In the article "what premature births can tell us about autism" explains the relationship between premature births and the higher risk for developing autism along with other neurological disorders. A baby is considered born prematurely before 37 weeks of gestation. There are many factors that contribute to premature births, some being the age of the mother, the method of conception, cesarean sections and certain bacterial infections among other causes. Premature births are steadily rising and modern medicine has evolved its technology to maintain a premature baby alive even when all odds are against him or her. But even with all these medical advances, nothing can ever replace a mother’s womb and often babies born prematurely will suffer from developmental delays throughout their lifetime.
Many Doctors have turned their attention to the placenta. The placenta, where the baby develops throughout pregnancy, is thought to be a very important organ that can tell much about the development of a baby and it’s direct relationship with the mother. The exchange of blood, oxygen, nutrients, and hormones among other things occurs through the placenta. This exchange is vital to the healthy development of a fetus into a baby outside of the mother’s womb. Anna Penn, a neonatologist at Packard children’s hospital in California, is conducting a research on hormone genes and how it affects neural development. “Using a small army of genetically engineered mice, Penn’s team is turning off one hormone gene at a time in the hopes of determining which of them has the biggest impact on neural development.”(Interlandi, 2010). So far Progesterone and Oxytocin, two hormones that are essential for neurological development, have surfaced to be the culprit of autism in premature babies. If research and studies continue, doctors can quickly find out what a premature baby needs in order to have better chances at developing normally throughout their infancy.
It is pretty interesting that some ancient civilizations and religious cults develop rituals centering on the placenta because it is considered by them to be a very important organ to the human being, but just recently modern doctors started conducting research on this complex organ that can potentially hold a lot of information regarding our development in the womb. The creation and development of a fetus in the womb is a very intricate process. I think it would be fair to say that the placenta holds a lot more information than we think. If humans study the environment that surrounds them, why not study the environment that surrounds a developing fetus. I don’t think the placenta should be discarded; rather it should be analyzed for potential clues that can give us answers to questions that don’t have any explanations.
Although this article has credible sources, I don’t think they should only focus on premature births when dealing with autism. There are a lot of factors to consider when talking about autism or any other developmental disorder. It is not mentioned in the article if the mothers that gave birth to premature babies led healthy lifestyles or had any genetic predispositions of autism that could be passed down to their baby. If the baby had any genetic predisposition to develop autism, I don’t think premature birth would have any ruling in the development of this syndrome. Although the article had a reputable source, I think the writer should have included other sources to support the statement that preterm birth can lead to autism. In the article, the only source of information was Dr. Penn. Perhaps; another doctor should have given his or her input to back the information that Dr. Penn was relying upon.
Even though Dr. Penn was the only source of information, the writer also included in her article the research studies that Dr. Penn has been performing with genetically engineered mice. I also think her findings are credible because they include samples of blood and spinal fluid from human babies. I think it is very important to collect human samples. After all, the development and assimilation of treatment to mice cannot be compared to the development and assimilation of an actual human being. Dr. Penn also collected the human samples from both full term and preterm babies. In this particular subject, that being autism, it is important to compare both samples to find differences and address the cause of the problem. There was no data given about the sample size so it is hard for me to determine if the sample size should have been bigger.
I think the writer did a very well job of moving from one idea to another. Her article was very easy to follow and understand. She started her article with some general information of premature births and the factors that can cause a preterm delivery of an infant. She later introduced background information from Dr. Penn and the type of doctor she was and where she currently worked. Which for me, it is very valid information because that allows me to check the validity of Dr. Penn’s expertise in the subject of premature babies and autism. I do not think the writer was biased with her article, rather she was very informative and provided another point of view to the already long list of factors that contribute to the development of autism along with other developmental disorders. What makes me a little skeptical is the credentials of the author, being that she doesn't only write about science topics, rather she has a vast array of articles ranging from culture, business and world news. Also, the author did not cite any sources. Just for the simple fact that she did not cite any sources, her article can potentially lose all credibility.
I think the main issue of this article is the fact that autism can more likely develop in babies that are genetically predisposition to inherit this syndrome rather than the prematurity of their birth. If this is the case, then premature births will not be the reason why autism happens, rather it will just intensify the development of autism. The Nature vs. Nurture applies to the issue that both biological inheritance and environmental experiences affect the development of a human being. If an infant is already genetically predisposition to develop autism (nature), then a preterm birth will only intensify the development of this syndrome (nurture). To this day doctors have not been able to identify exactly why are preterm infants more likely to develop autism until then the nature of genetics and the nurture of the first interactions an infant has with the outside world will continue to play a key role in the development of this syndrome.
My son was recently diagnosed with ADHD but also doctors keep going back and forth between autism and ADHD, perhaps my son has a combination of both. Autism or ADHD does not run in my family or his father’s family. My son was a full term baby; he was born at 41 weeks exactly. From the scientific point of view, I would like to know why this happened to him. What went wrong genetically when he was growing in the womb? Did going over 40 weeks gestation affected his developed brain? Did the stress I experienced impact him negatively to the extent of developing ADHD or autism? I guess the answers to these questions will never have a clear response. But from a mother's point of view, I don't think this article helped me in any way. This article was indeed very interesting and informative, and I hope that doctors continue to run more research studies and exams to find the culprit of this syndrome. I have also met babies who were born prematurely and have developed exceptionally well without any signs of autism. I think this article just raises more questions and doubts for me than actual answers. I hope that one day we can prevent the development of autism in both premature and full-term babies.
References
Interlandi, J. (2010, October 24). What prematurity can teach us about autism. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com.
Autism society. (2015, July 15). Causes of autism. Retrieved from http://www.autism-society.org/what-is/causes/
Santrock, J, W. (2017). Life-Span development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Children’s national health system. Anna Penn, MD neonatologist. Retrieved from https://childrensnational.org/choose-childrens/find-a-provider/anna-penn