Dr. Ken Bock and Michael Larsen on Fox News Discussing Dietary Intervention for Autism

http://www.cocokefir.com/

Maine CDC Autism Conference: Kim Block of WGME Presents News Piece on Autism

Maine CDC Autism Conference 2009
Kim Block, reporter for WGME, presents a news piece on autism treatment






Next Session:
Genes and Environment, Developmental and Chronic: An Inclusive Approach to Autism Science by Martha Herbert, MD, PhD

Hyperbaric Treatment for Children With Autism

Conclusion: "Children with autism who received hyperbaric treatment at 1.3 atm and 24% oxygen for 40 hourly sessions had significant improvements in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, eye contact, and sensory/cognitive awareness compared to children who received slightly pressurized room air."

Hyperbaric treatment for children with autism: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial

Daniel A Rossignol1 email, Lanier W Rossignol1 email, Scott Smith1 email, Cindy Schneider2 email, Sally Logerquist2 email, Anju Usman3 email, Jim Neubrander4 email, Eric M Madren5 email, Gregg Hintz6 email, Barry Grushkin7 email and Elizabeth A Mumper8 email

1International Child Development Resource Center, Melbourne, FL, USA
2Center for Autism Research and Education, Phoenix, AZ, USA
3True Health Medical Center, Naperville, IL, USA
4Edison, NJ, USA
5Princess Anne Medical Associates, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
6Therapeutic Pathways, East Troy, WI, USA
7Biognosys, Nanuet, NY, USA
8Rimland Center, Lynchburg, VA, USA


BMC Pediatrics 2009, 9:21doi:10.1186/1471-2431-9-21
Published: 13 March 2009
Abstract
Background

Several uncontrolled studies of hyperbaric treatment in children with autism have reported clinical improvements; however, this treatment has not been evaluated to date with a controlled study. We performed a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial to assess the efficacy of hyperbaric treatment in children with autism.
Methods

62 children with autism recruited from 6 centers, ages 2–7 years (mean 4.92 ± 1.21), were randomly assigned to 40 hourly treatments of either hyperbaric treatment at 1.3 atmosphere (atm) and 24% oxygen ("treatment group", n = 33) or slightly pressurized room air at 1.03 atm and 21% oxygen ("control group", n = 29). Outcome measures included Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale, Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), and Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC).
Results

After 40 sessions, mean physician CGI scores significantly improved in the treatment group compared to controls in overall functioning (p = 0.0008), receptive language (p < 0.0001), social interaction (p = 0.0473), and eye contact (p = 0.0102); 9/30 children (30%) in the treatment group were rated as "very much improved" or "much improved" compared to 2/26 (8%) of controls (p = 0.0471); 24/30 (80%) in the treatment group improved compared to 10/26 (38%) of controls (p = 0.0024). Mean parental CGI scores significantly improved in the treatment group compared to controls in overall functioning (p = 0.0336), receptive language (p = 0.0168), and eye contact (p = 0.0322). On the ABC, significant improvements were observed in the treatment group in total score, irritability, stereotypy, hyperactivity, and speech (p < 0.03 for each), but not in the control group. In the treatment group compared to the control group, mean changes on the ABC total score and subscales were similar except a greater number of children improved in irritability (p = 0.0311). On the ATEC, sensory/cognitive awareness significantly improved (p = 0.0367) in the treatment group compared to the control group. Post-hoc analysis indicated that children over age 5 and children with lower initial autism severity had the most robust improvements. Hyperbaric treatment was safe and well-tolerated. Conclusion Children with autism who received hyperbaric treatment at 1.3 atm and 24% oxygen for 40 hourly sessions had significant improvements in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, eye contact, and sensory/cognitive awareness compared to children who received slightly pressurized room air. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT00335790

Methyl B12 and Folinic Acid Raise Glutathione Levels in Autistic Children

Efficacy of methylcobalamin and folinic acid treatment on glutathione redox status in children with autism.

James SJ, Melnyk S, Fuchs G, Reid T, Jernigan S, Pavliv O, Hubanks A, Gaylor DW.

Departments of Pediatrics and Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic abnormalities and targeted treatment trials have been reported for several neurobehavioral disorders but are relatively understudied in autism.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether or not treatment with the metabolic precursors, methylcobalamin and folinic acid, would improve plasma concentrations of transmethylation/transsulfuration metabolites and glutathione redox status in autistic children.

DESIGN: In an open-label trial, 40 autistic children were treated with 75 mug/kg methylcobalamin (2 times/wk) and 400 mug folinic acid (2 times/d) for 3 mo. Metabolites in the transmethylation/transsulfuration pathway were measured before and after treatment and compared with values measured in age-matched control children.

RESULTS: The results indicated that pretreatment metabolite concentrations in autistic children were significantly different from values in the control children. The 3-mo intervention resulted in significant increases in cysteine, cysteinylglycine, and glutathione concentrations (P < 0.001). The oxidized disulfide form of glutathione was decreased and the glutathione redox ratio increased after treatment (P < 0.008). Although mean metabolite concentrations were improved significantly after intervention, they remained below those in unaffected control children.

CONCLUSIONS: The significant improvements observed in transmethylation metabolites and glutathione redox status after treatment suggest that targeted nutritional intervention with methylcobalamin and folinic acid may be of clinical benefit in some children who have autism. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00692315.

UPDATE: Some one provided me with a TIF of the full study.

USAAA: American Medical Autism Board Launched

Up until now there has been no certification process for docs treating autistic children via biomed. Just the DAN! list.

Today USAAA announces the creation of a certification board:

American Medical Autism Board Launched
First of its kind board / diplomate certification program for autism spectrum disorders

Cleveland, OH - Dr. Phillip C. DeMio, Chairman of the American Medical Autism Board, announced the commencement of the newly founded American Medical Autism Board (www.asdboards.org) at the US Autism & Asperger Association annual conference this past week in Austin, Texas. “This is the first of its kind board / diplomate certification program for medical doctors specializing in biomedical treatment of autism and related disorders,” explained Dr. DeMio.

