The Autism Education Site » Health & Medical

Kirkman Labs is Recalling Products Due to Antimony Levels

Melissa — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:32:11 +0000

The following is a letter that Kirkman Labs sent to its distributors. Kirkman Labs is one of the most frequently used sources for supplements used in the biomedical treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

Dec 30, 2009

Dear Kirkman Distributor,

It has come to Kirkman’s attention that a raw material supplier has been supplying Kirkman with substandard quality material that is higher in antimony content than what would be considered acceptable to the special needs community. Raw material supplier are actually not required to test for antimony levels routinely, so this problem did not come to our attention until a physician using Kirkman products brought the issue to our attention. We immediately had our laboratory research the issue which they quickly isolated and linked it to a specific raw material.

We have stopped using this material and have located and purchased a quality replacement which we will begin using immediately.

We are asking that if you have any of the following products which utilized this material in your inventory, that you destroy the products and request credit or replacement with new lots when they become available. Call Kirkman customer service to make these requests. The products involved include all lots of the following products:

1. Zinc Liquid Product #387/8 and 387/16
2. Super Nu-Thera w/o A and D Product #447/454
3. DMAE 50 mg. Chewable Product # 489/90
4. Super Nu-Thera Powder-Orange Product # 410/454
5. B Complex Powder Pro Support Product # 399/7
6. TMG w/ Folinic and B-12 Powder Product #413/4 and 389/250
7. Chewable Vitamin C Tablets Product #389/100 and 389/250

Kirkman regrets the inconvenience associated with this issue, but Kirkman will not compromise our quality standards that we have stood for throughout our existence.

Sincerely,

Larry Newman
COO Technical and Regulatory Affairs

Evidently the stevia in these products is the source of the higher than desired level of antimony. This information was not originally posted on the Kirkman Labs website but it was making the rounds on autism message boards. The Kirkman Labs website is now updated with this important information.

Autism Benefits Available Through Arizona’s DDD

Melissa — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:26:45 +0000

Here is an excerpt from an article about the qualifying for, and receiving benefits from, the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities.

Autism Benefits Available in Arizona: Respite Care, Habilitation, Medicaid, and Therapy Covered by DDD

Benefits for children and adults with autism vary by state. In Arizona, individuals on the autism spectrum can take advantage of a variety of benefits including respite care, habilitation, and state-covered health insurance. State-provided services also cover several therapy options including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

Medicinal Marijuana – A New Autism Treatment?

Melissa — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:07:20 +0000

I recently heard a news report about a mother in California who is treating her autistic son, with the doctor’s blessing, with medicinal marijuana via brownies. Yes, pot-filled brownies have helped the child control his aggression as well as increase his appetite. Marijuana is known to relax a person and induce “the munchies” and the mother has seen a dramatic turn-around in her son’s condition. Medicinal marijuana is controversial, but its use in a juvenile is even more controversial.

I’m curious, what are your thoughts on the use of medicinal marijuana to treat autistic symptoms in a child?

Mercury in H1N1 Vaccine Deemed “Safe” by Researchers

Melissa — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:37:58 +0000

The following is a press release from the Rochester General Health System. I try to present information on all sides of the mercury in vaccines/autism debate for informational purposes.

Study Examines Mercury in Vaccines

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The injectable, multi-dose H1N1 vaccine contains the mercury-based preservative thimerosol to reduce risks of bacterial contamination. The presence of thimerosol has once again raised concerns whether there are risks posed to children when the tiny amount of mercury contained in thimerosol is included in a vaccine. In a recent issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, however, a team of scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health reported findings that should alleviate those concerns. The researchers, led by author Michael E. Pichichero, MD, Director of the Rochester General Research Institute, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY evaluated levels of mercury in the blood of the smallest children — prematurely born and low birth weight infants after they received a dose of a childhood vaccine containing thimerosol. They found the levels of mercury were exceedingly low.

The issue of administering vaccines containing mercury has been controversial because at very high levels mercury is known to cause organ damage (brain/kidneys). Consequently in 2001, as a precaution, at the prompting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration, the use of thimerosol in childhood vaccines was reduced or eliminated. However, after examining the evidence the Institute of Medicine issued an opinion that an association between thimerosol exposure and autism was not supported by the evidence. Nevertheless the contention that mercury in vaccines causes autism continues to be debated. The newly released multi-dose, injectable H1N1 Influenza vaccines contain the preservative thimerosol and thimerosol is 50% ethyl mercury, which has sparked a renewed debate on the safety of administering this new influenza vaccine.

