WEDNESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- A link may exist between autism and bacteria in a child's digestive tract, a small new study suggests. Researchers analyzed gut bacteria in fecal samples from 20 children with autism and 20 children without the disorder. The children with autism had significantly fewer types of gut bacteria, which potentially could make them more vulnerable to harmful bacteria. The study also found that children with autism had significantly lower amounts of three types of important gut bacteria. Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that can range from mild to severe, affects social and communication skills. The new study appears July 3 in the journal PLoS One. "One of the reasons we started addressing this topic is the fact that autistic children have a lot of [gastrointestinal] problems that can last into adulthood," study leader Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, said in a university news release. "Studies have shown that when we manage these problems, their behavior improves dramatically." This type of research could lead to new ways to treat autism-associated gastrointestinal problems, and improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment of autism, the study authors said. Previous research has shown that gut bacteria plays … Continue reading →

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WEDNESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Thousands of sequences that control genes are active in the development of human limbs, a new study says. The findings don't determine the exact genetic mechanisms that control development of limbs, but do provide the first genome-wide view of candidates to analzye, the researchers said. "We now have a parts list that may account for these biological changes," study senior author James Noonan, an associate professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a university news release. He and his colleagues compared gene regulatory sequence activity that occurs in humans, rhesus monkeys and mice during limb development in the womb. While activity was generally similar in all three species, certain regulatory sequences were active only in humans. The study was published online July 3 in the journal Cell. Noonan plans to transfer some of gene regulatory elements specific to humans into mice to see what aspects of human limb development they may control. "It has been difficult to understand how human traits evolved, because we didn't have any idea where the important genetic changes might be," Noonan said. "Now we do, and we have the experimental tools to determine what biological … Continue reading →

BSALIM, Lebanon: In April, a German medical team reported that it successfully treated a 2-year-old boy with cerebral palsy using intravenous stem cells from his umbilical cord more than four years after he emerged from cardiac arrest paralyzed and in a coma. Also this spring, doctors in Illinois performed a windpipe transplant on a 2-year-old girl using lungs grown from her own stem cells; scientists used stem cells to regenerate teeth and damaged liver tissue in mice; and researchers in Ireland completed a preclinical trial using stem cells to heal diabetic foot ulcers, which leads to amputation in nearly half of middle-aged patients. Since the late 1990s, doctors at AUH, the Makassed Medical Center, and other major health care facilities across the country have routinely used stem cells from the bone marrow of patients and donors to treat blood diseases such as leukemia. They have also ventured into more experimental regenerative therapies for liver cirrhosis, cardiac infarctions, infertility, spinal cord injuries and even multiple sclerosis, with varying degrees of success. Cosmetic surgeons in Lebanon regularly use adult stem cells from fatty tissue to augment breasts, buttocks and lips, stimulate hair growth, and remove stretch marks, burns and under-eye circles. Most … Continue reading →