SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:
No Finer a Cause on the Planet"
________________________________________________________________
Thursday, March 17, 2005 Vol. 9 No. 43


>> PROMOTE YOUR 2005 EVENT NOW - FREE <<

DEADLINE FOR APRIL AUTISM CALENDAR IS

MARCH 25!

Submit listing here:
http://www.sarnet.org/frm/cal-frm.htm




RESEARCH - Abstracts
* Report: Early Intensive Behavioral Works and "Eclectic" Doesn't
* Making and Breaking Serotonin Neurons and Autism
* Ordered-Subset Analysis of Savant Skills In Autism For 15q11-q13
* Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Thimerosal-Containing
Childhood Immunizations: A Follow-Up Analysis
* Possible Association Between Autism And Variants In The Brain-
Expressed Tryptophan Hydroxylase Gene (TPH2)

RESEARCH
* Organization for Autism Research Requests Grant Proposals

EDUCATION
* Atlanta Law Firm Autism Case Charges To Co. Schools Top $1.7 Mil.

COMMENTARY
* For a Viral Causation of Autism

LETTERS
* A Dragon by the Tail
* Casting Aspergians



RESEARCH - Abstracts

Report: Early Intensive Behavioral Works and "Eclectic" Doesn't "A
comparison of intensive behavior analytic and eclectic treatments for young
children with autism"

Jane S. Howard a,b,*, Coleen R. Sparkman b, Howard G. Cohen c, Gina Green d,
Harold Stanislaw a a California State University, Stanislaus, Psychology
Department,
801 W. Monte Vista Avenue, Turlock, CA 95382, USA b The Kendall School,
Modesto, CA 95354, USA c Valley Mountain Regional Center, Stockton, CA
95269, USA d University of North Texas and San Diego State University, San
Diego, USA Received 25 June 2004; received in revised form 5 September 2004;
accepted
12 September 2004

Abstract
We compared the effects of three treatment approaches on preschool-age
children with autism spectrum disorders.
Twenty-nine children received intensive behavior analytic intervention
(IBT; 1:1 adult:child ratio, 25-40 h per week).
A comparison group (n = 16) received intensive ''eclectic''
intervention (a combination of methods, 1:1 or 1:2 ratio, 30 h per week) in
public special education classrooms (designated the AP group).
A second comparison group (GP) comprised 16 children in non-intensive
public early intervention programs (a combination of methods, small groups,
15 h per week).
Independent examiners administered standardized tests of cognitive,
language, and adaptive skills to children in all three groups at intake and
about 14 months after treatment began.
The groups were similar on key variables at intake.
At follow-up, the IBT group had higher mean standard scores in all
skill domains than the AP and GP groups.
The differences were statistically significant for all domains except
motor skills.
There were no statistically significant differences between the mean
scores of the AP and GP groups.
Learning rates at follow-up were also substantially higher for
children in the IBT group than for either of the other two groups.
These findings are consistent with other research showing that IBT is
considerably more efficacious than ''eclectic'' intervention. # 2005
Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Autism; Early intervention; Applied behavior analysis,
Eclectic treatment; Outcomes Research in Developmental Disabilities 26
(2005) 359-383
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: jhoward@... (J.S.
Howard). 0891-4222/$ - see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2004.09.005
This should link you to the entire article: Howard et al 2005.pdf
[application/pdf]
* * *

Making and Breaking Serotonin Neurons and Autism

http://tinyurl.com/4s96c

Scott MM, Deneris ES.
Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve
University, Rm E732, 2109 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106-4975, USA.

Dysfunction of brain serotonin system development is hypothesized to
contribute to autistic behaviors. The testing of this hypothesis will likely
depend on a better understanding of the genes and mechanisms involved in
serotonin neuron cell fate specification.
In this review we summarize the main features of vertebrate serotonin
neuroanatomical development and recent studies that have revealed critical
steps in the molecular genetic program that controls serotonin neuron
phenotype. We then discuss the potential relevance of these findings to
advances in autism research and to new molecular genetic tools under
development that will impact future testing of the hypothesis.
PMID: 15749252 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Ordered-Subset Analysis Of Savant Skills In Autism For 15q11-q13

http://tinyurl.com/6kw7q

Ma DQ, Jaworski J, Menold MM, Donnelly S, Abramson RK, Wright HH, Delong GR,
Gilbert JR, Pericak-Vance MA, Cuccaro ML.
Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North
Carolina.

