Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Compendium Thread

Newly published research results suggest a mother's Vitamin D deficiency can result in increased testosterone exposure in a fetus - possibly explaining why 3 times as many boys (versus girls) are diagnosed as autistic.
Vitamin D Could Explain Why Autism Is Three Times More Common in Boys

A deficiency in vitamin D on the mother’s side could explain why autism spectrum disorder is three times more common in boys, say Queensland Brain Institute researchers.

In their latest study, Professor Darryl Eyles and Dr. Asad Ali found vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy caused an increase in testosterone in the developing brain of male rats. ...

“The biological cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unknown but we have shown that one of the many risk factors—low vitamin D in mothers—causes an increase in testosterone in the brain of the male fetuses, as well as the maternal blood and amniotic fluid,” Professor Eyles said.

“In addition to its role in calcium absorption, vitamin D is crucial to many developmental processes.

“Our research also showed that in vitamin D-deficient male fetuses, an enzyme which breaks down testosterone was silenced and could be contributing to the presence of high testosterone levels.” ...
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FULL STORY:
https://scitechdaily.com/vitamin-d-could-explain-why-autism-is-three-times-more-common-in-boys/

PUBLISHED RESEARCH REPORT:
Developmental vitamin D deficiency increases foetal exposure to testosterone
Asad Amanat Ali, Xiaoying Cui, Renata Aparecida Nedel Pertile, Xiang Li, Gregory Medley, Suzanne Adele Alexander, Andrew J. O. Whitehouse, John Joseph McGrath & Darryl Walter Eyles
Molecular Autism volume 11, Article number: 96 (2020)

https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-020-00399-2
 
EnolaGaia said:
Newly published research results suggest a mother's Vitamin D deficiency can result in increased testosterone exposure in a fetus - possibly explaining why 3 times as many boys (versus girls) are diagnosed as autistic.


FULL STORY:
https://scitechdaily.com/vitamin-d-could-explain-why-autism-is-three-times-more-common-in-boys/

PUBLISHED RESEARCH REPORT:
Developmental vitamin D deficiency increases foetal exposure to testosterone
Asad Amanat Ali, Xiaoying Cui, Renata Aparecida Nedel Pertile, Xiang Li, Gregory Medley, Suzanne Adele Alexander, Andrew J. O. Whitehouse, John Joseph McGrath & Darryl Walter Eyles
Molecular Autism volume 11, Article number: 96 (2020)

https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-020-00399-2
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Does this allow for failure to diagnose autism in girls arising from doctors relying on the traits displayed by autistic boys - because that's what the medical literature largely describes - although autistic girls actually seem to present differently in some/many respects? i.e. one explanation for the apparent disproportion is actually systemic within medicine, rather than being related to the mother's body chemistry. There is no mention of this in the linked article.
 
Krepostnoi said:
Does this allow for failure to diagnose autism in girls arising from doctors relying on the traits displayed by autistic boys - because that's what the medical literature largely describes - although autistic girls actually seem to present differently in some/many respects? i.e. one explanation for the apparent disproportion is actually systemic within medicine, rather than being related to the mother's body chemistry. There is no mention of this in the linked article.
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Girls getting a diagnosis is getting better, 15 years ago it was largely unheard of.
 
The increase in people being diagnosed as children isn't because the "amount of autism is increasing", it is because females are now being picked up. Before, as @Naughty_Felid and @Krepostnoi indicate, girls simply weren't screened.

In adult diagnosis the NHSGGC rough figures (clinical lead pers. comm.) are getting towards 2:1 f:m.

There is a possibility that the numbers are actually 1:1, and the current situation is skewed by historical and social factors.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Danish researchers' most recent work indicates prenatal sex hormone levels correlate with development of ASD in early childhood. ...
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EnolaGaia said:
Newly published research results suggest a mother's Vitamin D deficiency can result in increased testosterone exposure in a fetus - possibly explaining why 3 times as many boys (versus girls) are diagnosed as autistic. ...
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Then again ... Maybe it's the father ...

This newly reported exploratory research identified a set of biomarkers in sperm that seemed to correlate with ASD susceptibility at a high level of consistency. This exploratory work used a sample size too small to be conclusive. If the apparent correlation holds up with more compelling sample sizes this could lead to significant aids for predicting ASD susceptibility.
Small Study Links Biomarkers in Sperm to Child's Autism Status With 90% Accuracy

Scientists have identified a series of human sperm biomarkers that can accurately predict the chances of the offspring having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – a potentially important finding for better understanding and managing the condition.

Although the study involved a small sample size of only 26 fathers, the strong correlation between the biomarkers and ASD suggest that this thread of research could be worth pulling on to help explain some of the mysteries that still surround the development of autism.

