The latest autism research news stories with ASF Chief Science Officer Alycia Halladay
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A new paper in Translational Psychiatry this week outlines the reasons why some conditions that occur with autism are actually co-morbid, and not co-occurring. The podcast will break down clues on why sometimes they are co-morbid, and present an argument on why they are important in understanding the vast heterogeneity of autism.
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Last week a publication (see below) was published as a commentary in the journal Autism Research. It states that researchers, parents, clinicians, educators and the overall community should not be limited in their use of language to describe the broad condition of autism. Some people experience impairments, deficits, and have limitations. Not only is it true, we should be talking about it. This podcast describes the motivation for the paper and the potential consequences of mandating the use terms that may not accurately reflect the diversity of experiences. While some papers have been published with the opposite sentiments, it’s important to understand both sides of this debate. We hope this paper leads to further conversation about this topic.
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Clinical trials in autism are so incredibly important to families and adults, but sometimes hard to understand. Why? How can it help me or my family? What do I need to do? What do all of these terms mean? For researchers: it’s hard to get families to participate in my study. What can I do to improve the appeal? Caroline Averius and Zachary Williams explain in this podcast about a newly launched two new guidebooks designed to help explain clinical trials, why they are important and what needs to be shared with the community to ensure transparency.
Want to read them? Links below:
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This week, the #ASFpodcast explores different types of interventions for which the core autism features are not necessarily the target, but those that enhance quality of life and provide help for irritability and emotional dysregulation. They include cooking, music therapies and antipsychotic medications. While they may not be effective in core autism features, they may help in other ways.
https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(22)00198-8/fulltext
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004381.pub4/full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891422222000890?via%3Dihub
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Environmental exposures, including toxic chemicals, can contribute to the causes of ASD. But how do other environmental factors, like behavioral supports, work in the brain to improve behaviors associated with ASD? For this, you need a broad interpretation of the term “environmental” and an animal model so you can see the mechanism involved. Studies show while environmental factors can contribute, they can also provide modifications in cellular and molecular function which support learning and improved developmental trajectory. Finally, on a different topic, are autistic adults more likely to be involved in a crime compared to other groups? No, they are not, but there are factors which affect the risk of being involved with the criminal justice system, at least in the UK. Read more in the studies below.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34972219/
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In recognition of epilepsy awareness month, this week we are interviewing Jill Silverman and Nycole Copping from UC Davis who published a paper looking at the causes and consequences of seizures across 3 different strains of mice, which are identical all but their background genetics. This is important because new animal models of autism are built upon these different background strains, but very little work has been done to really understand how these different tiny changes in genetic background influences response to an environmental factor. In this study the environmental factor was a drug that produces seizures. Two out of the three strains showed seizures and all three showed some behavioral after-effects of the seizure – inducing drug. Therefore, differences in background genetics influenced the outcome of the mice, an effect that is rarely studied. The authors point out what these behaviors are, what they mean, and why animal models are important for understanding ASD and seizures.
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Mental health disorders are a serious problem across the lifespan in people with autism. This has been shown by over 2 decades of research and further proven by a new meta analysis and a systematic review of the last 25 years of data. What is the result of these mental health disorder co-morbidities? Many times, these mental health disorders trigger a crisis situation: the police are called, someone goes to the hospital, may end up hospitalized, and family members are traumatized. This week’s podcast summarizes the evidence and provides recommendations from scientists to help those with autism and possibly prevent crises from occurring.
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This week’s headlines were focused on the new prevalence numbers of 1:40. They were not calculated using the same method as the 1:59 number, so should not be compared. In addition to looking at just prevalence, this survey identified a major problem for families, which is unmet mental health needs. Those with autism have higher unmet mental health needs than those with ADHD, anxiety or depression. Again, there is something unique about an autism diagnosis which poses a challenge to accessing care. In addition, a new summary paper outlined what needs to be done to better study regression in autism. The rate may be higher than you think if a new definition of regression is used.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30478241
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30475449
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People with autism have higher levels of GI problems then people without a diagnosis, and the microbiome is associated with GI function, so is the microbiome linked to autism? Some studies say yes, but this week studies in China look at non-caucasian people eating different diet. Do the differences still hold? Also, while GI symptoms have been studied in relation to core autism features, they have not yet been linked to psychiatric issues like anxiety, ADHD, and aggression. Until now. This week’s podcast features three new studies looking GI issues and the causes of those issues, in kids with autism.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6204460/
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Rarely can individuals with autism be studied more than once – but a new study tracks how cognitive and adaptive behavior changes over time. What researchers in the British Autism of Infant Siblings, or BASIS found, was that family history of autism meant as much to cognitive and adaptive behavior than an actual autism diagnosis. This calls for close monitoring of siblings of those with autism, regardless of whether or not they had a diagnosis. Also, investigating psychiatric issues in children may underestimate their prevalence because many psychiatric issues do not emerge until the teenage years, so Kaiser Permanente looked at medical and health records of those with autism at 14-25 years to see what other issues they were facing, and the findings are both sobering yet maybe a little comforting.
Please watch the UN WAAD event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyhm7p8Gr2A&t=7943s
The two studies mentioned in the podcast are:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29616486
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29610415