autism Archives - Iran News Daily

Study Suggests Gut Bacteria Could Help Diagnose Autism

mahla — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:01:16 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) –Scientists say the findings are novel and exciting because a new way of diagnosing the condition may help address the “massive backlog” in people waiting to be seen.

For the study, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong analyzed stool samples from 1,627 children aged one to 13, with or without the condition.

They found specific bacterial and nonbacterial components of the gut microbiome and their functions could contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in both boys and girls.

Taking into consideration additional factors including diet, medication, and other health conditions, they identified that several different components of the microbiome were altered in children with ASD.

Dr. Elizabeth Lund, an independent consultant in nutrition and gastrointestinal health, who was not involved in the study, said: “The idea that analysis of stool samples may aid in diagnosis is very exciting, as currently there is a massive backlog in children and adults waiting to be assessed.

“The current process is very lengthy and there is a shortage of clinicians such as psychologists and psychiatrists trained to carry out a proper diagnosis.”

She added: “The researchers quite rightly point out that this data cannot say whether the different microbiome causes ASD or whether differences in the diet, or other environmental factors, associated with children with ASD lead to the observed differences.

“However, in my opinion, dietary preferences in people with ASD are so diverse they are unlikely to cause a consistent difference in the gut microbiome.”

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition.

It affects the way a person communicates, interacts, and processes information.

According to the National Autistic Society, more than one in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are about 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK.

Professor Bhismadev Chakrabarti, research director of the Centre for Autism at the University of Reading, who did not take part in the research, said: “What is exciting about this study is that it opens up the possibility of investigating specific biochemical pathways and their impact on different autistic features.

“It could also provide new ways of detecting autism, if microbial markers turn out to strengthen the ability of genetic and behavioral tests to detect autism.

“A future platform that can combine genetic, microbial, and simple behavioral assessments could help address the detection gap. With the results of this study, the lens through which we view microbiota within autism has definitely broadened.”

The findings of the study were published in the academic journal Nature Microbiology.

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New guidelines for autism focus in early diagnosis, treatment

reporter 1222 — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 07:29:53 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday issued its first new treatment guidelines for autism in 12 years aimed at helping doctors identify at-risk children and getting them the care they need as early as possible.

Since developmental delays are often present in very young children with autism, the report, published in the journal Pediatrics, urged doctors and gave them new guidelines to check for issues during all well-baby visits and refer children for treatment at the first sign of an issue, rather than wait for a formal autism evaluation, Reuters reported.

More than five million Americans are living with autism, a spectrum of disorders marked by deficits in social communication and interaction and repetitive behaviors of widely varying severity.

“The benefit of identifying children as early as possible is they can then be referred for treatment,” Dr. Susan Levy, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-author of the report, said in a phone interview.

Early treatment, and particularly behavioral interventions, do make a difference, Levy said.

Since 2007, when AAP published its last two guidance documents, the number of children in the United States diagnosed with autism has risen sharply. Autism now affects one in 59 children in the United States, up from one in 155 in 2007.

In that time, scientists have developed a better understanding of the potential risk factors and genes that contribute to autism, the related medical and behavioral conditions that commonly occur in children with the condition, and have detailed evidence on which interventions work best.

“This report is really focused on educating pediatricians and other healthcare providers about all the options and issues, and working to empower them since they’re in the front lines to make the early referrals,” Levy said.

The report urges doctors to steer families toward interventions backed by research and away from those with flimsy evidence. It specifically calls out many nutritional interventions that “do not have evidence to support their use.”

It also focuses on the need to screen for and treat other conditions that commonly occur in children with autism.

Some 40 percent of individuals with autism have intellectual disability, the report said, and about 40 percent to 60 percent of school-aged children and adults with autism have anxiety disorders. Others include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), language disorders, sleep and feeding disorders, gastrointestinal symptoms and seizures.

The report encourages doctors to share decision making with families and help them plan for when a child transitions to adolescence and adulthood.

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‘Building more special schools for autistic children a must’

reporter 1222 — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 05:24:43 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Establishment of more special schools for children suffering from autism is a must, Saeedeh Saleh Ghaffari, the director of Autism Association, said, pointing out to the challenges of these children in regular schools and the lack of teachers who are trained to meet the needs of these children.