“Medical doctors who become certified by the American Medical Autism Board (AMAB) show that they specialize in biomedical treatment of autism spectrum disorders, and will have met the Board's high levels of criteria for training and experience, and will have passed its rigorous certification examination,” said Dr. DeMio. “The biomedical concept means that autism and the autism spectrum disorders are not primary psychiatric or behavioral disorders, rather they are medical diseases with a biologic basis to their cause and to their ongoing manifestations (such as pain, gastrointestinal problems, and immune dysfunction).”

AMAB board-certified members provide biomedical evaluation and/or treatment to individuals of all ages diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, Asperger's syndrome, AD/HD, OCD, and PDD's. Through its credentialing process, AMAB offers both the public and private sectors an avenue for identifying well-qualified professionals trained and experienced in the biomedical assessment and treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

Thousands of families that have an affected child will now have access to certified specialists in biomedical autism treatments; verification that AMAB physicians are up to date on the newest treatments and research;
dedication to high quality patient care; and, verification of exceptional knowledge, experience, and skills in their specialty.

About American Medical Autism Board
The American Medical Autism Board® (AMAB) is an independent non-profit incorporated certifying organization. The mission of the American Medical Autism Board is to promote safe, ethical, efficacious medical autism treatment to the public by maintaining high standards for the examination and certification of physicians as autism medical specialists. The mission of AMAB is to contribute to understanding the etiology diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorders, with the goal of improving the lives of affected individuals and their loved ones.

Contact information:
information@asdboards.com
www.asdboards.org

The Effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Oxidative Stress,

The Effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Oxidative Stress,
Inflammation, and Symptoms in Children with Autism: an Open-Label
Pilot Study

Daniel A Rossignol, Lanier W Rossignol1, S Jill James, Stepan Melnyk and
Elizabeth Mumper

International Child Development Resource Center, University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Advocates for Children

Background: Recently, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has increased in popularity as treatment for autism. Numerous studies document oxidative stress and inflammation in individuals with autism; both of these conditions have demonstrated improvement with HBOT, along with enhancement of neurological function and cognitive performance.
In this study, children with autism were treated with HBOT at atmospheric pressures and oxygen concentrations in current use for this condition. Changes in markers of oxidative stress and inflammation were measured. The children were evaluated to determine clinical effects and safety.

Methods: Eighteen children with autism, ages 3–16 years, underwent 40 hyperbaric sessions of 45 minutes duration each at either 1.5 atmospheres (atm) and 100% oxygen, or at 1.3 atm and 24% oxygen. Measurements of C-reactive protein (CRP) and markers of oxidative stress, including plasma oxidized glutathione (GSSG), were assessed by fasting blood draws collected before and after the 40 treatments. Changes in clinical symptoms, as rated by parents, were also assessed. The children were closely monitored for potential adverse effects.

Results: At the endpoint of 40 hyperbaric sessions, neither group demonstrated statistically significant changes in mean plasma GSSG levels, indicating intracellular oxidative stress appears unaffected by either regimen. A trend towards improvement in mean CRP was present in both groups; the largest improvements were observed in children with initially higher elevations in CRP. When all 18 children were pooled, a significant improvement in CRP was found (p = 0.021). Pre- and post-parental observations indicated statistically significant improvements in both groups, including motivation, speech, and cognitive awareness (p < 0.05). No major adverse events were observed.

Conclusion: In this prospective pilot study of children with autism, HBOT at a maximum pressure of 1.5 atm with up to 100% oxygen was safe and well tolerated. HBOT did not appreciably worsen oxidative stress and significantly decreased inflammation as measured by CRP levels. Parental observations support anecdotal accounts of improvement in several domains of autism. However, since this was an open-label study, definitive statements regarding the efficacy of HBOT for the treatment of individuals with autism must await results from double-blind, controlled trials.

TACA Offers A Guide To Your Journey With Autism

Jenny has brought biomedical autism treatment to the forefront of the country's mind, and my blog stats are through the roof, so for all those parents and friends that are new to the world of autism treatment, I wanted to point you in TACA's direction.

Talk About Curing Autism, the group that Jenny McCarthy represents, has a get started guide that my husband and I wish had existed when we started out on this journey three years ago. It covers all the bases.



It is a great one stop for what you need to know to get your child the help they need. If you are the friend or family member of someone with a child with autism, get one for them and one for yourself. They will need lots of help in the journey, and you can't claim that you really love them if you don't shoulder their burden.

A Ray of Light at the U of Minnesota

I am back from my week off and I have missed much drama since I have been gone. The hostility continues to increase with the Wakefield hearing approaching, new charges that Autism Speaks is in bed with Pharma, and California wants to put the ACIP in charge of their vaccine schedule and give up their say on what will go into their own children.

As I catch up and sort all this out, I thought I would bring you something that encouraged me in it's non-polarizingness.

U Minn is setting up an autism research/treatment center that seems as if it will earnestly study biomed interventions like gfcf and chelation, and implement what they can discern might be working for children.

The article on it written by by Jeremy Olson of the Pioneer Press makes them sound like they are actually interested in finding out about what is going on in the bodies of our children, and what is working to make them healthier. I called Mr. Olsen to get his general impressions of their efforts, because I spend my emotional life bouncing between cynicism and optimism (is there such a thing as a cynical optimist?) when reading about main stream medicine's approach to autism, and he reports that they seem genuinely impressed with what Rick Rollens' MIND is doing and really want to model it.

So I am choosing to believe that U of Minn is not just engaging in fund raising spin and that they are gonna be real investigators. I look forward to hearing what their plans are, what they are going to look into first and how.