Autism is a complex disorder characterized by genetic and phenotypic
heterogeneity.
Analysis of phenotypically homogeneous subtypes has been used to both
confirm and narrow potential autism linkage regions such as the chromosomal
region 15q11-q13.
Increased evidence for linkage in this region had been found in a
subgroup of 21 autism families (total families = 94) stratified based on a
savant skill factor (SSF) from the Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised
(ADI-R).
We examined the savant phenotypic finding in our sample of 91
multiplex autism families.
Using two-point parametric analysis in stratification with a cutoff
point of a savant skill score of 0.16, our families failed to demonstrate
linkage to 15q11-q13.
In addition, ordered subset analysis (OSA) using SSF as a covariate
also failed to show evidence for linkage.
Our findings do not support savant skills as an informative phenotypic
subset for linkage in our sample. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PMID: 15756693 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
* * *

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Thimerosal-Containing Childhood
Immunizations: A Follow-Up Analysis

http://tinyurl.com/4hmd3

Geier D, Geier M., MedCon, Inc., Maryland, USA.

The authors previously published the first epidemiological study from
the United States associating thimerosal from childhood vaccines with
neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) based upon assessment of the Vaccine
Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
A number of years have gone by since their previous analysis of the
VAERS.
The present study was undertaken to determine whether the previously
observed effect between thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and NDs are
still apparent in the VAERS as children have had a chance to further mature
and potentially be diagnosed with additional NDs.
In the present study, a cohort of children receiving
thimerosal-containing diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines
in comparison to a cohort of children receiving thimerosal-free DTaP
vaccines administered from 1997 through 2000 based upon an assessment of
adverse events reported to the VAERS were evaluated.
It was determined that there were significantly increased odds ra!
tios (ORs) for autism (OR=1.8,p<.05), mental retardation (OR=2.6,p<.002),
speech disorder (OR=2.1,p<.02), personality disorders (OR=2.6,p<.01), and
thinking abnormality (OR=8.2,p<.01) adverse events reported to the VAERS
following thimerosal-containing DTaP vaccines in comparison to
thimerosal-free DTaP vaccines.
Potential confounders and reporting biases were found to be minimal in
this assessment of the VAERS.
It was observed, even though the media has reported a potential
association between autism and thimerosal exposure, that the other NDs
analyzed in this assessment of the VAERS had significantly higher ORs than
autism following thimerosal-containing DTaP vaccines in comparison to
thimerosal-free DTaP vaccines.
The present study provides additional epidemiological evidence
supporting previous epidemiological, clinical and experimental evidence that
administration of thimerosal-containing vaccines in the United States
resulted in a significant number of ! children developing NDs.
PMID: 15764492 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Possible Association Between Autism And Variants In The Brain-Expressed
Tryptophan Hydroxylase Gene (TPH2).

http://tinyurl.com/5cy36

Coon H, Dunn D, Lainhart J, Miller J, Hamil C, Battaglia A, Tancredi R,
Leppert MF, Weiss R, McMahon W.

Neurodevelopmental Genetics Project, Department of Psychiatry, University of
Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

