January 30, 2023
- The Guardian recently featured a video detailing how exposure to lead at an early age can cause a lifetime of problems. The film’s producers show that decades after researchers found that lead was dangerous to humans, the metal is still abundant in American homes, water pipes, automobile fuel, and more. Even more troubling, the video reports that America’s most vulnerable children have high levels of lead in their blood. The CDC has determined that there is no amount of lead in children’s blood that is considered safe.
- A new case report co-authored by Dr. Daniel A. Rossignol and Dr. Richard E. Frye, among others, discovered profound, lasting effects of COVID-19 on immune activation that exacerbated neuropsychiatric symptoms in three individuals with autism. The authors caution that due to pre-existing difficult-to-treat behaviors related to autism and limited language, the lasting effects of COVID-19 may be easily overlooked in the ASD population. They call for a better understanding of long COVID syndrome and for additional management options in order to treat ASD patients who suffer from long COVID syndrome.
- According to a recent NPR report, transgender and non-binary people are up to six times more likely to also have autism. A Stanford University researcher, Lawrence Fung, believes that hormones may play a role in this association. He states, “Females on the spectrum seem to have more testosterone and masculine features on their faces. On the other hand, males on the autism spectrum–they have more feminine features.”
- A small pilot study suggests that significantly reducing the amount of time that toddlers and preschoolers with autism spend watching screens could lead to fewer symptoms of the disorder. The research involved children 18 to 40 months who, on average, spent 5.6 hours per day in front of screens. The study’s design reduced screen time for participants to about 5 minutes per day. After six months of less screen time and more social engagement, the researchers reported “significant improvements” in both core autism symptoms and parent stress levels.
- For the first time in years, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee has approved a new strategic plan. The almost 200-page document provides recommendations to the secretary of health and human services on autism research, services, and supports. The plan calls for an increase in funding from the government to reach $685 million by 2025 for autism research and services.
- Collaborative for Health & Environment recently released a video titled “Maternal Exposure to Air Pollution Nanoparticles and Adverse Birth Outcomes.” The presentation covers two new studies. The first study examines the levels of nanoparticles in the environment and how these levels affect the mother, placenta, and neonate. The second study focuses on how nanoparticles pass through the placenta, impacting a fetus’ developing organs.
