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	<title>Health &#38; FamilyCategory: Autism &#124; Health &#38; Family &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<description>A healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit</description>
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		<title>Health &#38; FamilyCategory: Autism &#124; Health &#38; Family &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Prenatal Exposure to Pollution Raises Risk of Autism in Kids</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/18/prenatal-exposure-to-pollution-raises-risk-of-autism-in-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/18/prenatal-exposure-to-pollution-raises-risk-of-autism-in-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diesel particulates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mercury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nurses health study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollutants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=88366</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pollutants in the air are known to affect brain development, but the first national study of in utero exposure  and autism rates raises new concerns. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) say that early-life exposure to pollution, including diesel particulates, mercury and lead, could contribute to a higher risk of autism disorders. They came to that conclusion after analyzing data from a nationwide sample of 116,430 nurses participating in the Nurses&#8217; Health Study II, an on-going survey that began in 1989. Among the volunteers, 325 had children with autism, and most of them lived in areas with higher levels of pollutants than those who didn&#8217;t have children affected by the developmental disorder. Last year, a study of over 500 kids found that those with autism were two to three times more likely than other kids to have been exposed to car exhaust, smog, and other air pollutants early on. But those studies involved mothers and children in limited geographic areas; in the current study, published online in the the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the scientists surveyed pollution exposure and autism rates across the entire U.S. MORE: Car Pollution Linked to Childhood Cancers They compared autism rates to levels of pollutants measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the womens&#8217; pregnancies. Expectant mothers who lived in the 20% of locations around the country with the highest pollution levels in the form of diesel particulates or mercury were two times as likely to have a child with autism compared to those who lived in the 20% of locations with the lowest levels of pollution. Women who lived in the 20% of areas with the highest levels of other pollutants like lead, manganese, methylene chloride and other metals, were nearly 50% more likely to have a child with autism. “Our results suggest that new studies should begin the process of measuring metals and other pollutants in the blood of pregnant women or newborn children to provide stronger evidence that specific pollutants increase risk of autism,&#8221; said senior study author<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=88366&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/165844799.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Autistic Children&#8217;s Brain Responses To Words Predict Their Developmental Outcomes</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/30/autistic-childrens-brain-responses-to-words-predict-their-developmental-outcomes/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/30/autistic-childrens-brain-responses-to-words-predict-their-developmental-outcomes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 May 2013 15:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism symptoms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[severe autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[word processing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=87468</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Language can prove a bugaboo for children with autism. Now new research finds that it&#8217;s possible to use toddlers&#8217; brain responses to words to predict their linguistic and cognitive skills down the road. Researchers from the University of Washington looked into how kids with a range of autism symptoms process words. They relied upon sensors anchored by elastic caps to compare the brain responses of a group of 2-year-olds to familiar and unfamiliar words. Among the participants, 24 were diagnosed autism and 22 were developmentally normal. (MORE: Q&#38;A With Temple Grandin on the Autistic Brain) The researchers then split the group of autistic children into two based on the severity of their condition and analyzed their brain responses once again. They found that the kids with less severe autism had brain responses similar to developmentally normal kids. This was not the case for kids with severe autism. The kids with less severe autism symptoms had close-to-average brain responses to the stimuli. When they heard familiar words, strong activity was seen in the temporal parietal region of the left side of the brain, which is typically activated in word-processing. Conversely, patients with stronger autism symptoms had more activity in the right hemisphere of their brain, which is atypical. (MORE: New Study Suggests Autism Can be ‘Outgrown’) &#8220;We think this measure signals that the 2-year-old&#8217;s brain has reorganized itself to process words. This reorganization depends on the child&#8217;s ability to learn from social experiences,&#8221; said the study authors, in a statement. All the participants had their cognitive abilities assessed, along with language and social skills and emotional development. They were tested at ages 2, 4 and 6. With behavioral therapy, the children with autism were able to improve with time, but there were notable differences between their outcomes. The kids with brain responses most similar to the developmentally normal kids at age 2 had the greatest improvements in their behavior and social skills by the time they were 6. (MORE: What Genius and Autism Have in Common) &#8220;First the fact that a measure of word processing taken at the age of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=87468&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/165667163.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<title>Excerpt: Author Temple Grandin Reports on The Autistic Brain</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/19/excerpt-author-temple-grandin-reports-on-the-autistic-brain/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/19/excerpt-author-temple-grandin-reports-on-the-autistic-brain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 11:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME.com</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[temple grandin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Autistic Brain]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=86942</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, eloquently described life from the perspective of someone living with autism in her memoir, Thinking in Pictures, which served as the basis for an Emmy-winning HBO movie. With her latest book, The Autistic Brain, Grandin uses her own experience to take readers from the first diagnoses of the developmental disorder to the latest research involving neurological imaging and genetics that are helping to reveal more about the condition. In the following excerpt, Grandin addresses the importance of identifying and encouraging the strengths and talents of people on the autism spectrum to highlight the measurable ways they can contribute and participate in society. (MORE: Q&#38;A: Temple Grandin and The Autistic Brain) I don’t know how my own brain might have changed over the years, but I do know that as my career has shifted, so have