We report a possible association between autism in our sample and a recently
described brain-expressed tryptophan hydroxylase gene (TPH2).
The well-replicated involvement of the serotonin neurotransmitter
system in autism has stimulated interest in many genes in the serotonin
pathway as possible candidates for mutations leading to autism
susceptibility.
Serotonin synthesis is controlled by the rate-limiting enzyme
tryptophan hydroxylase.
A mouse study of the original tryptophan hydroxylase gene (TPH1) and
the new isoform (TPH2) showed that while TPH1 is primarily expressed
peripherally, TPH2 is found exclusively in brain tissue.
We searched for human sequence variants in 6,467 nucleotides covering
all 11 exons of TPH2, and also 248 nucleotides upstream of the start codon,
and 935 nucleotides downstream of the stop codon.
Eighteen variants were characterized in 88 subjects with autism
studied at our two centers, and 95 unrelated control subjects.
Using a model-free associatio! n method and empirical P value
estimation, two variants showed frequency differences between autism and
control subjects (P = 0.01 for a T-G variant in intron 1, and P = 0.02 for a
A-T variant in intron 4).
A haplotype including these variants showed slightly increased
significance (P = 0.005).
Further investigation of clinical phenotypes showed a possible
association between presence of the variants at these two SNPs and higher
scores on the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI) domain describing repetitive
and stereotyped behaviors (P = 0.007).
We conclude that TPH2 may play a modest role in autism susceptibility,
perhaps relating specifically to repetitive behaviors, pending replication
of this result. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PMID: 15768392 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]






-- > DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW < --

SUBSCRIBE. . . !
. . .Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.
To Subscribe http://www.SARnet.org/
Or mailto:subs@... No Cost!
_______________________________________________________




* * *

RESEARCH

Organization for Autism Research Requests Grant Proposals Research Program

The pre-proposal for the research competition is due April 1, 2005.
Invitations to submit a full proposal will be made by May 15, 2005. The full
proposal will then be due August 1, 2005. OAR will consider one and two year
studies and award up to $30,000 per year. Grant winners will be determined
on October 30, 2005.
View RFP > http://www.researchautism.org/uploads/OAR_RFP_2005.pdf
If you have any difficulties opening or printing the RFP, please contact me
at 703-351-5031 to request a hard copy. Caitlin McBrair
cmcbrair@... http://www.researchautism.org
* * *

