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                             No Finer a Cause on the Planet"

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Monday, March 03, 2003

    TREATMENT
   * Remediaton Training Improves Reading Ability of Dyslexic Children

    RESEARCH Abstracts
   * Neural Deficits In Children With Dyslexia Ameliorated By Behavioral
     Remediation: Evidence From Functional MRI
   * Autism-Urine Peptides Question
   * Temporal Lobe Resections in Children with Epilepsy
   * SodiumChannels SCN1A, SCN2A and SCN3A in Familial Autism
   * Adopted Children: Risk Factors & Neuropsychological Problems
   * Aspects of Cognition And Language In Children With Fragile X Syndrome

    RESEARCH News Reports
   * Stupidity Theory A Dumb Joke
   * Scientists Pinpoint Brain's 'Ick' Factor

    PUBLIC HEALTH
   * Quarter of HK Babies in Study Have High Mercury Levels
   * Single Jabs UK Clinic Shut Down By Red Tape

    CARE
   * NJ Dad Dies Trying To Rescue 2 Young Autistic Sons
   * Mother Charged With Attempted Murder of Autistic Son


TREATMENT

Remediation Training Improves Reading Ability of Dyslexic Children
Fast For Word System

      [By Lisa Trei. Stanford Report, Tuesday, February 25, 2003. Also, see
study abstract reprinted below.]
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/february26/dyslexia-226.html

      For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic
children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation
training -- to function more like those found in normal readers.
      The training program, which is designed to help dyslexics understand
rapidly changing sounds that are the building blocks of language, helped the
participants become better readers after just eight weeks.
      The findings were released Monday in "Neural deficits in children with
dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: Evidence from functional
MRI," published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early
Edition.
      "It was very dramatic to see the huge differences that occurred in the
brains of these children," said Stanford psychology Professor John Gabrieli,
one of the study's authors. "The intervention, although substantial, only
covered eight weeks. One note of optimism about the study is that such a
limited intervention can have a substantial effect on reading scores."
      Brain imaging scans of the children who participated in the training
showed that critical areas of the brain used for reading were activated for
the first time, and that they began to function more normally. Furthermore,
additional regions of the brain were activated in what the researchers
believe the dyslexics may have used as a compensatory process as they
learned to read more fluently.
      Gabrieli said the study's findings may help demonstrate how different
kinds of reading programs can tackle various problems faced by poor readers.
"This is showing us for the first time the specific changes in the brains of
children receiving this sort of treatment, and how that is coupled with the
improvement they have in reading and language ability," he said. "We're
hoping that this becomes an additional tool to understand how educational
remediation programs alter children's abilities, as they must do, by
changing the way their brains process information."
      Study co-author Paula Tallal, professor of neuroscience at Rutgers
University and a founder of Scientific Learning Corporation, the
Oakland-based company that designed the program, said the findings are also
important because it is the first time a commercial product has been proven
scientifically to work using standardized educational testing and brain
imaging. Scientific Learning's computer program, Fast ForWord Language,
focuses on helping children become more fluent at processing the rapidly
changing sounds, she said.
      "In light of President [George W.] Bush's legislation, No Child Left
Behind, which mandates that only scientifically validated applications be
used for intervening with children, this program has the potential to
address the crisis we are facing in the number of children failing to meet
[educational] standards," she said. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
places an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven scientifically
to work.
      Dyslexia, sometimes called "word blindness," is a common disorder,
affecting 5 to 10 percent of Americans, Gabrieli said. It is defined as a
specific difficulty in reading that is severe enough to interfere with
academic functioning and cannot be accounted for by lack of educational
opportunities, personal motivation or problems in sight or sound. Tallal
said that studies estimate that about 40 percent of people with dyslexia
inherit it genetically. Other factors believed to trigger the disorder
include prematurity at birth, developmental language impairment and
attention deficits, she said.
      Dyslexics have trouble distinguishing between letters that rhyme, such
as 'B' and 'D.' "If you hear the sound 'ba' in butter and 'da' in Doug, the
only way we know the difference is in the first 40 milliseconds of the onset
of those sounds," Tallal explained. "The ability to extract the sounds out
of words is what is called phonological awareness. We have to be aware that
words can be broken into sounds, called phonemes, and that these sounds have
to be identified with letters." This process might appear intuitive, but it
is a learned skill, Tallal said.
      The training program the children took part in was targeted at helping
them learn to process and interpret the very rapid sequence of sounds within
words and sentences by exaggerating and slowing them down. "These are the
building blocks you have to have in place before you can learn to read,"
Tallal said. "I think Fast ForWord is building the scaffold for reading, and
doing it based on scientific knowledge of the most efficient and effective
way of helping the brain learn."

