Give me a break

[call me jaded]

Yes that is one of the most obscure abstract I have ever read, but the gist is that they are trying to prove a link.

 

When I get a mo I'll have a look through. I'm sure there's more.

 

Our families are choc-a-block with immune dysfunction! It's a sign, I tell ya!

[Mother in Need]

That's why I was interested in that link, I used to have lupus as well (yes, I am serious, I really did and now no longer; long story), one son ADHD, one AS, and one with tendencies in both directions, BUT I can also very clearly see the AS and ADHD coming from their dad.

[Lucas]

May I also just point out that the study does not conclude or aim to conclude that Autism causes the autmoimmune problems, just that it is present. As I unfortunately don't have any knowledge in the specific area there is little else I can say about it, one criticism I can make is that the abstract doesn't mention if there were any control groups or account to exclude a common cause which may be enviromental. Many Autistic people can share a feature purely because there is a common enviroment which Autistics are often placed in.

 

There are still many people who don't quite understand that first stereotyping of Autism came in the 60s twenty years after the diagnosis was first coined, so the stereotype is derived from observations of Autistics in the impoverished enviroments of institutions where they are brought to their worst state. No one seems to have questioned that the enviroment may have been a factor, the Autistic bogeyman was given the finger and that was the end of it.

[Zemanski]

Lucas, if you read the full text you will see that the introduction talks about immunology as one of the possible factors in autism and also lists environmental factors and indeed neurological factors and cites other research in those areas. There is definite acknowledgement that environment is a factor in autism

 

this study was focused on just the immunology because in research you need to focus on something in detail and other studies have been and are being done into environmental factors - this is just one study and the people doing it cite other research to explain their focus on immunology.

 

in the materials part there is a section on patients - they looked at autistic children with autoimmune problems, NT children with autoimmune problems and healthy NT children so they did have a control group

 

The discussion at the end is probably the most informative bit for an unqualified person to read - I got lost in all the technical stuff elsewhere

 

all in all it does seem to suggest that there may be a link between autism and immunology but then suggests specific further study to make a definite confirmation

[Lucas]

In which case my complaint is that they have not defined Autism, they seem to be linking 'Autistic Behaviours' to immunology and enviromental factors, which I would agree with. But Autism in the way I understand it, they miss the mark by a mile.

 

How do I read the full text? The abstract is all I can see, there's don't appear to be any clear links.

[Zemanski]

The 'FULL TEXT' button is at the top right of the page

 

- are we back to the argument about autism and comorbids then?

I think the research sidesteps that issue - they are looking not at the behaviours or even curing the problems but at what causes these problems in autistic kids, nothing to do with what the effects on the person are or even that the bowel problems are part of the autism just simply that kids with autism often have bowel problems - why? what causes them?

 

Zemanski