The Autism Diaries

British hacker too ill for U.S. trial: lawyer

A British computer expert wanted by the United States for "the biggest military hack of all time" begins a final attempt on Tuesday to avoid extradition. Lawyers for Gary McKinnon, 43, will argue in London's High Court that he is too ill to be sent to the United States for trial because he has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. His defense team say he would be at risk of suicide or mental illness if he were extradited, the Press Association said. [...] McKinnon says he was searching for proof of alien life when he repeatedly broke into Pentagon and NASA networks from his home computer in London in 2001 and 2002.

Researchers are looking for 1,200 women who have a child with autism and who are pregnant with another child, as part of a large study of the disorder. The study is primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health along with money from Autism Speaks, an advocacy group. The project, known as Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation or EARLI study, will follow women from pregnancy, and then monitor the babies until they are three years old. The study's goals are to identify early signs of autism and understand its possible causes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 150 U.S. children have an autism spectrum disorder, which includes autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorders. There is no known cure for autism, which is characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and unusual behavior and interests, but therapy and medication can improve symptoms. "By studying families who are already affected by autism, we feel we have the best chance at learning how genetics and environmental factors could work together to cause autism," said Craig Newschaffer, a department chair at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia and the study's principal investigator.

As the quest to understand autism has grown more urgent, researchers have used brain scanners to peer into autistic minds, searched for faulty genes, and scrutinized the play of 1-year-olds. The work has provided theories - but few concrete answers - about what goes awry to cause social isolation, repetitive behaviors, and communication problems that afflict an estimated one in 150 children with autism spectrum disorders. The hunt has focused on everything from "mirror neurons," brain cells some re searchers think enable people to understand other's actions and intentions, to an overgrowth of local connections in the brain. Now a small but growing number of researchers see hope in a tool called transcranial magnetic stimulation, which lets scientists spark activity in specific areas of the brain and watch what happens to patients' behavior. The technology may illuminate some of the biology behind the disease, and some specialists speculate it may one day offer a treatment. "There's a lot of mystery about autism - it's not as if there's a well-understood story of what's going on at all, and there's a huge variety of autism, too," said John Gabrieli, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Transcranial magnetic stimulation "is fantastic for identifying brain regions that are essential for specific mental functions. . . . I think if we can start to use it more systematically with autism, one could hope we'd understand a lot more about what's going on." Gabrieli said he hopes to team up with researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who are already getting preliminary results with the technology, finding that autistic brains appear to be more malleable than those of other people.

Public services for Virginians with autism suffer from poor organization and limited resources and fail to offer help early enough. Many school systems also are unable to meet the needs of their autistic students, according to a report released yesterday by the General Assembly’s lead audit review agency. The study, by the Joint Legislative Review Commission, assessed services for Virginians with autism spectrum disorders and also found that many parents of autistic children waited more than a year to seek help for their children after noticing possible symptoms. “To date, there hasn’t been a central agency in Virginia that has handled autism. Autism systems in Virginia tend not to be coordinated, which makes it difficult for parents and families to figure out how to get help,” said Nathalie Molliet-Ribet, project leader for the study. “And many in the school system lack adequate training to fully meet the needs of children who might require extra help and assistance.”