The study
      The study included 20 dyslexic children aged 8 to 12 years. Their
brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at
Stanford's Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy before and after
participating in the eight-week training program. A control group of 12
children with normal reading abilities also had their brains scanned but did
not participate in the training.
      The scanning machines, which look like beds that slide into small
tubes, normally are used to check for brain injuries or tumors, Gabrieli
said. With slightly different software they can be used to measure which
regions of the brain are active by looking for changes in blood oxygenation,
a process that occurs in parts of the brain where the neurons are active.
      Study lead author Elise Temple, assistant professor in human
development at Cornell, headed the research as a graduate student at
Stanford. Both the dyslexic children and the control group were asked to
perform a simple rhyming task while having their brains scanned.
Participants were shown two uppercase letters and told to push a button if
the two letters rhymed with each other. For example, 'B' and 'D' would
match, but not 'B' and 'K.'
      Twenty-minute sessions were broken into five-minute segments, during
which the children had to stay completely still. Afterward, they were
rewarded with Pokémon or baseball cards, and given a picture of their brain
to take home. Before the sessions started, Temple allowed the children to
play around the machines, which can be claustrophobic, to help them become
comfortable with the testing process. "In this study, it was especially
important not to have the experience be a bad one because we wanted them to
come back," Temple said.
      During the rhyming exercise, children with normal reading showed
activity in both the language-critical left frontal and temporal regions of
the brain, the latter of which is behind and above the left ear. Dyslexics,
however, struggled with the task and failed to activate the temporal region,
and showed some activity only in the frontal brain area.
      Afterward, the dyslexic children used the Fast ForWord Language
computer program for 100 minutes a day, five days a week, as part of their
regular school day. "The computer games were fun, the kids liked them,"
Gabrieli said. The program consisted of seven exercises that rewarded
players when they answered questions correctly. For example, when a picture
of a boy and a toy was shown, a voice from the computer would ask the player
to point to the boy, a step that required understanding the very brief
difference in the sound of the first consonant in each word. Initially, the
questions were asked in a slower, more exaggerated fashion than in normal
speech to help the children understand the sounds inside the words. As the
player progressed, the speed of the voice in the program slowly increased.
"Each child worked at his or her own level," Tallal said. "The goal was to
leave all children processing sounds correctly in words and sentences of
increasing length and grammatical complexity."

The results
      Following the training, the dyslexic children's scores went up in a
number of language and reading tests, Gabrieli said. "The study supported
the idea that for some children, getting training on just simply processing
rapid sounds is a route to becoming much more fluent and capable readers,"
he said. In addition, activation of the children's brains fundamentally
changed, becoming much more like that of good readers. "We see that the
brains of these children are remarkably plastic and adaptive, and it makes
us hopeful that the best language intervention programs in the future can
alter the brains in fundamentally helpful ways," he said.
      It is likely that the children will continue to need considerable help
in reading, Gabrieli said. "This is not a one-shot vaccine," he said. "But
it makes them much more prepared to take advantage of a regular curriculum
to read successfully and do well."
      The next step, Temple said, is to see if other commercial programs can
alter the brain as well. "I don't know if these changes are unique to this
program," she said. "Are there some training programs that are better for
some kids than others?" A future goal would be to offer a series of tests to
help select which programs best meet a child's needs, she said.
      For many years, Gabrieli said, the nation has been concerned with the
best methods to teach reading. "We're hoping that this becomes one piece of
many pieces of research that will help us better understand ... what are
effective ways to rescue children who have trouble reading," he said. In
addition, the study brings the scientific use of brain imaging into the
arena of education. "We'd like to use these cutting-edge tools of
neuroscience to somehow directly assist thoughts about educational
curricula, policies and ways to help children perform better in school and
look forward to better futures," he said.
      In addition to Temple, Tallal and Gabrieli, the paper was written by
Gayle K. Deutsch, a senior clinical scientist at Stanford; Russell Poldrack,
a former postdoctoral student at Stanford and currently assistant professor
of psychology at the University of California-Los Angeles; Steven L. Miller
of Scientific Learning Corporation; and Michael M. Merzenich, a founder of
Scientific Learning and a professor at the University of California-San
Francisco. The Haan Foundation for Children helped fund the study.


