Gut Microbe Study May Lead to Potential Autism Treatment

If your child with autism has had gut issues this is a must read that spells progress. Anyone who's read this blog knows Nick had gut issues before he had ANY signs of autism and that autism is an autoimmune illness. I've always known his gut was connected to his autism. I've always felt that his gut issues triggered his autism. However, few Dr.'s, with the exception of Dr. Jacqulyn McCandless, ever provided Nick any relief.   If anyone out there is doing this treatment, please comment and let me know.
Donna 

New gut microbe study may lead to potential autism treatment

Scientists look to gut microbes for a possible new treatment for autism.

By Amy Wallace  

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Researchers at Arizona State University have found improved autism symptoms in participants who were given medications to treat gut microbes.

The research team of scientists from Arizona State, Northern Arizona University, Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota, studied 18 people ages 7 to 16 with autism spectrum disorders for 10 weeks.

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Study participants were given a treatment of antibiotics, a bowel cleanse, and daily fecal microbial transplants over an eight-week period.

The study showed an average of 80 percent improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms common in people with autism and a 20 to 25 percent improvement in certain autism behaviors including social skills and sleep habits.

"The results were very compelling," James Adams, ASU president's professor of materials science and engineering and study author, said in a press release. "We completed a Phase 1 trial demonstrating safety and efficacy, but recommending such treatment and bringing it to market requires Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials. We look forward to continuing research on this treatment method with a larger, placebo-controlled trial in the future."

The fecal microbial transplant transfers live gut bacteria from a healthy donor and contains roughly 1,000 different species of gut bacteria that act as probiotics.

"We saw a big increase in microbe diversity and a big increase in certain bacteria, especially Prevotella, which we previously found was low in children with autism spectrum disorders," Dae-Wook Kang, researcher at Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology and co-author of the study, said in a press release.

Researchers stressed the need for further research and a placebo-controlled trial.

The study was published in Microbiome.

Robert De Niro Defends Screening of Anti-Vaccine Film at Tribeca Festival

By PAM BELLUCK and MELENA RYZIKMARCH 25, 2016

Robert De Niro and his wife, Grace Hightower De Niro, in January. Mr. De Niro, one of the festival’s founders, said in a statement that “we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined.” CreditMike Coppola/FilmMagic

In a decision that has dredged up the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, the Tribeca Film Festival plans to screen a film by a discredited former doctor whose research caused widespread alarm about the issue.

The film, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” is directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield, an anti-vaccination activist and an author of a study — published in the British medical journal The Lancet, in 1998 — that was retracted in 2010. In addition to the retraction of the study, which involved 12 children, Britain’s General Medical Council, citing ethical violations and a failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest, revoked Mr. Wakefield’s medical license.

On the festival’s website, the biographical material about Mr. Wakefield does not mention that he was stripped of his license or that his Lancet study was retracted. Rather, it says that the Lancet study “would catapult Wakefield into becoming one of the most controversial figures in the history of medicine.”

Retracted Scientific Studies: A Growing List

 

On Friday, Robert De Niro, one of the festival’s founders, said in a statement issued through the festival’s publicists that he supported the plan to show the movie next month, although he said he was “not personally endorsing the film,” nor was he against vaccination.

Mr. De Niro’s statement seemed to suggest that this was the first time he has expressed a preference that a particular film be shown at the festival.

“Grace and I have a child with autism,” he wrote, referring to his wife, Grace Hightower De Niro, “and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening VAXXED.”

Within hours his statement, posted on Facebook, generated hundreds of comments.

The trailer for the film, filled with dramatic music, opens with the words “Are Our Children Safe?” on a black screen with billowing smoke that appears to be coming from a syringe. The trailer includes the suggestion that a “whistle-blower” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would say that the organization “had committed fraud” and “that they knew that vaccines were actually causing autism.” Mr. Wakefield appears in the trailer saying, “Wow, the C.D.C. had known all along there was this M.M.R. autism risk.”

Andrew Wakefield, the director and a vocal anti-vaccination activist, in an image from the film. His medical license was revoked by Britain’s General Medical Council.

M.M.R. stands for the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella that children 12 to 15 months old are supposed to receive. Scientific evidence has repeatedly shown the vaccine to be safe, highly effective and having no connection to autism. In recent years, serious outbreaks of measles have erupted, including one at Disneyland, partly because many parents have refused to vaccinate their children.