My advice to the U, because you know they are waiting on the edge of their seat for my advice, ("how will we be able to open this research center with out Ginger's help", they privately fret) ditch the mindset, "does this intervention work?" and think, "who does this work for and why?". Chelation, diet, HBOT, Zinc, B12, Antivirals all work (you have thousands of families out there that can show you their results), but not on all kids who have an ASD label slapped on them. Find a group of kids that are responding to a specific intervention and figure out why it is working for them.

Also... listen to mommies... they know what they are talking about.

The times they are a-changin'.

Any day now Julie Gerberding will call a press conference and say that after listening to parents stories and reading their research that there is a slight possibility that the vaccine schedule might be a tad too aggressive and just to be super safe they are gonna start rolling the schedule back a tiny bit and spacing out shots and screening kids before vaccination just to be sure they don't have any immune system abnormalities and maybe just perhaps free metal tests for all ASD kids!

It is coming... I can feel it in my bones!!!

I believe in the power of Christmas!!

Ginger Perine Taylor
"The Cynical Optimist"

U project's goal: a top autism center
Raising $2 million is an early step toward learning which treatments actually work
BY JEREMY OLSON
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 07/08/2007 10:51:13 PM CDT

The University of Minnesota is raising $2 million to study and improve the treatment of autism, the nation's fastest-growing developmental disability, which afflicts an estimated 10,000 people in Minnesota.

Over time, the doctors leading this initiative hope the U will grow into a top U.S. autism center that evaluates the best available treatments, researches the next generation of treatments and studies the disorder's biological and genetic origins.

"We're trying, really, to get at the whole picture," said Dr. Michael Reiff, director of the university's clinical autism program.

In autism, the university is focusing on a disorder that is gaining national attention and public funding but remains shrouded in mystery, politics and controversy.

While behavioral therapy is known to help some autistic children, there is little proof of what medical therapies are effective. Many parents suspect environmental causes, such as mercury preservatives in vaccines, for the growing number of autistic children. Research has not yet proved such a link, but skeptical parents suspect a coverup.

"Right now, we don't have anything that would be considered a cure, so it's no surprise that parents are looking for answers," Reiff said.

Autism refers to a broad spectrum of brain disorders in children that typically involve difficulty talking, interacting with others or learning. One in 150 births results in an autistic child, according to federal estimates. Autistic children also have medical problems that are often misunderstood and receive inconsistent treatment. Stomach problems and sleep disorders are common, but autistic children often can't describe them.

"Whatever behavior therapies you're trying to implement, they're not going to work very well if that child is sick," said Dr. Scott Selleck, director of the U's developmental biology center.

He compared the nation's emerging focus on autism to the quest that intensified 30 years ago to gain a basic understanding of cancer.

The vision for the Minnesota center is to embrace all ideas about the treatment of autism and to determine whether they should be used in clinical care. Evidence is lacking, for example, about whether autistic children can be treated effectively with chelation therapy, a powerful but risky medication therapy that removes heavy metals such as mercury from the body. Research also needs to address whether gluten-free diets can treat autism by eliminating the gluten proteins that may have a role in the disorder. Some methods work in helping some children; others do not.

"We are open to all possibilities, but we are going to evaluate them rigorously," Selleck said. "That is the only way, in the end, that we're going to make sense of this. ... We are not going to go down the road of implementing the things we don't study."

The university's interest coincides with increasing concern among Minnesota insurers over the rising costs of autistic children and the lack of evidence on how best to treat them. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota plans to collaborate with the university initiative and has created its own advisory group on the issue.

"What's out there just isn't working," said MaryAnn Stump, Blue Cross' chief innovation officer.

State lawmakers this session required the Minnesota Department of Human Services to study how to encourage and reward doctors to provide the best care for autistic children. The state and the university envision a "medical home" that will coordinate the efforts of family doctors and specialists who often are involved in a single child's case.

An attempt to boost public funding by more than $4 million per year for treatment and family support services was not included in the state health budget this session. However, the federal government has tripled its research dollars for autism since 2000 and increased support for education and early intervention services.

Among the university's goals is a registry of autistic children in Minnesota that will be used to research trends in the development and treatment of autism.

Selleck said he hopes the university initiative will help bridge the divide between the medical community and parents of autistic children. Experts in autism tend to broaden the implications of autism research beyond the specific groups of children in their studies. The spectrum of autism disorders is so wide that such generalizations can be faulty and confuse and annoy parents, he said.

"The choice of one's words is extremely critical," he said, "because we don't want to ignore the studies that are out there, nor do we want to discount them. But we do want to recognize what their limitations are."

The university hopes to complete fundraising later this year. Supporters Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison have pledged a $1 million matching grant. The university is prepared to start with a small budget and seed money that researchers on campus could use to start autism-related projects.

But Selleck said the university has a road map toward its larger vision. The MIND Institute at the University of California-Davis started small and grew to a $100 million center within seven years. The university's goal is to become the Midwest's premier autism research institute.

"Our objective is to have the comprehensive approach to this problem, equivalent to what they are doing, within that time frame," Selleck said.

Jeremy Olson can be reached at jolson@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5583.

BY THE NUMBERS

1 in 150

Children believed born with autism

10,000

Autistic people in Minnesota

11 percent

Increase in boys diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders, including autism, from 2004 to 2005

9.6 percent

Increase in girls diagnosed

On Tonight on BBCA: After Thomas

I have read good things:

After Thomas

Probiotics May Cure Colic

Babies with colic often cry for hours, and it's challenge to find ways to soothe them. New research may have found a cure for colic.

NewsCenter 5's Heather Unruh reported Tuesday that Jocelyn Levinson knows a lot about colic. She takes care of infants at the Waltham YMCA.

"A lot of the colicky babies tears will come down their face, and it will last a long time -- not just two or three seconds," Levinson said.

That chronic fussiness affects about one-quarter of all babies. There is no cure. Trying different treatments or folk remedies can be a struggle. But a new study is out in the journal Pediatrics about a new treatment for colic.

