The Causes of Autism

Originally posted on X.

It’s finals and mid-terms week!
And here’s the pesticides midterm exam!
Another open book exam.

Answers can be found at the following place, or if you’ve been keeping up with the pop quizzes I typically provide the answers 2 days after the question. https://thecausesofautism.com/59-2/pesticides/

Good luck.
Final exam in August.

Pesticides Mid-Term Exam Due Date: June 24th
Vaccines Final Exam Due Date: July 1st

1. True/False: Curtis et al. (2023) found that offspring of mice prenatally exposed to pyrethroid, displayed more frequent freezing during fear conditioning tasks.

2. True/False: Desalegn et al. (2023) conducted a study examining the impact of exposure to β-Hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), and found an increase in the size of the hypothalamus of zebrafish.

3. True/False: Lyall et al. (2017) found that after genetic ancestry adjustment, the impact of prenatal exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyl on the risk of autism in the offspring was attenuated.

4. True/False: de Oliveira et al. (2022) did not find changes in oxidative stress in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of offspring due to prenatal glyphosate-based herbicide exposure in rats.

5. True/False: Janner et al. (2021) used a specifies of fly, Drosophila melanogaster (aka the fruit fly), who were prenatally exposed to imidacloprid and whose offspring exhibited: a decrease locomotor activity and decreased exploratory activity in the geotaxis and open field tasks.

6. True/False: Among Pu et al. (2020)’s many findings in their study on mice, one such finding was that juvenile offspring from mother’s prenatally exposed to glyphosate was exhibited social interaction deficits, as well as significantly increased blood levels of many epoxides.

7. True/False: Morales-Navas et al. (2020) found that the Valproic Acid (VPA) exposed rat group exhibited no changes in ultrasonic vocalization behavior compared to the Chlorpyrifos (CPF) exposed group.

8. True/False: A meta analysis published in 2023 found that maternal exposure to pesticides in the third trimester was associated with a 56% increased odds of autism in the offspring.

9. True/False: Christian et al. (2018) found no significant findings regarding household pesticide use and increased risk of autism.

10. True/False: The highest odds ratio in the pesticide-autism literature on human studies thus far is 6.1 increased odds of autism due to prenatal organochlorines exposure.

11. True/False: Schmidt et al. (2017) found that children from women with below median Folic Acid intake and regular exposure to indoor sprays and foggers had an 2.6x odds of autism (2.6 Odds Ratio).

12. True/False: Even after adjusting for genetic ancestry, Lyall et al. (2017) still found a 54% odds of autism (1.54 adjusted Odds Ratio) after prenatal exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyl/PCB138/158.

13. True/False: Pyrethroid pesticides, which are used for mosquito control, have actually not been linked to autism, as shown in various studies.

14. True/False: Brown et al. (2018) found that the increase in the odds of autism associated with maternal levels of p,p′-DDE higher than the 75th percentile was greater among case those without intellectual disability.