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* * *

Neural Deficits In Children With Dyslexia Ameliorated By Behavioral
Remediation: Evidence From Functional MRI

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0030098100v1

Elise Temple , Gayle K. Deutsch , Russell A. Poldrack , Steven L. Miller ||,
Paula Tallal ||, Michael M. Merzenich ||, and John D. E. Gabrieli
Program in Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Psychology, University of California, Los
Angeles, CA 90210; ||Scientific Learning Corporation, Oakland, CA 94612;
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University,
Newark, NJ 07102; and Keck Center Integrative Neuroscience, University of
California, San Francisco, CA 94143

Contributed by Michael M. Merzenich, January 3, 2003

      Developmental dyslexia, characterized by unexplained difficulty in
reading, is associated with behavioral deficits in phonological processing.
      Functional neuroimaging studies have shown a deficit in the neural
mechanisms underlying phonological processing in children and adults with
dyslexia.
      The present study examined whether behavioral remediation ameliorates
these dysfunctional neural mechanisms in children with dyslexia.
      Functional MRI was performed on 20 children with dyslexia (8-12 years
old) during phonological processing before and after a remediation program
focused on auditory processing and oral language training.
      Behaviorally, training improved oral language and reading performance.
      Physiologically, children with dyslexia showed increased activity in
multiple brain areas.
      Increases occurred in left temporo-parietal cortex and left inferior
frontal gyrus, bringing brain activation in these regions closer to that
seen in normal-reading children.
      Increased activity was observed also in right-hemisphere frontal and
temporal regions and in the anterior cingulate gyrus.
      Children with dyslexia showed a correlation between the magnitude of
increased activation in left temporo-parietal cortex and improvement in oral
language ability.
      These results suggest that a partial remediation of
language-processing deficits, resulting in improved reading, ameliorates
disrupted function in brain regions associated with phonological processing
and produces additional compensatory activation in other brain regions.
      To whom correspondence should be sent at the present address:
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
E-mail: et62@cornell.edu.
* * *

RESEARCH - Abstracts (contains technical language)

Autism-Urine Peptides Question
'Can the pathophysiology of autism be explained by the nature of the
discovered urine peptides?'

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12608733&dopt=Abstract

Reichelt KL, Knivsberg AM.
Institute of Pediatric Research, Univ of Oslo, Rikshospitalet, N-0027, Oslo,
Norway. k.l.reichelt@klinmed.uio.no

      Opioid peptides derived from food proteins (exorphins) have been found
in urine of autistic patients.
      Based on the work of several groups, we try to show that exorphins and
serotonin uptake stimulating factors may explain many of the signs and
symptoms seen in autistic disorders.
      The individual symptoms ought to be explainable by the properties and
behavioural effects of the found peptides.
      The data presented form the basis of an autism model, where we suggest
that exorphins and serotonin uptake modulators are key mediators for the
development of autism.
      This may be due to a genetically based peptidase deficiency in at
least two or more peptidases and, or of peptidase regulating proteins made
manifest by a dietary overload of exorphin precursors such as by increased
gut uptake.
      PMID: 12608733 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Temporal Lobe Resections in Children with Epilepsy: Neuropsychiatric Status
in Relation to Neuropathology and Seizure Outcome.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12609356&dopt=Abstract

Danielsson S, Rydenhag B, Uvebrant P, Nordborg C, Olsson I.