EDUCATION

Atlanta Law Firm Autism Case Charges To County Schools Top $1.7 Million

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_63675.asp

An Atlanta law firm that specializes nationwide in special education
cases has charged the Hamilton County Schools over $1.7 million on a single
case that is still ongoing.
The bill thus far from the Charles Weatherly law firm in the Deal
autism case is at $1,742,636. Total taxpayer cost of the lawsuit is over
$2.3 million counting pay for expert witnesses.
County Commissioner Larry Henry said he was advised the case could
have been settled initially for $150,000, though county school officials
deny that.
The same Atlanta law firm billed the Ravenswood School District in San
Jose, Calif., $2.1 million at a time when the district was going bankrupt,
according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The newspaper said Ravenswood paid for first-class travel and food for
the Atlanta firm.
The Mercury News wrote, "Even as the Ravenswood school district
tumbled toward bankruptcy, its former leaders allowed an Atlanta law firm to
rack up $2.1 million in bills in less than a year, including first-class
plane tickets and meals at some of the Bay Area's priciest restaurants.
"A Mercury News review found that the Weatherly Law Firm, hired last
year to defend Ravenswood in a special education lawsuit, charged the
district serving the Peninsula's poorest children what amounts to $420 per
student -- 5.5 percent of its annual budget. A new school board replaced the
firm in December with county counsel charging $30,000 a year."
Hamilton County school officials have been asked by Chattanoogan.com
for details of the Weatherly law firm billings to the Hamilton County
Schools and those have not yet been made available.
Hamilton County School officials did release details of the some
$600,000 that has been paid for "legal experts."
Those include: $1,052.50 expert witness fee Alisa Dror $40,269.58
expert witness fee Autism Partnership $188,747.50 expert witness fee
Behavior Therapy $167,888.84 expert witness fee Dr. B.J. Freeman $12,900.00
expert witness fee Dr. Craig Kennedy $74,632.47 expert witness fee Dr.
David Rostetter $50,850.00 expert witness fee Dr. Mitch Taubman $2,800.00
expert witness fee Dr. Peter Thomas $48,062.50 expert witness fee Dr.
Ronald Leaf $1,844.20 expert witness fee Dr. Susan Speraw $1,586.00 expert
witness fee Thomas Oakland Expert Witness Total Expenses:
$590,633.59 TRAVEL SUB TOTAL: $10,902.14 COURT REPORTING SUB TOTAL:
$2,733.06 GRAND TOTAL: $604,268.79 The Hamilton County Schools spent
overall on legal bills: Fiscal year ending June 30 2002: $411,209 Fiscal
year ending June 30 2003: $1,648,224 Fiscal year ending June 30 2004:
$398,009 Fiscal year ending June 30 2005: $331,624 The county schools said
$419,579 should be deducted from the 2003 amount and $302,277 from the 2004
amount for IBNR items. Officials said, "According to Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles, we have to set aside reserve money for possible
claims. This is referred to as IBNR. If the possibility of those claims goes
away, then we have to decrease the amount of money in those reserves. This
has an effect on legal expenses."
Legal payments were: 2002 Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel $212,374
Philip and Maureen Deal $12,872 Weatherly law firm $165,993 Leitner,
Williams and Dooley $17,136 Court Reporter Services $1,510 All Others $1,322
2003 Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel $165,405 Philip and Maureen Deal $1,882
Weatherly law firm $1,418,1863 Leitner, Williams and Dooley $49,567 Court
Reporter Services $9,815 All Others $3,367 2004 Chambliss, Bahner and
Stophel $133,650 Weatherly law firm $79,043 Leitner, Williams and Dooley
$164,736 Court Reporter Services $3,982 All Others $16,597 2005 Chambliss,
Bahner and Stophel $94,890 Weatherly law firm $79,414 Leitner, Williams and
Dooley $139,174 Court Reporter Services $4,274 All Others $13,871 In
addition, attorney Ward Crutchfield is paid an annual salary of $53,985 as
the school board attorney.
Scott Bennett, of the Leitner, Williams and Dooley firm, is listed as
general counsel to the Hamilton County Schools staff.
The Mercury News also said of the Weatherly firm: Former officials in
the East Palo Alto-eastern Menlo Park district did little to check whether
the time lawyers, paralegals and others spent on the lawsuit was
appropriate. Nor did they question the roughly $135,000 in bills for travel
and meals, including $40 room-service breakfasts for one and $468 of a $969
tab for a dinner for about 10 people.
+ Full article here:
+ http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_63675.asp
* * *

COMMENTARY

For a Viral Causation of Autism
By W. John Martin, M.D., Ph.D.

