1049 cases of measles have been reported in England and Wales so far this year, the highest number in 13 years and exceeding the number on 2007, when there were 990 case. Today’s Guardian reports that health officials are seriously concerned about a possible epidemic of measles of between 30,000 - 100,000 cases. Measles has been spreading more easily because of the “relatively low uptake” of the MMR vaccine in the past decade:

The fall in uptake of MMR was triggered by now-discredited research claiming there was a link between the jab and autism.

Health officials in the UK are planning a mass vaccination program in some areas. The Daily Mail quotes Guy Hayhurst, consultant in public health at a local Primary Care Trust, as saying that they have identified 10,534 children who have no record of full MMR immunization.

Here in the US, measles cases are at their highest level in a decade.

It’s starting to seem more than unfortunate and regrettable that the theory of a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism—the so-called “leaky gut theory“—was proposed back in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield.

While studying drug abuse and addiction, researchers at the Ohio State University College of Medicine have found a link between nicotine addiction and autism. Neurexins are proteins that, along with neurologins, are thought to play a key role in the formation and functioning of synapses, of connections between nerve cells. In the new study, a protein made by the neurexin-1 gene was found to have a very particular role, as noted in today’s Science Daily:

The discovery identified a defining role for a protein made by the neurexin-1 gene, which is located in brain cells and assists in connecting neurons as part of the brain’s chemical communication system. The neurexin-1 beta protein’s job is to lure another protein, a specific type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, to the synapses, where the receptor then has a role in helping neurons communicate signals among themselves and to the rest of the body.

This function is important in autism because previous research has shown that people with autism have a shortage of these nicotinic receptors in their brains. Meanwhile, scientists also know that people who are addicted to nicotine have too many of these receptors in their brains.

“If we were to use drugs that mimic the actions of nicotine at an early time in human brain development, would we begin to help those and other circuits develop properly and thus significantly mitigate the deficits in autism? This is a novel way of thinking about how we might be able to use drugs to approach autism treatment,” said Rene Anand, associate professor of pharmacology in Ohio State University’s College of Medicine and principal investigator of the research.

“It would not be a complete cure, but right now we know very little and have no drugs that tackle the primary causes of autism.”

Cholinergic agents are drugs which play a role in countering nicotine addiction in the brain. It’s speculated that these medications, after “retailor[ing],” might help autistic individuals by increasing the level of neurexin-1 beta protein in their brains. How this might specifically help autistic individuals is only alluded to—-perhaps it might be more helpful to think about how medications can, in some cases and in discrete ways, help some autistic individuals, over and above focusing on the notion of a drug that would “cure autism“?

The research was presented today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington, D.C.

We began the week with Monday in Manhattan and ended it with dinner and a walk across the Hudson River. Inbetween:

• Simon Baron-Cohen on “Disorder,” “Cure,” and Autism
  Says Baron-Cohen: “The word ‘disorder’ is too negative. I use the word “condition” – autism can be disabling, but not all of its features involve disability. Some of them are strengths.”
• Autistic Defendants Often Misunderstood In Criminal Justice System
  A 20-year-old man stabs his mother in Florida.
• And when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it
  In recognition of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, b5media bloggers on the Health and Wellness Channel are blogging about the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
• Deconstructing the Vaccine-Autism Scare
  Dr. Rahul Parikh reviews Autism’s False Prophets by Dr. Paul Offit.
• The Vaccine Doctor and the Autism Mom Heroine
  In this script, Jenny and her following of David(a)s are poised, too-good non-toxicness products in their hands, to take on the evil Goliath of the Medical Establishment, Big Pharma, the dreaded CDC.
• Confessions of a Former Warrior Mom
  In which I announce that I’ve retired from this Warrior mom business.
• Acceptance and Surrender, says Jenny
  Yes, these words were said by Mother Warrior Jenny McCarthy on Oprah.
• A “Master Switch” for Synapses, Npas4
  Neuroscientists at Children’s Hospital Boston have identified what is being called a “master switch” that organizes the functioning of inhibitory synapses.
• A Method to Predict the “Severity” of Autism?
  A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found that determining whether a toddler focuses on another person’s mouth or eyes can predict the level of disability in the child.
• The Adolescence Factor
  About “the adolescence factor,” which seems to have become the new reigning phrase in our household to explain tense, tough moments.
• David Kirby (and the supposed vaccine-autism link) deconstructed, yet again
  Dr. Rahul K. Parikh deconstructs David Kirby’s Powerpoint to congressional staffers.

A new study to be presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Dublin has found that “people who showed more signs of games addiction exhibit the following personality traits: neuroticism, lack of extraversion and lack of agreeableness”—all of which are signs of Asperger’s Syndrome, today’s Next Generation reports.

I do have to say that, when I asked my college students what they had done over Spring Break, the main response (after “sleep”) was “play video games.”

To which I responded: I have played video games exactly one time in my life. I played Sonic the Hedgehog at a friend’s. In the words of her boyfriend:

“I’ve never seen anyone lose so quickly.”

But I can type 100 words a minute………