my abilities. I haven’t been doing drawings for more than 10 years now, partly because of changes in the industry. The fax machine was the ruination of good architectural drawings. Clients would say to me, “Oh, just shove it in the fax,” and then they’d use the fax as their blueprint. I lost the motivation to make a really nice drawing. But at the same time, my professional priorities were changing. I was becoming a lot busier giving lectures, and many people have told me that my speaking style became more and more natural. That was hard work. I knew I had to train myself to be someone I wasn’t naturally, and what is training yourself at a new skill but “rewiring” your brain? This generation is fortunate in an important way. They’re the tablet generation — the touchscreen, create-anything generation. I’ve already talked about how these devices are an improvement over previous computers because the keyboard is right on the screen; autistic viewers don’t have to move their eyes to see the result of their typing. But tablets also have other advantages for the autistic population. First, they’re cool. A tablet is not something that labels you as handicapped to the rest of the world. Tablets<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=86942&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><letterbox>1</letterbox><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/autistic-brain_temple-grandin_hres.jpg?w=238</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
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		<title>Q&amp;A: Temple Grandin on the Autistic Brain</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/16/qa-temple-grandin-on-the-autistic-brain/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/16/qa-temple-grandin-on-the-autistic-brain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA['Mind Reading']]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autistic brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[temple grandin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=86607</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, was one of the first autistic people to chronicle her life with the condition— and is now a bestselling author and well known for her innovative designs for handling livestock. Recently portrayed by Claire Danes in an Emmy-winning HBO movie about her life, Grandin spoke to TIME about her latest book, The Autistic Brain. What most concerns you about the way we work with autistic children today? I’m really concerned about getting people on the higher end of the spectrum good jobs. Autism is a very diverse disorder ranging from someone who remains nonverbal with a very severe handicap to mild autism. And really, half the people in Silicon Valley have got some mild autism. But I’m seeing too many kids today that are really talented and on the high end of the spectrum kind of going nowhere because their skills haven’t been developed. They haven’t learned how to work. When I was 13, I had a sewing job and when I was 15, I cleaned horse stalls. Do you think the label of autism is hurting these kids, making them feel they are limited in a way that someone without the diagnosis might not be? I think sometimes parents and teachers fail to stretch kids. My mother had a very good sense of how to stretch me just slightly outside my comfort zone. No surprises. You can’t chuck them in the deep end of the pool, that doesn’t work but she kind of just knew, you know, to get me to do things, like serve hors d’oeuvres at my mother’s parties and just bow and shake hands with the guests. You write a bit about the controversy over how to define autism and how it has changed over the years in psychiatry’s diagnostic book, the DSM. It’s not like having a diagnosis for tuberculosis. In fact, when I worked on the [part of the book about the] history of the DSM and I saw how it was laid<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=86607&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><letterbox>1</letterbox><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/9780547636450_hres.jpg?w=238</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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		<title>Multiple Vaccinations on Same Day Does Not Raise Autism Risk</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/29/multiple-vaccinations-on-same-day-does-not-raise-autism-risk/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/29/multiple-vaccinations-on-same-day-does-not-raise-autism-risk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vaccines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[childhood immunization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[delayed vaccination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vaccines]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=83228</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Infants now receive several shots at a time, but the latest study says that does not increase their risk of developing autism. About one-third of parents are concerned about unsubstantiated claims that vaccines can cause autism. And although research, including an analysis by the Institute of Medicine, has not found a causal relationship between vaccines and the developmental disorder, one in 10 parents still delay or refuse to vaccinate their children according to the Center for Disease Control&#8217;s childhood immunization schedule. Intuitively, parents believe that the amount of antigens, or immune-activating agents in the shots, over-burden young babies&#8217; still-developing immune systems, making them more vulnerable to developing autism. So many parents &#8220;shot-limit,&#8221; or stagger the immunizations their infants receive, spreading them out rather than vaccinating their children at the recommended 2, 4, and 6 month visits. There is no evidence, however, that delaying the various doses of the 14 different vaccinations recommended in the U.S. are safer for kids. And the latest study investigating the practice, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, continues to show there is no association between autism and receiving &#8220;too many shots too soon.&#8221; The researchers reviewed data involving 256 kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 752 without ASDs. By examining their vaccination schedules, the scientists calculated the maximum amount of antigens from the shots each child received during a single doctor&#8217;s visit to determine how stimulated the babies&#8217; immune systems were to create antibodies against the diseases for which they were vaccinated. They also calculated the infants&#8217; overall antigen exposure in three different groupings &#8212; from birth to three months, from birth to seven months, and from birth to two years, by which time most youngsters should have received the bulk of their childhood immunizations. (MORE: Vaccine Safety: Why Parents’ Alternative Immunization Schedules May Cause Harm) For each age grouping, the scientists compared exposure to antibody-producing antigen and risk of ASDs. By age two, most properly vaccinated children should have been exposed to about 315 different antigens from disease-causing agents such as measles, tetanus and pertussis. They<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=83228&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Vaccines</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/vaccines-medicine/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/160428859.