe speech, social and behavioral problems. Sometimes individuals also have
intellectual disability.

Asperger syndrome: Affected individuals have milder social and behavioral problems than individuals with autistic disorder. They usually have normal speech and intellectual abilities.

Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (also called atypical autism): Affected individuals have some symptoms, often including speech and social problems, but not enough to be diagnosed with classic autism.


How common are ASDs?
ASDs may affect about 1 in 110 to 1 in 150 children in the United States (3, 4). This means there may be more than 650,000 children in this country who have some symptoms of autism (4).

More children than ever are being diagnosed with ASDs. The rates of children diagnosed with ASDs have risen dramatically since the 1980s; between 2002 and 2006 they increased 57 percent, from 6.0 to 9.4 cases per 1,000 (3). Much of this increase may be due to improved awareness and changes in how ASDs are diagnosed.


What causes ASDs?
We don’t really understand the causes of ASDs. But scientists do know that autism is not caused by poor parenting or other social factors. It is a biological disorder that appears to be associated with subtle abnormalities in specific structures or functions in the brain.

Genetic and environmental factors appear to play a role in the disorder. Scientists believe that many genes on different chromosomes may be a cause. A research team recently identified a small gene region on chromosome 5 that may be associated with 15 percent of ASD cases (10). Another study found that abnormalities in a small region of chromosome 16 were about 100 times more common in children with ASDs than in unaffected children (11). Certain infections that occur before birth (such as rubella and cytomegalovirus) and older maternal age also have been associated with ASDs (2, 12).

About 10 percent of children with ASDs have other genetic diseases, including (1, 2):

Fragile X syndrome (intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems) Tuberous sclerosis (non-cancerous tumors that affect the brain and other organs) Down syndrome and other chromosomal birth defects




In 2004, an Institute of Medicine panel concluded, after reviewing many studies, that neither the MMR vaccine nor vaccines that contain thimerosal are associated with autism (14). A 2008 study found that the rate of ASDs in California continued to increase after thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines, also suggesting a lack of association between thimerosal and ASDs (15).

[link to www.marchofdimes.com]

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The thiomersal controversy describes claims that vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thiomersal contribute to the development of autism and other brain development disorders.[1] The current scientific consensus is that no convincing scientific evidence supports these claims,[2][3] and a 2011 journal article described the vaccine-autism connection as "the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".[4]

[link to en.m.wikipedia.org]

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From 1990 to 1999, the risk of having a child with autism was:

1.6 per 1,000 women under age 25
2.3 per 1,000 women aged 25-29
3.1 per 1,000 women aged 30-34
3.85 per 1,000 women aged 35-39
4.4 per 1,000 women aged 40 and older

It's clear that a parent's age is only part of the autism puzzle, notes Geraldine Dawson, PhD, chief science officer for Autism Speaks, a group that advocates for autism research.

[link to www.m.webmd.com]
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Paracetamol (acetaminophen)
A 2008 preliminary case-control study based on a parent survey presented evidence that paracetamol (acetaminophen, Tylenol) following MMR vaccine may be associated with development of autism in children aged 1–5 years.[64] Evidence for the hypothesis is that in the U.S. paracetamol began to replace aspirin for infants and young children in the 1980s, about the same time that the number of known autism cases began to rise. However, a similar rise in autism occurred in France, where children continued to receive aspirin.[64] A 2009 review said that the synchronous surge in autism and use of parcetamol was unlikely to be coincidence.[64] and that there was more autism in children given paracetamol rather than ibuprofen following vaccination.[64]

The strongest support for this hypothesis is a 2013 prospective cohort study which shows that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioral problems compared with unexposed siblings. The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker. The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.[non-primary source needed][65] Additional support for the paracetamol hypothesis and a plausible hypothesis to explain the male sex bias of autism comes from a 2013 ecologic study. In the mid-1990s, circumcision pain management guidelines began recommending paracetamol. A 98% correlation was found between country level autism prevalence rates and male circumcision rates for CDC reported studies including boys born after 1995. A similar pattern was seen among U.S. states and when comparing the three main racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The country-level correlation between autism/ASD prevalence in males and paracetamol was considerably weaker before 1995 when the drug became widely used during circumcision. This study also found an 80% correlation between country-level prenatal use of paracetamol and autism prevalence.[non-primary source needed][66]

[link to en.m.wikipedia.org]

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