Main description:

Creative thinking and collaborative scientific research have advanced our understanding of autism, and we are now beginning to synthesize the data into evidence and theories. Autism: Current Theories and Evidence presents current theories about autism and the evidence that supports them. The goal is to show how the scientific method is revealing the biological bases of this spectrum of disorders, thereby leading the way to their treatment and prevention using evidence-based medicine. This book has 20 chapters divided into 6 sections: Molecular and Clinical Genetics; Neurotransmitters and Cell Signaling; Endocrinology, Growth and Metabolism; Immunology, Maternal-Fetal Effects and Neuroinflammation; Neuroanatomy, Imaging and Neural networks; and Environmental Mechanisms and Models. The subjects cover a wide range of current scientific work in the field of autism, with strong and growing evidence to support them, and demonstrate both the breadth and depth of current autism research. The reader is encouraged to consider how theories and the scientific method, in the hands of these and other dedicated researchers, are leading to greater knowledge and continued progress in autism research.

Contents:

Table of Contents

Preface

Moving Beyond Hypotheses: A Call for Theories and Evidence

Andrew W. Zimmerman

I. Molecular and Clinical Genetics

Chapter 1

ENGRAILED2 and Cerebellar Development in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Ian T. Rossman and Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom

Chapter 2

Teratogenic Alleles in Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders

William G. Johnson, Madhura Sreenath, Steven Buyske and Edward S. Stenroos

Chapter 3

Cholesterol Deficit in Autism: Insights from Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome

Alka Aneja and Elaine Tierney

Chapter 4

Autism in Genetic Intellectual Disability: Insight into the Bases and Features of Idiopathic Autism

Walter E. Kaufmann, George T. Capone, Megan Clarke and Dejan B. Budimirovic

II. Neurotransmitters and Cell Signaling

Chapter 5

Serotonin Dysfunction in Autism

Mary E. Blue, Michael V. Johnston, Carolyn Boylan Moloney and Christine F. Hohmann

Chapter 6

Excitotoxicity in Autism: The Role of Glutamate in Pathogenesis and Treatment

Martin Evers and Eric Hollander

Chapter 7

Prenatal Beta 2 Adrenergic Receptor Signaling and Autism: Dysmaturation and
Retained Fetal Function

Susan L. Connors

IV. Endocrinology, Growth and Metabolism

Chapter 8

A role for fetal testosterone in human sex differences: Implications for
Understanding autism

Bonnie Auyeung and Simon Baron-Cohen

Chapter 9

Interaction between Genetic Vulnerability and Neurosteroids in Purkinje cells as a Possible Neurobiological Mechanism in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Flavio Keller, Roger Panteri, Filippo Biamonte

Chapter 10

Insulin-like growth factors: Neurobiological regulators of brain growth in autism?

Raili Riikonen

Chapter 11

Oxidative Stress and the Metabolic Pathology of Autism

S. Jill James

V. Immunology, Maternal-Fetal Interaction and Neuroinflammation

Chapter 12

The Immune System in Autism: is there a Connection?

Luke Heuer, Paul Ashwood and Judy Van de Water

Chapter 13

Maternal Immune Activation, Cytokines and Autism

Paul H. Patterson, Wensi Xu, Stephen E. P. Smith and Benjamin E. Deverman

Chapter 14

Maternal Antibodies and the Placental-Fetal IgG Transfer Theory

Christina M. Morris, Mikhail Pletnikov, Andrew W. Zimmerman, and Harvey S. Singer

Chapter 15

Can Neuroinflammation Influence the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorders?

Carlos A. Pardo-Villamizar

VI. Neuroanatomy and Neural networks

Chapter 16

The Significance of Minicolumnar Size Variability in Autism: A Perspective from Comparative Anatomy

Manuel F. Casanova

Chapter 17

Imaging evidence for pathological brain development in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Stephen R Dager, Seth D Friedman, Helen Petropoulos and Dennis WW Shaw

Chapter 18

Information Processing, Neural Connectivity, and Neuronal Organization

Nancy J. Minshew, Diane L. Williams, a