      The purpose of this work was to relate clinical neuropsychiatric
findings to histopathological diagnoses and seizure outcome in a
retrospective study of 16 children undergoing temporal lobe resections due
to medically intractable epilepsy.
      These children constitute a heterogeneous group in which
neuropsychiatric symptoms were common.
      The results of this study indicate a correlation between malformations
of cortical development, less chance of seizure freedom, and
neuropsychiatric problems in children with pharmacoresistant temporal lobe
epilepsy.
      It is important to include neuropsychiatric assessments pre- and
postoperatively and to inform parents that symptoms of autism spectrum
disorders may or may not be improved after epilepsy surgery.
      PMID: 12609356 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
* * *

SodiumChannels SCN1A, SCN2A and SCN3A in Familial Autism.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12610651&dopt=Abstract

Weiss LA, Escayg A, Kearney JA, Trudeau M, MacDonald BT, Mori M, Reichert J,
Buxbaum JD, Meisler MH.

      Autism is a psychiatric disorder with estimated heritability of 90%.
      One-third of autistic individuals experience seizures.
      A susceptibility locus for autism was mapped near a cluster of
voltage-gated sodium channel genes on chromosome 2.
      Mutations in two of these genes, SCN1A and SCN2A, result in the
seizure disorder GEFS+.
      To evaluate these sodium channel genes as candidates for the autism
susceptibility locus, we screened for variation in coding exons and splice
sites in 117 multiplex autism families.
      A total of 27 kb of coding sequence and 3 kb of intron sequence were
screened.
      Only six families carried variants with potential effects on sodium
channel function.
      Five coding variants and one lariat branchpoint mutation were each
observed in a single family, but were not present in controls.
      The variant R1902C in SCN2A is located in the calmodulin binding site
and was found to reduce binding affinity for calcium-bound calmodulin.
      R542Q in SCN1A was observed in one autism family and had previously
been identified in a patient with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
      The effect of the lariat branchpoint mutation was tested in cultured
lymphoblasts.
      Additional population studies and functional tests will be required to
evaluate pathogenicity of the coding and lariat site variants.
      SNP density was 1/kb in the genomic sequence screened.
      We report 38 sodium channel SNPs that will be useful in future
association and linkage studies.
Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 186-194.
      doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001241
      PMID: 12610651 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Adopted Children: Risk Factors And Neuropsychological Problems

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12599110&dopt=Abstract

[Article in Spanish]
Hernandez Muela S, Mulas F, Tellez De Meneses Lorenzo M, Rosello B.
Instituto Valenciano de Neurologia Pediatrica (INVANEP), Valencia, Espa a.

      In recent years there has been a striking increase in the number of
transnational adoptions in our country, which follows the trend already
observed in other developed European countries.
      Major contributing factors to this phenomenon have been the
improvements in socioeconomic conditions in our country, the drop in the
birth rate, with the corresponding decrease in the number of children
available for adoption, and the disappearance of orphanages.
      This growing demand can be met by developing countries, in which the
birth rate is still high and there are only limited chances of being able to
maintain offspring.
      The children that are adopted come mainly from countries in Central
and South America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
      Pathologies that can be expected in adopted children include general
paediatric conditions, especially infections (which are often autochthonous
ailments in their own country) and malnutrition, as well as
neuropsychological and developmental disorders, such as psychomotor
retardation, conduct and behavioural disorders, which sometimes stem from
conflicts arising in the process of adaptation, communication problems,
which occasionally reflect an autistic like disorder, and the problems
deriving from the circumstances that condition the donation of the child for
adoption (perinatal pathology, maternal drug addiction and withdrawal
symptoms, maternal psychopathology.).
      The pathology, history and prognosis of the adopted child depend on
several different factors that act in an accumulative fashion.
      The country of origin plays a decisive role in the type of pathology,
according to the level of the health care system that exists there, the
existence of adoption programmes that are regulated by law, etc.
      The child s age at adoption marks the difference in the optimisation
of their development, if they have early access to a stable family unit.
      Having stayed in institutions and the length of time spent there is a
risk factor for presenting a neuropsychological pathology.
      On many occasions the scarce information available about the child s
medical history makes it more difficult to anticipate the appearance of
certain problems.
      The existence of social risk factors in the biological families is a
conditioning factor in increased morbidity.
      We describe a short series of adopted patients who were attended in
our Neuropaediatric clinic, and we analyse the above mentioned conditioning
variables and the most frequent pathologies.
      PMID: 12599110 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Aspects of Cognition And Language In Children With Fragile X Syndrome

