Reply #84: Ah, the goal posts keep moving it seems? At your request, I searched pubmed

[mzmolly]

Here you are...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16151044?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Dr. Hebert did mention funding issues when it comes to adequate research. However, there is impartial research that supports the hypothesis in question.

www.neuro.jhmi.edu/neuroimmunopath/pdf/4%20Neuroglial%20activation%20and%20neuroinflammation%20in%20the%20brain%20of%20patients%20with%20autism.pdf

Ann Neurol 2005;57:67–81

http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/neuroimmunopath/autism_faqs.htm

"Is there any other evidence to support the presence of neuroinflammation in the brain of autistic patients?

Yes. Our study has also demonstrated the presence of unique profiles of cytokine expression in the brain and CSF of subjects with autism. Two pro-inflammatory chemokines, MCP-1 and TARC, and an anti-inflammatory and modulatory cytokine, TGF-ß1, were consistently elevated in the brain regions studied. MCP-1, a chemokine involved in innate immune reactions and an important mediator for monocyte and T-cell activation, and for trafficking into areas of tissue injury, appeared to be one of the most relevant proteins found in cytokine protein array studies. It was significantly elevated in both brain tissues and CSF. The presence of MCP-1 is of particular interest, since it facilitates the infiltration and accumulation of monocytes and macrophages in inflammatory CNS disease. Our immunocytochemical studies of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum showed that MCP-1 is produced by activated and reactive astrocytes, showing that these cells play an effector role in the disease process in autism. The increased expression of MCP-1 has relevance to the pathogenesis of autism as we believe its elevation in the brain is linked to microglial activation and perhaps also to the recruitment of additional macrophages and microglia to areas of neurodegeneration, such as those we observed in the cerebellum

"Immunity, neuroglia and neuroinflammation in autism"

http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/5/1/52

We'll have to add the Annals of Neurology, Johns Hopkins, the Journal of Neuroinflammation and apparently Harvard, to that "quack science" list you mention.

Regarding David Kirby, he's responded to the "anti-vaccine" label. Thus, I'll let him respond to your absurd assertion in his own words:

The reason I get upset at being called "anti-vaccine" is that, A), it's untrue, and B), I do think vaccines are important. And I think we can vaccinate more safely than we do in this country. But the label is used as a weapon. It is used as a tool against people like me. And even though it's a lie, it is so much easier to dismiss somebody if you think that they're anti-vaccine. "He's a kook. He's a nut. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

And now we're into the rhetoric that has gotten so heated that people like me are called "pro-disease." It's like Karl Rove is writing the playbook for these people. Because it's gotten that political, it's gotten that nasty. So, I'm going to fight back against that label.

This is not an "anti-vaccine conference." There's a discussion tonight about athletics in autism, and one on relationships in autism.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/notes-from-the-big-anti-v_b_209506.html