Seafood Consumption and Blood Mercury Concentrations in Jamaican Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders

The status of early identification and early intervention in autism spectrum disorders in lower- and middle-income countries

“…The existence of local professionals with experience in autistic spectrum disorders in LMIC has been demonstrated by this paper; by the reports of current epidemiological studies in Mexico, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Africa, and Uganda (Elsabbagh et al, 2012); by reports on the outcome of global autism public health initiatives (GAPH) in association with Autism Speaks in Albania and Bangladesh (Wallace, Fein, Rosanoff, Dawson, Hossain, Brennan, et al, 2012), and by completion of an epidemiological study in Jamaica with a number of published fi ndings, including the identifi cation of older maternal and paternal age as risk factors (Rahbar, Samms-Vaughan, Ardjomand-Hessabi, Loveland, Dickerson, Chen, et al, 2012;Rahbar, Samms-Vaughan, Loveland, Ardjomand-Hessabi, Chen, Bresssler, et al, 2013;Rahbar, Samms-Vaughan, Loveland, Pearson, Bressler, Chen, et al, 2012). Engagement of these professionals will be integral to ensuring interventions of relevance and the improvement of outcomes for children with autistic spectrum disorders in LMIC.…”

Synergic effect of GSTP1 and blood manganese concentrations in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…For typically developing controls, we ruled out symptoms of ASD using the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) Lifetime form (Rutter, Bailey, & Lord, 2003) with a cut-off score of 6, which is one standard deviation above the mean SCQ score for typically developing children (Mulligan, Richardson, Anney, & Gill, 2009). Details on the recruitment and assessment procedures of this study have been reported previously (Rahbar et al, 2012a; Rahbar et al, 2012b; Rahbar et al, 2013; Rahbar et al, 2014a; Rahbar et al, 2014b; Rahbar et al, 2014c; Rahbar et al, 2015). …”

Autism spectrum disorder prevalence and associations with air concentrations of lead, mercury, and arsenic

“…Mercury (Hg) is a neurotoxic metal found naturally in the earth's atmosphere in its elemental form, as well as in particulate matter and reactive gaseous compounds, and is the third most frequently released toxic substance from waste facilities, with atmospheric mercury primarily existing in its inorganic form (ATSDR 2007). Results from studies on the associations between mercury and ASD are also conflicting (DeSoto & Hitlan 2007), reporting positive (Fido & Al-Saad 2005;Adams et al 2007), negative (Holmes et al 2003), and null (Adams et al 2006;Adams et al 2013;Rahbar et al 2013;Hertz-Picciotto et al 2010) results in children with ASD in comparison to typically developing (TD) controls. Arsenic, a metalloid that can exist in both organic and inorganic forms, has been found to have harmful effects on the human nervous system (ATSDR 2007;USEPA 2002).…”

“…To date, the etiology of ASD has been poorly defined; however, some studies have suggested that ASD may be caused by interactions of susceptible genes with the environment in which environmental triggers may alter gene expression (Volk et al 2014;Blake et al 2013;LaSalle 2013;Herbert et al 2006). Therefore, several investigators have examined the relationships between ASD and exposures to pesticides (Shelton et al 2012;Roberts et al 2007), ambient particulate matter (Becerra et al 2013;Volk et al 2014;Volk et al 2011), and heavy metals (Adams et al 2013;Rahbar et al 2013;Rahbar et al 2012;Shelton et al 2012;Adams et al 2007;Roberts et al 2007;Adams et al 2006;Palmer et al 2006), but results have been conflicting.…”