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12599115&dopt=Abstract
[Article in Spanish]

Ferrando Lucas MT, Banus Gomez P, Lopez Perez G.
Centro de Rehabilitacion del Lenguaje, Madrid, Espa a.

Introduction.
      Fragile X syndrome, which is produced by mutation of a gene in the X
chromosome, is the most frequent cause of hereditary mental retardation.
      The multisystemic alterations of the disorder are due to the
inhibition of the expression of the FMR1 gene and to the lack or absence of
FMRP protein.
      Mental retardation and autistic spectrum constitute the most serious
manifestations of the syndrome, but there are numerous neuropsychological
disorders that make up the cognitive behavioural (CB) phenotype of patients,
and the number of clinical manifestations they are going to present is also
high.

Aims.
      The aim of the study was to evaluate the parameters that can
contribute to the elaboration of a set of generally agreed guidelines that
include early diagnosis and the indispensable genetic counselling, as well
as a multidisciplinary intervention that contemplates, in a global manner,
the medical and educational needs of those affected.

Methodology.
      The method used to conduct the study involved an analysis of the early
manifestations of the disease and the neuropsychological aspects of those
affected, by means of a study protocol that includes biological and
pedagogical data together with batteries of standard tests.

Results and conclusions.
      Preliminary results confront us with the delay in diagnosis and in
genetic counselling because the CB phenotype, in which language disorders
were the most constant element, is not taken as being an early sign of the
clinical manifestations or as a serious interference factor in the cognitive
aspects in the progress of the disease.
      PMID: 12599115 [PubMed - in process]
* * *

Stupidity Theory A Dumb Joke
 A pioneering scientist's claim that gene therapy could be used to "cure
stupidity" has been dismissed by Australian experts as ludicrous.

      [By Mandi Zonneveldt.]
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6066204^13762,00.html

      James Watson, an American biologist who won a Nobel Prize for his role
in unlocking the structure of DNA, has advocated the use of gene therapy to
increase intelligence.
      In a new documentary series, Mr Watson also claims beauty could be
engineered using DNA technology.
      But Australian experts have dismissed the idea, saying science had not
yet given humans the ability to tamper with intelligence.
      Australian Medical Association's ethics committee chairman Dr Trevor
Mudge said it was not yet known if intelligence was determined by genetic or
environmental factors.
      He said it was therefore "ludicrous" to suggest intelligence could be
altered using gene therapy.
      But he said gene technology was progressing rapidly and society was
going to have to deal with some very difficult ethical issues in the future.
      Monash IVF medical director Professor Gab Kovacs doubted society would
accept the use of gene therapy to alter looks or intelligence.
      "I can't see it ever getting up in front of an ethics committee," he
said.
      Melbourne University senior genetics lecturer Dr Sylvia Metcalfe said
it was unlikely gene therapy would ever be used to alter intelligence.
      Dr Metcalfe, who also heads the genetics education unit at the Murdoch
Children's Research Institute, said Mr Watson's comments were likely to be
taken with a "pinch of salt".
      The documentary series, which celebrates 50 years of research into DNA
technology, will be shown in Britain next month.
      Negotiations to bring the series to Australia are believed to be in
progress.
      Herald Sun