"It was statistically significant," Children's Hospital Boston registered nurse Lisa Keeler said.

Researchers followed two groups of colicky babies who were breastfed. Half received a probiotic known as lactobacillus reuteri.

"The good bacteria that are found in the intestinal system," Keeler said.

This probiotic is in breast milk, many over the counter pills and yogurts.

"It took almost four weeks, but by day 28 of the study it was a greater than 50 percent decrease in the crying time as compared to the gas drops," Keeler said.

In fact, after a month only 7 percent of the babies, who got Simethicone, or gas drops, saw relief, crying an average of 25 percent less.

But among the babies who received the probiotic, almost all of them -- 95 percent -- were less irritable, and they cried less than half as often as before.

While the probiotic seemed to really soothe the babies, and it is safe, experts said that you shouldn't run out to the drug store and buy it just yet.

"Although those results were statistically significant, the bottom line was that they recommended more research," Keeler said.

They're not sure why the probiotics worked, but the bacteria might boost a baby's immune system and help them cope better with the symptoms. Also, babies showing the early signs of allergies fared well in this study, finding some relief after being given probiotics.

Outing the Gay Republicans of Autism?

John Gilmore of A-CHAMP asks the question, should high profile closet DAN! families be outed?

I imagine everybody knows about the problem of the gay Republican politician. There are lots gay Republican politicians, but to be a good Republican these days you have to denounce anything that smacks of homosexuality. This, of course, leads to all kinds of hypocrisy. The gay community is divided about whether these people should be outed or not.

We have a similar problem in the autism movement, and those are the leaders of large autism organizations who refuse to acknowledge that there is an epidemic, refuse to spend any of the money that they have extracted from this community on anything related to vaccine safety issues, mercury or any of the methodologies being investigated by DAN and related researchers.

But at the same time they are taking their own affected children to DAN doctors, chelating their kids, getting them scoped by Wakefield or Krigsman, and refusing vaccines for their children. Are they liars? Are they hypocrites? Are they the people who will get us to where we need to go? And what should be done by the rest of us with our own "gay Republicans." Should we ask them to explain themselves? Is the discrepancy between their public actions and statements and their private actions anybody else's business. Are we not allowed to ask them what they are doing in Arthur Krigsman's waiting room when their organizations won't even acknowledge that GI issues are part of autism. Are we being complicit in hypocrisy by remaining silent?

Update:

I have been thinkin' a little about this and here are my initial thoughts.

I am thinking there are two different ethical scenarios. Because we are talking about children's medical information, I think that we need to be sure we don't step on children's rights.

I am thinking if a parent tells someone in confidence about their child's treatment, and asks that you keep it private, regardless of their public stance, you should not break that trust, unless there is some sort of mistreatment of a specific child going on.

However,

If you see a parent in a waiting room, I think that asking the question, "Why are you not preaching what you practice", is legit. I think that question should be asked in private first to give them the chance to really do some self-examination about the impact of their decision to with hold vital information from other parents who are looking to them as leaders for some direction as to what they should do for their own child.

But if they are given that opportunity and sufficient time to really come around, then I don't think I could condemn anyone who 'outed' them.

I think about this in the context of my own blogging. Now head of a multi-million dollar autism organization I ain't, but I have put myself (and my child to some extent) out in public. I have made myself a public figure (in the legal sense) by blogging. If I am unwilling to open myself up to scrutiny on the issues that I bring to the table, then I have no integrity.

If I encourage parents to look in one direction for treatment while I am pursuing another for my child, then shame on me.

...your thoughts?

Online Confrence on Oxalates

OXALATES CONTROL IS A MAJOR NEW FACTOR IN AUTISM THERAPY!

Good day from The Great Plains Laboratory in Lenexa, KS! We are happy to announce that Dr. William Shaw has recently completed new research on the role of Oxalates in Autism. This research has been summarized in an article available on our website at http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/oxalates/OXAL-web/GPL-OXLS-1.htm.

This comprehensive article includes an explanation of how oxalates (derivatives of oxalic acid) are metabolized in the body and influenced by intestinal flora, toxic metals, the copper/zinc ratio, and pyridoxic acid levels. The article provides a list of dietary changes and treatments that will minimize absorption of oxalates from the gastrointestinal tract and the symptoms produced by high oxalates.

All of this information and MORE is available in the format of a FREE web conference with Dr. William Shaw on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12 AT 6PM (CST)!

You MUST pre-register to participate in the FREE web conference. Please visit our website link at http://www.gpl4u.com/online-conference/online-conference.html to pre-register!

Study into Raising Glutathione

Researchers in Texas Launch Autism Study Using Protein Supplement
Wednesday November 22, 1:12 pm ET

DALLAS, Texas, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire/ - Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and Immunotec Research Ltd. have initiated a study in which a specially formulated whey protein isolate (Immunocal)will be used to raise glutathione levels in an attempt to lessen symptoms of autism.

Autism is a neurological developmental disorder that affects children's ability to socialize normally, impairs language skills, restricts their interests and curiosity and causes other behavioral abnormalities. Most cases are diagnosed before three years of age, and there has been an alarming increase in the number of cases diagnosed over the past two decades. Currently, 1 in every 175 American children is being identified as having autism, and these numbers are on the rise each year. To date, medical treatment of this disorder has been minimally effective.

Although the causes of autism have not been clearly identified, research has suggested that chronic biochemical imbalance plays a role. Studies have shown that levels of the major intracellular antioxidant "Glutathione" is typically about 50% lower in children with autism. Glutathione, which is produced by every cell in the body, is responsible for a number of functions including removing or neutralizing dangerous substances that we are exposed to on a daily basis, including toxic metals. Toxins, pollution, disease, stress, and poor diet can all contribute to loss of glutathione. When glutathione levels reach a critically low degree, we are much more vulnerable to toxins and immune dysfunction.