In particular, the researchers looked at sperm epigenetics: changes in the way that genes are expressed and processed by the body, rather than alterations in the underlying DNA code, and often linked to environmental factors.

"We can now potentially use this to assess whether a man is going to pass autism on to his children," says biologist Michael Skinner, from Washington State University.

"It is also a major step toward identifying what factors might promote autism." ...
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FULL STORY:
https://www.sciencealert.com/in-a-s...0-accuracy-if-their-children-will-have-autism

PUBLISHED RESEARCH:
Garrido, N., Cruz, F., Egea, R.R. et al.
Sperm DNA methylation epimutation biomarker for paternal offspring autism susceptibility.
Clin Epigenet 13, 6 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-020-00995-2

FULL ARTICLE:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13148-020-00995-2
 
Trevp666 said:
William Shatner: What a legend.
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A real shame that his views on autistics do so much damage and cause so much hurt. He seems to have forgotten that even in the original series, he had a science officer to help him with all the tricky bits :rolleyes:

Summary of why there is a problem
https://medium.com/the-establishmen...-betrayed-autistic-peoples-trust-8f0470019697

An overview of the Shatner's use of sources and research
https://slate.com/technology/2017/04/what-we-can-learn-from-william-shatners-tweets.html

What it feels like being on the receiving end of his output on this topic

https://www.fierceautie.com/2019/08/a-letter-to-william-shatner-from.html
 
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Frideswide said:
He seems to have forgotten that even in the original series, he had a science officer to help him with all the tricky bits
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Apart from the other bits you mention - you know he is an actor right? He wasn't actually on a spaceship. ;)

And in reference to the other bits you mention.
Indeed, everyone is flawed in some way I expect, some more than others.

As stated in the first article you quote (from 2017 by Sarah Kurchak), the writer also;
"...unintentionally harmed people with less privilege than me when I thought I was helping, and I too had a knee-jerk reaction when I was called out for it..."
Which appears to be the case with Bill.

The second article (also from 2017 by Alan Levinovitz) states;
"As is often the case when someone famous missteps, the Twitter pile-on was swift and fierce. Shatner, who was no doubt simply trying to do some good, became defensive. His reaction was understandable: Many of the tweets were angry, misrepresented what he’d said...."
"...Shatner responded by doing what anyone might: He Googled. In the results he found what he wanted..."
So Bill appears to have been massively guilty of laziness and/or a lack of thoroughness in his research, which I sort-of can excuse for an (at the time) 86 year old.

The 3rd article, the 'open letter' appears to have been written 2 years later (2019) and I am unaware of any intervening activity in this area, so if there hasn't been any and the bits from 2017 were confined to that incident, then I think the writers remark that Bill was "...silencing autistics which (he) made a hobby of." seems a little excessive.

Heck, I'm not defending Bill for what was as worst a terribly patronising, or at best a clumsy yet initially well-intentioned, effort to show support for the autistic community, but from reading those articles it does look like there was a certain amount of 'piling on' involved.

And several of my friends are 'on the spectrum' (and they are lovely people apart from one who can be a bit of an a**e but that's nothing to do with her autism, lol) so I can understand why/how those writers feel the way they did.
 
Trevp666 said:
Heck, I'm not defending Bill
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er... yes you are. What you have written is an apologia for him, as you presumably intended it to be :rollingw:

Do you really think that I would bother to post about something that was a flash in the pan and then went quiet? Although drawing conclusions to bolster existing views is rather one of the topics here, why would you decide that is the case and make it one of your three debating points? Don't take my word for it though - if you are going to pronounce on this then please do some proper research. I offered three links to start people off if they fancied digging a little more deeply, rather than providing a text book which is the only requirement for the final exam.

I take it for granted that we all make mistakes. The point is that the other people were called out on it and learned. In all walks of life. That doesn't deserve a medal, but it is worth drawing attention to people who carry on digging when they are in a hole.

There are always, always a few people who behave badly on social media and elsewhere. Shatner's misbehaviour and cavalier attitudes came back to bite him; they are equally reprehensible. What you haven't addressed are the thousands of polite, calm, evidence-based communications he got; ignoring them is exactly what he did.

Trevp666 said:
for what was as worst a terribly patronising, or at best a clumsy yet initially well-intentioned, effort to show support for the autistic community
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That was what was assumed until he doubled down and started to spread pseudo-science and allegations against a professional in the field rather than saying either

* I see, these are my grown up and justifiable reasons for sticking with my original position

or

* I see, got it now. Next year we can do something fabulous together.

The position he holds damages people. We are getting towards arguments of eugenics here, and at a lesser level the still wide-spread idea that bleach "cures" autism.

