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A new method of diagnosing autism was suggested in California
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Autism is a mental disorder that occurs due to impaired brain development. With this disorder, there is a limited range of interests, similar, often repetitive movements, almost complete absence of social interaction.
The disease begins to manifest itself at about 3 years, today there are no effective methods of treating the disease, but there are drugs that to some extent improve the condition of children with autism.
In addition, scientists have not been able to develop biomarkers, according to which it would be possible to diagnose the disease before the appearance of the first symptoms.
In different countries, scientists work in this direction and find new genes that may be relevant to the development of autism, but this creates certain difficulties in the process of creating drugs and diagnostic methods.
In California, a team of specialists in the research succeeded in discovering biomarkers that can help in diagnosing a mental disorder such as autism.
In the human body, calcium is needed not only for fortress bones, but for information transfer between brain cells. The normal process of interaction of brain cells causes a number of other functions, including the ability to learn, regulate memory, the excitability of cells, and also contributes to the appearance of substances through which the transfer of electrical impulse from the nerve cells through the synaptic space between the neurons. However, all these functions are poorly developed in autism.
California experts in their work found that disruption of the IP3R channel responsible for the release of calcium from the plasmatic membrane may have a direct relationship to the development of autism. Experts suggest that this discovery will help to better understand the mechanisms of disease development and develop new methods of diagnosis and treatment.
By the way, in the research institute of Israel, a group of scientists has established that it is possible to diagnose autism with a fairly simple test.
Experts have established that healthy children have one interesting feature - they inhale pleasant smells longer, unlike unpleasant ones, and in children with autism such a feature is absent.
Also another group of specialists performed an analysis of the sperm of fathers, whose children suffer from autism and found that this disease can be hereditary.
During the research work, scientists tried to determine the probability of transmission of this disease by inheritance, as well as to find out the causes of the occurrence of a mental disorder in epigenetic labels (groups activating and deactivating genes).
Scientists have found that there are certain changes in the sperm of the fathers of autistic children, which undoubtedly confirms the scientists' assumption that the disease begins to develop from the moment of the birth of the child or even in the womb of the mother.
Experts note that early diagnosis of autism will help to partially relieve the child of the problem, which is why the development of diagnostic methods is so important.
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