Here is the citation for my new chapter:

Herbert, M.R.,  Autism: From Static Genetic Brain Defect to Dynamic Gene-Environment-Modulated Pathophysiology. Chapter 10 of Genetic Explanations: Sense and Nonsense. Krimsky, S. and Gruber, J. eds, Harvard University Press (2012).

The chapter covers similar material to what is in the book THE AUTISM REVOLUTION, but pitched to upper-division undergraduate college students.

Here are the chapter’s Section Headers. Please get the book to read more and also to read the other terrific chapters!!

• Autism Status Quo: Genes, Brain, Behavior and Hopelessness
• Anomalies Undermining the Genes-Brain-Behavior Model
  • Not a Static Prevalence
  • Not Just Genes: Environmental Contributors.
  • Not Just a Few High-Impact Genes: Hundreds of Mostly Lower-Impact Genes.
  • Not Just Inherited Genes: De Novo Mutations.
  • Not Even Mainly Genes: Substantial Environmental Contribution.
  • Not Just Brain Genes
  • Not Just Local, Modular Brain Disturbances: Whole Brain Involvement.
  • Not Just Prenatal
  • Not Necessarily Present at Birth
  • Not Just Behavior
  • Not Just the Brain
  • Not Just Deficit: Giftedness and High Intelligence.
  • Not a Life Sentence: Evidence of Remission and Recovery.
• Dynamical Physiological Processes Implicated In Autism
  • Immune Dysregulation
  • Mitochondrial Dysfunction
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Methylation Disturbance
  • Disturbed Gut Microbial Ecology
  • Hormonal Dysregulation
• Active Pathophysiology, Genes and Environment
  • Active Pathophysiology and the Brain
  • Impact on Synaptic functioning
• Could Active Pathophysiology Be Impairing Connectivity?
• Does Active Pathophysiology Modulate Genetic Substrate Or Could It Be a Primary Cause of Brain Dysfunction?
• From Genes and Neurons to Environment and Glial Cells
• Cause?
• Modulating Severity by Treating Intermediary Metabolism
• Obstructed Rather Than Defective
• Environment: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
  • Hardware or Software?
  • From Developmental To Early Onset Chronic Pathophysiology
• From a Fixed Unitary Phenomenon to Modifiable Manifestations of Complex Interacting Systems Problems
  • Autism as an Epiphenomenon or Emergent Property of a Challenged System
  • Specific Genetic Determinants or Final Common Pathways of Pathophysiology?
• Time to Get a Grip
• Addressing an Apparent Epidemic Through a Praxis of Environmental Pathophysiology
• Beyond Autism