I'm sorry that liking of the man means that this is uncomfortable for you. It is, however, possible for one individual to be good, bad and indifferent in various areas of there life. Which is so much a truism that I didn't state it - no more than I did everyone makes mistakes.

Trevp666 said:
several of my friends are 'on the spectrum'
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I'm not sure of the relevance of this. Certainly my heart sinks when someone says "but I have friends with autism" as an apparent justification. I'm talking about hundreds of people to my 1:1 knowledge and thousands through the organisations I work with. I don't know how many autistic friends you have but in terms of sample size I know where I put my money.
 
Frideswide said:
What you have written is an apologia for him
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Not really it isn't - I was just pointing out that (as an 86 year old bloke with views from another period) on the limited information provided we could cut him a bit of slack.

Frideswide said:
this is uncomfortable for you
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No it's not uncomfortable for me. I'm a good natured fella with a fairly well balanced ability to have a robust discourse about something without feeling like it's a personal attack.

Frideswide said:
I'm not sure of the relevance of this
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I only mentioned that several of my friends happen to be on the autism spectrum to indicate that I am not 'anti-autistic' (if that's a thing).
____________

I think I can agree with you that going by your greater knowledge of the situation with regards to Shatners views on autism generally, it does tarnish the character of what otherwise is a generally likeable chap.
Obviously I don't know him personally. I might find that if he was a chap that drank in my local pub I would eschew his company.
We have no way of knowing.
 
Kondoru said:
Can we tackle the employment problem or should I be learning IT?
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There are various archaeological reasons for getting a bit IT savvy. Not least is understanding how your data are changed and selected and so on .
 
I have no doubt that autism can be caused by hereditary factors.

Of the people I know on the spectrum, some have a father on the spectrum too, other have a mother on the spectrum too.
 
Victory said:
I have no doubt that autism can be caused by hereditary factors.

Of the people I know on the spectrum, some have a father on the spectrum too, other have a mother on the spectrum too.
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agreed! there is a strong hereditary component. Very common for the older blood family of a diagnosed person to start wondering about their own neurology.
 
No harm in posting this again. This isn't an official diagnostic tool but it's a useful pointer that you might like to dig deeper. Diagnosing practitioners are usually open to people turning up with a sheaf of these tests :) This is the one that, rule of thumb, separates those who go on to get a diagnosis and those who don't - or at least not an autism one.

I just did this one again - it varies a little each time but the overall shape is distinctive.

https://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

1626047382324.png
 
One of my female friends has been diagnosed with autism recently. She's nearly 60.
She got 10/10 in the test at her doctor's surgery.
I'd thought about this for some time, but only recently mentioned to her that she may be autistic. So I was right!
I'd held back from telling her I thought she was autistic, for fear of offending her.
No idea what she will do next, now she knows that.
 
Krepostnoi said:
The terrible irony being that I find it incredibly difficult to reach out to new people.
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:yeahthat:

which is why people like me keep offering options ;)

The FB group i recommend has no requirement that people post or engage. People can talk to me by PM rather than posting in the group. We do anonymous posts. Also, as an international group we can help to find local resources.
 
OK I did the test too. Thank you Frideswide for posting the link. I appear to have a lopsided development. Note to self: must work on well-rounded personality - in my next lifetime. :)

BTW, I have had two different psychological therapists tell me that it is difficult to discern between autism/aspergers and the results of childhood abuse. I do NOT wish to stir the pot with this statement; I have tried for most of my adult life to figure out what's wrong with me and then fix it. Social apprehension, anxiety, misinterpretation, poor fit, avoidance: all can result from different causes.

Like Krepostnoi, I also developed coping mechanisms which got me through life with success, but the price was steep in daily anxiety and tiredness as I forced myself to do unnatural-to-me tasks to achieve my goals.

HEY - can we please see the results of some NT Forteans?!?


poly10a.php
 
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It's worth noting, I think that the diagram is mirrored - both sides have the same attributes. Having a strong score in autistic relationships means that you are good at them in an autistic manner. Same on the other side - strong NT relationships just means you are good with other NTs :)


This is from an NT friend :)



1626132229429.png
 
Frideswide said:
It's worth noting, I think that the diagram is mirrored - both sides have the same attributes. Having a strong score in autistic relationships means that you are good at them in an autistic manner. Same on the other side - strong NT relationships just means you are good with other NTs :)


This is from an NT friend :)



View attachment 42058
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Thanks, Ms F. So, does this imply that I should be good with relationships with other Aspies? Or that in all my relationships, I apply myself in an Aspie manner? I have deep, honest friendships with people who are on different ends of the NT-Asperger range. My friends and I have found other aspects of our personalities (and our life goals) are more important than the NT-Aspie ones.
 
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