willinghamautismandrogen-9191424

IMFAR 2012: Androgens and Autism

Emily Willingham www.emilywillinghamphd.com Much of what I saw at IMFAR (self-selected, obviously) focused on assessing sex hormone differences or the presumed outcomes of such differences in autistic vs non-autistic populations. As the Father of the Extreme Male Brain Hypothesis that androgen levels relate to autism, Simon Baron-Cohen appeared as senior author on several posters in this subject area and also gave a talk on the same topic. While he is possibly best known in a negative light in autism circles for his tautological “autistic people do poorly on my empathy test ergo autistic people lack empathy” ideas, what I discuss below is not related to that, at all. It’s all about the steroid hormones during development in the womb, and I found it fascinating — again, self selection as someone whose research focus was hormones during development. I’m not the only TGPA editor to have an interest in the link…

IMFAR 2012: Anxiety in Youth With and Without ASD

This is one of four talks from the IMFAR 2012 symposium Anxiety in Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Biology to Treatment. The overall session theme: It’s clear that anxiety is a major problem for kids & adults on the autism spectrum. The onus on us to figure out how to treat it. Any errors or omissions in the summary below are on me. -SR Connor Puleo: Anxiety in Youth With and Without ASD: Commonalities and Variations What does anxiety look like in ASD and how good are we in measuring it? Are there things that seem to be different in terms of anxiety for children on the spectrum? How that might complicate measurement and methodology? Differential diagnosis in an ASD population is inherently challenging, there’s a lack of consensus how to go about it, and in terms of defining what is anxiety and what is ASD. What this means is that…

img_7100-3974987

IMFAR 2012: One Autistic Attendee’s Perspective

Carol Greenburg www.thinkingautismguide.com The author and Stephen Shore Evidence-based information and spirited civil debate abounded at IMFAR 2012. Though I thought we all could have benefited from more power outlets in the breakout rooms, I had some terrific conversations with other attendees — some autistic, some not. I found the formal presentations a bit uneven (I confess the eye-roll Shannon Des Roches Rosa so kindly and repeatedly brought to TPGA readers’ attention happened during several panels). I found a few presentations maddening. One example was Karen Solomon’s talk on Autism and Friendship that seemed to boil down to a not-so-revolutionary point that autistic people are interested in making friends. Is the mythology about our anti-social nature really so deep-rooted, even among people who have met autistics, that it was necessary for attendees to fly in from all over the world for scientific verification? At times like these I skulked in…

img_7122-9337067

IMFAR 2012: NIH and IACC Overview

Susan Daniels Acting director of office of autism research coordination at NIH (National Institutes of Health) Involved in strategic planning & research at IACC (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee) —-   Dr. Daniels spoke at IMFAR about the IACC and the NIH, on the autism research landscape, and IACC research and data sharing. Any errors or omission are on yours truly. -SR IACC (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee) IACC background: formed under Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA) with the goal of accelerating the pace of autism research, and coordinating it as well. The CAA expired Sept 2011, but has been reauthorized. The IACC consists of Federal and Public members (click photo to enlarge): List of IACC members, new members are red The IACC Mission (from the official site, iacc.hhs.gov) Provide advice to the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding Federal activities related to autism spectrum disorder.
 Facilitate the exchange of…

IMFAR 2012 Roundup: Genetics of Autism and Animal Models

Emily Willingham www.ThinkingAutismGuide.com Caveat: All findings discussed here were presented at a conference and have not undergone peer review. —- What is the use of animal models? I understand the use of animal models like mice to figure out how gene changes affect outcomes in a whole animal, rather than, say, in cells in a dish. I’ve used them myself. Knocking out a gene of interest in a mouse strain, applying an environmental exposure of interest, observing the behavior of the mouse involved — these tactics can be revealing, sometimes. Say a mouse with a nonfunctioning partner in a gene pair shows a specific behavior — like vocalizing less to its mother — and maybe we can interpret that in human terms as being inhibited social communication and assume the gene in question is involved.  The idea is that observing changes linked to the absence or overabundance of a particular…