The purpose of the study was to find out how much mercury from a vaccine containing thimerosol stays in a child’s body,” said Dr. Pichichero. “What we found was that blood mercury levels before vaccination were often detectable, even at a level similar to many children after the vaccination. By just breathing the air, mothers were passing to their unborn infants some slight amounts of mercury. The mothers did not eat fish that contains mercury, so in the United States and other countries where fish is consumed by pregnant women the levels of mercury would be presumably even higher. After the babies were given vaccines containing thimerosol, their blood levels of mercury did rise to very low levels and then fell rapidly to baseline levels by day ten after the vaccination.”

Since thimerosol has been largely removed from vaccines in the US since 2001, this study of 72 newborn infants was conducted at the Hospital Durand in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Argentina, like many countries of the world, vaccines are purchased through sources supported by the World Health Organization and the WHO has rejected the notion that thimerosol in vaccines is unsafe. This is the third and final study by Dr. Pichichero and his colleagues that tested mercury levels following the injection of vaccines containing thimerosol. Previous studies were conducted on term newborns, and on 2-and 6-month old infants. In those studies, the researchers also found the mercury levels in the vaccinated children were very low and quickly returned to pre-vaccine levels, usually within three to seven days. In 1999, when the first concerns about thimerosol in vaccines was raised, it was presumed that the ethyl mercury in thimerosol would behave in the same manner as methyl mercury in fish after ingested. The three NIH-supported studies clearly refuted that idea.

Dr. Pichichero and colleagues concluded that with this latest data, it is time to recognize that the risk of exposure to thimerosol in vaccines is minimal to non-existent. “The H1N1 vaccine is safe and should be given to those at risk as recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control,” Dr. Pichichero said.

Dr. Robert Melillo Publishes Results of New Autism Study

Melissa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:36:55 +0000

Groundbreaking Study by Dr. Robert Melillo and Dr. Gerry Leisman, Offers New Hope for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and Dyslexia For The First Time, Researchers Propose a Universal Theory Of Autism; May Eventually Lead To Cure

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Earlier today, promising new research findings that may help scientists and doctors better understand and treat Autism Spectrum Disorders, were released from a new study by Dr. Robert Melillo, a world-renowned neurologist, professor and author (Disconnected Kids, Penguin Books).

This possible medical breakthrough, follows on the heels of Monday’s harrowing announcement that two new government studies, including one by the Centers for Disease Control, estimate that 1 in every 100 American children has an autism based disorder. The new estimate would mean that about 673,000 American children have autism.

In the recently published study, Autistic Spectrum Disorders as Functional Disconnection Syndrome [Reviews in the Neurosciences, 2009, Freund Publishing], Dr. Robert Melillo and Dr. Gerry Leisman, offer, for the first time ever, a universal theory for understanding and treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and Dyslexia. In the study, Dr. Melillo asserts that a disconnection between the left and right sides of the developing brain may lead to these kinds of neurological disorders.

“The problem known as a functional disconnection is a communication breakdown between large cortical networks in the developing brain. This leads to fewer connections between areas of the brain especially the two hemispheres. This imbalance explains the unevenness of skills and all of the other combination of symptoms we see in autism,” said Dr. Melillo.

Key study findings include:

— A possible treatment solution exists that has the potential of
correcting Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia permanently.
— How Functional Disconnection with reduced activity and coherence in
the right hemisphere would explain all of the symptoms of autistic
spectrum disorder as well as the observed increases in sympathetic
activation.
— Best way to address the symptoms of these disorders: improving brain
coordination through increasing right hemisphere activity to the level
that it becomes temporally coherent with the left hemisphere.
— The physical, immune, digestive, and biochemical issues, or the
sensory and motor issues, that previous papers do not address.

— An explanation of the neurological, cognitive, psychological, as well
as both the sensory and motor issues.

Hope abounds throughout the scientific community that this new theory might prove to be a significant breakthrough in understanding and treating one of the biggest social and medical issues of our time. President Barack Obama has identified autism as a national health priority and has earmarked Federal stimulus money for autism research, screening and treatment.