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>Study: Women Abused As Kids More Likely To Have Children With Autism</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/21/study-women-abused-as-kids-are-more-likely-to-have-children-with-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/21/study-women-abused-as-kids-are-more-likely-to-have-children-with-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:45:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trauma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism rates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism spectrum disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[childhood abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pregnancy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=82711</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The results are the first to suggest a trans-generational contributor to the developmental disorder. The study, published in the  journal JAMA Psychiatry, is the first to examine the potential legacy that a mother&#8217;s experience with childhood abuse could have on the health of her own children. The findings are especially sobering given the latest statistics released from the Centers for Disease Control, which found a significantly higher rate of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) — one in 50 compared to one in 88 from a report released in 2012 — among school-aged children than previously thought. The authors of the JAMA Psychiatry paper studied more than 50,000 women enrolled in the Nurse&#8217;s Health Study II, who were asked about any history of abuse before they were 12. The questions delved into both physical and emotional abuse, as the women evaluated whether they had been hit hard enough to leave bruises, as well as whether adults or caregivers had insulted, screamed or yelled at them. They also filled out questionnaires about whether their own children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. The scientists also had access to the nurses&#8217; health records, so they could adjust for other maternal health factors known to influence autism risk, including nine pregnancy-related conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, alcohol consumption and smoking. (MORE: Autism: Why Some Children ‘Bloom’ and Overcome Their Disabilities) Women who reported physical, emotional, or sexual abuse when they were young were more likely to have a child with autism compared to women who were not abused. The more severely the women were abused, the higher their chances of having a child with autism; compared to women who weren&#8217;t abused, those who endured the most serious mistreatment were 60% as likely to have an autistic child. Because it&#8217;s possible that a mother&#8217;s exposure to abuse as a child could also lead her to engage in behaviors associated with harming the fetus — such as smoking, drinking during pregnancy, using drugs, being overweight, having preterm labor or giving birth to a premature or low<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=82711&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/131226727.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<title>Why Girls May Be Protected Against Autism</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/22/why-girls-may-be-protected-against-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/22/why-girls-may-be-protected-against-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:45:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ASD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asperger's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asperger's syndrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism spectrum disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gender]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[girls autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=80815</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Boys outnumber girls when it comes to autism diagnoses, and researchers may have uncovered one reason why. Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, but whether that trend is rooted in biological differences between the genders or the fact that girls might simply hide their symptoms better, hasn&#8217;t been clear. The gender-based difference could be due to factors that increase the risk among boys, or, alternatively, factors that protect girls. Researchers led by Elise Robinson of Harvard Medical School decided to investigate the latter, and determine whether there might be something about being female that protected girls from the the developmental disorder. The team analyzed data from two large samples of twins, one from Sweden and the other from the U.K.  They theorized that if something were protecting girls from autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), then families of girls who actually did develop them should have a greater than average risk, and that risk would overwhelm whatever protection they received from their gender.  In other words, girls would have a higher threshold for developing ASDs — they would have to be faced with a heavier burden of whatever genetic or environmental risk factors cause ASD in order to actually develop it. (MORE: A Genetic Clue to Why Autism Affects Boys More) Such family-based risk can be measured by studying levels autistic symptoms in unaffected siblings: in families at high risk of developmental and psychiatric disorders, even unaffected members tend to have mild symptoms, but not enough to qualify for a diagnosis. “If greater familial [risk] is required to produce autistic impairments in girls, the family members of affected females should on average carry greater risk than the family members of affected males,” the authors write.  Because identical twins share the same genetics, they studied fraternal twins only, comparing sets in which only one had an autism spectrum disorder. Nearly 4,000 British twins and just over 6,000 Swedish twins were included in the research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (MORE:<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=80815&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1567139661.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0a5ac57e99124922fa628492ad3db6b2?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Study Finds Folic Acid May Decrease Risk For Autism</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/13/study-finds-folic-acid-may-decrease-risk-for-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/13/study-finds-folic-acid-may-decrease-risk-for-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:45:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supplements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=79867</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Folic acid is already recommended to prevent birth defects, but the supplement could lower risk of autism as well. In the U.S., grain and cereal makers have been supplementing breads and other products with folic acid since 1998, after studies showed that the B vitamin could lower the risk of neural tube defects in newborns.  The latest study, published in the journal JAMA, provides another reason that moms-to-be should consume the recommended daily dose of 400 micrograms of folic acid: it may lower risk of autism in their newborns by up to 40%. Researchers studied data from about 85,000 Norwegian children born between 2002 and 2008; in Norway, unlike in the U.S. there are no requirements to fortify foods with folic acid, so the researchers tracked the use of folic acid supplements in expectant moms beginning four weeks before they became pregnant to eight weeks into their pregnancy. Women who took the pills were less likely to have children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders than mothers who didn&#8217;t take folate supplements. By the end of the study, when the children were 3 years to 10 years old, 270 were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs); 114 were diagnosed with autistic disorder, 56 with Asperger syndrome, and 100 with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). (MORE: New Study Suggests Autism Can Be &#8216;Outgrown&#8217;) &#8220;Mothers who took folic acid supplements in early pregnancy had a 40% reduced risk of having children with autistic disorder compared with mothers who did not take folic acid,&#8221; says study author Dr. Pal Surén of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. There was no drop in risk for developing  PDD-NOS, and the number of children with Asperger syndrome was too low to be significant. Folic acid is the synthetic form of the B vitamin folate, which occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables and is important for generating and maintaining healthy cells. That&#8217;s why it may prevent neural tube birth defects early in fetal development, and could explain why it also plays a role in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. In a previous study involving<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=79867&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/103724591.