Life Sciences Commons^™

Numerical Cognition And Autism Spectrum Traits In Adults, Benjamin Covington

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Evidence suggests that individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be particularly inclined toward math proficiency, especially in adulthood. There is also evidence, however, that many of those with an ASD struggle in math as children compared to their typically-developing peers. These ostensibly inconsistent findings may indicate that individuals with an ASD struggle with number sense, a precursor to formal math, rather than with formal math per se. This account is compatible with evidence of a specific form of neural dysregulation, excitatory/inhibitory imbalance, in ASD that results in reduced signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) for processes that occur in downstream …

Effects Of Sex And Autism On Oxytocin Receptors In The Substantia Nigra Of The Human Brain, Kip Dooley

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Oxytocin, a hormone present in the mammalian brain, has been shown to be a vital component of social function in animals and may have a role in the social deficits associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in humans. Based on previous studies from our lab, there are oxytocin receptors in the human substantia nigra, a basal ganglia structure in the midbrain that is important in both movement and reward pathways. The substantia nigra contains two subsections that are defined by the neurotransmitters they contain: the pars compacta, which is dopaminergic, and the pars reticulata, which is GABAergic. By localizing oxytocin receptors …

Designing For Developmental Education, Michela Staker

Student Research Symposium

Designing in a universal context allows for an environment to be accessible, innovative, and conducive to the success of the user regardless of physical, emotional, or mental capabilities. This project integrates evidence-based design in order to convey a meaningful and uniquely curated environment for children with developmental disorders and/or sensory impairments to thrive in the context of developmental education.This research and design project focuses on the challenge of creating a space where children on the autism spectrum with learning disorders and/or sensory sensitivities feel educationally productive and comfortable with the stimuli around them at any given time. This project delves …

Autism & Autoimmunity, Clarissa Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My research was for the Honors Capstone, and consisted of familiarizing myself with the vast amount of research in the fields of autism and autoimmunity and how the two may be connected, then going on to design a new project to help acquire more information where these two fields overlap. The official abstract I have written for this new project goes as follows: Our proposed research project is focused primarily in the fields of autism and autoimmunity, and hopes to uncover more evidence that these two fields are related. We believe that autism is an autoimmune disease, and our project …

Maternal Vitamin D Deficiency And Early Childhood Health Outcomes Including Autism Development, Kelsey L. Girardelli

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Many studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is associated with a variety of adverse maternal and pediatric outcomes. Disease outcomes that have been observed in pregnant women who are vitamin D deficient include increased risk of C-section, preeclampsia, bacterial vaginosis, and gestational diabetes. In children born to deficient mothers, increased rates of childhood asthma, type 1 diabetes, low birthweight, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been observed. Although there is much evidence to support these correlations, much is yet to be understood regarding the etiology of these outcomes. This paper specifically examines the relationships between risk factors …

Common Genetic Variants Found In Hla And Kir Immune Genes In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anthony R. Torres, Thayne Sweeten, Randall C. Johnson, Dennis Odell, Jonna B. Westover, Patricia Bray-Ward, David C. Ward, Christopher J. Davies, Aaron J. Thomas, Lisa A. Croen, Michael Benson

Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice Publications

The “common variant—common disease” hypothesis was proposed to explain diseases with strong inheritance. This model suggests that a genetic disease is the result of the combination of several common genetic variants. Common genetic variants are described as a 5% frequency differential between diseased vs. matched control populations. This theory was recently supported by an epidemiology paper stating that about 50% of genetic risk for autism resides in common variants. However, rare variants, rather than common variants, have been found in numerous genome wide genetic studies and many have concluded that the “common variant—common disease” hypothesis is incorrect. One interpretation is …

Prenataland Newborn Immunoglobulin Levels From Mother-Child Pairs And Risk Of Autismspectrum Disorders, Judith K. Grether, Paul Ashwood, Judy Van De Water, Robert H. Yolken, Meredith C. Anderson, Anthony T. Torres, Jonna B. Westover, Aimee G. Tallian, Robin L. Hansen, Martin Kharrazi, Lisa A. Croen

