M. L. Bauman and T. L. Kemper, eds.
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997, 257 pages
Autism
is a developmental brain disorder
that affects between 0.7 and 5.6 of every 10,000 children. Although
studies of autistic children have usually been the purview of psychologists,
perhaps the most significant breakthrough was made by biochemists with the
discovery in the late 1950s that the biochemical basis of phenylketonurea
(PKU), a subclass of autism, was caused by a genetic deficiency of
phenylalanine hydroxylase. It is reasonable to suppose that other
subclasses could also have a simple biochemical basis. Hence the need
for books like The Neurobiology of Autism.
