Research on Autism Still Missing the Forest For The Trees
Forbes' Lipson Goes After Brownstein, Who Responds.

Acetominophen Use During Pregnancy Associated with Increased Autism Risk in Danish Study

Tylenol-shelfHere's a study that readers will find interesting as the "genetic" epidemic rages on.

ABSTRACT  
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688372

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is the most commonly used pain and fever medication during pregnancy. Previously, a positive ecological correlation between acetaminophen use and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been reported but evidence from larger studies based on prospective data is lacking. We followed 64,322 children and mothers enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC; 1996-2002) for average 12.7 years to investigate whether acetaminophen use in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of ASD in the offspring. Information on acetaminophen use was collected prospectively from three computer-assisted telephone interviews. We used records from the Danish hospital and psychiatric registries to identify diagnoses of ASD. At the end of follow up, 1,027 (1.6%) children were diagnosed with ASD, 345 (0.5%) with infantile autism. We found that 31% of ASD (26% of infantile autism) have also been diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorders. More than 50% women reported ever using acetaminophen in pregnancy. We used Cox proportional hazards model to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confident interval (CI). Prenatal use of acetaminophen was associated with an increased risk of ASD accompanied by hyperkinetic symptoms (HR = 1.51 95% CI 1.19-1.92), but not with other ASD cases (HR = 1.06 95% CI 0.92-1.24). Longer duration of use (i.e., use for >20 weeks in gestation) increased the risk of ASD or infantile autism with hyperkinetic symptoms almost twofold. Maternal use of acetaminophen in pregnancy was associated with ASD with hyperkinetic symptoms only, suggesting acetaminophen exposure early in fetal life may specifically impact this hyperactive behavioral phenotype. Autism Res 2015. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688372

2008 ad spending on Tylenol by Johnson and Johnson: $152,000,000 (Fierce Pharma)

What Won't the Makers of Tylenol Do to Protect Their Iconic Painkiller?

In September of 2015 we ran a post
Tylenol, Inflammation and Autism by Dr. William Parker.  Tylenol has had a storied history - due to a tampering scandal decades ago.  

Comments

Birgit Calhoun

My son had been diagnosed in 1979 with Kawasaki' syndrome; he also had Waterhouse-Friedrichsen Syndrome which was easily recognizable because of the bleeding into the skin etc. At the time the scuttlebutt by nurses had it that mercury from a sphygmomanometer had been broken in the room where he was hospitalized because he had seizures due to potassium deficiency.

I am telling this only because the above syndrome seems to be related to adrenal bleeding. At the time I had no clue about the significance of mercury and I would have expected that the doctors would have done all they could to tell me what was wrong.

John Stone
Georg Elser

Ed Yazbak - these Nepalese look like world innovators :

http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/parliament-passes-vaccination-bill/

As per the bill, if a vaccination service provider causes any damage to one’s health due to the vaccination, the former should bear the cost of treatment.

Similarly, if any one dies due to inappropriate vaccination, the vaccination service provider will have to compensate for the loss of life to his/her closest kin.

Birgit Calhoun

The fact that acetaminophen also depletes glutathione should be a clue why the Danish study may only be partially right. Did the study consider the fact that glutathione depletion also makes it more difficult to remove mercury especially from the mother's blood? The mercury that doesn't get excreted most likely winds up in the fetus.

Another question arises: Why is this study so specific about "ASD accompanied by hyperkinetic symptoms". What kind of autism is "hyperkinetic"? Did this study selectively choose certain types of symptoms? I am not just a little skeptical about another "Danish" study.

VAERS 576034

Examination of the Event Details report makes obvious (1) that the AED is truncated but (2) that the "symptoms" list includes Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome.

The question therefore becomes whether Bexsero could possibly cause WFS. I see no plausible mechanism offhand.

Patience (Eileen Nicole) Simon

No drugs should be taken during pregnancy. Visible deformities are likely from drugs taken during the early months of fetal development. Remember thalidomide?

Drugs are not safe during any stage of pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is one of the most horrible things a mother can inflict on her child. Use of the anti-seizure medication valproic acid (Depakote) has been well established as a cause of autism.