The plan to show the film has unnerved and angered doctors, infectious disease experts and even other filmmakers.

“Unless the Tribeca Film Festival plans to definitively unmask Andrew Wakefield, it will be yet another disheartening chapter where a scientific fraud continues to occupy a spotlight and overshadows the damage he has left behind in the important story of vaccine safety and success,” Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in an email.

The documentary filmmaker Penny Lane (“Our Nixon”) published on Thursday an open letter to the festival’s organizers in Filmmaker Magazine, suggesting that including “Vaxxed” in the documentary section “threatens the credibility of not just the other filmmakers in your doc slate, but the field in general.”

She added that while the subject of ethics and truthfulness in a documentary can be uncomfortable, “this film is not some sort of disinterested investigation into the ‘vaccines cause autism’ hoax; this film is directed by the person who perpetuated the hoax.”

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, called the decision to show the film “particularly sad” because the Tribeca festival receives attention far beyond New York.

“The people who put on the Tribeca Film Festival are very prestigious and they draw a very thoughtful audience, and it’s implicit that if they have suggested this film they think that there’s some merit in it, and more importantly, merit to Wakefield’s message,” Dr. Schaffner said. “All of us are out talking about it reassuring parents, children, anyone who wants to pay attention to this issue that vaccines are safe and effective, and they certainly do not cause autism, and that Dr. Wakefield was a fraud and had his license removed over this very event.”

According to the festival’s website, “Vaxxed” will be screened only once, on April 24, the festival’s closing day. A talk with the director and the film’s subjects will follow.

Whistleblower: CDC covered up vaccine’s autism effect in black boys

POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 BY STAFF IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH, CHILDREN,MEDICAL NEWS WITH 11 COMMENTS

A top research scientist working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) played a key role in helping Dr. Brian Hooker of the Focus Autism Foundation uncover data manipulation by the CDC that obscured a higher incidence of autism in African-American boys. The whistleblower came to the attention of Hooker, a PhD in biochemical engineering, after he had made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for original data on theDeStefano et al MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism study.

Dr. Hooker’s study, published August 8 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Translational Neurodegeneration, shows that African-American boys receiving their first MMR vaccine before 36 months of age are 3.4 times more likely to develop autism vs. after 36 months.

According to Dr. Hooker, the CDC whistleblower informant — who wishes to remain anonymous — guided him to evidence that a statistically significant relationship between the age the MMR vaccine was first given and autism incidence in African-American boys was hidden by CDC researchers. After data were gathered on 2,583 children living in Atlanta, Georgia who were born between 1986 and 1993, CDC researchers excluded children that did not have a valid State of Georgia birth certificate — reducing the sample size being studied by 41%. Hooker explains that by introducing this arbitrary criteria into the analysis, the cohort size was sharply reduced, eliminating the statistical power of the findings and negating the strong MMR-autism link in African American boys.

Dr. Hooker has worked closely with the CDC whistleblower, and he viewed highly sensitive documents related to the study via Congressional request from U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

READ MORE via Vaccines: U.S. Centers for Disease Control Manipulated Data, Covered-Up Higher Incidence of Autism in African American Boys | Global Research.

2 of 2 Vaccines - Wakefield Proven Right

Controversial Doctor and Autism Media Channel Director proven right - MMR Vaccine Causes Autism & Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Watch the Video 

http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/new-published-study-verifies-andrew-wakefields-research-on-autism-again/

References

Autism Media Channel

Two landmark events – a government concession in the US Vaccine Court, and a groundbreaking scientific paper – confirm that physician, scientist, and Autism Media Channel [AMC] Director, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, and the parents were right all along.

In a recently published December 13, 2012 vaccine court ruling, hundreds of thousands of dollars were awarded to Ryan Mojabi, [i] whose parents described how “MMR vaccinations,” caused a “severe and debilitating injury to his brain, diagnosed as Autism Spectrum Disorder (‘ASD’).”

Later the same month, the government suffered a second major defeat when young Emily Moller from Houston won compensation following vaccine-related brain injury that, once again, involved MMR and resulted in autism. The cases follow similar successful petitions in the Italian and US courts (including Hannah Poling [ii], Bailey Banks [iii], Misty Hyatt [iv], Kienan Freeman [v], Valentino Bocca [vi], and Julia Grimes [vii]) in which the governments conceded or the court ruled that vaccines had caused brain injury. In turn, this injury led to an ASD diagnosis. MMR vaccine was the common denominator in these cases.

