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Summary
Summary
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.
Table of Contents
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 |