Principal investigator for this study is Dr. Janet Kern, an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern, which is internationally recognized for its clinical and research programs.

"Some children with autism are poor detoxifiers relative to normally developing children, and in particular, have trouble excreting toxic metals," said Dr. Kern. "Toxic metals that are not eliminated may build up in the brain. Plasma glutathione has been found to be lower in children with autism, particularly, in children with autism who have regressed. We want to clearly establish that raising glutathione levels in these children will improve their ability to detoxify these substances and in that way improve some of their symptoms."

Dr. Jill James, Professor of Pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, will be a co-investigator. Dr. James is noted for her landmark studies in autism and toxicology and is among the first scientists to point out the links with low glutathione levels. " We know that Immunocal has been used to raise glutathione in other studies very effectively in areas such as cancer and lung disease. We want to take advantage of this same technology", stated James.

The team will be using a protein supplement produced by Immunotec Research Ltd. near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, called "Immunocal". It is identified by the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) as a glutathione precursor. Immunotec Research Ltd. has combined rigorous research and business acumen delivering natural healthcare and dietary supplements in 22 countries worldwide.

Source: IMMUNOTEC RESEARCH LTD.

Death of a Hero

Bernard Rimland was one of my heroes.

If not for him I might be called a Refrigerator Mother.

If not for him Chandler may never have answered to his own name.

That he had the courage in the 60's to stand up to the establishment and say that his son had a medical illness, not psychological scars, changed the paradigm and began the search for treatments. And the first treatment that was found, was not discovered by Dr. Rimland himself, but mothers who began writing to him after his book was published to tell him that their children seemed to get better when they were on B vitamins. He listened to them, and Kirkland Labs listened to him, and the first real study on what would help our children was launched.

It was because he freed those mothers from the guilt that their children's disorder was caused by their lack of love that they could start finding a way to help their children.

If there is ANY justice in this world, Dr. Bernard Rimland will get the Nobel Prize.

The Autism Research Institute

UPDATE:

Autism World Loses A Giant: Bernard Rimland

Autistic children and their parents said goodbye to their best friend and greatest champion on Tuesday, November 21st when Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder and director of the Autism Research Institute, passed away at the age of 78.

Dr. Stephen M. Edelson, who is assuming the position of Director of ARI, says, “Dr. Rimland will go down in history as the person who ended the ‘dark ages’ of autism and spearheaded the fight to bring hope and help to autistic children. When he began his work in the field of autism in the 1960s, psychiatrists blamed parents for their children’s autism, institutionalized those children, and ‘treated’ them by drugging them into submission. Today, autistic children receive effective educational interventions and biomedical treatments that bring about dramatic improvement and often even recovery. At every step of this revolution, Dr. Rimland led the way—and at every step, he had to fight tooth-and-nail against an establishment determined to maintain the status quo.”

Dr. Rimland’s forty years of work on behalf of autistic children began with a single child: his own son, Mark Rimland, born in 1956. In the most recent version of the DAN! treatment manual, Dr. Rimland wrote, “Mark was a screaming, implacable infant who resisted being cuddled and struggled against being picked up. He also struggled against being put down. Our pediatrician, Dr. Black, who had been in practice for 35 years, had never seen nor heard of a child like Mark. Neither Dr. Black nor I, who at that time was three years beyond my Ph.D. in psychology, had ever seen or heard the word ‘autism.’”

It wasn’t until Mark turned two that Dr. Rimland’s wife, Gloria, remembered reading in college about children with symptoms like their child’s. Digging through a dusty box of Gloria’s textbooks in the garage, Dr. Rimland saw the word “autism” for the first time. That discovery was the first step in a quest that covered nearly half a century.

Dr. Rimland’s battle to help autistic children began in the early 1960s, when psychoanalysis reigned and professionals believed that autism stemmed from a “refrigerator mother’s” subconscious rejection of her child. Treatments, prescribed by leading authority Bruno Bettelheim and other psychoanalysts, included having children kick and spit on statues representing their mothers.

Knowing that Mark was a greatly loved child and that the “refrigerator mother” theory was both wrong and destructive, Dr. Rimland set out to discover all that was known about autism. He scoured libraries for articles on autism, including foreign articles he had translated, and found, as he noted later, “not a shred of evidence” to support the hypothesis that bad parenting caused autism.

What he discovered, instead, was powerful evidence that autism was a biological disorder—a fact that seems obvious now, but was revolutionary at the time. He outlined this evidence in his seminal book Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior, published in 1964. The book changed the autism world forever: it won the Century Award for distinguished contribution to psychology and, as one reporter put it, “blew Bettelheim’s theory all to hell.” For parents, the nightmare of being blamed for their children’s terrifying disorder was over.

Most people would be content to rest on their laurels at that point, but Dr. Rimland was barely getting warmed up. He’d revolutionized an entire field, but he still had no way to help his own son. So he formed the National Society for Autistic Children (NSAC), now known as the Autism Society of America. Through this group, parents of children with autism—a very rare disorder, at the time—could offer each other moral support and practical advice about which therapies worked and which didn’t.

Dr. Rimland started ASA in large part to promote “behavior modification” (now known as Applied Behavioral Analysis, or ABA), a treatment then being pioneered by a very controversial young psychologist named Ivar Lovaas. Authorities in the autism field scoffed at Lovaas’s claim that autistic children could be helped by something as simple and straightforward as behavior modification, but Dr. Rimland spread the word through NSAC and parents began fighting for this therapy for their children. Today, of course, ABA is the educational treatment of choice for autistic children, and many autistic children who receive early ABA improve dramatically.

Dr. Rimland knew, however, that educational treatments alone could not adequately address a devastating biological disorder such as autism. In 1967, he started the nonprofit Autism Research Institute in order to create a worldwide research center and clearinghouse for biomedical treatments (which barely existed at the time). In 1985, he retired from his career as a psychologist for the Navy to devote the remainder of his life to autism research.