Teaching students with autism have complexities, and requires a great deal of effort and patience, as well as a creative mind and sharp eyes to find a way in order to develop and communicate with them, she highlighted.

Autism symptoms range from mild to severe that requires different levels of support based on their severity, she said, adding, some of these children are being integrated into public schools and educated alongside regular students, which helps them get ready to enter the community.

However, empowering ordinary school teachers in dealing with and educating these students is crucial, as inappropriate behavior can discourage them from attending school, she added.

Sometimes, however, parents of other classmates complain about the presence of autistic children in a regular school and ask the school principal to expel them, but it requires training of public and culture promotion, she lamented.

“If a student is suffering from severe autism and cannot attend regular schools, they will be referred to exceptional schools,” she noted, ISNA reported on Saturday.

“Our other concern is the assessment of students prior to school attendance. Workforce conducting assessment should also be given the necessary training, as sometimes a child with autism has sufficient ability, but at the time forgets what have learned before due to stress; therefore, the evaluation of these students should be different from others.”

Due to stress, some of them forget about their most basic needs like bladder control which causes them difficulties at schools, she said.

There are currently 49 autism training centers throughout the country, 30 of which are state-run centers, she stated, adding, 7 autistic boys’ schools and one girls school are operating in Tehran, while a number of provinces are completely deprived of such schools.

The important point, however, is that the educational spaces for children with autism is not proper, as classes on the fourth-floor of some schools are dedicated to autistic students which do not have a lift, she lamented.

These schools also require special facilities; for example, occupational and speech therapists who provide them with training must be employed in addition to teachers, said Saleh Ghaffari.

Also, the classroom differs on the way educational topics are performed, as they are trained individually and in group work, and there are usually between two to seven students in each class, although this number may vary depending on the severity of the disorder, she added.

Referring to educational content for these students, she noted that some of them are taught the books of normal students while others study the exceptional student’s books; so one of the challenges is that student books for autistic children are not prepared and only a book have been written for such students.

“We have sought to remove these barriers since the establishment of the association; we even called for the exceptional education department to come up with a memorandum of understanding to hold training courses for families,” she explained, lamenting our suggestions are always verbally welcomed, but in practice, there are limitations that hinder our cooperation.

According to the World Health Organization autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) refers to a range of conditions characterized by some degree of impaired social behavior, communication and language, and a narrow range of interests and activities that are both unique to the individual and carried out repetitively.

Individuals with autism often present other co-occurring conditions, including epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The level of intellectual functioning in individuals with ASDs is extremely variable, extending from profound impairment to superior levels.

Evidence-based psychosocial interventions including behavioral treatment and parent skills training programs can reduce difficulties in communication and social behavior, with a positive impact on wellbeing and quality of life for persons with autism and their caregivers.

WHO estimates that 1 in 160 children has an autism spectrum disorder worldwide.

In January, Mehdi Shadnoosh, head of the transplantation and treatment of diseases department at the Ministry of Health, announced that currently, some 8,000 people have been diagnosed with autism disorder in the country.

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Insight into Autism, Brain Disorders Provided by Protein ‘Trafficker’

reporter 1222 — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 12:05:46 +0000

A protein that lingers too long on the neuron membrane may compromise the connections, or synapses, between cells that may propose a mechanism by which ASTN2 defects lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and intellectual disabilities.

In the brain, as in business, connections are everything. To maintain cellular associates, the outer surface of a neuron, its membrane, must express particular proteins—proverbial hands that reach out and greet nearby cells.

And, like a creepily long handshake, surface molecules can overstay their welcome: In a new study, Rockefeller scientist Mary E. Hatten and research associate Hourinaz Behesti demonstrate that the protein ASTN2 helps move proteins away from the membrane in a timely fashion. The researchers also propose a mechanism by which ASTN2 defects lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and intellectual disabilities.