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">103724591</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/dd9dc95ff828efb70c16a5a509a75150?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>The Connection Between Dirty Diapers and Childhood Health</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/12/the-connection-between-dirty-diapers-and-childhood-health/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/12/the-connection-between-dirty-diapers-and-childhood-health/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alice Park</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asthma & Allergies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breast-Feeding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infectious Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obesity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pregnancy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[allergies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asthma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breastfeeding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[c-sections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cesarean section]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gut bugs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microbiome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=79965</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cesarean sections and breast feeding can have lifelong effects on a baby’s health, and researchers may have uncovered why. It’s all about the bugs. Or, to be more precise, the bacteria that live in the gut to help digest food and, it turns out, perform a host of other important functions. In a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers led by Anita Kozyrskyj found that babies born by C-section harbored a different set of microbes in their digestive tracts than those born vaginally, and that infants who were breast-fed had a different recipe of bacteria in their guts than those who were given formula. “Our goal is to show that some decision about elective C-sections may cause changes that parents can’t see but nevertheless affect development,” says Kozyrskyj. (MORE: Gut Bugs: They Are What You Eat) The findings add to the growing number of studies that expose more of the hidden universe of these microbes and the role they may play in the risk of conditions ranging from asthma to autism, obesity and cancer. The researchers studied 24 babies and compared the bacteria found in stool samples collected when the infants were 3 months old. Previous studies have linked cesarean delivery to a higher risk of asthma, diabetes and obesity, but the reason wasn’t clear. Now, Kozyrskyj and her colleagues, led by Meghan Azad, suggest that at least part of that heightened risk may be due to the microbes colonizing the babies’ guts. (MORE: The Good Bugs: How the Germs in Your Body Keep You Healthy) During vaginal delivery, for example, babies are baptized to the world of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens as they pass through the birth canal; birth is, in a sense, their first immunization against the bugs they are likely to encounter in their new environment as their still developing immune systems get to work taking stock of the microbes. Babies pick up the microbial content of their mother’s gut. Over time, the babies’ immune systems start to distinguish between friend and foe<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=79965&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Breast-Feeding</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/family-parenting/breast-feeding-family-parenting/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/154508930.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">154508930</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/69fc92d1c4598c5b98d03fde16cdfa74?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">apark7</media:title>
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		<title>Autism and Schizophrenia May Develop During Short Period of Time in Infancy</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/12/autism-and-schizophrenia-may-develop-during-short-period-of-time-in-infancy/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/12/autism-and-schizophrenia-may-develop-during-short-period-of-time-in-infancy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:45:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alexandra Sifferlin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Genetics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[schizophrenia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[subplate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=79853</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Genes connected to the two disorders may only be active for a brief window of time. The study, while in mice, could provide clues about how the developmental disorders develop. Focusing on a region of the brain known as the subplate, where the first nerve cells develop, researchers at the University of Oxford, King&#8217;s College London and Imperial College London found that genes linked to autism and schizophrenia were only active in these regions during early stages of brain development. Neurons in the subplate region form the foundation for the network of neural connections that eventually crisscross the brain. Studying the way that nerves develop and join this network can reveal where the growth can go wrong and trigger diseases such as autism or schizophrenia. (MORE: Autism: Why Some Children ‘Bloom’ and Overcome Their Disabilities) &#8220;Building the brain is like a house of cards. The early connections provide the foundation of the adult structure, and disruption of these may be the source of many developmental flaws. Subplate neurons provide a transient scaffold for the developing cerebral cortex and they assist in the development of the extra connectivity,&#8221; says study author Zoltan Molnar of the University of Oxford. &#8220;If the scaffold is damaged, then the building shall not be fully functional.&#8221; The researchers mapped and detailed the gene activity in the mouse brains throughout their development from 15-day-old embryos into adulthood. The work confirmed that autism and schizophrenia are developmental disorders that may be established early in life, just at the time when the brain is forming its first connections. The genes connected to both diseases were only expressed in the subplate neurons, and not afterward, suggesting that once their work was done, the disease process had begun. &#8220;It has been suspected for a long time that if the development of the cortex is disrupted by genetic abnormalities or environmental stress, such as prematurity, this would have long-lasting adverse effects on brain development and could lead to problems like ADHD or autism &#8230; [This study] focuses attention even more firmly on early brain<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=79853&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/57012113.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">57012113</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/dd9dc95ff828efb70c16a5a509a75150?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">asifferlin</media:title>