And today, scientists and physicians from Wake Forest University, New York, and Venezuela, reported findings that not only confirm the presence of intestinal disease in children with autism and intestinal symptoms, but also indicate that this disease may be novel. [viii] Using sophisticated laboratory methods Dr. Steve Walker and his colleagues endorsed Wakefield’s original findings by showing molecular changes in the children’s intestinal tissues that were highly distinctive and clearly abnormal.

From 1998 Dr. Wakefield discovered and reported intestinal disease in children with autism. [ix] Based upon the medical histories of the children he linked their disease and their autistic regression to the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR vaccine). He has since been subjected to relentless personal and professional attacks in the media, and from governments, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry. In the wake of demonstrably false and highly damaging allegations of scientific fraud by British journalist Brian Deer and the British Medical Journal, Dr. Wakefield is pursuing defamation proceedings against them in Texas. [x]

While repeated studies from around the world confirmed Wakefield’s bowel disease in autistic children [xi] and his position that safety studies of the MMR are inadequate, [xii] Dr. Wakefield ’s career has been destroyed by false allegations.  Despite this he continues to work tirelessly to help solve the autism catastrophe.

The incidence of autism has rocketed to a risk of around 1 in 25 for children born today. Mean while governments, absent any explanation and fearing loss of public trust, continue to deny the vaccine autism connection despite the concessions in vaccine court.

Speaking from his home in Austin, Texas, Dr. Wakefield said, 

There can be very little doubt that vaccines can and do cause autism. In these children, the evidence for a n adverse reaction involving brain injury following the MMR that progresses to an autism diagnosis is compelling. It’s now a question of the body count. The parents’ story was right all along. Governments must stop playing with words while children continue to be damaged . My hope is that recognition of the intestinal disease in these children will lead to the relief of their suffering. This is long , long overdue .”

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a best selling author, [xi] founder of the autism research non profit Strategic Autism Initiative (SAI), and Director of the Autism Media Channel.

“Identification of Unique Gene Expression Profile in Children with Regressive Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Ileocolitis” PLOS ONE March 8, 2013, available online at:http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058058

[i] Decision Awarding Damages to Ryan Mohabi 13 Dec 2012

[ii] Family to Receive $1.5M+ in First-Ever Vaccine-Autism Court Award September 9, 2010 2:14 PM

and

Decision Awarding Damages 21 July 2012

[iii] http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/Abell.BANKS.02-0738V.pdf (see footnote 4)

[iv] Vaccine Case: An Exception Or A Precedent? February 11, 2009 3:20 PM CBS News By Sharyl Attkisson

[v] KIENAN FREEMAN RULING CONCERNING “ENTITLEMENT” – September 25, 2003

[vi] MMR: A mother’s victory. The vast majority of doctors say there is no link between the triple jab and autism, but could an Italian court case reignite this controversial debate? By Sue Reid – Daily Mail 15 June 2012

[vii] JULIA GRIMES – DECISION AWARDING DAMAGES January 12, 2011

[viii] Walker S., Fortunado J, Krigsman A., Gonzalez L. Identification of Unique Gene Expression Profile in Children with Regressive Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Ileocolitis

[ix] Wakefield AJ. Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines – The Truth Behind a Tragedy. 2010.Skyhorse Publishing, NY, NY. Chapter 1, footnotes 1 & 4, p.20

[x] For Affidavits see www.DrWakefieldJusticeFund.org

[xi] Wakefield AJ. Waging War on the Autistic Child. 2012 Skyhorse Publishing NY, NY. Chapter 2, footnotes 2 11, pp. 255 256

[xii] Jefferson T et al, Unintended events following immunization with MMR: a systematic review. Vaccine 21 (2003) 3954–3960

Source: Press Release from Autism Media Channel

Here is a list of 28 studies from around the world that support Dr. Wakefield’s research:

