Miriam Jang M.D.

Resources for Aspergers and Bullying

miriamjang — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:29:20 +0000

Carol Gray has done a nice job Asperger Syndrome and Bullying. There are some great resources here:

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
http://www.thegraycenter.org/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=29

The web-site above has some wonderful resources to deal with social aspects for Aspergers as well as how to avoid being bullied by others.

Beware Of Food Ingredient Labelling

miriamjang — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:03:01 +0000

Children at risk in food roulette.

By Sam Roe Chicago Tribune Nov 22, 2008

American children with food allergies are suffering life-threatening–and completely avoidable–reactions because manufacturers mislabel their products and regulators fail to police store shelves, a Tribune investigation has found.

In effect, children are used as guinea pigs, with the government and industry often taking steps to properly label a product only after a child has been harmed.

The Tribune investigation revealed that the government rarely inspects food to find problems and doesn’t punish companies that repeatedly violate labeling laws.

Microwave plastics found not to be safe

miriamjang — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:41:53 +0000

Tests find chemical after normal heating of ‘microwave safe’ plastics

By Susanne Rust And Meg Kissinger
Nov. 15, 2008
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html

Products marketed for infants or billed as “microwave safe” release toxic doses of the chemical bisphenol A when heated, an analysis by the Journal Sentinel has found.

The newspaper had the containers of 10 items tested in a lab – products that were heated in a microwave or conventional oven. Bisphenol A, or BPA, was found to be leaching from all of them.

The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals. The problems include genital defects, behavioral changes and abnormal development of mammary glands. The changes to the mammary glands were identical to those observed in women at higher risk for breast cancer…

[excellent article at url]
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html

- – - – see also:

Putting the products to the test.

To test ’safe’ products for bisphenol A, Journal Sentinel reporters sent items to Vom Saal’s laboratory for testing, one of the few laboratories that has repeatedly looked for BPA levels leaching from food containers.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin

Drowning as the Number One Cause of Death In Autism

miriamjang — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:17:46 +0000

Here is a tragic story:

“Dear Friends,

As I train police officers about autism and share with them the high risk drowning poses to children and adults with autism, I had hoped to not know that painful loss on a personal level.

This morning, I received the heartbreaking news from my very dear friend from Lexington, Kentucky–Michele Brock– sharing the tragic news of the loss of her daughter’s life on Sunday evening. Ashley had autism and struggled with the lack of danger and safety awareness that so often accompanies this diagnosis.and which many of our loved ones with autism share. Drowning is the number one cause of death among persons with autism.

The Brocks are amazing and careful and dedicated parents. They gave up their lovely home in Kentucky, careers, families and friends to move to Maine to seek help for Ashley as she struggled to speak and battled the most serious biomedical issues I’ve ever seen in a child with autism–a great sacrifice to them personally, emotionally and financially. Michele left her successful career to remain home with Ashley and her twin sister, Alexis. Barry recently lost his job and was struggling with a national job search to find employment AND an area with schools suitable for Ashley.

Their message: Michele has asked everyone with a child with autism to get them swim lessons ASAP! Their neighbors had just put water in the pool and began to swim in it the day before Ashley’s death. And, yes, the Brock’s yard was fenced. Ashley was an incredible escape artist.

Please keep the Brock family in your thoughts and prayers.

Sharing this story in hopes that you will never share this pain~Michelle

*************************************************************************************************************************************
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:41:49 AM
Subject: Sad News

As I sit here agonized by the thought of closing my eyes, yet hoping I am in the middle of some nightmare that I may still wake up from, I realize that I can no longer put off the inevitable. I somehow thought that if I didn’t write it, it wasn’t true. Our angel, Ashley Brock, was taken from us in a drowning accident on Sunday, May 18th at 7:25pm. While we mourn the loss of our beloved daughter, we also celebrate the truly unique and wonderful gift that she was. We thank God for every day that he has blessed us with her presence and pray that he gives us the strength to survive this horrendous ordeal.

Arrangements are being made at the Brackett Funeral Home at 29 Federal Street in Brunswick, Maine for later in the week. To learn more about our special girl visit our dear friend’s website www.adventuresinautism.com.

Thank you for all your love and support.

Michele”

This is a medical disclaimer: Please remember that this not meant as medical advice but as a desire to share information. Please always implement treatments under medical supervision. We are cannot be held liable for any of this information.

Discoloration of the Teeth

miriamjang — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:50:23 +0000

Here is something interesting:

“Most of the time the color is from flora on the teeth – usually presumably bacterial – but recently I had an adult woman patient who was about to go to a dentist to have her teeth whitened at a very high cost becaue she had had brown teeth for more than a year. Two weeks of Nizoral (anti-yeast medication) and her teeth were white again. Many bacteria and fungi are pigmented. 500 species of bacterial live on and around the teeth and gums so it’s pretty much the same deal as dysbiosis further south in the GI tract.”