“For years, researchers have recognized that autism is a multimodal problem that affects multiple areas of the brain and multiple systems in the body. Although autistic children can vary in their combination of symptoms, there has also been the recognition that there seems to be a single unifying problem that may relate to other disorders like ADHD and Dyslexia,” said Dr. Melillo.

For the past 4 years Dr. Robert Melillo has served as an adjunct professor of functional neuroanatomy in a graduate doctoral program in neuropsychology at Touro College and Leeds Metropolitan University. He is also an associate professor of clinical neurology and childhood behavioral disorders with The Carrick Institute. Dr. Melillo is the executive director of the FR Carrick Research Institute, a University based research lab that focuses on translational research and development in the areas of neuroscience, brain development, ergonomics and rehabilitation. He is also the president of the Foundation for Cognitive Neuroscience.

NIMH Awards Stimulus Grant to Sequence Genome for Autism Research

Melissa — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:00:35 +0000

Children’s Hospital Boston, with the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School, has been awarded a Grand Opportunity grant from the National Institute of Mental Health as part of the federal stimulus package, to pursue “whole-genome” sequencing of patients with autism, using new technologies for rapid DNA sequencing to better understand autism’s causes. The roughly $4.5 million grant, part of the federal stimulus package, officially starts September 30. All genetic sequence data will be made publicly available.

Autism frequently runs in families, and is the most highly genetic of neuropsychiatric disorders. About a dozen specific genes and mutations have been discovered, including several by researchers at Children’s. Yet these genes still leave unexplained the vast majority of autism cases — about 85 percent, says Christopher A. Walsh, MD, PhD, chief of genetics at Children’s Hospital Boston, who is leading the new initiative with co-investigators Michael Greenberg, PhD, head of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, and a team at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, led by Stacey Gabriel, PhD, and David Altshuler, MD, PhD.

The project will first focus on 85 Middle Eastern patients, previously studied in Walsh’s lab, whose parents share common ancestry and who have recessive forms of autism. These patients make good initial subjects for study because linkage analyses of their extended families have already narrowed the field of candidate mutations down to just 1 percent of their genome. Because autism is extremely variable genetically, rare large families with multiple affected individuals provide a good opportunity for mapping disease-causing genes, many of which also occur in autism patients generally.

As techniques are refined, Walsh and colleagues will begin to perform and interpret genetic sequence information from other groups of autism patients, including American families. “Within a year or two, we hope to develop technology and informatics techniques that should help to understand many kids with autism,” Walsh says.

The team will begin by analyzing the “exome” – the 2 percent of the genome that directly codes for proteins. For patients whose genetic cause remains a mystery, a second phase of the study will sequence and analyze the entire genome’s 3.2 billion base pairs (combinations of A, C, T and G) that make up our full complement of 20,000 to 25,000 genes. In this way, the researchers hope to discover noncoding portions of the genome — sometimes called “junk” DNA — that don’t make proteins but may contain critical switches that control gene activity.

The informatics part of the project, led by Timothy Yu, MD, PhD, in the Walsh Lab, will be the most important and challenging. With new machines, DNA sequencing has become relatively easy and cheap; what’s hard is interpreting the flood of information. The researchers will compare sequence information from their autism patients with that from normal controls, using data from the international “1000 Genomes Project,” allowing them to distinguish normal person-to-person genetic variations from variations that cause autism. “These new data should give us enormous power to interpret the findings in our autism patients, and figure out what’s the signal and what’s noise,” Walsh says. “Three million letters in the DNA sequence may differ between you and me — we need to figure out which changes are causing the disease.”

A separate part of the project, led by Greenberg, will look at gene activity in human neurons, focusing on genes that lie in chunks of DNA that were previously found to be deleted in the Middle Eastern families with autism. In 2008, Greenberg and Walsh reported that some autism mutations may affect “promoter” or “enhancer” sequences, bits of DNA that act as “on/off” switches controlling gene activity. Now, Greenberg’s lab will study living, active neurons to create a systematic map of these critical switches in the human genome, while the Children’s hospital team searches for the relationship between these switches and autism.

