Autism, brain, and environment

Title:

Autism, brain, and environment

Author:

Lathe, Richard, 1952-

ISBN:

9781843104384

Publication Information:

London ; Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley, 2006.

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Suggested Age	Status
Book	Searching... Cabell County Public Library	616.85 L	Adult	Searching... Unknown

The increasing number of people being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) cannot simply be explained by changes in diagnostic criteria or greater awareness of the condition. In this controversial new book, Richard Lathe contends that the recent rise in cases of ASDs is a result of increased exposure to environmental toxicity combined with genetic predisposition.

Autism, Brain, and Environment proposes that autism is a disorder of the limbic brain, which is damaged by toxic heavy metals present in the environment. Lathe argues that most ASD children have additional physiological problems and that these, far from being separate from the psychiatric aspects of ASD, can produce and exacerbate the condition.

This important and groundbreaking text provides a closely-argued scientific case for the involvement of both environmental and physiological factors in autism. Lathe's argument will also have a direct impact on treatment strategies and options. It will be of great interest to the scientific community, professionals, researchers, political and environmental lobbyists, teachers, psychologists, and parents and people with ASDs.

Author Notes

Richard Lathe is director of Pieta Research, a biotechnology consultancy based in Edinburgh. He has extensive experience of academic and industrial research, his most recent area of interest has been in brain research and neuroscience, particularly focusing on the limbic system, autism and Alzheimer's. He has previously held professorship at the Universities of Edinburgh and Strasbourg. He is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed journal articles.

Preface	p. 13
Acknowledgements	p. 14
Chapter 1 Introduction	p. 15
Chapter 2 Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Introduction to the Problem of Recognition and Diagnosis	p. 20
Pervasive developmental disorders	p. 21
Early diagnosis	p. 33
Autism, a preferred diagnosis?	p. 34
The broader phenotype	p. 35
Is there really such a thing as autism? Subtypes	p. 35
Chapter 3 Genetic Contribution to Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Diversity and Insufficiency	p. 37
Genetic predisposition to ASD	p. 37
How important are genes in ASD? Heritability	p. 38
Insufficiency of genetic predisposition	p. 40
The search for new genes	p. 40
Potential ASD genes	p. 42
Problems with the genome approach	p. 44
The patchwork genome	p. 45
Epigenetics and brain disorders	p. 45
Genes and environment	p. 46
Chapter 4 New Phase Autism: Rising Prevalence	p. 48
The debate	p. 48
Increasing prevalence	p. 50
Why do different studies seem to give different rates?	p. 51
Potential confounding factors	p. 52
Other evidence addressing a rise	p. 53
Summary of observations	p. 58
Is there an epidemic of autism?	p. 58
Conclusion. The rise may be real: new phase autism	p. 59
Chapter 5 Brain Abnormalities: Focus on the Limbic System	p. 61
Brain structure	p. 63
Studying brain structure: techniques	p. 64
Morphometric studies: brain size	p. 66
Histology: hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum, cortex	p. 66
Imaging studies highlight the limbic brain	p. 67
Functional studies	p. 68
Cerebellum	p. 68
Cortex	p. 69
Interpreting structural data	p. 69
Consensus: limbic brain and overlying cortex, with lesser cerebellar effects	p. 70
Chapter 6 Limbic Dysfunction Correlates with the Autistic Phenotype	p. 73
Memory	p. 74
Anxiety	p. 76
Desire for sameness	p. 76
Perception of facial emotion	p. 77
Social interaction	p. 77
Language	p. 78
Seizure	p. 79
Sensory deficits	p. 79
Stereotypy and repetitive/compulsive behaviors	p. 80
Gastrointestinal (GI) effects and endocrine anomalies	p. 81
Age of onset/maturation	p. 81
Limbic lesions can produce ASD	p. 82
Autism spectrum disorder is consistent with what we know of limbic function	p. 84
Overview and conclusions	p. 85
Chapter 7 Environmental Factors, Heavy Metals, and Brain Function	p. 87
Environmental factors and ASD	p. 88
Metals: evidence for exposure	p. 89
Heavy metal susceptibility	p. 94
Genetic predisposition to heavy metal toxicity	p. 96
Heavy metal toxicity: the trimethyltin (TMT) paradigm	p. 98
Behavioral consequences of TMT exposure	p. 99
Developmental susceptibility	p. 101
Population exposure: excess and deficiency	p. 101
Limbic susceptibility to toxic insult	p. 107
Other environmental factors	p. 111
Heavy metals and other insults: a toxic cocktail in ASD	p. 115
Chapter 8 Gut, Hormones, Immunity: Physiological Dysregulation in Autism	p. 117
Brain to body signaling	p. 118
Gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorder	p. 121
Serotonin elevation in autism	p. 130
Hormones in ASD	p. 135
Immune system	p. 145
Liver and kidney	p. 146
Conclusion	p. 150
Chapter 9 Body and Mind: Impact of Physiological Changes on Brain and Behavior in ASD	p. 153
Gut and brain	p. 154
Serotonin - brain effects	p. 162
Hormones and brain	p. 166
Sulfur pathways and gene expression	p. 168
Heme pathways - brain feedback	p. 169
Amino acid pathways and heme	p. 172
Do feedback cascades operate in ASD?	p. 175
A complexity: seizure	p. 178
How good is the evidence? Assessment of different damage routes	p. 178
Chapter 10 Biomedical Therapy: Typing and Correction	p. 181
What's wrong with my child? Subtyping ASD	p. 181
Approaches to therapy	p. 185
Pharmaceutical agents	p. 186
Rectification of biochemical deficits	p. 189
Speech and behavior therapies	p. 194
Prevention	p. 194
The Gesch and Walsh studies	p. 195
Chapter 11 The Environmental Threat: From Autism and ADHD to Alzheimer	p. 197
Nature and timing of the insult	p. 199
Diverse impairments - from autism to Alzheimer disease	p. 200
Beyond the brain	p. 202
Co-risks and co-disorders	p. 202
Environmental toxicity only produces disease in predisposed individuals	p. 203
Sociobiology of the limbic brain: convergence	p. 204
Promoting neurogenesis: potential for therapy	p. 207
What causes autism?	p. 207
Concluding remarks	p. 209
References	p. 213
Abbreviations and Glossary	p. 272
Further Reading	p. 278
Index	p. 281

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