For Joy and Bendetta, Here is an interesting study on mitochondria as a target of toxicants. It mentions pharamceuticals having a toxic effect.

Toxicol Sci. 2013 Jul;134(1):1-17. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kft102. Epub 2013 Apr 29.

Mitochondria as a target of environmental toxicants.
Meyer JN1, Leung MC, Rooney JP, Sendoel A, Hengartner MO, Kisby GE, Bess AS.

Abstract

"Enormous strides have recently been made in our understanding of the biology and pathobiology of mitochondria. Many diseases have been identified as caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, and many pharmaceuticals have been identified as previously unrecognized mitochondrial toxicants. A much smaller but growing literature indicates that mitochondria are also targeted by environmental pollutants. We briefly review the importance of mitochondrial function and maintenance for health based on the genetics of mitochondrial diseases and the toxicities resulting from pharmaceutical exposure. We then discuss how the principles of mitochondrial vulnerability illustrated by those fields might apply to environmental contaminants, with particular attention to factors that may modulate vulnerability including genetic differences, epigenetic interactions, tissue characteristics, and developmental stage. Finally, we review the literature related to environmental mitochondrial toxicants, with a particular focus on those toxicants that target mitochondrial DNA. We conclude that the fields of environmental toxicology and environmental health should focus more strongly on mitochondria. "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23629515

autism mom, my own observations have been similar w the little boy I know and care for - upside down on the couch as soon as he could figure it out, and he also pressed his chin on things(my hand if it was close). We did however notice his head swell, the coronal line(skull line running from side to side) felt like a step for many months. He did head-bang but in a subtle and gentle way, up against a window just barely tapping it.

He has always enjoyed being hung upside down and swung around. I wonder if these motions and positions are sort of 'adrenalizing' the mito temporarily, giving them an unnatural boost. And this is what feels good to these kids, the temporary mito function.

autism mom:

Thanks for the information.

My husband at age 35 was dignosed after two reactions to vaccines with acquired mitochondria myopathy on the Complex I and III

Acquired.

Then of course there is the fishy language that was used by the vaccine compensation court. that there was a mild existing mitochondria disease that was made worse by the vaccines - a sort of quote by then Fox News reporter Alisyn Lane Camerota

It will be interesting to us both to see how this plays out

yes, epigenetic:

genetics (mtDNA) + environmental triggers = autism.

Experts say mitochondria are vulnerable to environmental insults (viruses and toxins). So what I think is happening is that our kids are more vulnerable in that they have inherited imperfections in a high number of their mitochondria (mtDNA). Normally these kids would be healthy and able to function. Introduce vaccines. The vaccines are toxic to the mitochondria triggering the onset of a mitochondrial dysfunction. The result: autistic regression.

Mito dysfunction/ autism symptoms:

seizures
head banging
loss of language
motor problems
GI issues
developmental delay
vision problems
sensory disturbance

The greater number mitochondria that carry mtDNA imperfections in a child, the greater the regression and the severity of autism. Vaccine again trigger the onset of the mitochondrial dysfunction in this subset of kids.

Mitochondria, supply cellular energy to all organs in the body including the brain. When mitochondria dysfunction it's like multiple fuses blew but you cannot replace the fuse. System wide failure.

So yes, epigenetic. but our kids would have been fine without the trigger(s). That is key.

A good resource on autism and mitochondria dysfunction is the MitoAction.org web site.

The relationship between autism and Mito:

MitoAction: http://www.mitoaction.org/about-autism-and-mito

Appreciate your thoughts on this Benedetta. I agree that the immune system is being primed by vaccines resulting in over reaction to environmental stimulants, food etc. that would explain why peanut allergies have soared among children.

Because mitochondrial disease symptoms (Sensory disturbance, seizures, moto problems and dev. delay) overlap with autism, I'm just not ready to let go of mitochondria dysfunction theory on autism. Perhaps both are happening (immune overreaction combined with a mito dysfunction). Regardless, they really did a number of our kids with all these vaccines.

This article came out yesterday.

Mutations Pervade Mitochondrial DNA
Pathogenic mutations in mitochondrial DNA are common in healthy people, according to a new study.