Because Grand Opportunity funding requires that the grant money be spent within 18 months, the project will move rapidly. The project’s ultimate goal is to relate different forms of clinical autism to variations in both DNA and gene activity, and to make this information available to all autism researchers.

The Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation, as well as the Simons Foundation, provided the initial seed money for Walsh’s team to research autism in the Middle Eastern families. Walsh is also supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

LENA Language and Autism Screen (LAS) – The Next Autism Money Sink?

Melissa — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:08:49 +0000

I’ve been on this autism journey for nearly three years now. Although my kids are older and have had “quirks” from birth, the first diagnosis wasn’t made until November 2006. For those that don’t know my history, I’m the mom of two children on the spectrum. My daughter was diagnosed with autistic disorder the day before her third birthday in 2006. My son was dx’d with Asperger’s Syndrome and PDD-NOS in the next year (difference of opinion). During that time, I’ve seen a lot of autism money sinks and when I read this article, I wondered if the LENA Language and Autism Screen (LAS) would be the next must-have (and expensive) device for parents of children with autism.

However, this is different. The LENA Language and Autism Screen (LAS) is designed to help parents screen their own children for symptoms of autism. Honestly, I’m a bit uncomfortable about this device. I feel that it is important for parents to understand the early signs of autism, as early intervention is proven to help dramatically in some cases, but I don’t feel that it is a parent’s place to screen and/or diagnose their own children.

It is imperative that if a parent is concerned, they see a licensed clinical psychologist, a developmental pediatrician, or contact their local school district or state early intervention office to request a thorough assessment. I understand the importance of giving parents the tools to recognize the early signs of autism, however I don’t feel that placing a $200 price tag on the tool is in the best interest of the child.

I’d love to hear your feedback on the device. Read the entire article on the ABC website and then head back here and leave me a comment (please!).

WELLalarm Medical ID Product Giveaway

Melissa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:58:40 +0000

Yesterday I posted a review of the WELLalarm Medical ID Product. At the end of the post, I had a giveaway listed. I’ve decided to move the giveaway to its own post.

I am hosting a WELLalarm sticker giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a set of two WELLalarm stickers, which come with a 12 month Emergency Alert Service Plan. The giveaway will be open until Wednesday, July 8 at 8:00 pm Eastern.

There are two ways to enter the giveaway:

Post a comment below with a valid email address. Please ensure that you leave a valid email address with your comment so that I can contact you should your number be chosen (via a random number generator).
Post a link to the giveaway on your blog or Twitter account and then leave a second comment below with a link to your blog post or tweet.

Please note: this contest is only open to residents of the United States.

WELLalarm Product Review

Melissa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:29:21 +0000

The WELLalarm Product Giveaway has been moved.

A few months ago, I connected with Stephanie Cion after a Twitter conversation about the importance of medical IDs for children with disabilities, allergies, and other special circumstances. Stephanie is the founder of WELLalarm; she created the company after a near-death experience due to a medical condition. After speaking with Stephanie, both via email and on the phone, she offered a trial product for my daughter to use so that I could compare the WELLalarm product to our current medical ID solution – a MedicAlert bracelet.

“WELLalarm, incorporated in September 2007, is a next-generation emergency medical alert system that harnesses the power of technology and fashion to protect the lives of millions of people living with serious conditions and provide easy access to peace of mind. In the event of an emergency, first responders can access life-saving information from a WELLalarm™ account – such as blood type, allergies, medications and contact information – by entering the WELL-ID code found on a wallet card, key tag, sticker, label, bracelet or necklace. WELLcharms™ and WELLtags™ is WELLalarm’s line of sophisticated, smart jewelry that allow the wearer to identify their illness or allergy. Designed for both adults and children, wearers can have the confidence that life-saving information is only moments away.” Source: WELLalarm

The first thing that I like about the WELLalarm product is the wide variety of identification products available. There are traditional medical identification bracelets but many have a bit of a fashionable twist. One that struck me as quite unique is the bracelet with a bee charm on it to signify that the wearer is allergic to bees. Of course, this information is available the WELLalarm system but the charm adds an instant identification element to the product.