1. The Journal of Pediatrics November 1999; 135(5):559-63
2. The Journal of Pediatrics 2000; 138(3): 366-372
3. Journal of Clinical Immunology November 2003; 23(6): 504-517
4. Journal of Neuroimmunology 2005 
5. Brain, Behavior and Immunity 1993; 7: 97-103
6. Pediatric Neurology 2003; 28(4): 1-3
7. Neuropsychobiology 2005; 51:77-85
8. The Journal of Pediatrics May 2005;146(5):605-10
9. Autism Insights 2009; 1: 1-11
10. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology February 2009; 23(2): 95-98
11. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry 2009:21(3): 148-161
12. Journal of Child Neurology June 29, 2009; 000:1-6
13. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders March 2009;39(3):405-13
14. Medical Hypotheses August 1998;51:133-144.
15. Journal of Child Neurology July 2000; ;15(7):429-35
16. Lancet. 1972;2:883–884.
17. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia January-March 1971;1:48-62
18. Journal of Pediatrics March 2001;138:366-372.
19. Molecular Psychiatry 2002;7:375-382.
20. American Journal of Gastroenterolgy April 2004;598-605.
21. Journal of Clinical Immunology November 2003;23:504-517.
22. Neuroimmunology April 2006;173(1-2):126-34.
23. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol Biol. Psychiatry December 30 2006;30:1472-1477.
24. Clinical Infectious Diseases September 1 2002;35(Suppl 1):S6-S16
25. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2004;70(11):6459-6465
26. Journal of Medical Microbiology October 2005;54:987-991
27. Archivos venezolanos de puericultura y pediatría 2006; Vol 69 (1): 19-25.
28. Gastroenterology. 2005:128 (Suppl 2);Abstract-303

1 of 2 - Vaccines - Wakefield's a Quack

It Took Studying 25,782,500 Kids To Begin To Undo The Damage Caused By 1 Doctor

 Adam Mordecai

Once upon a time, a scientist named Dr. Andrew Wakefield published in the medical journal The Lancet that he had discovered a link between autism and vaccines. After years of controversy and making parents mistrust vaccines, along with collecting $674,000 from lawyers who would benefit from suing vaccine makers, it was discovered he had made the whole thing up. The Lancet publicly apologized and reported that further investigation led to the discovery that he had fabricatedeverything.

In the intervening years, millions have been spent on studying this further to see if there was anything that could connect autism and vaccines. This is what they found. http://www.upworthy.com/it-took-studying-25782500-kids-to-begin-to-undo-the-damage-caused-by-1-doctor

News Alert: Fresh Dispute about MMR vaccine “Fraud”?

A conversation that is not over for everyone…at least not yet.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111109/full/479157a.html

Dr. Wakefield and the Ongoing Vaccine Debate.

I just finished a chat with someone who wanted to know what I thought of Dr. Wakefild being called out as a fraud.  Families were questioning if vaccines played a role in their children's ASD before they knew about Dr. Wakefield. I remember seeing 90% of families gathered in a room discussing autism on 60 Minutes, raise their hands when asked "Who here believes vaccines triggered their child's autism?".  I don't know what causes autism, but I know families have no answers and most are skeptical of big pharmaceuticals, which will continue to drive the debate.


The bottom line is until science really does discover and agrees' on the causes of autism and can explain its dramatic increase, parents will not stop drawing their own conclusions and doing everything they can to help their kids, because they have not choice!  Sadly, this will include treatments and interventions that are both good and bad.  


Remember families get a diagnosis of a lifelong illness and they are sent home to deal with it on their own, to do the best they can.  Imagine being in that position.  I think we need to stop spending time blaming and put all of our energy into getting adequate funding to find a cure and ways to improve the quality of life for everyone living with autism...until there is a cure.

News Alert:Supreme Court Case Could Change Vaccine Lawsuits

HEALTH

Supreme Court to decide on vaccine suits

Tue, Oct 12 11:40 AM EDT

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments later on Tuesday in a case that could shake up protections aimed at keeping vaccine makers in business.

The high court has agreed to hear a Pennsylvania case involving a lawsuit by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, now 18, who suffered seizures after her third dose of a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine, one of the regular childhood vaccines.

Normally, such cases are referred to a special no-fault program that compensates people genuinely harmed by vaccines. In this case, the parents, Russell and Robalee Bruesewitz, sued the vaccine manufacturer, Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer Inc.

They say the vaccine has an outmoded and flawed design and contained toxins that caused the seizures. They say Hannah has suffered developmental problems since then.