By Jyoti Madhusoodanan | July 7, 2014

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EUREKALERT, ODRA NOELMutations in one or more copies of mitochondrial DNA, known as heteroplasmies, are likely to be much more common in healthy people than previously anticipated. Approximately 90 percent of healthy participants in the 1000 Genomes Project harbored at least one heteroplasmy, and 20 percent bore mitochondrial genome mutations implicated in diseases, according to the results of a study published today (July 7) in PNAS.

“It’s been known for a long time that lesions in mitochondrial DNA become more prevalent with age,” said metabolic disease specialist Neal Sondheimer of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who was not involved with the work. This study “offers the intriguing possibility that maybe everybody has a little bit of something wrong with their mitochondrial DNA and that might play a role in aging.”

Because a single cell can contain hundreds to thousands of mitochondria, it also carries multiple copies—and, sometimes, variants—of these maternally inherited genomes. Pathogenic mutations can co-exist with healthy mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) within a cell or group of cells; clinical signs of disease only occur when the frequency of mutations crosses a threshold, which typically ranges from 60 to 85 percent of mitochondria.

More than 500 point mutations in mtDNA have been implicated in various diseases so far. Previous studies, which had only examined a control region or subsets of mitochondrial DNA, suggested approximately 25 to 65 percent of people harbored heteroplasmy.

The new study, led by Zhenglong Gu of Cornell University, examined nearly 85 percent of the mitochondrial genome in 1,085 healthy participants, drawn from 14 different populations, and detected mutations at frequencies as low as 1 percent. The team identified a total of 4,342 heteroplasmies, 301 of which have been linked to disease. One in five participants carried at least one such pathogenic mutation, according to Gu.

This is the “first study to have used such deep sequencing on so many positions and in this many people, so it’s sort of hit a trifecta,” said Sondheimer.

Severe mtDNA mutations can cause certain myopathies, epilepsy, and other diseases, while less pathogenic variants have been implicated in complex conditions such as type 2 diabetes, aging, and cancer.

Although these results suggest pathogenic mtDNA mutations are more prevalent than previously thought, the low frequency at which they occur is unlikely to have a negative impact on health. However, if the mutations increase in frequency in some fraction of cells as they divide, they could provide a likely source of mitochondrial dysfunction, according to the authors.

“The problem is that mitochondrial DNA isn’t stable, so there’s nothing to say that a 1 percent load of mutation won’t blossom into a different level later,” Sondheimer told The Scientist. Even though a low-frequency mutation “isn’t pathogenic in and of itself, it’s harder to develop a mutation later if you don’t have one, compared to when you start with some level of mutation,” he said. This is especially important when considering the formation of oocytes, which creates a “bottleneck” in which only a few mitochondria from maternal cells are parsed into daughter cells. The process can change the disease-causing potential of a heteroplasmy from one generation to the next, according to Sondheimer.

This difference in mutation frequency between oocytes can mean patients with severe mitochondrial diseases have siblings who carry the disease-causing heteroplasmy, but remain healthy because of its lower frequency. “It is still unknown whether [these] low loads of pathogenic mutations, which are common in siblings, contribute to later-onset phenotypes like neurodegeneration, cancer or aging,” said Sondheimer.

In future studies, Gu and his colleagues plan to study heteroplasmy in single cells and in samples from various tissues, which might have different heteroplasmies than the samples in the 1000 Genomes Project. “It’s possible that right now our estimates might not reflect the real situation in humans,” Gu told The Scientist.

The larger question, according to Gu, is to understand “whether these cells die or [proliferate and] cause degenerative diseases.” Understanding how the frequency of heteroplasmy changes over the course of a person’s life could help manage disease progression or aging, he said.

The mitochondrial genome could be “of ultimate important in aging-related disease,” said Gu. “Hopefully our research will generate more interest.”

K. Ye et al., “Extensive pathogenicity of mitochondrial heteroplasmy in healthy human individuals,” PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1403521111, 2014.