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* * *

Scientists Pinpoint Brain's 'Ick' Factor

      [By Janice Billingsley From HealthScoutNews.]
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Healthology/HS_ickfactor_030225.html

      How is it that when you watch your husband's face as you ask him to
change a diaper, you can tell he would rather be circling Saturn in an air
balloon?
      It's thanks to a part of the brain called the insula, which scientists
have known is important in processing facial expressions of disgust.
      People with brain damage in this area, a condition common among those
suffering from diseases such as schizophrenia, dementia and Huntington's
disease, can't recognize the implications of this facial expression. And
that can interfere with social contact and communication.
      Now French scientists have further pinpointed the parts of the insula
most directly involved in facial recognition of disgust, pushing science a
little further along in understanding the process.
      "We show that the ventral anterior part of the insula is specifically
involved in disgust processing, which helps identify the cerebral structures
involved in the facial emotional processing, and maybe helps to understand
specific deficits and communication disorders," says Marie-Anne Henaff, a
researcher with the French Institute of Health and Medical Research and one
of the authors of the study.
      The research appears in the February edition of Annals of Neurology.
      "This study moves the process along. They make the argument that the
insula plays an integrative role rather than an immediate detector role in
recognizing emotion," says James Gusella, director of molecular
neurogenetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
      Gusella, who also chairs the medical and scientific advisory committee
for the Huntington's Disease Society of America (HDSA), says this research
is helpful for one part of the many problems that go along with Huntington's
disease, a hereditary neuropsychiatric disorder for which there is no cure.
      "When you have a disease like Huntington's, you have a combination of
problems," he says, which can include a loss of motor, cognitive and
emotional skills, all of which may have different sources. "This is one way
of understanding what this particular problem could be."
      The study of how the brain responds to emotions is often conducted
using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which records brain activations
while a person is experiencing different emotions. For this study, however,
the scientists were able to record activations from electrodes that were
planted in the brains as part of a surgical workup for 13 epilepsy patients.
      These patients were candidates for surgery to remove certain sections
of the brain causing their epileptic fits. To pinpoint exactly which parts
of the brain might be responsible for the fits, each patient had
approximately 10 electrodes implanted in different parts of their brains and
were given tests to record their brain functioning. These test included
responding to photographs of people with expressions showing various facial
expressions, such as happiness, fear and disgust.
      The study was based on the test results for the emotion of disgust.
      This is a far more precise method of locating brain activations than
can be done with MRIs, Henaff explains.
      The study found, however, that the insula is probably not the single
center for disgust processing, but more likely an integral part of a large
network in the brain that processes disgust. It may be involved in both the
experience of disgust as well as the recognition of disgust in others.
      More information To find out which parts of the brain are responsible
for different functions, go to Neurosurgery.org. For more information about
Huntington's disease you can visit the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/huntington.htm.
      Copyright 2002 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.
* * *

PUBLIC HEALTH

Quarter of HK Babies in Study Have High Mercury Levels

www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=2296723

      Hong Kong, Reuters - A quarter of infants in a Hong Kong study have
been found to have excessive mercury in their blood, which can cause mental
retardation, and doctors have warned expectant mothers against eating too
much fish.
      Methylmercury is readily absorbed into the blood after ingestion and
distributed to all tissues of the body in four days. In pregnant women, it
readily crosses the placenta into the fetal circulation system and is
deposited in the fetal brain.
      In a study of 1,057 infants over a two-year period in Hong Kong,
researchers found how much fish mothers consumed directly affected the
amount of blood mercury found in their babies.
      As many as 24.7 percent of the infants in the study were found to have
cord blood mercury concentrations of over 61 nanomol/liter, the upper
allowable limit. Three percent had blood mercury concentrations of over 100
nanomol/L.
      "Eating too much fish by the mother during pregnancy is the major
factor in elevating the blood mercury level of the fetus," said Professor
Fok Tai-fai at the Chinese University.
      Lam Wei-kei, a chemical pathology professor who also participated in
the study, said: "The major source of human mercury intake is dietary
methylmercury present primarily in fish and other seafood."
      In adults, mercury poisoning causes personality changes, nervousness,
irritability, fatigue, insomnia, headache, loss of memory, hearing and
vision and even renal failure.
      In babies, it may lead to stillbirth, cerebral palsy, mental
retardation, speech delay, poor control of chewing, salivation and
swallowing.
      Nanomol is the measure for heavy metals.
      Curiously, however, fish commonly caught and heavily consumed in Hong
Kong were not found to have excessive levels of mercury, the researchers
said.
      "It isn't the case that our fish are particularly bad, it's because we
are eating too much fish," Fok said.
* * *