The first treatment Dr. Rimland investigated, based on reports from parents of autistic children, was high-dose vitamin B6. Other authorities in the autism field considered the idea that a vitamin could correct a brain disorder to be preposterous, but time and research proved them wrong. To date, 22 studies (including 13 double-blind studies) show that vitamin B6, typically combined with magnesium, benefits a large percentage of autistic children.

“One of the most remarkable things about Dr. Rimland,” says Dr. Edelson, “is that he realized in the early days that parents held many of the keys to solving the mystery of autism. From day one, he listened to them and respected them—and he followed their lead. If five or six parents reported, ‘DMG makes my child much better,’ he didn’t ignore them; instead, he organized a study to see if other children responded the same way. For a professional psychologist, even one who was the parent of an autistic child, this was a revolutionary viewpoint—and it’s a key reason why ARI has always led the way in identifying new treatments and uncovering the roots of autism.”

One important clue contributed by parents of autistic children put ARI squarely in the middle of a huge controversy: the debate about the safety of vaccines. Early in his work, Dr. Rimland received many reports of children who had no disability before receiving DPT vaccinations. As time went on, the number of reports snowballed, and included other vaccines. At the same time, as the number of vaccines received by children grew, autism rates began climbing relentlessly. When Dr. Rimland learned that most childhood vaccines contained thimerosal—a preservative that is nearly 50% mercury, a powerful neurotoxin—he realized that the escalating numbers of vaccines given to children could be the culprit behind skyrocketing rates of autism. His suspicions grew when he discovered that the symptoms of autism bear many similarities to the symptoms of mercury poisoning.

The medical establishment, not surprisingly, expressed great antagonism toward this theory. They turned a blind eye as well to strong evidence implicating wheat and milk proteins, persistent measles infection in the gut from MMR vaccines, and other environmental factors in causing or exacerbating autism. And they continued to scorn biomedical treatments, even when hundreds and eventually thousands of parents reported that these treatments worked – often dramatically. So Dr. Rimland began yet another new project, this time aimed at quickly identifying causes of autism and promoting the safe and effective treatments that mainstream medicine refused to investigate.

To accomplish this mission he created the Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) project, jump-starting the project in 199- by bringing together dozens of the world’s leading researchers in different fields to create a state-of-the-art treatment plan and prioritize research goals. This small first meeting grew into a worldwide DAN! movement that now includes huge standing-room-only conferences, major research projects, a treatment manual, and hundreds of DAN!-trained physicians. A happy offshoot of this massive effort is the “Recovered Autistic Children” project, in which parents whose children improve or even recover because of DAN!-oriented treatment are spreading the word that “autism is treatable.” Dr. Rimland and Dr. Edelson also collaborated on Recovering Autistic Children, a book of stories about children who improved or recovered as a result of DAN!-oriented treatment.

In addition to these projects, Dr. Rimland served as a technical advisor for Rainman, the Academy-Award-winning film that introduced millions of moviegoers to the world of the autistic savant. As editor of the Autism Research Review International, now in its twentieth year of publication, he also provided parents and professionals with crucial information about autism treatments and research—as well as with his trademark editorials, often scorching in their condemnation of established medicine’s failure to help autistic children.

Dr. Rimland achieved worldwide fame and a reputation as a giant in his field, and his friends ranged from Hollywood stars to national media figures. Yet unlike many professionals, he didn’t know the meaning of an “ivory tower.” In his few free moments each day, he responded to letters, phone calls, faxes, and emails from thousands of distraught parents around the world. His vast network of friends knew him as an extraordinarily generous soul and an irrepressible “yenta,” whose greatest joy lay in bringing strangers together for the benefit of all. He was also a soft touch, incapable of saying “no” to any worthwhile cause—no matter how large or small. (The San Diego branch of the Autism Society was probably the only chapter whose Christmas party once featured an internationally-renowned autism researcher playing Santa Claus.)

How did Dr. Rimland find time to juggle enough huge projects for ten lifetimes, and also help out every friend (or stranger) who needed a hand? He spent seven days a week in his office. Some nights, he slept on the office floor. And everyone who worked with him knew that if the phone rang at 10 p.m., it was Dr. Rimland with another idea – often an earth-shaking one. (Not all of his ideas and interests involved autism. He owned several patents for inventions, and was an inveterate “tinkerer.”)

Dr. Rimland’s remarkable wife, Gloria, gracefully handled his nearly-impossible schedule while keeping a home with three children running smoothly. The autism community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Gloria Rimland for the inspiration and moral support she provided Dr. Rimland throughout the years – as well as her willingness to share her husband with an entire world of “autism parents.” The autism world sends its deep condolences to Gloria and to their children, Mark, Paul, and Helen.

“Our community is greatly diminished by the loss of Dr. Rimland,” says Dr. Edelson. “His legacy, however, will live on in the work of ARI and the DAN! project – and in the joy of families whose children, dismissed as ‘hopeless’ and ‘incurable’ by the medical establishment, are now leading happy, healthy, productive lives. It’s exactly the legacy that Dr. Rimland would want.

____________

A graveside memorial service will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, November 22,
at 2 pm on the Shalom Lawn at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego. The
public is welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers, Dr. Rimland's family asks that donations be made to the
Autism Research Institute (4182 Adams Avenue, San Diego, CA 92116).
Donations can also be made online on ARI's website www.AutismResearchInstitute.com.

More coverage:

Bernard Rimland; psychologist 'ended the dark ages of autism'

By Jack Williams
STAFF WRITER
Union Tribune
November 22, 2006


Bernard Rimland, a psychologist whose unremitting quest for answers to
autism opened a new era of treatment and hope for victims of the brain
disorder, died of cancer yesterday. He was 78.

Dr. Rimland, executive director and founder of the Autism Research
Institute in Kensington, died at Victoria Special Care in El Cajon, said
Jean Walcher, a spokeswoman for the family.