Proteins that need proteins

Neurons send messages to one another in the form of chemicals, or neurotransmitters, which activate receptor proteins on the surface of neighboring cells. Chemical communication is highly dynamic, which means that receptors must be dynamic too: they perpetually rotate on and off the membrane, ensuring rapid response to incoming signals. This process requires assistance from additional proteins, so-called traffickers that nudge receptors to move along.

Hatten, the Frederick P. Rose Professor, has demonstrated that the protein ASTN2 acts as such a trafficker during cell migration in early development. When Behesti joined Hatten’s lab, she proposed that the protein might also play a role later in life, an idea supported by the fact that ASTN2 had been shown to be present in the adult brain. Specifically, the protein appears to be disproportionally expressed in the cerebellum—a brain region that some researchers suspect may govern complex aspects of cognition, in addition to its more-established role in regulating movement, Medical Xpress reported.

Hatten and Behesti wanted to better understand the function of ASTN2 in the adult cerebellum. An initial clue came by way of collaborators at Johns Hopkins University, who identified a family that had multiple members with ASTN2 mutations and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and language delays.

Concurrently, an independent study of a large population showed that ASTN2 mutations are associated with a wide variety of brain disorders. Hatten and Behesti therefore set out to determine how defects in this protein might disrupt cerebellar circuitry, and brain activity at large.

On the surface

The researchers used a special microscopy technique to determine where ASTN2 is expressed in the mouse cerebellum. They found that it appears primarily in components of neurons responsible for moving proteins around, and they identified a collection of molecules that attach to ASTN2. These “binding partners” included proteins involved in synapse formation and protein trafficking.

When the researchers increased the expression of ASTN2 in mouse neurons, levels of its binding partners decreased, suggesting that ASTN2 attaches to these proteins and then ushers them away from the membrane for degradation within the cell. Working with researchers at Duke University, the scientists also observed that cells with heightened ASTN2 formed stronger synapses; and they suspect that decreased ASTN2 yields the opposite effect.

“Our data suggest that people who have mutations in ASTN2 make less of the protein, which leads to slower or weaker synapses,” says Behesti.

The researchers propose that without sufficient ASTN2, proteins accumulate on the cell surface, which hinders neuronal connections and communication.

“Synapses aren’t static. They need to respond in real time to dynamic stimuli; and one of the ways they do this is by changing their surface protein expression,” says Behesti.

This research supports a broader view that the disruption of surface protein composition may underlie a number of neurodevelopmental disorders. It also points to the cerebellum as a potentially fruitful research subject for understanding these conditions.

“People are just beginning to realize that the cerebellum isn’t just there to control movement and motor learning,” says Hatten. “It has much more complex roles in cognition and language.”

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Teenagers with autism, down syndrome to run mobile, bus cafes

reporter 1222 — Sat, 28 Apr 2018 06:50:13 +0000

TEHRAN — Teenagers with autism or down syndrome aging above 16 will run mobile bus cafes in the capital, Tehran province welfare organization’s deputy chief for rehabilitation affairs has said.

Over the coming days several mobile cafes will start working on the streets in Tehran which will be run by the help of children with down syndrome and autism, Tasnim news agency qouted Mohammad Reza Asadi as saying on Wednesday.

“This is the first time for such cafes, run by autistic children and also children with down syndrome, to go into business and provided that they prove to be successful, we will implement the scheme in other provinces nationwide,” Asadi explained.

“In order to effectively carry out the scheme we are planning to facilitate cooperation with the municipality of Tehran,” he suggested, adding, “We always hear upsetting news about such children but now we are trying to improving these children’s abilities.”

According to a news piece published in January in Young Journalist Club, Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi has announced that some 30,000 children are born with down syndrome per 1.5 million births in the country.

Also according to Fars news agency as per the data published by Iran’s Welfare Organization in 2014 one in 150 births are born with autism in the country.
Moreover, Maryam Pourseyyed, an official with the Organization has explained that based on the figures pertaining to a pilot screening program carried out in five provinces of Khuzestan, Qom, Kerman, Hamedan, and Khorasan Razavi from 2012 to 2013 it is projected that some 0.1 percent of the country’s population, roughly equal to 700,000 individuals, suffer from autism.
“The numbers are similar to global statistics,” the fararu website quoted Pourseyyed as saying on April 4.

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