Goal For The Green

That’s right!  She has only been gracing my blog for 96 days, yet she has proven herself to be very welcoming and popular.  She’s been a good luck charm and inspired many green articles, as well as helped me cover everything from the odds of autism, to diet and autism, the gas crisis, and much more.

She is such a wonderful people greeter, that I decided to name my power mall after her.

My Ladybug Mall

Did  you know that 70% of people on-line have a disability?  Many others are looking for ways to make money on-line, supplement their income, or quit their day job.  I took this decision very seriously and searched hard to find the right things to put on my blog.  I think I made the right choice with my power mall.  Soon, there will be other money making ideas showing up here also.

If you’re looking for a business opportunity, I’m so glad because it means you want to change your life. I’m sure you already know how important it is to find that right opportunity. When I started looking for a business I knew that 97% of people who try to find financial freedom through a home-based business fail so I knew whatever I chose had to be different!

There were certain “Givens.”

o It had to be FREE so every person who wanted to change their lives would have a chance.

o It had to be simple.

o It had to take away all the “business games” that kept most people from succeeding in a home-based business.

The “Givens” were answered when I found MY POWER MALL!

I’m not going to take time to explain it because MY POWER MALL has created some powerful movies and a great website that will do just that. I will tell you it is totally new, totally FREE, very simple, and can be done in conjunction with anything else you are doing to generate financial freedom. You could easily be making $4 – 6000 a month, but your income potential is unlimited. Interested?

Click the widget, here at the top right of the inner sidebar, that says earn income! Then click on the 3 different widgets, and watch the videos, to determine which program is best for you. It will only take a few minutes to determine if our FREE program is what you have been looking for. I believe it is!

The first ever national survey on attitudes toward autism, was recently conducted for the Florida Institute of Technology.  Of the 1,000 randomly selected adults, results revealed that nearly 24% , or one in four, believe the disease is caused by childhood vaccines.  This group feels that because vaccines may cause autism, it is safer to not have children vaccinated at all.  Still, another 19% were unsure how they feel about the ongoing controversy.

The Centers for Disease Control, currently reports that the odds of autism affects one in every 150 children born in the United States.  The public concern about vaccines arose from a controversial British study conducted in 1998, that linked autism to the MMR vaccine, which then contained the preservative known as thimerosal.  The authors of that study, later retracted their findings, and thimerosal was removed from all vaccines in 2001.  However, the results of this just completed survey in Florida, suggests that in general, the public is still confused.

The survey commissioned by the Florida Institute of Technology, specifically asked its participants about the preservative and autism.  The results were as follows: 19% agreed with the statement “Autism is caused by a preservative once found in vaccines.”  Another 43% were not sure of this statement, meaning that fewer than half (38%), felt that no link exists between the vaccine and autism.

Part of the confusion may stem from the fact, that there still is no known cause for autism, and people are searching for answers.   Scientist still say that there is no evidence that links vaccines and autism.  Still, there is a lingering fear and unsureness that is leading to fewer parents having their children vaccinated.   The result , according to an August article in The New York Times , states that in the first seven months of 2008, measles cases grew at the fastest rate in a decade.  Cases in Britain, Israel, Italy, and Switzerland are said to be soaring as well.   Fear and anxiety over the ever increasing incidence of the disease, may be leading people to make their own decisions whether to vaccinate or not.

In Other News

The only scientifically proven treatment for autism in young children (ages 3-5), is ABA (Advanced Behavioral Analysis) or 1:1 treatment.  It teaches how to learn.  The use of repetitive skill building techniques, helps children with autism, create a foundation of neural pathways, needed for learning in the general education system.

Some preschools may have fallen behind the curve in offering ABA.  Preschools that have this program in place, save the Department of Education, money in the long run for these children in the 3-5 age group.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends 25-30 hours per week of intense ABA therapy for young autistic children in this age group.  The Department of Education, wastes large amounts of money fighting parents, who insist on proper education for their autistic children.  The DOE, could instead put those funds to better use by implementing ABA in all preschools.

It is afterall, a parents right that effective education for autistic children be readily available to all- not just those who have a fat wallet, or can afford a high priced lawyer.

In the United States, there is a baby born every 18 minutes that will acquire autism.  In most cases it makes itself known before the age of three. The statistics are alarming, and the increase in diagnosed cases has risen dramatically in the last twenty years. Still scientists don’t know exactly what causes the mysterious developmental brain disorder, and there is no cure. It is believed that both genetic and environmental factors could be to blame.

In a recent study, John’s Hopkins University neurologist, Harvey Springer, wondered if mother’s of autistic children might produce immune protein (antibodies) that react with or possibly harm their baby’s brains during pregnancy.

Other studies have linked autism to the immune system, in particular to auto immune reactions. In some cases of auto immune reactions, the body’s own defenses mistakenly attack native tissue. It is known that Autistic people are more likely to make antibodies against their own brain cells. Auto immune disorders such as type 1 diabetes, are also more common in mothers of autistic children.

In his most recent study Dr. Springer and his team, collected blood samples from 200 participants. There were 100 mothers of children with moderate to severe autism, as well as 100 mothers of healthy children. They only extracted antibodies that could cross the placenta during pregnancy. Then they tested those antibodies against the proteins from human fetal brain tissue. They discovered that the blood from the mothers of autistic children reacted to at least two fetal brain proteins. However, all the mothers tested had similar reactions to each other, against other proteins that were tested.

It is Dr. Singer’s hope that “These immune factors may help trigger or turn on some underlying or potential problem.” It is not yet known the role that brain proteins play during development, nor is it known whether the maternal antibodies in any way influence their function. Dr. Singer’s team will be investigating these questions (in his ongoing study) by injecting pregnant mice with human maternal antibodies to determine if their offspring show any developmental problems.