Autism in America - Research Paper Example

Becker, Kevin G. Autism and Urbanisation. American Journal of Public Health. 100.7 (2010):1156-1157. In this letter, Becker has speculated that the Urbanization has increased the risk of Autism among the Texas school districts. The letter also highlights that the autism is inversely proportional to the Hispanics in the schools. It briefs that the genetic vulnerability among the White Children or the increased exposure to the unknown environmental factors might have caused autism. Increased risk for autism with the increasing urbanization as identified as a significant factor for autism in multiple geographically different areas and in the multiple ethnic areas. This is confirmed from the 40 Meta analysis studies including Japan and United States. Cohly, Hari Har and Asit Panja. Immunological findings in Autism. International Review of Neurobiology. 71 (2005):317-41. The two main immune dysfunctions associated with the autism are autoimmunity and the pro-inflammatory cytokines. The study focuses on the Mercury and the Measles virus infection as the main environmental factors that cause autism. The studies have found that the MMR antibodies are more in the autistic children than the normal ones. This is also linked to the mercury as thimerosal, a preservative added in the MMR Vaccines. This affects the children at the molecular level at the CD95/Fas apoptotic signaling pathway. Mercury disrupts this pathway. So to look for the further confirmation, the study is now expanded at immunological, molecular, cellular and genetic levels. cdc.gov. Facts About ASDs. 13 May 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/facts.html The CDC has classified the Autism Spectrum Disorders into three different types: 1.Autistic Disorder 2. Asperger Syndrome 3. Pervasive Developmental Disorder. The important signs of this disease are not responding to their names, avoiding eye contact, trouble in understanding people’s feelings, difficulty in speech and language skills, shaking their body parts, etc. There is no specific diagnosis for this disease; this disease is confirmed by doctor’s observation on the child’s behavior and development. D’Amelio, M et. al. Paraoxonase gene variants are associated with autism in North | America, but not in Italy: possible regional specificity in gene-environment interactions. Molecular Psychiatry. 10.11(2005):1006-16. In the study carried out by D’Amelio and group of researchers, they have found that the exposure to the organophosphates, which are used in the households as insecticides and as pesticides in the agriculture, is more in the North America compared to the Italy. The link between the autism and the paraoxonase gene (PON1) was studied by using the three SNPs PON1 C-108T, L55M, and Q192R. it was found from the studies that the Caucasian-American are more vulnerable genetically to the Organophosphates Exposure and hence this may contribute to the autism in the North Americans. Nadesan, Majia Holmer. Constructing Autism: unravelling the 'truth' and understanding | the social, Routledge. 2005. Nadesan in his book brings out the history of how the autism was brought into the notice of the government in the early nineteenth century and says how it lead to the creation of the special institutions to house those newly distinguished population. These institutions did not provide the autism affected children the required care, so with the help of the psychiatrists some rehabilitation measures were undertaken to save the autism affected children. It was Leo Kanner in the year 1943, identified a special disorder among the children who were thought to be schizophrenic and named it as autism. He did many researches in this disorder among the children in the John Hopkins Hospital and finally submitted his works. After Kanners Discovery, the people were found to treat their children with less affection and the warmth ness. Freudian psychology had already a similar definition related to this. This Freudian psychoanalysis led to the new dimensions in the European and the North American Psychiatry. According to the survey in the 1920s among the school children in the North America, it was found that the Autism affected children mainly originated from the middle class family and form the immigrants. National Research Council. Educating Children with Autism. Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism. National Academy Press. 2001. Occupational Therapy, Sensory Integration Therapy, Speech Therapy , The picture Exchange Communication Therapy are the common forms of therapy used for the treatment of this disease. Apart from these treatments additional treatments such as changes in the dietary approaches, medication and complementary and alternative medicine are also used. In the Behavioral and Communication approaches the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is widely used by all the medical professionals for the treatment of Autism in many schools and treatment clinics. This analysis encourages the positive behaviors of the children and discourages the negative behavior. With the help of this method, the professional are able to teach new skills, increase the positive behaviors, and improve the verbal behavior. Simpson, Richard L and Sonja R. de Boer-Ott, Autism spectrum disorders: interventions and treatments for children and youth. Sage Company Press. 2005. In this book, Simpson brings out the words of Kanners about autism. Autism is a complex developmental disability due to neurological disorder, which appears in the children during their first three years of life. Autism is more prevalent in the boys than the girls by four times. According to the Centre for Disease control and Prevention 2001, autism is found to occur in the ratio of 2/1000 – 6/1000 children in America. The Autism Society of America says that autism affects the normal functioning of the brain at the areas of communication skills and social interaction. They also infer that the autism affected people loose their communication skills and the social interaction and this makes them to behave differently in the public. They are also found to have some unusual attachments to the objects. The Autism Society of America has estimated that in America about 500,000 – 1,500,000 people are affected with autism and related disorders and still the medical professional are not aware of the way of autism attack and cure. Smith, Michael. DNA Losses, Gains Play Role in Autism Disorders. 9 June 2010. 20 June 2010. http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/Autism/20574 The Med page today has brought out the findings of the Researchers at the hospital for Sick at the Toronto on autism. The DNA additions and deletions in the autism affected people were found by using the micro array techniques with 1500 families of genes. They have found that the copy number variation were 19% more common among the autism spectrum people. It was also found that some 250 genes were directly or indirectly involved in this disorder. Among these genes, 60% of them are involved in the cell signaling pathways. These findings were based on the study on 996 people with autism spectrum and 1297 healthy controls. 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