Much effort and resources within the autism community have been
misdirected. Consequently, the epidemic continues. I am very confident
autism will eventually be recognized as having a viral cause. This delay
will be lessened if parents simply consider the facts and sort through the
political and economic agendas that bias what they are mainly being
presented.
The important facts are:
1. The cellular immune system does not effectively recognize all
viruses. Effective immune recognition is generally restricted to only a few
viral components. For example cytomegalovirus (a type of herpesvirus) has
nearly 200 proteins yet over 90% of the cytotoxic T cell immune response is
directed to only 3 viral components. By a process called
"stealth-adaptation" a virus can lose these critical components and yet can
retain or regain the ability to cause cell damage. I have DNA sequence data
confirming this mechanism. More importantly, I have directly observed
animals inoculated with stealth adapted viruses. The animals become
extremely sick with widespread tissue damage, including extensive damage to
the brain. Yet there is no inflammatory response; the usual hallmark of an
infectious process. I have seen similar brain damage in several patients
from whom I have cultured cell damaging (cytopathic) viruses. Interestingly,
the animals largely recover from their illness over time (discussed later).
2. Unlike other organs in the body, the brain is uniquely sensitive to
virus induced cell damage. With other organs, there is an overall uniform
function. This means that limited localized damage in one area of these
organs can be easily compensated by increased activity elsewhere. The brain
functions differently with specific functions localized to distinct areas.
Damage in one area cannot, therefore, be easily overcome. An exception is
when the virus induces an auto-immune response such as in Hasimoto's disease
of the thyroid which is not uncommon among stealth virus infected patients.
The other exception is cancer which only requires a single cell to go
astray.
3. The big political block to my work came when I announced in 1995
that the prototype stealth-adapted cytomegalovirus was not of human origin,
but was derived from the monkeys used to make live polio virus vaccines. I
immediately notified FDA, CDC and Wyeth the manufacturer of live polio virus
vaccine, but received a very cold reception. Adding to this block was the
undisclosed study performed by FDA and Industry in 1972 showing that all of
the African green monkeys being used for polio vaccine production were
infected with simian cytomegalovirus (SCMV). FDA and Industry failed to
disclose this finding not contemplating that viruses could cause chronic
illnesses.
4. FDA recently did locate 8 licensed lots of polio vaccines released
to the public in 1976. Three of the 8 lots have DNA of SCMV. FDA
investigators say they cannot culture live virus from these lots, nor can
they legally provide them for outside testing. in spite of this finding, FDA
officials are still reluctant to follow up on my initial reports of
stealth-adapted SCMV being isolated both from a patient with chronic fatigue
syndrome and from a patient with a bi-polar manic depressive psychiatric
illness.
5. It is technically difficult to culture stealth-adapted viruses
because of a tendency for the cell damaging effect not to progress. The
cultures undergo a repair process because of materials that accumulate in
the culture fluids. I now recognize that these materials provide an
alternative (non-mitochondria) source of cellular energy.
6. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to detect some
stealth-adapted viruses providing the small region being targeted by this
reaction is conserved. Another difficulty with the PCR assay is that not all
stealth-adapted viruses are derived from SCMV. Rather stealth-adaptation is
a generic process that presumably can occur with all types of cytopathic
viruses, e.g. EBV, HHV-6, HSV, etc.
7. An individual from Florida recently sent his own and his father's
blood to an animal testing laboratory. He had the smarts to pretend to be a
veterinarian and to request tests on supposedly monkey blood. The result
came back PCR positive for SCMV. I visited the testing lab. and assured
myself they were able to clearly exclude human, rhesus monkey and baboon CMV
and that the result was indeed positive for SCMV. The infected patient
notified CDC of the results. CDC simply concluded they could not culture
virus from his blood and the issue has seemingly been dropped. I received a
"legal request" from the patient to test his blood. It induced the
characteristic cytopathic effect caused by stealth-adapted viruses.
8. The Florida example underscores the infectious nature of
stealth-adapted viruses. The gentleman became infected during a trip and
soon after returning home saw marked behavioral changes in his son. His
father visited briefly and he too became sick. There are many examples of
"family illnesses of presumptive infectious origin" including many families
in which there is an autistic child. The gentleman has markedly improved on
ACE products (discussed below).
9. I have previously performed several double blind studies comparing
stealth virus cultures from patients with various illnesses, including
autism, with blood samples from volunteer donating blood for transfusions. A
clear distinction was seen with the vast majority of patients testing
positive compared to 10-15% of blood donors. According to the terms of the
approved study, I could obtain no information on the health of those blood
donors who tested positive. The implication of a contaminated National blood
supply was hard for Public Health authorities to accept. In late 2002 I was
encouraged (instructed) not to perform any further clinical testing and to
ensure my compliance the clinical testing laboratory license was suspended.
The only exceptions allowed were for research and, as I have recently
learned, if legally requested.
10. The research focus returned to the issue that if there was no
effective immune recognition, how does the body cope with stealth-adapted
viruses. The answer was in the cultures that showed complete healing if
inhibitory materials were allowed to accumulate. I had previously noted
unusual complex structures in the brain cells of humans and stealth-virus
inoculated animals. The mitochondria which normally supply the cell with
energy were markedly disrupted, yet the cells were still surviving. It
appeared as if the complex structures, and the materials accumulating in the
cultures, were providing an alternative (non-mitochondria) source of
cellular energy. I called these structures alternative cellular energy
pigments (ACE pigments). ACE pigments were experimentally shown to provide
an auxiliary defense mechanism that is particularly relevant in defending
against stealth-adapted viruses.
11. The importance of the ACE pathway has been convincingly
demonstrated in the ease of therapy for conventional HSV oral and genital
lesions. The ACE pathway in these lesions can be easily activated using a
dye called neutral red followed by brief exposure to ultraviolet-A light.
This approach also works well with shingles and post herpetic neuralgia and
with genital warts caused by human papillomavirus. FDA was notified of these
findings last October and are still trying to decide if they want to
classify neutral red as a drug or as a medical device.
12. The obvious implication for autistic children is to activate
and/or support the ACE pathway. I have been impressed with some preliminary
responses and now want to see controlled studies. The current format for the
herpes treatment is to have patients select a physician of their choice. The
physicians are to evaluate the lesions before and the day after therapy. We
can compensate the physician up to $100.00 from fees collected from
participants willing to join an Institute of Progressive Medicine. I think
we should do the same with autistic children.
13. It is clear that the pharmaceutical approach to many chronic
illnesses has its limitations. The public needs to be better informed of
developments outside the pharmaceutical industry. Good data need to be
collected from well designed clinical trials.
14. I hope the foregoing will give a sense of optimism to parents
struggling with autism and related illnesses. Research on stealth-adapted
viruses has opened up a whole new approach to disease therapy. I would like
to encourage individuals to visit the web site www.s3support.com and to
consider participating in clinical trials as one of the bonuses of being a
member of the Institute of Progressive Medicine. The web site has copies of
various publications and supporting information.
15. Parents can also put political pressure on the system to begin to
address autism as an unintended consequence of allowing cytomegaloviruses to
contaminate polio vaccines. Infected parents are at risk of having autistic
children. Such parents can be identified, but not if the Public Health
system will not allow stealth virus testing or acquire the know-how to do
this type of testing within their own facilities.
[Thanks to April Oakes of TAAP. The opinions expressed in commentaries
are those of the writer and not necessarily the opinions of the Schafer
Autism Report.]