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		<title>New Study Suggests Autism Can be &#8216;Outgrown&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/22/new-study-suggests-autism-can-be-outgrown/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/22/new-study-suggests-autism-can-be-outgrown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maia Szalavitz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ari Ne'eman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asperger's syndrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Autism Speaks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism spectrum disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deborah Fein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[developmental disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geraldine Dawson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outgrowing autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=78436</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is more evidence that a minority of autistic children may eventually overcome their developmental issues, but experts caution that such recovery is rare. It&#8217;s long been the hope of parents of autistic children that the right care and support can reduce or even reverse some of the developmental problems associated with the condition. But while a recent study found that behavioral intervention programs are linked with normalization of some brain activity, the question of whether children can outgrow autism remains difficult to answer. Studies to date that have hinted at this possibility were plagued with lingering questions about whether the children who apparently shed their autism were properly diagnosed with the developmental disorder in the first place. The new research, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and led by Deborah Fein of the University of Connecticut, involved 34 people ages 8 to 21 who had been diagnosed with autism but no longer met criteria for the condition. The initial diagnosis had to be made in writing by a doctor or psychologist specializing in autism before the child turned five. And, to make sure they were studying severe cases, researchers included only children who had not spoken before 18 months or did not use phrases before age 2. The authors compared these “optimal outcome” (OO) participants to 44 people of the same age, gender and IQ with high functioning autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, who still had symptoms. The OO group was also compared to 34 similarly matched, typically developing people. “I view it as really a landmark kind of study that validates an observation that clinicians and families have made for many years,” says Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for Autism Speaks and a long time researcher in the field. “This is the first empirical study to seek out children with optimal outcomes and systematically test them in a variety of functioning domains, to see if they are truly indistinguishable from typically developing children,” says Sally Ozonoff, professor of psychiatry at the University of California Davis Medical<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=78436&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/autistickidcropped.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/autistickidcropped.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">autistic</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0a5ac57e99124922fa628492ad3db6b2?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">MaiaSzalavitz</media:title>
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		<title>New Gene Variants Linked to Autism</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/15/new-gene-variants-linked-to-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/15/new-gene-variants-linked-to-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Laura Blue</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Genetics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism diagnosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism genes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism spectrum disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gene variants]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=77938</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In one of the largest-ever studies of genetics and autism, researchers have identified 24 new gene variants associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The work also confirms that 31 variants previously linked to the developmental disorder may serve as useful genetic markers for identifying those with the condition. Understanding autism&#8217;s genetic roots is a priority, researchers say, since it may lead to earlier diagnosis and behavioral intervention, which can improve patient outcomes. (MORE: Behavior Therapy Normalizes Brains of Autistic Children) &#8220;Oftentimes findings like this get published in academic journals, but they don’t get translated into clinical use,&#8221; says Chuck Hensel, an author on the new research study, published in PLoS ONE, who is the senior manager of research at the genetic diagnostics company Lineagen. &#8220;Our goal,&#8221; Hensel says, &#8220;is to try to get these markers into the clinic.&#8221; Hensel teamed with researchers at the University of Utah and the Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia and devised a two-pronged approach for hunting down genetic markers of autism. First, the researchers chose 55 people living with autism, all from families with many members diagnosed with ASDs. The scientists then sequenced the genomes of these subjects, and compared the genetic profiles to those from a reference population, using the Utah Genetics Reference Project. That allowed them to find regions where the autistic individuals differed from people without the disorder, and led to 153 gene variants, or genetic red flags for the condition. (MORE: Researchers Discover Genetic Patterns of Autism) But because ASDs occur in a spectrum of mild to severe symptoms, and the genetic contribution of each of these variants likely varied, they needed to find out which of the 153 aberrations were most strongly linked to autism; some were likely indirectly connected to the disorder, and the scientists wanted to weed out those potential red herrings. So Hensel and his collaborators built a new molecular test, or probe, that would identify the 153 variants from a patient sample of blood, as well as  for 185 other gene variants that previous studies had linked<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=77938&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/200114153-001.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">200114153-001</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a069e8b4ff0dc386def0882f71bbfee6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Laura Blue</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>5 Questions for Alexis Wineman, First Autistic Miss America Contestant</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/11/5-questions-for-alexis-wineman-first-autistic-miss-america-contestant/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/11/5-questions-for-alexis-wineman-first-autistic-miss-america-contestant/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Feifei Sun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=77747</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Diagnosed with the developmental disorder at 18, the reigning Miss Montana hopes her pageant involvement will raise awareness about autism. Read a Q&#38;A with Wineman on our Style blog here.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=77747&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/159044897-e1357917318769.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<media:content url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/159044897-e1357917318769.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Miss America Contestants &#34;Meet And Greet&#34; Fashion Show</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">feifeis</media:title>