Maturation of the human brain continues after birth. The language areas of the cerebral cortex continue to develop for five years or more after birth. No drugs should be given to infants and young children either. Why is this not universally understood by now?

Ed Yazbak

John,

Having a fever and needing some Tylenol is the least of your worries.

We already have a very well documented "Foreign" VAERS report of a death within 5 days of vaccination with Bexsero (as the ONLY administered vaccine)(VAERS 576034)
This 2 month - old was vaccinated 2/26/15 and died 3/3/15

This was the write-up
Write-up: Case number PHHY2015IT026937, is a combined initial spontaneous report from a physician via Novartis employee and a healthcare professional via health authority (HA, reference number: 297337) received on 05 Mar 2015, with a follow up report received from the quality assurance department (QA, reference number: 355706) on 06 Mar 2015, with a combined follow up report received from a biologist via Novartis employee and a lay press newspaper article (journalist) on 05 Mar 2015 and from a lay press newspaper article on 06 Mar 2015, with a combined follow up report received from a lay press article and the QA department (reference number: 355706) on 09 Mar 2015 and 10 Mar 2015 respectively, with a follow up report received from the HA on 13 Mar 2015. This report refers to an 11 weeks old male neonate. Medical history and concomitant medications were not reported. He was vaccinated with first dose of BEXSERO (batch number: 131301, expiry date: 31 Mar 2015) on 26 Feb 2015. Further to the vaccination, the patient showed unspecified increased polymerase chain reaction (PCR) value, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia (septic shock). On 03 Mar 2015, the pediatrician visited the patient''s home and suggested hospitalization due to severity of conditions including fever. On 03 Mar 2015 at hour 12:48, he was admitted to a pediatric ward due to hyperpyrexia for 6 hours. At the pediatric ward it was noted that the patient was in poor clinical conditions, sufferance behavior, pale and septic color, dehydrated, tachycardic pulse (heart rate (FC) was 190/minutes). At the same department venous access was found. He was given Ceftriaxone (300 mg) and Methylprednisolone (10 mg) endovenously. The ceftriaxone showed no response. The condition worsened. The patient was transferred another emergency department from the pediatric ward of the local town with the assistance of the pediatrist and of an anesthesiologist at 13:50 hours. During hospital admission, there was a marked increase in C-reactive protein level with a value of 5.88 mg. He was in critical conditions. The patient had paleness of the skin, marble-like appearance, hypostasis phenomena, peripheral pulses filiform, hypothermia, tachyarrhythmic cardiac sounds, sensorium obnubilation with tendency to the soporous status. Hematobiochemical blood drawn has been performed and hemogasanalysis through venous access at the femoral vein showed very severe mixed acidosis. His blood pH was 6.89, pCO2 was 62, EB was 20.8 and bicarbonate was 11.8. Due to this observation, a tracheal intubation was performed and mechanical ventilation was started. An electrocardiogram showed evidence of sinus tachycardia at heart rate of 195/minutes with tendency to bradycardia crisis. For this reason, endotracheal Adrenaline was given along with Hydrocortisone at anti-shock dosage (250 mg) and sodium bicarbonate (20 cc) was given endovenously at 14:10 hour. At hour 14:20, in order to be able to find a venous access more congruous and taking into account the extreme criticality of the situation, an intra-osseous puncture under emergency was performed. A physiological solution (unspecified) was infused at anti-shock velocity (40 ml/hour). His arterial pressure was not detectable (Dinamap method), unique vital parameter was detectable in the ECG. He was given bicarbonate infusion at a dose of 10 cc at 14:25 hours. On the same day at 14:40 hours, 20 mg of Ceftriaxone was administered endovenously. At 14:46 hour, a chest-abdominal X-ray was requested which showed reduction in the lung diaphany at the III medium superior of the right lung without representation of the intestinal meteorism with distension of one intestinal ansa projectively in the mesogastrium. At 14:50 hour, a peripheral blood smear test was performed which showed evidences of leucopenia with severe neutropenia (700/mmc) and thrombocytopenia (59.000/mmc). On the basis of this result (highly evocative for a septic picture) a Gentamycin was administered endovenously at

I will remind you that "Foreign Reports" are very reliable as they are usually reported to U.S. VAERS by the Vaccine Company Representative in the area where the adverse s=event occurred.

