For those of you who aren’t overly familiar with autism, it is a neurological disorder in which those afflicted have severe social debilitations, as well as communication and behavioral deficits. Over the past two decades (give or take a year), there has been quite a substantial increase in diagnoses of autism in the US. This is obviously due to all of the vaccinations that children are getting now, right? WRONG, that theory has been debunked, and a new theory is in place. This new theory argues that the autism diagnosis rate is linked to social surrounding of the child. For example, the children of higher educated parents are more likely to be diagnosed. Parents with a higher level of education will probably have a greater awareness for such a disorder, and greater means with which to test, diagnose, or treat their children. Additionally, the diagnosis protocol for autism has changed, which may play a part in the increases of diagnoses.
While we’re on the topic of diagnosis it might be helpful to address how someone is diagnosed with autism. Diagnosis of autism is done with a list of twelve symptoms broken down into three different categories; 1. Social Skills, 2. Communication Skills, 3. Behavior. If someone exhibits six of the symptoms on the list, they are diagnosed with autism. This diagnosis scale is helpful, but leaves some room for error and misjudgement, which could play a role in the rise in diagnosis.
From a biologic standpoint, the cause of autism can be pinpointed to multiple sporadic genetic factors in the form of copy number variants (CNVs) in the genome. These CNVs are duplications or deletions of genes in the genome and can lead to autism. In the brain this translates to dysfunction of cell adhesion. Cell adhesion is the process of cell adhesion molecules enabling cell to cell/cell to extracellular matrix connection. This allows for synapse formation and strengthening of synaptic plasticity. In autistic people, these processes don’t work correctly and can lead to the disease. Due to the diverse nature of autism cases the treatment is varied from patient to patient, and usually consists of behavioral therapy and medicines. While there is no cure for autism, the drug Suramin is being tested as a potential cure for the disorder. This drug increases the expression of certain receptors in the brain that are normally underexpressed in autism, as well as block other receptors that contribute to autism.
It seems that with additional research a determination, a cure for autism may be in sight. This would better the lives of a growing number of individuals diagnosed with the disorder each year.
