now. medical mystery continues with new news about autism. cases are still on the rise and not just by a little bit. we'll tell you what we think is going on and what to look for. also a just-retired top general has a that is importantf

she didn't have that getting health insurance with the pre existing condition could be expensive. if the law is overturned, that is going to go away she will have to get insurance in the open market, just like everybody else, and pay more money for it. if the plan is severed, she

could still have insurance but it would be tricky in terms of how it would get paid for and who would pay for it. >> another question, this one from twitter, isn't it preventative care supposed to be free? i received a bill last week after my yearly check-up. >> yeah, that is a good point because it is supposed to be free, supposed to have no co-pays, additional fees from it's preventive screen. couple things could have happened, september of 2010 is when this new plan went in effect in terms of making preventive screenings free, if this person's plan was before september of 2010, hasn't been modified since, they may be grandfathered in. could be a misunderstanding which is doctor thinks this is a sick visit person came in for a specific problem patient this is they are coming in for a well visit and that might be something the person should talk to their doctor about how was this classified, because they are right if it's preventive it

should be free. >> i think we have time for one more question. >> am i doing all right? >> you're doing great. this one is from facebook, i'm a medicare patient and i received a check to help pay for my prescription drugs, will i get another one? >> it's interesting, this is the donut hole, if you imagine a doenut, you eat through one side you're in the hole and go to the other side. it's the hole part people are focused on. you get -- once you make your way to the first part you're getting reimbursed for drug coverages but in the middle of the hole you're not. so this past year you would have gotten a check for $250, going forward he wouldn't expect to get another check to his question, but brand name drugs would be cheaper for him, 50% cheaper, generics 7% cheaper while in the donut hole after he

spends a certain amount of money he would get those benefits until he spend assert amount again. >> there is a lot there. >> in june we will get a decision from the supreme court. >> exactly. see which way it goes. >> thanks for having me. >> we have more to get to. a highly anticipated report says cases of autism are on the rise. and it's happening fast. i'm good about washing my face.

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alarming new report about autism. the cdc worked out regular estimates how many eight-year-olds have autism. in 2000-2002 it was 1 in 150. in 2004, increase to 1 in 125. children having autism. in 2006, 1 in 110. this week, latest cdc data as of 2008, shows 1 in 88 children has autism. that is a 78% increase in just a decade. now, what this new report does not tell us is the question a lot of people have, that is why? why are the numbers going up. why are they going up so fast? researchers say part is better detection, noticing more cases, but that doesn't explain it all. a lot of you may have thought that as well.

something is causing a rise and while studies are underway right now we still don't know what that something is. there are things we do know. things about effective treatment, how important to spot the signs early, when treatment can help the most. here to talk about that specifically is dr. gary goldstein, autism specialist. welcome to the show, thank you for being here. >> thank you very much, pleasure to be here. >> i want to ask you about some of the things that work because we try to be solutions-oriented on the program. let me start off by asking, what do you make of the numbers? i was surprised to see the plateau has not yet been achieved. we are still seeing an increase every two years. >> we ticked them off for people in terms of how the rates have gone up, when you look at these studies, does it give you any more insight in causes from an environment perspective or otherwise?

>> we know your genes do not change this quickly. genes change over thousands of years, not over a decade or two. we know even though there is strong genetic influences on autism, that it cannot be responsible for the increase. the other thing -- in the past decade, there has been enormous number of large genetic studies, and we're identifying genes but the genes we identified, the changes in those genes puts you at risk, they don't cause you to have -- some of them, sometimes we find a gene that causes autism. more often, the gene changes that are seen in children with autism make you prone to it, but something else has to be pushing you over. >> a lot of people are searching for what those environmental toxins are and what has changed in our environment in the last decade to your point a more likely explanation given the rapid increase. for parents who have young children or are thinking about

this more acutely, what do they look for? are there specific things they can, after listening to this program they can be looking for? >> yes, i like to emphasis it's very important to make the diagnosis early. even if you make a decision that you're at risk and may not have autism it's important to know early there should be intervention. we know it works. >> i have a 2-year-old and 5-year-old and 6-year-old. 2-year-olds -- what should parents be looking for? >> okay, i think what you should be looking for is social engagement, response to you as a parent, that when your child, you reach out to them, they want to be picked up by you, liked to be touched by you. they want you to be involved in what they are doing. this is even pre-verbal. before a child can talk you can sensor you should be looking for

a social interaction, particularly with the care giving, parent, usually the mother. constantly interacting with you and looking for you. >> you make the case for early interventi intervention, tell me what does that look like? what does a 2-year-old under going in terms early interconvenient sthainterve intervention that could help with the symptoms of you a is the snim. >> if you came to our classroom you would see something that looks like a small classroom for half a dozen 2-year-olds or 3-year-olds and going through various stages of interaction. some one-on-one, others of three or four, the essence as that child makes eye contact, has any indication of being social and interactive you try to reward them, get excited, blow bubbles, find out what it that they respond to and reinforce the he social behavior. >> dr. goldstein, we appreciate

your voice in all this, thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up, shifting gears, a former top army general is taking on a new challenge. wants to find help for soldiers with brain injuries and ptsd, i'll get his take if this played a role by the u.s. soldier accused of mass killings in afghanistan. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco.