At issue is the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

Congress passed the law to prevent repeated lawsuits against vaccine makers and says no manufacturer is liable for injuries from "side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings."

The question before the court is whether suits over the design of a vaccine may bypass the vaccine compensation system.

State courts have issued conflicting rulings on the question.

The Georgia Supreme Court found that federal law allows some design defect claims against vaccine manufacturers while a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Congress expressly prohibited such lawsuits in an effort to shield manufacturers from liability.

President Barack Obama's administration agrees federal law prevents such design defect lawsuits in state courts. The Department of Justice filed a friend of the court brief asking the Supreme Court to rule against the Bruesewitz family.

Public health experts argue vaccines are vital to the health of the nation as a whole and say no drug company will make them if they must fear repeated lawsuits.

"Withdrawal of a vaccine is particularly damaging because vaccines are administered not only to immunize individuals, but also 'to reduce transmission of infection and thereby to prevent disease even in non-vaccinated individuals, thus to protect communities,'" the Justice Department argues.

The vaccine injury program has a pot of money, provided by a tax on vaccines, to pay people genuinely injured by vaccines.

Pfizer has said it was "hopeful that the Supreme Court will affirm" the Philadelphia appeals court ruling in Wyeth's favor.

(Reporting by Jim Vicini and Maggie Fox; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Vaccine Debate...Leave all doors Open.

No matter what side of the vaccine debate you sit on, don’t expect this issue to be resolved anytime soon. This week the Vaccine-Autism Court Awarded $1.5M to the Poling Family for their daughters autism injuries related to vaccines. Expect to see the families and professionals who are passionate about the connection revitalized by this decision.

In response to the question "Donna what do you think?"  
I do NOT think that children should forgo critical vaccines.
I don’t know a parent of a child with autism who wants to see outbreaks of eradicated diseases return to our communities. Today the scientific community has not found a link that directly connects vaccines and autism. Also, true is that we live in a world where drug companies by their own practices have made themselves suspect and families are distrusting. Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less  prevalent childhood diseases. Research is still in the infancy stages based on dollars and time invested. Therefore, I don't believe that every possible connection or trigger has been researched. There has not yet been enough time, science or money dedicated to ALL of the possible connections, or all of the possible illness's we are dealing with that currently fall under the ASD umbrella. That said,  I don't believe that "every" family who reports their child’s autism was caused or triggered by vaccines has been proven wrong. Until we can say "that there is NO case and  NO child in which their autism is the result  - albeit directly or indirectly - of vaccines, the policy/schedule for delivering vaccines, every individual child's immune system, or a world is so polluted vaccines somehow deliver a final immune system blow to some kids our children deserve for all doors to remain open for investigation.

Every parent wants an answer.  I do not know what caused Nicky’s autism.  I do know Nicky's autism had a trigger. Nicky hit all of his developmental milestones in the first 18 months of life. He talked, played and laughed. Below are two pictures that show what I call his BA and AA, for before autism and after autism (ironically the only AA or BA he will probably ever get). He was an adorable connected kid. His only known health challenges were immune system related, tummy problems, ear infections then pneumonia at 20 months. When he emerged from his pneumonia he stopped talking and began a rapid decent into autism. He was diagnosed with ASD at 24 months. Today he is classified in a group of kids who have "Regressive Autism". Kids who get skills and then loose them, vs those who don't develop them.  He now has a duel diagnosis of autism and epilepsy, and we don’t know how or why. 

Nicky After

Nicky Before

The family, who won the vaccine award, believes without a doubt that vaccines were the cause of their daughter’s autism. Their win confirms it was impossible to disprove a connection. This story is similar to what thousands of other families have reported experiencing. Children are described as normal, happy and precocious in their first 18 months. Then after vaccinations develop high fevers, stop eating, don’t respond when spoken to, and begin showing signs of autism, including screaming fits.  

Finally, in acknowledging Hannah's injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated a disorder Hannah had which didn't "cause" her autism, but "resulted" in it.  My son is one of the approximately 4,800 cases awaiting disposition in federal vaccine court, not because I know vaccines caused his ASD, but because I don’t know what did and no one can tell me. Until someone can I will do what I can to not leave any stone unturned. 

Until there is more funding, until more research is done there will be no answers. Our kids deserve an answer, we all deserve an answer. I don't sit on either side of the debate, I just want to learn the truth.