Excerpt:
“Heightened neural excitability in infancy and childhood results in increased susceptibility to seizures. Such early-life seizures are associated with language deficits and autism that can result from aberrant development of the auditory cortex.”
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder which is currently only diagnosed through behavioral testing. Impaired folate‐dependent one carbon metabolism (FOCM) and transsulfuration (TS) pathways have been implicated in ASD, and recently a study involving multivariate analysis based upon Fisher Discriminant Analysis returned very promising results for predicting an ASD diagnosis. This article takes another step toward the goal of developing a biochemical diagnostic for ASD by comparing five classification algorithms on existing data of FOCM/TS metabolites, and also validating the classification results with new data from an ASD cohort. The comparison results indicate a high sensitivity and specificity for the original data set and up to a 88% correct classification of the ASD cohort at an expected 5% misclassification rate for typically‐developing controls. These results form the foundation for the development of a biochemical test for ASD which promises to aid diagnosis of ASD and provide biochemical understanding of the disease, applicable to at least a subset of the ASD population.
Excerpt:
“CONCLUSION: Among children born EP, those who had top quartile concentrations of IL-4 and/or IL-10 on postnatal days 21 and/or 28 were more likely than their peers to have low scores on components of the NEPSY-II, OWLS-II, and WIAT-III assessments, as well as identification as having an ASD.”
Abstract
There are similarities between the immune response following immunization with aluminum adjuvants and the immune response elicited by some helminthic parasites, including stimulation of immunoglobulin E (IgE) and eosinophilia. Immunization with aluminum adjuvants, as with helminth infection, induces a Th2 type cell mediated immune response, including eosinophilia, but does not induce an environment conducive to the induction of regulatory mechanisms. Helminths play a role in what is known as the hygiene hypothesis, which proposes that decreased exposure to microbes during a critical time in early life has resulted in the increased prevalence and morbidity of asthma and atopic disorders over the past few decades, especially in Western countries. In addition, gut and lung microbiome composition and their interaction with the immune system plays an important role in a properly regulated immune system. Disturbances in microbiome composition are a risk factor for asthma and allergies. We propose that immunization with aluminum adjuvants in general is not favorable for induction of regulatory mechanisms and, in the context of the hygiene hypothesis and microbiome theory, can be viewed as an amplifying factor and significant contributing risk factor for allergic diseases, especially in a genetically susceptible subpopulation.
