Final Project

AUTISMDisease of Rain Man

University of Chicago, “Neurobiology in Everyday Life” MOOC

Content

• Part I – Let me introduce myself• Part II – What parts are affected?• Part III – Functions of involved parts• Part IV – What I have learned?

Rain Man Disease

Part I. Let me introduce myself

• Autism is a neurological/biological disease which is characterized by delay or disorder of

Communication

Social interaction

Restrictive or repetitive behaviors

Did You Know?

• Autism now affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys.

• Boys are four times more likelythan girls to have autism

1 in 54 boys 1 in 34 girls

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© 2013 Autism Speaks Inc. Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks It’s Time To Listen & Design are trademarks owned by Autism Speaks Inc. All rights reserved.

Did You Know?

• More children will be diagnosedwith autism in 2013 than withAIDS, diabetes and cancer combined.

• Autism is the fastest-growing seriousdevelopmental disability in the

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© 2013 Autism Speaks Inc. Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks It’s Time To Listen & Design are trademarks owned by Autism Speaks Inc. All rights reserved.

Part II. What parts are affected?

• Not long ago, the answer to this question would have been “we have no idea.”

• Research is now delivering the answers. • Over the last five years, scientists have

identified a number of rare gene changes, or mutations, associated with autism.

2013 Autism Speaks Inc. Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks It’s Time To Listen & Design are trademarks owned by Autism Speaks Inc. All rights reserved.


• One of possible reasons are cerebellum disorder as there is a reduced number of Purkinje cells


• Cerebellum which is one of top 5 most learned brain parts.

http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter05.html


• Purkinje cellsThey are located in cerebellum part of Brain. They are reallygorgeous.

• One of the largestneurons with Dendritic arbor and Many dendritic spines

Week 8 Picture “Neurobiology in the Everyday Life”

Along with other theories do existthese ones

• Postmortem studies have revealed various abnormalities, particularly within the limbic system.1

• Functional MRI procedures have identified difficulties in tasks involving social and affective judgments and differences in the processing of face and nonface stimuli.2

1. Bauman ML, Kemper TL. Neuroanatomic observations of the brain in autism: a review and future directions. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2005;23(2-3):183-187. 2. Schultz RT, Robbins DL. Functional neuroimaging studies of autism spectrum disorders. In: Volkmar FR, Klin A, Paul R, Cohen DJ, eds. Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2005:515-533

Along with other theories do exist these ones

• Structural MRI has revealed an overall brain size increase in autism, and diffusion tensor imaging studies have suggested aberrations in white matter tract development.3

3. Wolff JJ, Gu H, et al. Differences in white matter fiber tract development present from 6 to 24 months in infants with autism. Am J Psychiatry. 2012;169(6): 589-600.

Along with other theories do exist these ones

• One of the most frequently replicated neurochemical findings has been the elevation of peripheral levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. The significance of this finding remains unclear. A role for dopamine is suggested given the problems with over activity and stereotyped mannerisms and the positive response of such behaviors to neuroleptic medications.4

4. Anderson GM, HoshinoY. Neurochemical studies of autism. In: Volkmar FR, Klin A, Paul R, Cohen DJ, eds. Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. 3rd ed., vol. 1. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2005:453-472

Part III. Functions of involved parts

• Cerebellum – What does it do? Cerebellum is responsible for : • motor learning• motor coordination (execution)

Part III. Functions

• We do learn how to move and do steps and we do not forget it thanks to cerebellum

• We do learn new things, do new movements• Motor memory - we do not forget how to do

steps • Feed Forwarding – adapt changes, new

environment

Hypothesis of nowadays

• Why people have autism disorder? - Because of genes are mutated - Lack of Purkinje cells in cerebellum

Part IV. More about autism

• What different people with autism• Leo Canner Autism research• From early time

What different people with autism

• Difficulty understanding language, gestures and/or social cues

• Limited or no speech• When there is speech, it can be repetitive or• relate primarily to one particular topic• Limited or no eye contact

What different people with autism• Difficulty participating in back-and-forth

conversations or interactions• Social awkwardness• Intense interest in unusual topics or objects• Repetitive behaviors, such as pacing or lining

things up, spinning, hand flapping or rocking

© 2013 Autism Speaks Inc. Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks It’s Time To Listen & Design are trademarks owned by Autism Speaks Inc. All rights reserved

What different people with autism• Sensitivity to light, sound, smell, taste or touch• Abnormal fears and/or lack of appropriate fear

for real dangers• Difficulty managing transitions, changes in

routine, stress and frustration• Strong visual skills


What different people with autism• Good rote learning and long-term memory skills (math facts, sports statistics, etc.)• Adherence to the rules• Honesty• Intense concentration or focus, especially on a favorite activity• Ability to understand and retain concrete concepts and patterns• Strong interest and/or ability in mathematics, technology, music and art


Leo Canner: Autism research

• Autism was first described in 1943 by Leo Kanner who reported 11 children with an apparently congenital inability to relate to other people, but who were quite sensitive to change in the nonsocial environment.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80,_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BE

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Leo Canner: Autism research• Kanner emphasized that the lack of interest in people

was in stark contrast to the profound social interest of normal infants. He also observed that when language developed at all it was marked by echolalia, pronoun reversal, and concreteness. The children also exhibited unusual, repetitive, and apparently purposeless activities (stereotypies).

• Autism was initially believed to be a form of childhood psychosis but, by the 1970s, various lines of evidence made it clear that autism was highly distinctive.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

From early time

• Higher rates of autism are consistently noted in siblings of affected children.

• Recurrence risk has typically been cited at 2-10%, but a recent prospective longitudinal study reported a rate of 18.7% when the broad autism spectrum is considered.5

5. Ozonoff S, Young GS, Carter A, et al. Recurrence risk for autism spectrum disorders: a baby siblings research consortium study. Pediatrics. 2011;128:e488-e495.

From early time• Identified risk factors for autism appear to

include closer spacing of pregnancies, advanced maternal or paternal age, and extremely premature birth (<26 weeks gestational age).6-8

6. Cheslack-Postava K, Liu K, et al. Closely spaced pregnancies are associated with increased odds of autism in California sibling births. Pediatrics. 2011;127(2):246-253.23 7. Croen LA, Najjar DV, et al. Maternal and paternal age and risk of autism spectrum disorders. Arch Pediatrics Adolesc Med. 2007;161(4): 334-340. 8. Johnson S, Hollis C, et al. Autism spectrum disorders in extremely preterm children. Pediatrics. 2010;156(4): 525-531.e522.

Part IV. What I have learned?

• The brain is one of the most invaluable gifts we are given. Any kind of additional information about its work will not be useless.

• After taking this course I was informed by lots of funny and in same time important facts and knowledge.

What I liked most during this course?

• Professor’s enthusiasm is so… I do not know how to say it. That feeling was spread through millions of miles from US to Central Asia, Kazakhstan where I live.

• Very clear language of explaining • Lectures with practice materials

What I learned? What I started better analyze after 10 weeks?

I try to take things that will be useful for myself in future like

- Folic acid importance during pregnancy - Prolactin and Oxytocin hormones and their main

functions - Memory phenomena - Picture are drawn by brain not by Eyes - What is Aphasia, Parkinson’s disease. Was introduced with beauty of Purkinje cells And other many interesting things like strokes’ genesis.

What I learned? What I started better analyze after 10 weeks?

Brain structure and to analyze how it works using all information I got if something goes wrong with my thoughts in brain

Structure of eye What is dopamine? How neurons talk with each other? I had a REAL FUN!

THANK YOU!

Sincerely, from

Final Project

Health & Medicine

Transcript of Final Project