Autismmom
In this NIH human microbiome meeting they had Eric Brown a grad student present the information gathered by a Dr. Finlay in Canada --
He did not come and I can see why -- their subject was titled "Vaccines and Microbes"

He begins by putting down those that say vaccines don't work -- if ever a man skirted around -- and had to go canty and carfully --

and still he ended up saying vaccines were a blunt instrument--

in other words - though he did not say it a vaccine not only is priming the immune system to fight against pathogens --but probably what ever keeps the Candida yeast stuff in check.

He also said toward the middle end -- we all know vaccine and autism is used a lot together -- you could see when he said it - he was holding his breath--

But then he went on to say that maybe the could put these vaccine = antigens on Lactobacillus and give us oral vaccines -- which opens up right away to me -increasing the danger of priming the immune system to attack a very good bacteria so not only can we no longer eat peanut butter, eggs, soy, milk, gluten -or anything that has MSG in it but - we can add to that list pickles, buttermilk and yogurt yeap more to the growing list.

But it is not our mitochondria - it is something interferring with the process.

autismmom

I am sorry I forgot to put address you, I was responding below to your comment on what they might find in the mitochondria of our babies.

I think it's worse than this: by encouraging pregnant women to get the mercury-filled flu shot twice during pregnancy they identify which babies might embarrass them by reacting to vaccines later by clearing them out of the gene pool now. The problem is reacting to a heavy metal is not a trait that normally needs to be weeded out of the gene pool (not that any should be). But what's terrifying is that weeding out these babies would benefit corporate greed. It is truly frightening and evil. Instead why not say "these fetuses react poorly to toxins --just be careful " as they do with PKU babies who can't have aspartame etc.

If I interpret the table correctly 12 of the cases concerned had de novo mutations. The most benefit from these studies linking mutations to autism seems to be the demonstration that many with autism or possibly their parents have been exposed to something genotoxic. Identifying and preventing such exposures to protect the genetic integrity of the race would be the paramount focus in a society governed by sanity, I would think.

I dont think doctors will ever recommend genetics screening for parents worried about vaccinating. In fact I think they already know there is a sensitive subset of kids (based on family history of disease) yet they refuse to prescreen these kids. Sadly, I think our kids are being sacrificed for the greater good which explains why they are so interested in collecting autism families genetic information. Our kids have what they deem as "weak genes" and they dont want those weak genes passed on. Eliminating weak genes from the gene pool makes for a more fit, less disease prone population you see.

My ultrasounds were normal and the nurse said "this baby is golden" to the doctor during the ultrasound. After my son regressed at age 2, I took him to a neurologist who recommended a genetics test called a chromosomal microarray. They found nothing unusual. So why did he regress into autism??

I believe part of the answer lies in our kids mitochondrial DNA and that there are hidden defects in the mtDNA that can be triggered by environmental stressors (vaccines). In fact UC Davis researchers recently confirmed that many of our kids have an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction. I ran into resisitent from the neurologist to get him to test my so for mito problem but he refused.

NEWS | May 8, 2014
Study confirms mitochondrial deficits in children with autism
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/8932

Why shouldn't we have a test to determine if our child is at risk for autism? They have it for for other disabilities such as down syndrome. Maybe the purpose could be not about aborting these children but saving them by not vaccinating. Many anti-vaccine groups tell you not to vaccinate if your childs head has rapid growth in the ultrasound and during head circumference tests. My son had both and I welcome any tests that might forewarn people not to vaccinate.

I keep saying that genetic screening for autism will never come to fruition and here is further proof:

The study, titled "Disruptive CHD8 Mutations Define a Subtype of Autism Early in Development," followed 6,176 children with autism spectrum disorder for nine months. Researchers found that 15 had a CHD8 mutation and that all of those cases had similar characteristics in appearance as well as issues with sleep disturbance and gastrointestinal problems including constipation.

So of 6,176 autistic kids, only 15 had this gene mutation? That's a incredible, measly .2%. These researches have been going at it so long, spending billions of research dollars only to detect countless genetic factors that are often extremely weakly tied to autism. This ridiculous situation should serve as absolute proof that autism is not a genetic condition. Finding genetic traits for aborting autistics, at this point, appears to be merely wishful thinking.

Scary shit indeed! Obviously the focus here is on early identification for no other reason than to abort. What a sick world we live in. Very sad.