http://autismtso.com/blog/ en stewartjmail-tso@yahoo.com Copyright 2011 2011-04-10T20:56:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/tso_and_ms_phase_1_clincal_trial_complete/ http://autismtso.com/post/tso_and_ms_phase_1_clincal_trial_complete/#When:21:56:00Z The Phase 1 clinical trial of TSO for treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, conducted by Dr.Fleming at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, is now complete. No adverse effects in the 5 patients, and a reduction of MRI-measured brain leasions in all 5. The abstract is available here 2011-04-10T21:56:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/article_on_tso_and_my_son_in_the_scientist/ http://autismtso.com/post/article_on_tso_and_my_son_in_the_scientist/#When:03:02:00Z The story of my son and our experience with TSO is chronicled in an article in the February, 2001 issue of The Scientist. The author provides a lot of background information on the Hygiene Hypothesis and the work of Doctors Weinstock, Elliott and Summers on Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. The online edition has a great interview with Dr. Wienstock, telling how that team arrived at the connection between elimination of helminths and the rise of autoimmune diseases.  2011-02-12T03:02:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/textbook_chapter_on_my_experience_with_tso/ http://autismtso.com/post/textbook_chapter_on_my_experience_with_tso/#When:17:15:00Z I have authored a chapter describing my experience with TSO in Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders, published by APPI.  The chapter is titled “An Experimental Treatment for Autism“‘. (Note: I received no compensation for this, nor do I receive any compensation from sales of the textbook) 2010-12-03T17:15:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/scientists_uncover_a_mechanism_of_action_in_helminth_therapy/ http://autismtso.com/post/scientists_uncover_a_mechanism_of_action_in_helminth_therapy/#When:17:03:00Z IL-22 CD4 T Cells are involved in therapeutic T. trichuria infection in Ulcerative Colitis. Sci Transl Med 2010: Dec 1;2(60):60ra88 2010-12-03T17:03:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/ocd_immune_link/ http://autismtso.com/post/ocd_immune_link/#When:00:11:00Z OCD behavior in mice has been linked to the Hoxb8 gene. Hoxb8 is found in microglia, immune cells that guard against pathogens. This study was reported in Science Now. A podcast interview with the Nobel Laureate that did the study plus a link to the actual published article appear in the May edition of Scientific American. 2010-06-22T00:11:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/article_about_tso_therapy_in_businessweek/ http://autismtso.com/post/article_about_tso_therapy_in_businessweek/#When:23:53:00Z This article about helminth and TSO therapy appeared recently in BusinessWeek (Now Bloomberg BusinessWeek) magazine. A longer version is accessible to users of the Bloomberg Professional Service.  2010-06-21T23:53:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/major_tso_allergy_study_in_press/ http://autismtso.com/post/major_tso_allergy_study_in_press/#When:16:10:00Z A major double-blind, placebo controlled study of TSO therapy for allergic rhinitis is complete and about to be published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Here is the citation: Bager P, Arnved J, Rønborg S, Wohlfahrt J, Poulsen LK, Westergaard T, Petersen HW, Kristensen B, Thamsborg S, Roepstorff A, Kapel C & Melbye M. Trichuris suis ova therapy for allergic rhinitis: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009;In press: It has not yet appeared in the journal and is not on the web-accessible portion of the journal’s website. Here are the links to J Allergy Clin Immunol and the in-press articles currently pending publication. 2009-09-23T16:10:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/tso_to_be_studied_at_seaver_center/ http://autismtso.com/post/tso_to_be_studied_at_seaver_center/#When:21:48:00Z The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai is interested in testing the hypothesis described in this site. Since my presentation in November 2007 there have been sufficient anecdotal reports of improvements in self-injurious and repetitive behaviors to warrant further study.  2009-08-05T21:48:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/two_years_on_tso/ http://autismtso.com/post/two_years_on_tso/#When:19:35:00Z My son (about to turn 18) was on TSO (2500 bi-weekly) for two years, and during that time there was a complete elimination of aggression, agitation, tantrums, melt-downs, OCD, etc. (see the rest of this site for the full history). For the last 8 months or so he has been increasingly quiet, and developed small “absence” seizures lasting 30 seconds or so, where he would just stop what he was doing and stare, with one arm shaking, several times a day. He had some mildly abnormal EEG’s as a child and since a fairly significant percentage of autistic kids develop seizure disorder, especially as they enter adolescence, we had him worked up with in-hospital sleep studies and treated with anti-seizure meds. The extreme quietness continued, punctuated by days or weeks when he would talk normally, great eye contact, almost acting in many ways like a typical teenager. We were (and still are, when these times occur), completely blown away by it. But I was concerned that perhaps TSO was in some way contributing to the extreme quietness. Perhaps it was a dose issue, or perhaps he did not even need TSO anymore and its continued use was somehow dampening his immune response when it did not need to be, Perhaps the symptoms that we were seeing, which could be interpreted as depression (fatigue, malaise, quiet, lack of interest in things, etc) were somehow connected to the altered immune response. There is growing scientific interest in a possible connection between cytokines and psychiatric disorders, including depression. Meanwhile, the anti-seizure meds eliminated the mini-seizures and he was weaned off them. In an effort to confirm if TSO was playing any part in this I decided to stop TSO for an extended period. We stopped for 10 weeks - no weaning period, we just stopped. What we saw was as follows: Just as before, the periods of extreme quiet and fatigue were still happening, punctuated by days of unbelievable relatedness, eye contact, full language, appropriate behavior, etc. There did not appear to be any change with respect to removal of TSO, with one huge exception. Starting at about 8 weeks we began to see the agitation and OCD return. For the first time in two years he started hitting himself again. His hypersensitivity to noise returned, as did the beginning of his OCD behaviors. Life began to return to pre-TSO status. He was headed towards becoming unable to go out anywhere in public because of his violent melt-downs. So, we started the TSO again, and he received 2500 ova last week. Since his original response to TSO seemed to take 8 weeks, and the beginnings of the full return of symptoms began at about 8 weeks off it, I am getting the sense that at least in my son, the immunoregulatory aspect of TSO takes about 8 weeks. I expect the next couple of months for us will not be any fun. I will post again soon, hopefully to report that TSO is working again. 2008-10-04T19:35:00-05:00 http://autismtso.com/post/video_on_helminth_therapy/ http://autismtso.com/post/video_on_helminth_therapy/#When:03:43:00Z The video below is an excellent 5 minute overview of helminth therapy produced and created by Asphelia Pharmaceuticals. 2008-05-25T03:43:00-05:00