Single Jabs Clinic Shut Down By Red Tape

      [By Lorraine Fraser.]
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/02/nmmr02.
xml&sSheet=/news/2003/03/02/ixhome.html <- - address ends here.

      A service set up by parents to provide single vaccines for children as
an alternative to the controversial MMR jab has been ordered to shut down
because it is not legally registered - after months of delay by a government
agency responsible for processing its application forms.
      The National Care Standards Commission, which was established a year
ago to inspect independent hospitals and care homes, told Desumo Information
and Health Care, which operates a fortnightly clinic in Worcester, that it
must stop vaccinating children until its registration is guaranteed.
      The action means that 230 children due to attend a clinic on Saturday
will not now be vaccinated. They have already had a rubella immunisation but
will remain unprotected against measles and, in some cases, mumps unless
their parents can find an alternative supplier or agree to let their
children have the MMR jab, which combines all three in one.
      A further 5,000 families with children due to complete their course of
three vaccinations at later clinics also face an uncertain future. Three
hundred doses of the single mumps vaccine, which is in acutely short supply,
may also have to be thrown away.
      Debbie Ryding, a founder of Desumo, said that the closure of the
clinic was "an attack on the right of parents to chose single vaccinations
as opposed to MMR". She blamed the commission, which has taken months to
process her company's application, for the shutdown.
+ Article continues:
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/02/nmmr02.
xml&sSheet=/news/2003/03/02/ixhome.html <- - address ends here.



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CARE

NJ Dad Dies Trying To Rescue 2 Young Autistic Sons

      [By Karen Mahabir.]
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmV
sN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MzQ4MDIzJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mw== <- - address ends
here.