In challenging the once-prevailing theory that the condition stemmed from
a mother's subconscious rejection of her child, Dr. Rimland found that
autism was a biological disorder. His evidence was outlined in his seminal
book, “Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural
Theory of Behavior,” published in 1964.

“Dr. Rimland will go down in history as the person who ended the dark ages
of autism and spearheaded the fight to bring hope and help to autistic
children,” said Dr. Stephen M. Edelson, his successor at the helm of the
Autism Research Institute.

As the father of an autistic son, Mark, born in 1956, Dr. Rimland began to
exhaustively research what at the time was a mystery to parents as well as
the medical profession.

In so doing, he once noted, there is “not a shred of evidence” to support
the hypothesis that indifferent parenting caused the disorder.

In 1967, while employed as a Navy psychologist, Dr. Rimland founded his
nonprofit institute a block from his home to create an international
source of research and information for biomedical treatments. When he
retired from his Navy job in 1985, he devoted the rest of his life to
autism research.

“Now I spend 80 hours a week on autism,” he told The San Diego
Union-Tribune in 1998.

“He was the pioneer who changed everything about the way autism is viewed;
parents and professionals owe him everything,” said Chantal Sicile-Kira,
an autism author and activist who has a 17-year-old son with the disorder.

“Bernie was like a god to parents like me,” Sicile-Kira said. “He's
revered all over the world for moving forward biomedical interventions
through research.”

Dr. Rimland created the National Society for Autistic Children, now known
as the Autism Society of America, to bring together parents of children
with autism and to promote a treatment known as Applied Behavior Analysis.
The latter, pioneered by psychologist Ivar Lavaas, has proved successful
as the educational treatment of choice for autistic children.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as
many as one in 166 Americans 21 or younger is afflicted with autism, which
affects children in different ways.

The variety of symptoms include withdrawal from human contact, sensory
confusion, parrotlike speech, a compulsion for sameness and a repetitive
self-stimulating behavior such as tapping teeth.

Sometimes the symptoms are accompanied by extraordinary talents, as in the
case of the autistic savant portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the 1988
Academy Award-winning movie “Rain Man,” for which Dr. Rimland was a
technical adviser.

In the 1990s, Dr. Rimland expanded his influence by co-founding Defeat
Autism Now!, widely known as DAN!, which brought together dozens of the
world's leading researchers in diverse fields to define research goals and
pursue a state-of-the-art treatment plan.

The effort spawned annual conferences on both coasts, major research
projects, a treatment manual and hundreds of DAN!-trained physicians.

Dr. Rimland also reached parents and professionals as editor of a
newsletter, Autism Research Review International, updating readers on
treatments and research.

He was at the forefront of the controversial concept of vitamin therapy to
address autism, particularly high doses of B6. More than 20 studies show
that B6, typically combined with magnesium, benefits a large percentage of
autistic children, according to the Autism Research Institute.

Equally controversial was his suggestion that child vaccines containing
thimerosal, a preservative that is nearly 50 percent mercury, could
promote autism. His suspicions grew when he discovered that symptoms of
autism bear many similarities to the symptoms of mercury poisoning.

“Bernie wasn't afraid to have people say, 'Gosh, this guy's nuts; it's a
crazy idea,' ” Sicile-Kira said. “He felt that if it could be validated by
research it's worth trying so long as it's not going to hurt somebody.”

Dr. Rimland, a San Diegan since 1940, was born Nov. 15, 1928, in Cleveland.

In the early 1950s, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in
experimental psychology at San Diego State College. He received a
doctorate in the discipline in 1954 from Pennsylvania State University.

As a research psychologist in the Navy, he designed tests to measure a
recruit's aptitude for various jobs. In 1955, he became an adjunct
professor in psychology at San Diego State.

When he became a first-time father in 1956, he began to seek solutions and
answers to his son's behavior.

“Mark was a screaming, implacable infant who resisted being cuddled and
struggled against being picked up. He also struggled against being put
down,” he later wrote.

After finding no psychological basis for the disorder in his research, he
devoted his free time to studying neuropsychology in an effort to
understand the physiological factors. His quest led to the manuscript for
“Infantile Autism,” which received the Award for Distinguished
Contribution to Psychology before it was published as a book.

Once the book was published, he was inundated with letters and calls from
parents.

“I will never stop until I have found the answer or die, whichever comes
first,” he told The San Diego Union in 1988. “I will find the answer, and
if living to be 150 is what it takes – I'll do that, too.”

In recent months, as he fought cancer that originally was diagnosed in the
prostate, Dr. Rimland was forced to reduce his workload. By the end of
July, he was doing what work he could from his home.

Survivors include his wife, Gloria; sons, Mark Rimland and Paul Rimland,
both of San Diego; daughter, Helen Landalf of Seattle; and two
grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Greenwood Memorial Park, 4300
Imperial Ave., San Diego.

Donations are suggested to The Autism Research Institute, 4182 Adams Ave.,
San Diego, CA 92116.

Jack Williams: (619) 542-4587; jack.williams@uniontrib.com

From USAAA:

This USAAA WeeklyNews Special Edition is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Bernard Rimland

by Lawrence P. Kaplan, PhD
Executive Director, USAAA

I first met Dr. Rimland about ten years ago at an autism conference. I never realized at that time how much he would have impacted my life today. After listening to his conference presentation, my wife and I were excited to learn that we were on the right track with biomedical interventions that we had implemented long before many parents started their journey with alternative medicine.

Fast forward to 2004. I sent Dr. Rimland a galley (an unformatted version of a book's manuscript) of Diagnosis Autism: Now What?, my book that would be published in 2005. Two months later, I received a call from Dr. Rimland endorsing the book as well as spending a considerable amount of time discussing the current autism research. It was after having this memorable discussion with Dr. Rimland that I knew that it was time to form USAAA. I just didn't know when USAAA would become a reality.

