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Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

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Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I got bad chronic constipation after four years as a strict carnivore. 2 questions: 1) Did your constipation start right after you did strict carnivore? Or was it after 4 years? 2) List all foods that you ate on strict carnivore. (Include salt, water etc. I presume it won't be a long list)

Just all foods including salt and water consumed over a 4 year time period with some unknown offset from present, sure seems like a reasonable amount of effort in response to some random guys HN post.

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Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#52
post #17

What's more plausible? Did they cure low functioning autism in two years? Or did they simpily miscategorize the kids and the kids grew out of their diagnosis as they matured?

Kids got into tech industry and now it’s their spouses that have to deal with their tism, instead of parents

Self-hatred is not a good look.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#53
post #17

What's more plausible? Did they cure low functioning autism in two years? Or did they simpily miscategorize the kids and the kids grew out of their diagnosis as they matured?

Kids got into tech industry and now it’s their spouses that have to deal with their tism, instead of parents

Buzz off. If you were trying to make a joke, it didn't land. It scans as ableist twat.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#54
post #42

>> In early 2022 Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues patented a specific bacterial formulation and spun-off a commercial company called Gut-Brain Axis Therapeutics. I was a little surprised to see this. So the university researchers use time and money from the university to make a discovery, extending on previous published research, and then patent it and start their own for-profit? Excuse my ignorance, but is that how i…

Often universities do this, they may own the patent and license it to the company or take a cut etc. Arizona State University appear to do this through Skysong Innovations:

https://skysonginnovations.com/startups/list/

It's interesting they got a lot of funding from over 100 families with autism children:

https://skysonginnovations.com/startups/list/

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#56
Many autistic children have extremely limited diets. For example, a geneticist friend of mine saw a case where an autistic child had been referred for genetic testing because of horrific, chronic, spontaneous wounds on gums and skin. Turned out to be scurvy, because he had exclusively eaten Wheat Thins for the last 3-4 years, which aren’t fortified with vitamin C.

I would fully expect that a monotonous diet leads to a heavy skew in the gut microbiome as specific bacterial species that thrive on that diet are selected for, others against. It makes some sense that a fecal transplant could repair the damage. If the diet has shifted or expanded, the transplant could lead to long term benefits by restoring newly-viable bacterial species, perhaps by facilitating digestion of the new types of food.

I’d be curious to see a factoring out of the diet composition, gut microbiome, genetics, and severity of autism symptoms.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the best procedure is actually sticking it in your nose. (They run a tube through your nose, down your throat, through the stomach to the top of the intestines, and introduce the bacterial slurry there.)

Pretty sure there’s a shorter path to the top of the intestines than through the nose but I’m no Biologist.

There really isn't. From the mouth is basically the same distance and it contains teeth and a tongue. Through the rectum is much much much farther through meters of intestine. Through the skin creates a surgical hole that's going to be difficult to keep sterile.

The shortest safe path is via the nostril.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#58
post #11

>Editor's note: Readers often ask us for follow-ups on memorable stories. What has happened to this story over the years? This article was originally published in 2019 but it has been re-edited and updated with new information current as of April 7, 2025. Enjoy! Now that is something that should be done more often - especially in science journalism, but not only. We cruelly lack long-term vision - not only forward bu…

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Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#59
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The microbiota is passed from mother to son on birth, not totally from the environment. What we currently don’t understand is why for some people they never got them (we have techniques to transport the biota from the mother during birth for non-natural procedures) or they loose them. Even with the transplant, the microbes won’t stick around on those people (not taking about autistic people here, but people in genera…

In some countries the number of kids born through c-section are very high, more than half the kids in Brazil are born that way for example, so definitely people can be healthy without getting it from their mothers.

I read it is a practice these days to do this fecal "rub" for newborns as a way to compensate for the C-section lack of it. I do not know if it happens in Brazil. Another factor to consider.
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