Wampum

Which you'll only read about in the British Press.

Both the BBC and the Independent are reporting on a newly released study by Johns Hopkins researchers in the Annals of Neurology which point to brain inflammation as a possible culprit in some cases of autism (nota bene: Only in the US press is it reported that every new finding appears to cover all cases of autism.)

They examined brain tissue from 11 people with autism, aged five to 44 years, who had died of accidents or injuries.

Compared with normal control brains, the brains of the people with autism were found to contain abnormal patterns of immune system proteins called cytokines and chemokines consistent with inflammation.

Researcher Dr Carlos Pardo-Villamizar said: "These findings reinforce the theory that immune activation in the brain is involved in autism, although it is not yet clear whether it is destructive or beneficial, or both, to the developing brain."

Similarly, samples of cerebrospinal fluid obtained from six children with autism were also found to contain elevated levels of cytokines.

The research is clearly signficant to many families who eschew the "all genes all the time" line now towed by many US researchers. It buttresses our arguments that nurture (environment) not nature (DNA) plays a role in growing epidemic of autism in this country.

Now we see if Johns Hopkins, for rocking the lucrative genetic research boat, sees its NIH autism funding cut.