WELLalarm also sells a variety of kid-friendly medical identification products. One of the most difficult challenges I faced after purchasing bracelets for my children is the adjustment that they both had to make with something dangling from their ankle. I chose to purchase large bracelets and use them on their ankles in hopes that they wouldn’t notice the bracelet as much. Unfortunately, with their sensory sensitivities, it took quite some time for both of them to get used to it. Although it has been about a year, they are still irritated with them from time to time.

For those with sensory sensitive children, WELLalarm customers can use stickers or iron-on clothing labels to help identify their child’s medical needs. I find that the iron-on labels are great for jackets, backpacks, or other items carried frequently by school-aged children. The stickers can be placed on a stroller, car seat, etc.

In registering for the website, I found the process to be upfront and thorough. I was unsure whether to enter my name or my daughter’s name upon initial registration, but I had the same issue when registering for MedicAlert. Unlike MedicAlert, however, it was easy to go back and change the name and birth date to my daughter’s.

The information contained in the WELLalarm system is extremely comprehensive. In addition to medical conditions, allergies, and medications, the system also houses insurance information, a section to track any vaccinations or immunizations, a WELLcalendar, and much more.

My initial impression of both WELLalarm, and its founder Stephanie Cion, are extremely favorable. While I understand that MedicAlert has been around for decades, the WELLalarm products are a bit more technologically advanced and are a good fit for today’s families. As we get more time under our belt using the product (a beautiful necklace that my daughter actually enjoys wearing), I will be posting an updated review.

Related posts:
WELLalarm Medical ID Product Giveaway
July’s Sensory Friendly Film – Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Autism and Asperger Book Giveaway at Mindless Mommy

New Genetic Mutations Linked to Autism Spectrum Disorders

Melissa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:47:40 +0000

More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and several collaborating institutions. This study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy number variations – missing or extra copies of DNA segments – were found in the genes of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but not in the healthy controls. The complex combination of multiple genetic duplications and deletions is thought to interfere with gene function, which can disrupt the production of proteins necessary for normal neurological development.

“We focused on changes in the exons of DNA–protein-coding areas in which deletions or duplications are more likely to directly disrupt biological functions,” said study leader Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “We identified additional autism susceptibility genes, many of which, as we previously found, belong to the neuronal cell adhesion molecule family involved in the development of brain circuitry in early childhood.” He added that the team discovered many “private” gene mutations, those found only in one or a few individuals or families — an indication of genetic complexity, in which many different gene changes may contribute to an autism spectrum disorder.

“We are finding that both inherited and new, or de novo, genetic mutations are scattered throughout the genome and we suspect that different combinations of these variations contribute to autism susceptibility,” said co-author Maja Bucan, Ph.D., professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Chair of the Steering committee for Autism Speaks’ Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). “We are grateful to families of children with autism spectrum disorders for their willingness to participate in genetic studies because family-based studies have many advantages. We have learned a lot both from genetic analyses of children with autism as well as analyses of their patents and their unaffected siblings.”

The researchers compared genetic samples of 3,832 individuals from 912 families with multiple children with ASDs from the AGRE cohort against genetic samples of 1,070 disease-free children from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This study also uncovered two novel genes in which variations were found, BZRAP1 and MDGA2 – thought to be important in synaptic function and neurological development, respectively. Interestingly, key variants of these genes were transmitted in some, but not all, of the affected individuals in families.

The findings were published in the June 26 edition of the journal PloS Genetics.

By further refining the genetic landscape of ASDs, the current study expands the findings of two large autism gene studies published in April, led by Hakonarson and co-authored by Gerard Schellenberg, Ph.D., professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Bucan and others. One study was the first to report common gene variants in ASDs. The other identified copy number variants that raise the risk of having an ASD. Both studies found gene changes on two biological pathways with crucial roles in early central nervous system development. Hakonarson and Bucan said the latest findings reinforce the view that multiple gene variants, both common and rare, may be interacting to cause the heterogeneous group of disorders included under autism spectrum disorders.

AGRE, a program of Autism Speaks, provided genetic biomaterials and clinical data from families having more than one member diagnosed with an ASD. Blood samples donated by children and their families at Children’s Hospital were used as healthy controls. AGRE makes data publicly available to qualified researchers worldwide.

Related posts:
Genetic Link to Autism Identified
NIMH Awards Stimulus Grant to Sequence Genome for Autism Research
Book Review: The First Year, Autism Spectrum Disorders