Sunday, August 23, 2009

What will reduce the amount of autism and schizophrenia in the population?

What will reduce the amount of autism and schizophrenia in the population?
August 22, 2009 | By admin In Autism |
Alex

90 % of autism and and 85 -90 % of schizophrenia is de novo, sporadic, non-familial
Is paternal age and risk of autism plausable biologically?

RESULTS: There was a significant monotonic association between advancing paternal age and risk of ASD. Offspring of men 40 years or older were 5.75 times (95% confidence interval, 2.65-12.46; P<.001) more likely to have ASD compared with offspring of men younger than 30 years, after controlling for year of birth, socioeconomic status, and maternal age. Advancing maternal age showed no association with ASD after adjusting for paternal age. Sensitivity analyses indicated that these findings were not the result of bias due to missing data on maternal age. CONCLUSIONS: Advanced paternal age was associated with increased risk of ASD. Possible biological mechanisms include de novo mutations associated with advancing age or alterations in genetic imprinting.

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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Paternal age and reproduction.

1: Hum Reprod Update. 2009 Aug 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Paternal age and reproduction.Sartorius GA, Nieschlag E.
Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology of the University, Domagkstrasse 11, D-48149 Muenster, Germany.

BACKGROUND Due to various sociological factors, couples in developed countries are increasingly delaying childbearing. Besides ethical, economical and sociological issues, this trend presents us with several complex problems in reproduction. Although it is well-known that maternal age has a negative effect on fertility and increases the risk of adverse outcome during pregnancy and in offspring, the paternal influence on these outcomes is less well researched and not well-known. METHODS We performed a systematic search of PubMed, and retrieved original articles and review articles to update our previous survey in this journal. RESULTS This review highlights the link between male age and genetic abnormalities in the germ line and summarizes the knowledge about the effects of paternal age on reproductive function and outcome. Increasing paternal age can be associated with decreasing androgen levels, decreased sexual activity, alterations of testicular morphology and a deterioration of semen quality (volume, motility, morphology). Increased paternal age has an influence on DNA integrity of sperm, increases telomere length in spermatozoa and is suggested to have epigenetic effects. These changes may, at least in part, be responsible for the association of paternal age over 40 years with reduced fertility, an increase in pregnancy-associated complications and adverse outcome in the offspring. CONCLUSION Although higher maternal age can be an indication for intensive prenatal diagnosis, including invasive diagnostics, consideration of the available evidence suggests that paternal age itself, however, provides no rationale for invasive procedures.

PMID: 19696093 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

older men's sperm contributing to increases in autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.

The Pros and Cons of Being a Grandpa-Daddy

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
filed under: pregnancy & baby logic
There are physical and emotional consequences to having kids at such a late stage of life.
Michelle Golland, Psy.D.: With the wonderful news that Celine Dion, 41, is pregnant with her second child with her husband Rene, who is 67 years old, I wanted to share the pros and cons of being a Grandpa-Daddy. I choose that title because most of the men who are conceiving children beyond their 60s are most likely on their second wife and have older kids from their first marriage who have kids of their own as well.

There are physical and emotional consequences to having children at such a late stage of life. Because Celine Dion is a relatively young woman, she will be around to raise the children if anything were to happen to Rene. Let's be honest -- another positive is the fact that these children will not be concerned for their financial future in any way, which is usually a concern when becoming a parent at the age of 67. So when this child is 18, Rene will be 85.

Cons
Old sperm: Researchers are finding that it is not just our eggs that get old and cause all the problems, but old sperm may be contributing to increases in autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.


Death/lost role model: Your children won't get to see you in your middle ages and you certainly won't see them in their 30's and having children. Your kids will most likely bury you.


Social stigma: You will be mistaken for the grandpa. Your kids' friends and their parents will assume that you are grandpa due to your age -- plain and simple. This will be embarrassing for your children -- and it will be a topic they will continue to explain their whole life.

Pros
Older dads are more involved in parenting, and are typically more nurturing, affectionate and gentle. Studies have shown that this may be caused by the drop in testosterone as men age.


Older dads are three times more likely to show equality in parenting. They change diapers, feed and bathe their children more often than younger dads.


Kids of older dads usually have higher self-esteem, more confidence, greater sense of security, better ability to handle stress and are more empathic.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Paternal age as a risk factor for schizophrenia: How important is it?

Schizophr Res. 2009 Aug 13. [Epub ahead of print]
Paternal age as a risk factor for schizophrenia: How important is it?
Torrey EF, Buka S, Cannon TD, Goldstein JM, Seidman LJ, Liu T, Hadley T, Rosso IM, Bearden C, Yolken RH.
The Stanley Medical Research Institute, 8401 Connecticut Ave., Suite 200, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA.

Advanced paternal age has been widely cited as a risk factor for schizophrenia among offspring and even claimed to account for one-quarter of all cases. We carried out a new study on 25,025 offspring from the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP), including 168 diagnosed with psychosis and 88 with narrowly defined schizophrenia. We also conducted a meta-analysis of this and nine other studies for which comparable age-cohort data were available. The mean paternal age for the CPP cases was slightly, but not significantly, higher than the matched controls (p=0.28). Meta-analyses including these new results were conducted to determine the relative risk associated with alternative definitions of advanced paternal age (35, 45 or 55years and older). These yielded pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 1.28 (1.10, 1.48), 1.38 (0.95, 2.01) and 2.22 (1.46, 3.37), respectively. Thus, increased paternal age appears to be a risk factor for schizophrenia primarily among offspring of fathers ages 55 and over. In these 10 studies, such fathers accounted for only 0.6% of all births. Compared with other known risk factors for schizophrenia, advanced paternal age appears to be intermediate in magnitude. Advanced paternal age is also known to be a risk factor for some chromosomal and neoplastic diseases in the offspring where the cause is thought to be chromosomal aberrations and mutations of the aging germline. Similar mechanisms may account for the relationship between advanced paternal age and schizophrenia risk.

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