img_7048-8114212

IMFAR 2012 Press Conference

Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation introduced the speakers in her role as co-chair of IMFAR public relations committee. She noted that INSAR has encouraged autistic people and other community stakeholders to participate at IMFAR, as volunteers, etc. TPGA coverage of IMFAR will start in the morning! Don’t forget to follow us on @thinkingautism, and check back here for updates. —- The first speaker was the president of INSAR, Helen Tager-Flusberg: This conference’s goal is focusing on the very best science, and the immediate dissemination of it. INSAR, the International Society of Autism Research, is moving into second decade. The first conference had approximately 200 attendees, and was tagged onto neuroscience conference in Orlando, Florida. This year’s conference will be the largest ever, with well over 1800 people in main the main conference. (There is also a pre-conference on disseminating IMFAR 2012 work to parents, clinicians, and other stakeholders…

TPGA Coverage of IMFAR 2012

Can’t make IMFAR? Don’t worry, four of our TPGA editors are covering the International Meeting for Autism Research in Toronto, Canada, from Wednesday May 16 through Saturday May 19. Reporting starts with today ‘s 11 AM ET press conference (assuming Shannon & Jen make their flight, which has been delayed, eep — stand by).  Panel & presentation coverage will be posted here www.thinkingautismguide.com, via Twitter, and of course on the TPGA Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter at @thinkingautism, @jennyalice, @aspieadvocate, @ejwillingham and @shannonrosa. And if you’re at IMFAR, you can also buy our books at the Autism Science Foundation table — 100% of sales benefit the ASF. If you see one of us, say hi! Science devotees out!

img_4541-5036379

IMFAR 2011: The Clinical Face of Anxiety in Autism

Dr. L. Scahill, Yale University School of Medicine imfar.confex.com/imfar/2011/webprogram/Paper9789.html The following is a modified transcription of Dr. Scahill’s talk. Any glaring omissions or errors are my own. INSAR members can listen to Dr. Scahill’s talk in its entirety via its abstract page. -SR Fears, phobias, and worries; Toward better measurement of anxiety in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) Dr. Scahill is very interested in identifying compounds that can treat target problems in people with autism and Tourette’s syndrome and the like. But how do we get to measure the targets that we think are important? We’ve seen in many posters [at IMFAR] that anxiety is common and adds to despair and disability in children with autism, but we need to find a way to measure it. This is an inspection of how we might go about that. Disclosures: Dr. Scahill has consulted with companies who have paid attention to autism and…

amygdala1_enlarged-6582717

IMFAR 2011: Neuropathology of the Amygdala in Autism

C. M. Schumann, UC Davis MIND Institute The following is a modified transcription of Ms Schumann’s talk. Any glaring omissions or errors are my own. INSAR members can listen to Ms Schumann’s talk in its entirety via the abstract page. -SR The amygdala is enlarged in children with autism, and this has been a consistent finding, in several studies. By 2.5 years of age, the amygdala is enlarged in children with autism by about six percent. Longitudinal studies show that amygdala enlargement continues to increase — by four years of age, there is a nine percent enlargement, compared to controls. What’s interesting is that the total brain volume is larger in children with autism in this age range, but that volume is not necessarily rapidly growing during this time — it’s staying fairly consistent, and not necessarily growing faster as the amygdala is. The growth pattern doesn’t occur in all…

IMFAR 2011: Dr. Eric Courchesne on the Developmental Neurobiology of Autism

IMFAR 2011 Keynote: The Developmental Neurobiology of Autism: The First Steps and the World Ahead Eric Courchesne, UCSD Autism Center of Excellence Abstract: imfar.confex.com/imfar/2011/webprogram/Paper9749.html The following is a modified transcript of Dr. Courchesne’s talk. I have not included all references to  slides he presented, and I have left out some of the researchers he thanked and technical terms he cited. Emphases in bold are mine. Any additional omissions or errors are my own. INSAR members can listen to Dr. Courchesne’s talk in its entirety via the abstract page. -SR —- IMFAR introduction: Eric Courchesne is a leader on brain structure and abnormalities in autism, and has been pursuing research into autism before most IMFAR attendees “knew what autism was.” Dr. Courchesne had polio as a child, which left him unable to walk or stand. Medical intervention gave him the ability to walk without braces, and allowed him to eventually become…