New study suggests treatment possibility for autism

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Aug 2014

A boy plays with soap bubbles during a charity event for children with autism,

in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 28, 2013 (AFP Photo/Sergei Supinsky)

Washington (AFP) - People with autism have too many synapses -- the connectors by which brain cells send and receive signals -- according to a new study that may point to a treatment for the complex disorder.

The extra synapses in autistic brains are the result not of overproduction, but of a failure in the normal process of discarding old and degraded cells.

Researchers at New York's University of Columbia were able to re-establish the brain's "pruning mechanism" in mice genetically modified to simulate autism.

To do it, they used a drug called rapamycin to block a protein, mTOR, which in autistic patients goes hyperactive and blocks the brain's natural ability to cull synapses.

A person with autism performs a task at a 

medical centre in L'Isle d'Abeau, 

southeastern France, on March 5, 2012

(AFP Photo/Jean-Philippe Ksiazek)

The researchers saw a reduction in typical autistic behaviors, such as avoiding contact with others, in the treated mice, according to findings published this week in the US journal "Neuron."

"We were able to treat the mice after the disease had appeared," said Columbia University neurobiologist David Sulzer, lead author of the study.

This is crucial because autism does not become apparent at birth but later in childhood, "so you need a treatment that works after diagnosis," he said.

"If we were correct we should be able to have quite effective treatment even after diagnosis," he told AFP.

One in 68 US children is diagnosed on the autism spectrum, according to the most recent government estimates.

Newborn brains produce an enormous quantity of synapses as they grow, but later in childhood and adolescence they prune many of these connections to allow the different sections of the brain to develop without being overwhelmed, neurologists said.

This study analyzed tissues from the cerebral cortex -- which is involved in speech and social behaviors -- from 48 cadavers of subjects ranging in age from two to 20 at their deaths.

Of the subjects, 26 had been diagnosed with autism, and 22 were not.

Early in childhood, both groups had similar numbers of synapses, the study found.

However, a 19-year-old without autism had around 41 percent fewer synapses than a young child, while an autistic 19-year-old had far more -- their brains had shed only around 16 percent compared with a young child's.

The neurologists noted also that the excess of synapses increased the risk of epilepsy, since there were more electrical signals crossing through the brain.

Sulzer and his team also discovered biomarkers and proteins in the brains of children and teenagers with autism that indicated the pruning mechanism was not functioning normally.

Sulzer said it might be possible to adapt rapamycin to treat some autistic patients to help lessen the sometimes debilitating symptoms.

However, he noted that the drug in its current form, which is in testing as a treatment for Tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder often associated with autism, is also an immuno-suppressant, and may not be ideal as a long-term treatment, especially for children and teenagers, whose bodies are still developing.

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Human Evolution –  27 Sep 2008 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“.. What do you think the Human brain can really do? What do you think it's built to do? Let me give you an example of what your society has come to accept as an "unbalanced person." Some of you think it's a "sick person." Let me talk about the autistic one. Let us talk about autism in what you call the most severe case.

Blessed is the autistic one who has come to this earth to show you what future Human evolvement looks like! They spend a lifetime trying to figure out linearity and it frustrates them. Blessed is the savant who the earth looks at and calls unbalanced. For the Humans who do this cannot see what they don't understand. The autistic one is able to get up off the paper and be in color! Many of the autistic ones can do what your calculators can do on your desks, did you know that? And they don't need a calculator! Give them a problem - two digits multiplied by three digits. Now watch how fast they give you the answer. Because they're not linear! Ask them what weekday the 13th of August will be in 2012, and they'll tell you, and they don't need a calendar. You might say, "What kind of a mind can do that?" I'll tell you - a nonlinear one without the walls in the brain that you have.