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		<title>Guilt by Association: Troubling Legacy of Sandy Hook May Be Backlash Against Children with Autism</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/19/guilt-by-associationtroubling-legacy-of-sandy-hook-may-be-backlash-against-children-with-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/19/guilt-by-associationtroubling-legacy-of-sandy-hook-may-be-backlash-against-children-with-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:45:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bonnie Rochman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=76476</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On the first day back to school after 20 first-graders and six adults died at a Connecticut elementary school, students at a Utah middle school gathered to discuss the massacre. A boy raised his hand. “The reason why this man shot little kids is because he has autism,” he said. Tricia Nelson’s seventh-grade son was at the assembly. He’s shy, not the kind of child apt to speak in public, but his hand darted up in response. “Autism doesn’t make people shoot other people,” he said. At 12, Nelson’s son is somewhat of an expert on autism. His younger brother, who is 10, has a severe form of the neurodevelopmental disorder. He doesn’t speak, and he attends a school for special needs. But he is not violent, said his older brother; he would not kill anyone. Amid unconfirmed media reports that alleged gunman Adam Lanza, 20, had Asperger’s, a high-functioning form of autism marked by social awkwardness, autism experts are mobilizing to combat misconceptions about the condition. Parents are reaching out to school principals to ensure that students with autism aren’t being taunted. Advocates have issued statements disavowing any link between autism and premeditated aggression. And children — more often than not the siblings of kids who have autism — are standing up for others. (MORE: Behavior Therapy Normalizes Brains of Autistic Children) “He was in tears when he was telling me what happened,” says Nelson of her older son. She is an events organizer for Autism Speaks, the world’s largest autism research and advocacy group. “He said, &#8216;This boy is going to spread rumors.’” After Nelson’s son spoke up, a teacher seconded his comments. She urged the students not to make assumptions. Yet as the country struggles to come to grips with the loss of life at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., people with autism are finding themselves the focus of misunderstanding and more than a little scrutiny. Calls and e-mails to Autism Speaks’ hotline are up 130% since Friday’s shooting, as worried parents wonder how to channel<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=76476&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/19/guilt-by-associationtroubling-legacy-of-sandy-hook-may-be-backlash-against-children-with-autism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/sandy-hook-christmas-trees.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Sandy Hook Memorial</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ccc18529897902c0767bf2d7d088828e?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">brochman</media:title>
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		<title>A Blood Test for Autism?</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/06/a-blood-test-for-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/06/a-blood-test-for-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Laura Blue</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Genetics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism spectrum disorders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diagnostic test for autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diagnostic tests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gene expression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RNA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=75478</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier detection of autism, relying on markers in the blood, may help more children to take advantage of helpful behavioral therapies. Diagnosing autism currently requires hours of observation by clinicians and a far from objective series of behavioral measures, but improvements in genetic testing could make the process more efficient. In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from Boston Children&#8217;s Hospital  describe a new experimental test to detect the developmental disorder, based on the differences in gene expression between kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those without the condition. The blood-based test appears to predict autism relatively accurately, at least among boys, and has already been licensed to a company, SynapDx, for commercial development. In an email statement to TIME, a spokeswoman for SynapDx said the company plans to start clinical trials of the new test in early 2013. (MORE: Autism Studies Confirm Genetic Complexity and Risk for Older Fathers) The new blood test for autism is intriguing, researchers say, because it seems to be at least as effective as any other genetic test for autism that doctors currently use. Scientists believe that autism has some genetic basis, based on genes that have been associated with the disorder, and the fact that the condition seems to run in families. &#8220;A week does not go by where you don’t hear about a genetic mutation that has been linked to autism in at least a few families,&#8221; says Isaac Kohane, a pediatric endocrinologist and computer scientist at Children&#8217;s Hospital Boston, and the senior study author on the new article in PLOS ONE. Kohane is a scientific adviser for SynapDx, but says he does not own any stock in the company. But autism is a complex condition, he says, with many possible genetic determinants. And the precise genetic mechanism, or more likely mechanisms, are still poorly understood. But to get a better idea of which genetic changes might be most relevant to the disease, Kohane and his colleagues compared 66 patients with ASDs and 33 similar patients who were<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=75478&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/06/a-blood-test-for-autism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/79939148autismbloodcrop.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/79939148autismbloodcrop.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Blood sample</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a069e8b4ff0dc386def0882f71bbfee6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Laura Blue</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>To Really Read Emotions, Look at Body Language, Not Facial Expressions</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/30/to-really-read-emotions-look-at-body-language-not-facial-expressions/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/30/to-really-read-emotions-look-at-body-language-not-facial-expressions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:30:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Laura Blue</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Behavior]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Emotion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Empathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perception]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Connection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme emotion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[faces]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tennis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=75134</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We like to think we can read people like a book, relying mostly on tell-tale facial expressions that give away