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: An etiological role for immune factors operating during early brain development in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has not yet been established. A major obstacle has been the lack of early biologic specimens that can be linked to later diagnosis. In a prior study, we found lower risk of ASD associated with higher levels of maternally-derived total IgG and Toxoplasmosis gondii (Toxo) IgG in newborn blood spot specimens from children later diagnosed with ASD compared to population controls. Methods: We obtained maternal mid-gestational serum specimens and newborn screening blood spots from the California Genetics Disease Screening Program (GDSP) …

Autoantibodies To Select Brain Regions In Autism, Wyatt Harlan Rivas

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder, may involve abnormal immune reaction such as autoimmunity to the brain. Autoimmunity is generally characterized by the presence of organ-specific autoantibodies, for example the brain-specific autoantibodies in autism. Thus, we conducted a study of autoantibodies against three brain regions, including the caudate-putamen nucleus (CP), cerebral cortex (CC), and cerebellum (CE). These brain regions were dissected out from the brain of a Sprague-Dawley rat and homogenized for protein separation by SDS-PAGE. Autoantibodies were detected by immunoblotting technique in the serum of autistic children (n=42) and normal children (n=11 ). We found that many autistic children had autoantibodies …

Altered T Cell-Mediated Immunity And Infectious Factors In Autism, Yong Hu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Three major questions were addressed in this dissertation: 1) Do immune abnormalities associated with autism primarily alter CD4+ T cell-mediated or humoral immune responses? 2) Are specific T cell clones expanded in autism? 3) Which, if any, infectious agents play a role in autism?

CD4+ T cell-mediated (Th1) or humoral (Th2) immune responses can be distinguished on the basis of the cytokines expressed. CD4+ T-cells secrete interleukin type 2 (IL-2) and interferon-γ, whereas a Th2 response is associated with secretion of interleukin type 4(IL-4). mRNA extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear nuclear cells (PBMC) showed significantly increased levels of IL-2 and …

Association Of The Major Histocompatibility Complex With Autism, Wayne W. Daniels

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The pathogenesis of autism has proven difficult to characterize. However, in many recent studies, it is suggested that the onset of this disorder is the result of multiple etiological factors, which include genetic, immunologic, and viral elements.

Possible immunological influences found in subpopulations of patients with autism include decreased lymphocyte responsiveness, reduced natural killer cell activity, abnormal response to rubella vaccine, abnormal immune response to brain tissue, and decreased plasma levels of the fourth component of complement(C4). These aberrations and others imply a possible autoimmune mechanism in some cases for the development of autism.

C4 deficiencies have been found in …

Study Of Circulating Antibodies To Heat-Shock Proteins 60 And 70 In Autistic Subjects, Fang-Yi Chiu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Autism is a behavioral syndrome characterized by a severe impairment of reciprocal social relations, and of verbal and nonverbal communications. Many different etiologic factors such as viral infection and genetic predisposition have been proposed to explain the development of this disorder. Immune abnormalities, such as a decreased lymphoblastic response to T-cell mitogen, defective antibody responses to rubella vaccine, and decreased numbers of T lymphocytes, also have been identified in a subpopulation of patients with autism, which implies that the development of autism in some cases may be due to autoimmune mechanisms.

Recent evidence suggests that immune response to the heat-shock …

Circulating Antibodies To Thymic Antigens In Autism And Alzheimer's Disease, Chih-Li Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Abnormal T lymphocyte reactions in both autism and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been reported. This research investigated the possibility that these abnormalities may involve circulating antithymic antibodies. Plasma samples from autistic patients, AD patients, and normal-matched controls were tested for reactivity against murine thymocytes.

In the first of 3 studies results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were statistically significant for binding (P < 0.001) between antithymic antibodies in plasmas of AD patients and murine thymocytes. Binding (P < 0.05) in low dilutions (1/2.5 and 1/5} of autistic patient plasmas was also observed. In the second study, plasmas of neither autistic nor AD patients significantly inhibited DNA synthesis of thymic cells in the presence of interleukin-1 (IL-l} and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). In the third study, no significant increases (P > 0.05) in cytotoxic activities were detected using AD patient plasmas and both untreated and heat-treated autistic patient plasmas. After further testing, these heat-treated plasmas diluted 1/64 and 1/128 had increased cytotoxicities (P < 0.05) when rabbit complement was added, an indication that cytotoxicity of antithymic antibodies is complement dependent.

Therefore, circulating antithymic antibodies may …