Have you ever thought about that? The autistic have a nonlinear mind. The barriers are dropped. Can you imagine the frustration of this Human? Here he is in a world of black and white while he is in color. Not only that, you want him to go in a straight line when he is used to all directions at once. This also explains why the only energies that will work to calm him are interdimensional ones - music, art, and love. Does this start to make sense to you? (see below)

What is taking place, dear ones, for all to know and see and understand, is that very, very slowly you have the linearity of the Human brain starting to be reduced. Unlike the autistic, it will be in ways that will still be balanced and make sense. In other words, you will be able to move in and out of quantum thought any time you wish in order to live in a linear, 3D existence, but have quantum consciousness. It will be a return to a form of consciousness that Lemurians had, but with the wisdom of the ages that you have collected. This will not be fast, but the forerunners of that are already here.

I'm going to give you some attributes of Human evolution in a moment, but let's return to the autistic ones. Many reading this are very concerned about autism. You wish to know why there are so many autistics being born. You say it's beyond coincidence that there are suddenly so many! There's more autistic children being born today than there ever have been on this planet. Humans are scurrying around wanting to know what's wrong. Is it the chemistry of the food? Perhaps it must be vaccinations! Some are saying, without any proof, "Yes, that's it - vaccinations must be it." You are grasping at almost anything to solve the puzzle of why so many autistics are arriving.

Yet very few Humans, if any, have looked at the puzzle and said, "Perhaps we're evolving, and this is the first wave of what we're going to see?" Not mentally unbalanced, but nonlinear thinking! This is, indeed, the case. You are seeing a form of evolution and you are calling it odd and unusual. It's simply those who are coming in early with activated quantum DNA. This early forerunner has DNA activated in an uncontrolled way, and so learning is needed to know how to make sense of it all. This is what they are doing, and each generation of savant will have a better time of it, figuring out what is linear and what is not.

Watch the autistic child go through what they must do (autism in its most severe form). They are so nonlinear that there is incredible frustration in trying to linearize even the Human voice as you speak to them. They will do the same actions over and over and over, trying to linearize the nonlinear. The linear walls are gone in their brain, and they have to learn to build the ones that they need. Humans then see them as a problem, and it's not a problem. It's a form of gifted children who are helping this planet to grow. Blessed are those who come into Earth as the new wave of consciousness to show you where it's going. They are setting the stage for a new kind of Human. For this quantumness will develop in a balanced way where many will have the autistic talents where they want them, and the linear when they want that. That's what the Human mind is capable of - being quantum when they wish to be. That's a return to the way it was given to you.

Let me tell you something that's nonlinear in your life. We have said this so seldom. You're given two quantum things as a Human Being, two things that pass between the other side of the veil and this side of the veil that are absolutely quantum, not linear. They have structure, but they are not linear. Perhaps you haven't even thought about them? I'll tell you what they are - art and music. There is no limit to the number of notes that you can hear at the same time, which your brain can listen to and put together. There's no limit to the number of symphony orchestra players that can come together in harmony on one stage. The more you add, the better it gets! Try that with lecturers [smile]. Did you ever think about that? There's no limit to the number of colors that you can comprehend and resolve in certain patterns. They are beautiful and have communications within them all. Music touches your heart. Now you know why. It's interdimensional. It's quantum. It was designed to do that. Now, apply that same scenario to communication and you'll see where you're going. This is Human evolvement. It's beginning on this planet. It will go slow, but that's what's going on. ...‘’

"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

"... There's an attribute of a nonlinear mind that you call autism that you should study. There are many autistic Human Beings who can tell you the day of the week for any year within any month. If you were to ask that person, "What is the day of the week for the 15th of the month in May of 2035?", many would know the day instantly. Most Humans would gasp at what appears to be their computational efforts. But the truth is that computation has nothing to do with it. You see, it's not a formula, and it's not math. The answer already exists, so it is known. You can go to almost any personal computer that is calendar friendly and find that information, because it already exists. It's a concept that has already been developed, produced, and stored.

The nonlinear mind works this way. Many with the autistic mind are able to interpret this information almost instantly, because they see the concept. They're not calculating anything. Now you know the difference between linear and nonlinear. The autistic mind is the forerunner of things to come and an anomaly of future Human development. These are the savants of the day, and many of their difficulties stem from their inability to work in a linear world. ..."