Dental Anasthesia For Autistic Kids

miriamjang — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:56:23 +0000

This is from an anesthesiologist who has an autistic child, and lots of experience with kids”

“For sedation dental surgery, I would use versed and propofol (dipravan) drips in the IV to titrate to the effect and they sleep through the whole thing breathing on their own with nasal cannula as long as the dentist is not using any cautery or fire-hazard equipment during the procedure, it works great. We use alot of ketamine (family of angel-dust) for kids which vets use all the time on animals (cheap, keeps spontaneous breathing active, hemodynamic stability) but I find ketamine questionable on ASD kids since it is “dissociative anesthetic” agent (disconnects the sensory part of brain form recognizing pain), it might worsen their sensory disintegration postop. Ketamine tends to result in nightmares and all kinds of psychiatric issues with patients postop. Many pediatric anesthesiologists recommend Ketamine to be the choice of anesthetic for these kids and I strongly disagree. These kids cannot complain of nightmares and strange sensations postop for days since most of them cannot communicate their intelligence appropriately as you and I know well. Please warn parents of it. Since they do not have knowledge of ASD kids or refuse to believe what we know, I find myself practicing very differently than most of the “specialists.”

Is there a link between Tylenol and Autism?

miriamjang — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:38:34 +0000

Interesting study:

autistic disorder: The results of a parent survey.

Schultz ST, Klonoff-Cohen HS, Wingard DL, Akshoomoff NA, Macera CA, Ming Ji .

University of California San Diego, and San Diego State University, USA. Stephen.schultz@med.navy.mil.

The present study was performed to determine whether acetaminophen (paracetamol or Tylenol) use after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination could be associated with autistic disorder. This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from 16 July 2005 to 30 January 2006, consisting of 83 children with autistic disorder and 80 control children. Acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was significantly associated with autistic disorder when considering children 5 years of age or less (OR 6.11, 95% CI 1.42-26.3), after limiting cases to children with regression in development (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.11-14.3), and when considering only children who had post-vaccination sequelae (OR 8.23, 95% CI 1.56-43.3), adjusting for age, gender, mother’s ethnicity, and the presence of illness concurrent with measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Ibuprofen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was not associated with autistic disorder. This preliminary study found that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder.

PMID: 18445737 [PubMed - in process]

Effects of Air Pollution on Autism

miriamjang — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:39:52 +0000

Effects of Air Pollution on Autism

Air particulates, Diesel exhaust, Human brain: Oxidative stress

Oxidative stress and autism

Pollutants and autism

Oxidative stress and autism :

Each collection is a compilation of recent science, with links to many peer-reviewed articles

- – - -

“Like all federal agencies, the EPA must conduct a cost-benefit analysis on rules for which the cost of compliance is more than $100 million per year. As part of that process, the EPA often calculates the lives that could be saved if a new smog rule were adopted, and then attaches a dollar value to each life, currently about $7 million per life.”

Associations of pollutants and autism suggest that the National Research Council could also encourage the EPA to begin calculating the cost of autism per locale in ascertaining the relationships among industrial processes, investor profits, pollutants, and autism rates. However, during the last year or so, the EPA has moved to weaken, to create greater loopholes for non-reporting toxic waste release (TRI).

Perhaps some of the aforedelineated links can be used for helping change policies and laws in ways that increasingly minimize pollutants per locale.

Teresa

- – - -

Smog panel urges EPA to keep weighing the value of life in setting pollution rules

A National Research Council committee finds ’strong evidence’ that people are dying from breathing ozone

By Marla Cone
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 23, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-smog23apr23,1,4380907.story

Concluding that smog is likely to be killing many people, a national panel of experts advised the Environmental Protection Agency to consider the economic value of lost lives when comparing the costs and benefits of setting new air pollution rules.

Ozone, the main ingredient of smog, is a lung-scarring gas created when fumes from vehicles, factories and consumer products react in the sun. Over the last two decades, many scientific studies have shown that on days when ozone or other air pollutants increase, deaths and hospitalizations from respiratory diseases and heart attacks rise.

The Los Angeles Basin has the nation’s worst ozone levels.

A National Research Council panel confirmed the link, finding “strong evidence” that people are dying from breathing ozone.

“The committee concludes that short-term exposure to ambient ozone is likely to contribute to premature deaths,” according to the report released Tuesday. The committee was chaired by John C. Bailar III, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago’s Department of Health Studies.

One of the panel’s main tasks was helping the EPA decide how to calculate the value of a human life.

Like all federal agencies, the EPA must conduct a cost-benefit analysis on rules for which the cost of compliance is more than $100 million per year. As part of that process, the EPA often calculates the lives that could be saved if a new smog rule were adopted, and then attaches a dollar value to each life, currently about $7 million per life.

The value is based on studies of people who are asked how much they would be willing to pay to lower their chances of death.

