Learn about how research on genetic influences is shaping our understanding of autism.

Free certificates of participation are available upon successful completion of a brief knowledge quiz at: https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=7xy5a6811f30f141

Published: 01/24/2018

The DeWitt Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Brody School of Medicine focuses on environmental contaminants and the role that they play in affecting health. Much of our focus is on how contaminants alter the developing immune system and how these changes to the immune system influence the developing brain.

Current evidence points to an increase in inflammation markers and oxidative stress in individuals with ASD. Hear Andrew Zimmerman, MD discuss changes in the brain associated with autism spectrum disorders.

Certificates of participation are available upon successful completion of a brief knowledge quiz . The quiz is online at: https://tinyurl.com/zimm4

Handouts for this webinar are online at:
https://www.ariconference.com/webinars/az_ari.pdf

Published: 06/11/2014

Andrew Zimmerman, MD specializes in neurodevelopmental disability, neurology, pediatric neurology, and psychiatry. He is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Certificates of participation are available upon completion of a brief knowledge quiz available online at: https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=6ma535fea63d9e38

Autism is characterized by impairment of social cognition and repetitive behaviors, as well as language impairment. Evidence from animal and human studies suggests that enhancing the brain peptide oxytocin may facilitate interest in social interaction, reduce the sensitivity to social threat, and reduce stereotypic behaviors. This has implications for the development of novel experimental treatments for core symptoms of autism and related conditions. In response to a hygeine hypothesis and evidence of neuroinflamation in some patients with autism, studies with helminths, a gut parasite with immunomodulatory properties, are being conducted in autism and other autoimmune disorders, and studies to assess the effects of fever and temperature regulation on ASD are underway. Studies to match homogeneous populations of ASD based on copy number variation (CNV) to novel therapeutics targeting the defined molecular pathway will also be described.

Published: 4/30/2014

Dr. Hollander is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Director of the Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Program at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Previously he served as the Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was Director of the Seaver and NY Autism Center of Excellence in New York City. Before then he served as Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Dr. Hollander received his B.A. from Brandeis University (1978), and his M.D. from SUNY Downstate Medical College, Brooklyn (1982). He completed his internship in Internal Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital (1983), residency and chief resident in psychiatry at Mt Sinai School of Medicine (1986), and his NIMH research fellowship at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1988). He has served as an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and as the Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Hollander has served as the principal investigator for a number of federal grants, including the NIH Greater New York Autism Center of Excellence, the NIMH Research Training Grant in Psychopharmacology and Outcomes Research, and an FDA funded multicenter treatment trial of pediatric body dysmorphic disorder. He was the principal investigator of the autism Clinical Trials Network, and Chair of the eight centers NIH STAART Autism Steering Committee. He is involved in research on the neuropharmacology, neuropsychiatry, functional imaging, and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, impulsive/aggressive personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive-related disorders such as body dysmorphic disorder, pathological gambling, and autism. Dr. Hollander served as Chair of the DSM-V Research Planning Agenda for Obsessive Compulsive Behavior Spectrum Disorders, and member of the DSM-V Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum, Post-Traumatic and Dissociative Disorders Workgroup, and the Behavioral and Substance Addictions Workgroup. Dr. Hollander has received a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental health to investigate the psychobiology of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. He has received orphan drug grants from the Food and Drug Administration to study new treatments for body dysmorphic disorder, child/adolescent autism, and adult autism, and a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse for a study on the neurobiology of pathological gambling. He has received several grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, to develop treatments for borderline personality disorder, adolescent body dysmorphic disorder, and autism. Dr. Hollander has received two national research awards from the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression. During his career, Dr. Hollander has published more than 500 scientific publications in the professional literature. He has edited 20 books, including the Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders (American Psychiatric Publishing, 2011), the Textbook of Anxiety Disorders (American Psychiatric Publishing, 2002 and 2009 editions), and the Clinical Manual of Impulse Control Disorders (2006). Dr. Hollander is listed for the past ten years in NY Magazine’s and Castle Connolly’s “Best Doctors”, and “Best Doctors in America”. He has made frequent media appearances on the Today Show and Dateline NBC and has had interviews in People Magazine and the New York Times. He is co-author of a book with Marc Summers, Everything In Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Penguin Putnam, 1999) and coauthored with Nick Bakalar, Coping with Social Anxiety: The Definitive Guide to Effective Treatment Options (Henry Holt and Company, 2005).

Handouts are online at: https://www.ariconference.com/webinars/miller.pdf
Ebook is online at: https://issuu.com/elisco/docs/tilt_ebook

Warning signs of Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT) – “Does my child have an infection?” or “Is my child allergic?”

One hundred fifty years ago, with no germ theory of disease, and no immune theory of disease to guide them, doctors had no way of answering such questions, let alone saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying from infections during the Civil War. Today’s doctors face the same dilemma, as another new theory of disease emerges from the post-World War II petrochemical revolution. This time it’s an exposure-driven dynamic “TILT,” or Toxicant-induced Loss of Tolerance – “with evidence from dozens of industrialized nations linking chemicals in our diets and environments to a wide range of unexplained chronic illnesses, from asthma and allergies to chronic fatigue, depression and autoimmune disorders, to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and, yes, autism. In a recent study of 400 consecutive chronically ill patients who visited a primary care clinic, 20% met stringent criteria for chemical intolerance. Recent evidence also suggests that mothers of children with ADHD and autism, and their children, share a common bond: chemical intolerance. Environmentally controlled medical facilities could help doctors determine whether today’s chronic illnesses are environmentally mediated and whether the symptoms are reversible. As a first step, doctors can take an exposure history and use the validated Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) to diagnose chemical and food intolerances. (www.drclaudiamiller.org)

Published: 07/17/2013 Length: 01:04:48

Claudia Miller, M.D., M.S. is Assistant Dean and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Texas School of Medicine in San Antonio. She co-authored the professionally acclaimed Chemical Exposures: Low Levels and High Stakes (Wiley), and currently is working on two new books, including one on autism and ADHD. The website drclaudiamiller.org provides a downloadable, validated questionnaire for assessing chemical and food intolerances.