Barry

To me, it seems that anything that affects the body's ability to detox seems to be implicated in autism.

**********

Maybe. But it seems more to me like they're trying blame it on everything BUT vaccines.

Ed Yazbak

Bob

You are so right. Everything can cause autism except the BIG “V” and ... as if we did not have enough dealing with Danish Studies written by Danish Authors, we are now getting publications by US Authors using Danish data.

By the way, three of the authors of this study co-authored another study published in JAMA in April 2014, in which they discussed the same sample, Acetominophen use during pregnancy, and ADHD alone.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24566677

Interestingly, one of the co-authors of that study was affiliated with the University of Arizona, Tucson AND with Novartis Farmaceutica SA, Barcelona, Spain.

What is giving me a headache is that I know that in 2010, Novartis announced “the introduction of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, the only branded over-the-counter children's liquid acetaminophen product” available nationwide in the US.

Novartis then went on to boast that: “Triaminic® now offers parents a product that combines the pain relieving and fever-reducing power of acetaminophen with the brand that has been trusted by pediatricians and parents for more than 50 years.”

In addition: “To help parents restock their medicine cabinets with a reliable option,” Novartis gave away “up to 250,000 bottles of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever in the US, valued at USD 1.5 million.”

The official announcement ended with: “Triaminic® is the leading children's cough and cold brand and children's health has been the brand's sole focus for more than 50 years. We feel it is important to now offer parents a dependable fever reducer and pain reliever product for their children," said Charlie Hough, OTC North America Region Head, Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. "By giving away up to 250,000 bottles of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, we will make it even easier for parents to have access to the only children's liquid acetaminophen product now available nationally from a trusted brand name."
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100727/Novartis-launches-new-OTC-childrens-liquid-acetaminophen-product.aspx

It all sounds like fiction.

Sadly, it is not.

John Stone

Acetaminophen is also recommended for reducing fever in patients who have had Prof Pollard's Men B vaccine Bexsero.

Bob Moffit

"We followed 64,322 children and mothers enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC; 1996-2002) for average 12.7 years to investigate whether acetaminophen use in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of ASD in the offspring."

It is amazing how the "cause" of autism remains a complete mystery .. having inexplicably increased since late 1980's to today's stunning "1 in 45" children.

I suspect the "mystery" remains because the ONLY studies done are "epidemiological" .. such as .. "following 64,322 children and mothers for 12.5 years" .. studies that are notorious for being unreliable .. too easily manipulated to reach a "pre-determined conclusion" .. be that "conclusion" .. pet shampoos, older dads, living near freeways, on and on.

Almost THREE DECADES OF RISING AUTISM RATES .. the only thing "science" .. knows with "scientific certainty" .. is that autism is NOT CAUSED BY VACCINES .. yet .. the ONLY study never done is the "VACCINATED V. UNVACCINATED" study.

It is NOT a conspiracy .. it is a CRIME.

Anonymous

To me, it seems that anything that affects the body's ability to detox seems to be implicated in autism.

Tylenol produces the compound called NAPQI (N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine). This is normally processed by the body's master antioxidant, glutathione, but when the body depletes glutathione due to NAPQI processing, it sends people to the hospital due to liver failure.

Anything that negatively affects the methionine/folate cycle (of which an end product of the transsulfuration pathway from the methionine cycle is glutathione) seems to be implicated in autism.

The MTHFR gene mutation affects the folate cycle that makes the methionine cycle less efficient. Other genes implicated, such as GAMT deficiency, AGAT deficiency, and SLC6A8 deficiency, also affect the methionine cycle indirectly.

Boys have a lower capacity to generate glutathione, because testosterone blocks formation of cystathionine, which is a precursor for glutathione, whereas estrogen promotes it. This can help explain why boys are more susceptible than girls 4:1.

Mitochondria dysfunction, and anything that hampers the ability for the body to produce energy, negatively affects the methionine cycle, as ATP is required for the cycle to function.

It seems that all these "different" things associated to autism all boil down to the body's ability to have sufficient glutathione through various mechanisms.

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