-- > THE SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT IS < --

0 Canada's most read autism publication
0 United Kingdom's most read autism publication
0 The United States' most read autism publication.*

A Calendar of Events makes sense.
http://www.sarnet.org/events

Free Listing here
http://www.sarnet.org/frm/cal-frm.htm

_______________________________________________________
* Whew! That's a pretty tall claim. Here are more details:
~200 editions, times 12 pages each, times ~20,000 circulation
comes to 48 million electronic pages per year.



* * *

LETTERS

A Dragon by the Tail

It was very interesting to find mentioned in the article "A Dragon by the
Tail" references to the Brighton Collaborative. It was there that I found
studies, listed in the Child Journal of Neurology, on some things I have
never heard mentioned before: V.A.M.P. (Vaccine Associated Measles
Pan-encephalitis) and M.I.N.A. (Measles Induced Neurologic Autism syndrome).
There are obviously some researchers out there discover things (and
naming them!) that we, the general uninformed public, do not know about.
And now that I know who's funding Brighton, that explains why we'll never
hear of such "discoveries". Is anyone else out there feeling like this is a
saga, a huge sickening "game" where we have to be detectives to find all the
puzzle pieces?
- Janet Sheehan
* * *

Casting Aspergians

It's a shame that these people take the difficulty we have with our
children with a grain of salt. They hate us because we try to help our kids,
like we are infringing on their turf.
Notice that Joseph blames the parents, us inner-breeders.
We NT's have NOT messed up a race. Ever heard of Thimerosal?
I guess they think these kids, when left alone will live and prosper
... convince me of this when my son almost died from the complications of
AUTISM at age 7.
- Gary C., Georgia


I love it! Your "tongue in cheek" commentaries are just too good - and
yes, a hemorrhoid is much better than a cancerous tumor ... you got my vote
there.
- Kelli

Lenny responds: Thank you for the applause. But there are better ways
to discern a hemorrhoid from a cancerous tumor than by tongue in cheek.



SUBSCRIBE to SAR: http://www.sarnet.org or mailto:subs@...
_________________________________________________________________
Lenny Schafer, Editor mailto:edit@... Edward Decelie Debbie Hosseini
Richard Miles Ron Sleith Kay Stammers