the emotions inside: the way the brows lift slightly with alarm, or the crow&#8217;s feet that crinkle with a wide smile. But when it comes to the strongest emotions, we read much less from facial expressions than we think we do. In fact, even though we believe it&#8217;s the face that tells the story, we&#8217;re typically reading something very different: body language and social cues. That&#8217;s the new, counterintuitive finding from a study published this week in the journal Science. Researchers from Princeton, New York University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem presented volunteer study participants with a series of pictures showing people experiencing extreme emotion, either positive or negative. The images included professional tennis players who had just won or lost a point in a major match, as well as people undergoing nipple piercing, and those in the throes of orgasm. In some of the images, researchers would only show the study participants a face; in others, only a body; and in others still, both the body and the face. You might think it&#8217;d be obvious from a face whether someone is in pain (having a nipple pierced) or whether he has just won Wimbledon. But it turns out it isn&#8217;t. (MORE: More Sleep Means More Focused, Emotionally Stable Kids) &#8220;The striking finding was that our participants had no clue if the emotion was positive or negative, when they were judging isolated faces,&#8221; says lead study author Hillel Aviezer from Hebrew University in an email response discussing the findings. &#8220;By contrast, when they were judging the body (with no face), or the body with the face, they easily differentiated positive from negative expressions.&#8221; The findings are doubly surprising because the study participants themselves were convinced that they recognized the emotions from the faces, not from body language or contextual cues. &#8220;They even had their own &#8216;mini theories&#8217; about what part of the face was most important &#8211; but this<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=75134&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/30/to-really-read-emotions-look-at-body-language-not-facial-expressions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Emotion</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/mental-health/emotion-mental-health/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/200568394-002.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/200568394-002.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">200568394-002</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a069e8b4ff0dc386def0882f71bbfee6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Laura Blue</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Can a Baby&#8217;s Cry Be a Clue to Autism?</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/28/can-a-babys-cry-be-a-clue-to-autism/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/28/can-a-babys-cry-be-a-clue-to-autism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:45:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bonnie Rochman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=74857</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Researchers have analyzed brain scans and eye movements as harbingers of autism. Now they&#8217;re listening to babies&#8217; cries. Scientists at Brown University think it’s possible that infants&#8217; early cries might provide a clue to whether they&#8217;re at risk of developing autism, based on a small study they conducted on about 40 babies. They compared the cries of one group, considered at risk of autism because they had older siblings with the disorder, to a second low-risk group. When the babies were six months old, they were videotaped in order to collect a vocal sampling. At some point during the 45-minute filming, the infants cried. Researchers isolated the cries and conducted computerized acoustic analysis on the recordings to isolate different frequencies. They also separated out the cries based on whether they were related to pain — if a baby fell in the video, for example, then started wailing — and compared the two groups’ pain-related vocalizations. MORE: Older Fathers Linked to Kids&#8217; Autism and Schizophrenia Risk The 21 at-risk babies had higher-pitched cries that were “low in voicing,” which translates into a rougher, less clear sound that could indicate their vocal cords are tenser than infants in the low-risk group. What’s more, the three babies with the highest-pitched cries went on to receive an autism diagnosis, according to the study published in Autism Research. The findings, however, shouldn&#8217;t lead parents to start assessing their babies’ cries, says lead author Stephen Sheinkopf, a psychologist at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk. “We definitely don’t want parents to be anxiously listening to their babies cry,” says Sheinkopf, who points out that the differences in cries were detected by sophisticated technology and not people. “It’s unclear if the human ear is sensitive enough to detect this.” MORE: Brain Imaging Could Detect Autism in Infants As Young as Six Months What is clear is that the findings are intriguing enough to warrant follow-up, particularly since it’s so difficult to find indicators of autism in very young children. In most cases, diagnoses<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=74857&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/28/can-a-babys-cry-be-a-clue-to-autism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/101557647.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/101557647.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Screaming Crying Baby</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ccc18529897902c0767bf2d7d088828e?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">brochman</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>Autism and Air Pollution: The Link Grows Stronger</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/autism-and-air-pollution-the-link-grows-stronger/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/autism-and-air-pollution-the-link-grows-stronger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Laura Blue</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Childhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air quality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commuting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=74726</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Children with autism are two to three times more likely than other children to have been exposed to car exhaust, smog, and other air pollutants during their earliest days, according to a new study. That new research adds to a mounting body of evidence that shows a link between early-life exposure to pollution and autism spectrum disorders. MORE: Autism Rises: More Children Than Ever Have Autism, But Is the Increase Real? For the new study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers in California analyzed some 500 children living in that state: roughly half had autism and half did not. The kids&#8217; mothers gave an address for each and every home in which they had lived during pregnancy and the child&#8217;s first year of life. Researchers took that information &#8212; along with data on traffic volume, vehicle emissions, wind patterns, and regional estimates of pollutants like particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and ozone &#8212; to estimate each child&#8217;s likely pollution exposure. According to the study, children in the top 25% of pollution exposure (using one of two different pollution scales) were far more likely to be  diagnosed with autism than kids in the bottom 25% of the pollution scale. The researchers stress, however, that their study does not definitively prove that pollution is the root cause of autism. &#8220;We&#8217;re not saying that air pollution causes autism. We&#8217;re saying it may be a risk factor for autism,&#8221; says Heather Volk, lead author on the new study and an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. &#8220;Autism is a complex disorder and it&#8217;s likely there are many factors contributing,&#8221; she says. MORE: Researchers Discover Genetic Patterns of Autism In particular, she says, genetic differences may leave some children more susceptible than others to the effects of damaging environmental stimuli such as air pollutants. Still, changes in air pollution over time cannot completely explain the entire disturbing rise in autism prevalence over the past two to three decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=74726&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/27/autism-and-air-pollution-the-link-grows-stronger/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environmental Health</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/environmental-health-medicine/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/child.