Stand back – Let’s try science

Regarding “Pandemic has US women re-thinking plans for motherhood” (June 28), readers may be interested in the following portions of my research publication “COVID-19 and autism” in Medical Hypotheses.

One of the dominant theories about the etiology of autism relates to a postulated newborn deficiency of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

Several studies have reported the reduction of autism in children who were breastfed exclusively, especially for the entire first postpartum year. This is apparently due to the enhanced supply of IGF-1 found in breast milk, in contradistinction to the lower level in bovine milk. What remains to be determined is the umbilical cord serum IGF-1 limit below which aggressive postpartum growth factor replacement is indicated, as well as the minimum breast milk IGF-1 concentration that can be remedial in this regard.

Maternal infection with fever during pregnancy doubles the postpartum risk of autism in the infant. The elevated production of cytokine IL6 in particular has been identified in the symptomatic pathogenesis of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, the SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak of 2003, the H5N1 avian influenza of 1987, and the MERS-CoV (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic of 2012. In severe cases, “cytokine storm,” with elevated IL6 being produced, is essentially pathognomonic. (Increased IL6 reduces the level of IGF1.)

In a recent report from China, elevated IL6 was determined to be related to the severity of COVID-19. Thus, IL6 could be used as an acute-phase biomarker in corona-induced disease monitoring. Its decrease appears to correlate with recovery progress as well. Lung parenchyma in such cases produces the excess IL6. The monoclonal antibodies against IL6, siltuximab and tocilizumab, have been used to reduce cytokine release.

GARY STEINMAN, MD, PHD Jerusalem

Not enough attention has been paid in the media to the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on international science projects. Many of these are dependent on frequent travel both in and between the countries involved.

Although Australia has been relatively unscathed by the corona crisis, a recent rise in cases has again renewed lockdowns there (Australia sees biggest rise in COVID-19 cases in two months,” June 30). The “Needle in the Haystack” science group with members from the Soreq Research Center, the Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the Sami Shamoon School of Engineering are involved with scientists from the University of Adelaide and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne on a project to improve the accuracy of radiation dose delivered to cancer patients.

The project is funded by the Israeli Ministry of Science but has been on hold since March due to the Australian lockdown, which has closed the universities and which is not allowing travel between Adelaide and Melbourne – an essential part of the research plan because irradiated samples in Adelaide must be read out and analyzed in a facility in Melbourne.

The samples were transported personally from Israel to Adelaide immediately before the March lockdown, which forced the Israeli member to hurriedly return to Israel just before the Ben-Gurion airport closed down. Corona consequences can be colossal.

YIGAL HOROWITZ Professor Emeritus of Radiation Physics

Beersheva