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Are animal models for ASD a monkey wrench or useful tool?

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A new animal model of autism appeared this week:  the monkey.  This adds to the ever growing list of different model systems from autism, from fruit flies to mice and rats now up to monkeys.  Are these animal models useful and for what, and why isn’t there just ONE model of autism rather than the dozen that exist?  This week’s podcast discusses research from scientists at the UC Davis MIND Institute and what they are doing to improve these models of ASD.

https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/multimedia/webinars/webinar-jill-silverman-makes-case-rat-models-autism/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5810939/pdf/nihms906435.pdf

http://news.mit.edu/2019/gene-editing-autism-model-0612

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Guys, we all need exercise

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People with autism are less likely to be physically active and more likely to be sedentary.    A number of studies have looked into different physical activities, both group based and individually, on improvements in health as well as core features of autism, and most have had positive results.  New animal model research demonstrates a benefit of exercise using the maternal immune activation model of ASD, pruning back the excess of connections and cell fibers.  As people with autism also have too many connections in the brain, this may have a direct therapeutic benefit.  But besides all the scientific conjecture, we all need more exercise, physical activity interventions seem to only help, not hurt, people across the spectrum, and should be used to complement, not replace existing therapies.

 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29693781

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31102193

 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-019-04050-9

 

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/retrieve/pii/S2211124719306266?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124719306266%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

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Yeah, another study about autistic poop

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This week’s podcast includes a summary of the new study, this time in an animal model, looking at microbiome transplantation.  Because this was more of an experimental model, the researchers could be more rigorous in their design and look at things like behavior, brain activity, and specific biological pathways.  While a mouse does not have autism, transplantation of the autism microbiome resulted in autistic-like behaviors.   Second, a hopeful message of the value of participating in research on outcomes – those infants that were tracked prospectively showed improved outcomes later on, suggesting that all of the extra attention they get leads to a reduction in symptoms and an improvement in adaptive behavior.  Even if you do not have a family history of autism – participate in research.  It’s good for your child, and it’s good for other people’s children.

 

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30502-1 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31032937

 

 

 

 

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The Department of Defense and Autism Research

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Did you know that in addition to the DoD’s support of the military, they all have funded $65 million in autism research?  This podcast discusses some of their programs and how they support military families and benefit the autism community. Want to read more about what they fund?  There’s a list here:  https://cdmrp.army.mil/search.aspx

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Getting Autistic People to Work

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This week’s podcast is dedicated to the recently released INSAR – supported employment policy brief.  This was a 2 year project by ASF, Stony Brook, University, Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Curtin University in Australia to provide a cross-cultural perspective on getting autistic people who want to work, employed, and stay employed.  Thank you to all the participants in the surveys, community meetings, and GoldNFish for putting together a document that is not just informative, but fun to read.

 

Click to access 2018-insar_policy_brief.pdf

Work and study

 

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Getting kids with autism to eat

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This week’s podcast combines two important post Mother’s Day topics – parents and eating.  Two recent studies have shown the promise of using parent – delivered interventions to help improve food selectivity and food aversions in kids with autism. These two behaviors can be one of the most frustrating and challenging for parents and kids, and can lead to nutritional deficiencies.  These behaviors can range from mild to severe, and previously, only inpatient or outpatient clinic based approaches seemed to have any benefit.  Now it seems that with coaching, encouragement and instruction from trained experts, parents can help their kids eat better foods.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31056202 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30101320

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INSAR with a T, for “technology”

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Lots of news outlets have great summaries of things that were presented at the International Society for Autism Research. However, one area was relatively missed:  technology.    This week’s podcast summarizes advances in technology for people with autism, how they are being used, what they could be used for and how they will improve services and help for those on the spectrum.  They range from ways to aid diagnosis, to better understanding of features and symptoms in different settings, to improved intervention.

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How do parents choose different interventions?

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Parents have choices of dozens of different autism interventions, available in private and public settings.  A new study explores factors which influence parents decisions on different interventions, how they are similar to each other and different.  They include cognitive ability of their kids with ASD and economic resources.  Parents in the US may have similarities in how they obtain interventions, but they are also similar in how they identify autism signs in their preschool kids, and these similarities are seen across the world.  In a new study of over 19,000 preschoolers with autism, some similarities are seen in parent reported symptoms of ASD across 24 different countries.  This is pretty remarkable given societal, geographical, and cultural issues.  But it’s not all harmony and unity – there were lots of differences between parents and teachers which can have enormous impact on how autism is diagnosed worldwide.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30990248

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30995081

 

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What’s new in the immune system and ASD

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This holiday weekend always triggers a reincarnation, a resurrection of the vaccine – autism hypothesis.  Many of you have read about the measles epidemics that are hitting many areas of the country.  But besides vaccines, there are other aspects of the immune system that may be linked to autism in some people.  The include family history of autoimmune disorders as well as specific genetic mutations that confer protection against subtypes of ASD.  This week’s ASF podcast will explore these theories and present different ideas on how the immune response is involved in autism, and if it is at all.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30976114 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30975444

 

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This study is s**t

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You may have heard on the internet that a new “radical” treatment leads to a “50% reduction” in autism symptoms.  This radical treatment is fecal transplants, which is taking the bacteria from the feces from one person and putting them in another person.  This is a still experimental treatment, and while the microbiome should be researched more in regards to its relationship to autism, there might be a less invasive way to alter the microbiome which could stand up to the rigor of a well designed trial.  Also this week, new prevalence data on 4 year olds across multiple years.  Did it change across time, and is it different from 8 year olds, and why is this difference important?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30967657

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30973853