      Fire roared through her Maywood home as a distraught Anne Quigg
pleaded with police officers to rescue her husband and two young boys
trapped inside.
      Beaten back from the front door by intense heat and smoke, the four
officers grabbed a ladder from the garage and climbed up. But the house was
engulfed in flames.
      "It was an inferno," said Police Lt. David Pegg. "The entire living
room was a ball of fire itself."
      Firefighters who arrived moments later, shortly before midnight
Thursday night, rushed inside and found Patrick Quigg, 8, and his brother,
Christopher, 7, lying unconscious at the top of the stairs. Nearby, they
found the boys' father, 46-year-old Neal Quigg.
      The youngsters were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center,
where they were pronounced dead. Neal Quigg died at the scene, police said.
      Now, a family is devastated and a community grieves.
      "It's so heartbreaking, I can't even describe it," said Arlene
Alibocus, who cares for an elderly neighbor of the Quiggs. "It was crazy.
Everybody was going back and forth to try to help out. But with all that
smoke... "
      On Friday, sobbing visitors came to the charred home to lay bouquets
of flowers on the doorstep, as news of the tragedy spread through what is a
fairly close-knit community of less than 10,000. Some drivers on Eccleston
Place idled in front long enough to make the sign of the cross.
      Late in the afternoon, two young women taped a sign to the door that
said: "We Love & Miss You, Neal, Patrick and Chris," with personal messages
inscribed.
      Neighbors expressed sympathy for Anne Quigg, who was released from the
medical center Friday morning with burns to her hands. She was staying with
an area relative, police said.
      "I feel so bad for Anne," whispered next-door neighbor Betty Baird,
who had watched as one of the boys was carried, limp, out of the home that
the Quiggs had bought nearly six years ago. "They just lived for their
children."
      Other neighbors agreed. They called the family kind and generous -
noting, for instance, that Neal, a plumber, lent his services to most
residents on the block. He worked at night, and his wife worked during the
day for an insurance company, they said.
      When not working, Neal and Anne took the boys to ice-skating, hockey,
or swimming lessons. Christopher had autism, and both he and Patrick got
special attention from their father, Baird said.
      "He would always play catch with them outside," she said. "They
couldn't do enough for their children."
      Arson investigators determined Friday that the flame from an
unattended candle in the first-floor master bedroom ignited the blaze,
spreading first to curtains and then onto a mattress.
      "It ignited the curtain and it was just downhill from there," Police
Chief Patrick Reynolds said Friday. "This fire really spread very quickly."
      As Anne Quigg called police and ran outside, her husband raced
upstairs for his sons.
      Pegg, who lives nearby, was among the first officers to arrive, along
with Officers Steve Hoffman, Terence Kenny, and Mary Tutschek. Flames and
smoke gushed from the front of the house as Quigg begged them to save her
family.
      The officers found a ladder, then clambered to the garage roof in an
attempt to get to the bedrooms. But they couldn't.
      The three victims were pulled out of the home by Maywood firefighters
Chris Tuttle, Vincent Lombardi, and Herman Hofmann, said borough Fire Chief
Robert Fajvan. Each was dealing with the tragedy in his own way, Fajvan
said.
      The "whole community is sharing the grief," said Mayor Wayne Kuss,
noting that the last fatal fire in Maywood occurred more than two decades
ago. "If you don't know everyone, you know someone that does. It's an
unfortunate and tragic day for the whole borough."
      Police on Friday fielded several calls from concerned residents, and a
local newspaper said it was establishing a fund for Anne Quigg.
      Meanwhile, tributes were building up at what remained of the Quiggs'
home.
      Dawn Miller, whose son, Alexander, was a friend of Patrick's at the
Memorial School, was among those who brought flowers.
      "[Patrick] was the sweetest little boy," Miller said. "My son was
really distraught this morning. He just couldn't believe it.
      "It's so sad. They were so kind, so involved... I can't imagine the
pain [Anne Quigg] is going through."
      Karen Mahabir's e-mail address is mahabir@northjersey.com

Arrangements for Neil, Patrick and Christopher Quigg
      Monday March 3 5pm-8pm Wake Trinka-Faustini Funeral Home 439 Maywood
Avenue Maywood, NJ
      Tuesday March 4 10am Funeral Mass Our Lady Queen of Peace 400 Maywood
Avenue Maywood, NJ
      In lieu of flowers Anne has requested that you send donations to Anne
Quigg In memo section write:  "Patrick and Christopher Quigg Fund"
      Mail to Cure Autism, Now 700-76 Broadway PMB 307 Westwood, NJ  07675
      Anne has asked us to express her gratitude to all of you for your kind
thoughts.
* * *

Mother Charged With Attempted Murder of Autistic Son
Sympathy-for-the-Damned Department (refers to news reports that may attempt
to portray allegedly homicidal parents of autistic children in a sympathetic
light.)

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5295146.htm

      Santa Ana, Calif.  AP - A woman prosecutors allege tried to kill her
autistic son and then herself was ordered to stand trial for attempted
murder and child endangerment.
      Heidi Shelton, 38, of Stanton, was ordered Friday to stand trail. She
was being held on $1 million bail pending a March 10 arraignment.
      Shelton allegedly tried to kill her 5-year-old son, Zachary, by giving
him a handful of anti-anxiety pills before taking some herself on Dec. 7 and
8.
In an alleged suicide note, Shelton said she couldn't allow her son to live
in a world where he faced constant rejection, and she left all her assets to
autism research.
      Shelton's attorney, Al Stokke, called the note "a cry for help" and
said he doubted his client meant to kill herself or her son.

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