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/child.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/child.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Autism</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a069e8b4ff0dc386def0882f71bbfee6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Laura Blue</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Pregnant Moms&#8217; Flu Linked to Higher Risk of Autism Among Children</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/12/pregnant-moms-flu-linked-to-higher-risk-of-autism-among-children/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/12/pregnant-moms-flu-linked-to-higher-risk-of-autism-among-children/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:30:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bonnie Rochman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Childhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family & Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=73596</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Expectant moms may have one more reason to get a flu shot. According to the latest research on flu vaccination during pregnancy, following current recommendations for influenza shots may help to lower rates of autism. In research published in the journal Pediatrics, scientists studied the rates of developmental disorders like autism among nearly 97,000 children born in Denmark between 1997 and 2003. The children&#8217;s mothers answered questions about infections they might have had during pregnancy — colds, sinus infections and urinary tract infections, among others. They also reported whether they’d suffered from the flu or had fevers that lasted more than seven days before they gave birth. When the researchers compared the mothers&#8217; answers to the registry of developmental disorders, they found that moms who fought the flu while expecting had children with double the risk of being diagnosed with autism before their third birthday. Mothers who endured flu-based fevers for seven days or more had triple the likelihood of having kids with autism, and those mothers also had a 60% greater chance of having a child diagnosed with developmental difficulties falling into the more expansive category of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In addition, moms who used antibiotics while pregnant had children with a small increased risk of autism. Infections and antibiotic use can also contribute to low birth weight babies, another risk factor for developmental abnormalities; in a 2011 study, researchers concluded that premature babies who weigh less than 4.5 pounds are five times as likely to be diagnosed with an ASD. Influenza seemed to be the only infection linked to a higher risk of autism among these mothers&#8217; children; other common infections such as colds and sinus infections during pregnancy did not seem to increase autism among their offspring. While it&#8217;s not clear why influenza is so potentially harmful to early development, experts suspect that the fevers associated with flu might be largely responsible, since previous studies show that periods of high fever during pregnancy are associated with birth defects. So bringing down rising body temperatures while expecting<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=73596&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><letterbox>1</letterbox><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/flu1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/flu1.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">flu</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ccc18529897902c0767bf2d7d088828e?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">brochman</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Behavior Therapy Normalizes Brains of Autistic Children</title>
		<link>http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/26/behavior-therapy-normalizes-brains-of-autistic-children/</link>
		<comments>http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/26/behavior-therapy-normalizes-brains-of-autistic-children/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:27:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alice Park</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthland.time.com/?p=72586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Autism likely has deep genetic roots, but the latest research provides hope that some learning techniques can lessen symptoms of the developmental disorder. In children with the mildest cases of autism, these techniques resulted in changes in their brains that made them “indistinguishable” from those of unaffected children of the same age — essentially normalizing them, according to Geraldine Dawson in the department of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (MORE: Autism Rises: More Children Than Ever Have Autism, but Is the Rise Real?) The results, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child &#38; Adolescent Psychiatry, are validation for the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), a behavioral-intervention program that involves intensive engagement with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Specially trained counselors work with children twice a day in two-hour sessions, five days a week. In 2009, Dawson’s group reported on related work that showed that children with autism who received this intervention beginning at 18 months for about two years showed an average improvement in IQ scores of 17.6 points and dramatic gains in adapting so-called normal developmental behaviors, such as brushing their teeth and engaging with family members during meals. Dawson and her colleagues were curious about what was driving the change. Could alterations in the brains of the Denver Model toddlers be responsible? After all, in the first six years of life, the brain is remarkably plastic, meaning it can be molded and shaped depending on the growing child’s experiences and exposures. To find out, she enrolled a group of 48 toddlers ages 18 months to nearly 3 years who had been diagnosed with ASD. Half were randomly assigned to receive the Denver intervention, while the other half were assigned to traditional community-intervention programs that included some special-education programs at schools. After about two years, Dawson’s group took electroencephalography (EEG) readings of the electrical activity of all the children &#8216;s brains while they were looking at pictures of human faces or toys, and compared these readings with those of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=healthland.time.com&#038;blog=8684427&#038;post=72586&#038;subd=timewellness&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Autism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://healthland.time.com/category/medicine/autism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/108175832autismcrop.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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