Interpreting the value of a life when setting air-quality rules has been highly controversial for years. Some industry groups and others contend that attaching a multimillion-dollar value to a life inflates the projected benefits of costly rules and is based on uncertain risks.

In the Bush administration, the White House Office of Management and Budget has questioned the reliability of the science linking air pollution to deaths and has instructed the EPA staff to remove ozone mortality benefits when setting some rules.

To try to resolve the debate, the EPA sought help from the National Research Council.

The panel included economists, physicians and epidemiologists, among others. They concluded that evidence of deaths linked to ozone is sufficient for government agencies to include a monetary value for lost lives when quantifying the health benefits of rules.

The experts added that although the link is “robust,” some uncertainty remains about the number of deaths attributable to ozone. Several factors, including the role of other pollutants and questions about how much each individual breathes, introduce some uncertainties, they said.

Last month, the EPA set a tighter health standard for ozone for cities and counties. The new panel did not analyze that standard, but said that if there is a “safe” amount of ozone that would prevent deaths, it is probably below the current standard of 75 parts per billion.

Most of the increased deaths on smoggy days, the experts said, are among people with asthma, heart disease or other preexisting conditions.

The panel was asked to weigh in on an ethical debate about whether every life should be considered equal: the same dollar value for a 2-year-old as for a 90-year-old, for example.

The experts recommended that the EPA continue using one value because it is the “most scientifically supportable approach.” But they recommended further research to explore different values based on longevity.

Environmental groups said the findings could change how the EPA and Office of Management and Budget analyze clean-air proposals.

“The nation’s leading scientists have issued a wake-up call to the U.S. government to strengthen the clean-air measures that will prevent the death and disease from smog air pollution,” said Dr. John Balbus, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund.

marla.cone@latimes.com

The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.For more information go to:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm

Better safe than sorry, Ottawa says of plastic ban.

miriamjang — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:26:16 +0000

More News Of Plastics Safety:

19 April

Better safe than sorry, Ottawa says of plastic ban.

In one of the most significant regulatory moves in decades, Canada is set to become the first country in the world to list bisphenol A as a toxic substance and ban the use of polycarbonate baby bottles.
Toronto Globe and Mail, Ontario.

- – - -

The plastics revolution.

It changed our world, but are we trading convenience for safety?
Washington Post.

- – - -

US: Bisphenol A levels in humans

A new analysis by the CDC indicates that many Americans are exposed to bisphenol A at levels above the current safety threshold set by the EPA based upon decades-old data. These levels are significantly higher than those sufficient to cause a wide array of health effects in animals following exposure in the womb. Exposure to another industrial chemical, 4-tertiary-octylphenol, is also widespread.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-1109calafatetal.html

- – - -

Risks of bisphenol A

Thirty-eight of the world’s leading scientific experts on bisphenol A have warned policymakers of potential adverse health effects of exposure to the widespread molecule used to make plastic and food can lining. They conclude that average levels in people are above those that cause harm to animals in laboratory experiments. And they calculate that average serum levels in people can only be explained by assuming that exposures today are already above the level that EPA considers safe.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-0803chapelhillconsensus.html

- – - -

Bishpenol A, hypo-methylation, epigenetic reprogramming

Exposure to bisphenol A during development changes gene behavior in mice, causing genetically identical animals to develop differently. BPA exposure reduces DNA methylation, thereby increasing the expression of genes that would have been silenced. The results can be counteracting by supplementing the maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation with nutrients that increase methylation, such as genistein, a phytoestrogen found in soy.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-0730dolinoyetal.html

- – - -

Baby’s Toxic Bottle.

Bisphenol A leaches out of six major brands of popular baby bottles sold in the US and Canada. Laboratory experiments with animals show that exposure to level of bisphenol A that leaches out of these bottles causes a range of adverse effects.
Published by Center for Health, Environment & Justice.

- – - -

Autism is a mystery
http://AmericanChemicalCouncil-and-MajorNewsMediaOfAmerica.com

Practical Tips for Treatment

miriamjang — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:18:03 +0000

Here are some Practical Tips for Treatment

Symptom Diagnosis or Treatment

Unexplained irritability Consider treating abdominal pain. Try Prevacid.

White spots on nails Consider zinc deficiency.

Keratosis pilaris Consider food allergies, consider EFA deficiency

Difficulty falling asleep Try melatonin, 5 HTP, epsom salts baths.

Sandy stool Try taurine

Intolerance of crowds Auditory integration therapy

Miriam Jang M.D.

Resources for Aspergers and Bullying

Beware Of Food Ingredient Labelling

Children at risk in food roulette.

Microwave plastics found not to be safe

Putting the products to the test.

Drowning as the Number One Cause of Death In Autism

Discoloration of the Teeth

Dental Anasthesia For Autistic Kids

Is there a link between Tylenol and Autism?

autistic disorder: The results of a parent survey.

Effects of Air Pollution on Autism

Better safe than sorry, Ottawa says of plastic ban.

Practical Tips for Treatment