My last personal meeting with Dr. Rimland was in the Long Beach Westin Hotel restaurant at a DAN conference in October, 2005. He was sitting in a corner by himself, and I asked him if I might join him for a few minutes. We ended up talking for nearly an hour about how he wanted to form a roundtable group of many autism organizations, including USAAA, to strengthen our position in advancing the cause of including biomedical interventions and environmental research into legislation. For me, it was an invigorating conversation with a soft spoken, well respected individual who had done more for autism than anyone else in the last forty years.

That was the last time I spoke with Dr. Rimland. USAAA was officially founded in July of 2005. In almost a year and a half, we have hosted an international conference (last August); we are co-hosting the Autism Vancouver Biennial Congress next March; we publish a weekly email newsletter to over 50,000 subscribers, and; we are embarking on an exciting new research project in a few months. All of this was developed with the support and inspiration from Dr. Rimland.

His memory will be honored and cherished by all of us who were fortunate enough to know him, as well as the thousands who benefited from his creation of the world-renowned (Autism Research Institute).

We, at US Autism and Asperger Association, will not only remember the incredible dedication of Dr. Rimland and the impact he had on all of us, but will continue his quest to improve the lives of thousands of children with autism - bringing relief, hope, and even recovery to families worldwide.

From PutChildrenFirst.com

Press Briefing:

Thank you all for your time today. My name is JB Handley. Along with
my wife, Lisa, I am the co-founder of putchildrenfirst, the sponsor
of this survey of over 9,000 Americans on mercury in the flu shot.
Here's a quick test for all of you. We all know household paint is a
bit toxic. Would you rather A, spill some paint on your skin? Or, B,
take that same amount of paint, pop it in a syringe, and mainline it?
If you chose A, as our survey revealed, you are like most Americans.
If you chose B, you're like the FDA, who made it a high priority to
get mercury out of topical products we use on our skin in the 1990s,
but continued to allow mercury to be injected into humans at levels
exceeding any available safety standard. In fact, we don't even have
safety standards for injected mercury, because no one considered
someone would be crazy enough to inject a well-known neurotoxin into
their bloodstream. It's actually the preposterous nature of the
situation we find ourselves in today that contributes to the public's
confusion. I find that the first time I tell people mercury is in
their flu shot, they simply don't believe me.

Our health authorities realized mercury in vaccines was a mistake in
1999 and made a public statement to warn Americans and encourage
manufacturers to change their formulations. Seven years later, we're
still talking about mercury. That's part of the problem. Our survey
showed that almost no one realizes mercury is STILL in over 90% of
this year's flu shot supply. When they find out the truth, more than
three-quarters know to stay away from mercury and even more think
children and pregnant women should avoid it.

The CDC provides a number of answers for why mercury is still used in
vaccines, none of which can be supported with any facts or evidence.
They will characterize Thimerosal's toxicity as theoretical when in
fact there is nothing theoretical about mercury's dangers. They will
tell you ethyl-mercury, the kind used in Thimerosal, is less toxic.
There is no data to support this and in fact a recent biological
study disproved this completely. They will tell you that the flu can
kill which should certainly trump any danger posed by mercury. Yet,
they fail to mention their own recent admission in an October 2006
study in the Journal of the American Medical Association where four
CDC authors write: "It is also important to note that there is scant
data on the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccine in young
children." And a British Medical Journal article the same month,
October 2006, noted "Evidence from systematic reviews shows that
[flu vaccines] have little or no effect on the effects measured." If
a company sold a product that didn't work and left behind a
neurotoxin they would already be bankrupt.

Anytime Thimerosal is mentioned, autism is brought up. We are not
here to talk about autism today. We are here to tell you that
Americans do not want mercury in their shots but few know it's there.
The CDC tries to make an argument that because they believe, through
their research, that Thimerosal is not responsible for the autism
epidemic, that makes Thimerosal safe. That is one high threshold for
safety. Interestingly, CDC never mentions that in the 2003 study they
authored in Pediatrics, they did find a correlation between
Thimerosal and both "tics" and "language delay." So, here's another
test for you. You bring your child in for a flu shot. The Doctor
tells you this shot has mercury, and that CDC found shots with
mercury lead to tics and language delay. What do you do?

The CDC wants you, the journalists, to report on the dire need for
all Americans to get a flu shot. In 2004, at a Vaccine Summit, the
British Medical Journal wrote the following, in criticizing what they
called the CDC's "marketing of fear"
"Glen Nowak, associate director for communications at the NIP, spoke
on using the media to boost demand for the vaccine. One step of
a "Seven-Step `Recipe' for Generating Interest in, and Demand for,
Flu Vaccination" occurs when "medical experts and public health
authorities publicly...state concern and alarm (and predict dire
outcomes) - and urge influenza vaccination"

My four year old son suffered an adverse reaction to a mercury
containing flu shot. That's why I'm here talking to you. His symptoms
included, and I quote, "brain damage, incoordination, seizures,
inability to speak and problems of his nervous and digestive system."
Those were my son's symptoms, but that quote is not from his medical
records. It's from the CDC's own website, discussing the harmful side-
effects of mercury, where they go on to warn all Americans to "keep
all mercury-containing medicines away from children."

Our survey proves that Americans understand this. Why doesn't the CDC?

Chelation - sort of

I started Chandler on DMSA, but it was a false start as the next day I got sick, handed the care of the boys off to daddy and went to bed for two days. He was not really up on what I was doing and frankly I was on to much Ny-quill to care, so Chan only got about a day and a half on it.

Something cool did happen though. Chandler was in the play room watching a vocabulary video, one of the words of the video being "apple". He came running out of the playroom and pulled me to the kitchen, looked at the apples and said, "apple". He has never asked for a specific food before. If you hold up a banana he will name it for you, but he has never asked for one. He ate the apple down and then dragged me to the kitchen and did it again.

I gotta go buy more apples.