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we're laerp -- learning more about the soldier accused of shooting citizens in afghanistan. an official says robert bales snuck off his remote outpost twice during the alleged rampage in two villages. his attorney is suggesting post traumatic stress disorder may be a factor. but he won't go for the insanity defense. i wanted to talk to someone not only a four star general, but dedicated his life to better

understanding the stresses of fighting men and women and what happens to their brains. joining me now from los angeles is general peter corelli, retired in january, thanks for joining us this morning. i followed your work and comments over the year on ptsd and also the army's efforts to detect it and reduce the number of suicides in the armed services. you're retired now for a couple of months, is there another voice like yours at your level within the military? >> well, i think there is. i think everybody in the military is seized with the responsibility they have given ten years of war to look hard at post traumatic and brain injury, we don't have reliable diagnostic tools in every instance tell us whether or not a soldier is suffering from either one of those diseases of

the brain. >> where does that leave us, then? obviously we're sending soldiers in these combat zones, we don't have the dyingiagnostic stoolto do you do, how does one decide who can go in, who should come out, those medical decisions? >> there are diagnostic tools, i know you know that. the problem is they don't provide the certainty of walk into a room with a blood pressure cup and asking a group of people who has high blood pressure. we know there is stigma associated with behavior health issues. if you walked in the room and asked $1 100 people, you could d out who has high blood pressure with cuff. but we don't have those tools when it comes to determining whether or not someone has post traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury. >> with all you do know and seen over the years, what was your about a u.s. soldier you heard

allegedly killing these afghan civilians? >> well, i mean, anyone who heard that, who was commanded, who is -- understands the effect, the expected effect, of multiple deployments was concerned, as was i, but i've got to say, we've got thousands and thousands of soldiers, sailors, airman and marines who have gone on multiple deployments and not had issues like occurred in afghanistan. so i think we really, really have to be careful of determining a cause and effect. again, because we just don't know enough. >> but you know, with regard to bales, his lawyer said he was told he wouldn't be going, almost overnight received new orders. i mean, is any common situation, and if so, do you think it's a defense or played any role here?

>> again i don't know anybody who wants to go back for multiple deployments to iraq or afghanistan. i know every single one of us who went on a multiple deployment was, in fact, concerned at a certain point in time. but that's why we serve. >> from a pragmatic standpoint, something about professional health officials, to do what we can do now. to sort of push the knowledge that we do have right now. i mean, should we be doing more with what we know, and if we're not doing that, are we simply pushing our soldiers too far, expecting too much from them without the support tools to give them? >> you know, the military services are the only people that i know that provide some kind of screening before a person deploys, while they're deployed and when they come back. given all that, if the tools were more accurate, i would think we would have a better handle on think, but the tools just aren't that accurate and

that's the issue we have today. >> i applaud your work. obviously, this is a great interest's mine and also being able to screen people to have a xpa comparison to that individual to that same individual as apposed to a shotgun approach is going to be really important. i know you know that as well. again, general, thanks for getting up with is this morning. appreciate your time. >> thank you. now, of course, brain trauma isn't confined just to the battlefield. up next, we introduce to you a woman whose life changed in an instant when she was whacked by a car riding her bike. she's expressed herself through incredible art. stick around.

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in this morning's installment of "the human factor," whacked and then everything was different. an art exhibition what it's like to sufferer a traumatic brain injury, recover and then ultimately triumph. >> i was on my bike when i heard this roaring car coming behind me, and i realized that at that point the car was going to hit me. >> reporter: eight years ago, hit by a car, and flung into the air. >> while i was in the air i was seeing central park on my left and seeing people on the sidewalk going -- my god, my god! and i really thought those were the last thoughts and the last sights of my life. >> reporter: at the moment she slammed into the ground, her successful career as a journalist was over. she had a traumatic brain injury. >> my helmet was cracked bike a

ripe melon. >> reporter: the pain radiating throughout her body became a daily sensation. she needed an outlet. >> i naturally started to, you know, take paper and pencils and color things and draw things, and i didn't have a tbi. my mind functioned seamlessly when i was doing art. >> reporter: it was not just a rep pit from pain bought new vocation. eight years after her accident, she's still coping with her injuries. still feeling cathartic when she paints. her latest work now hanging in a new york gallery depicts people who also had a tdi. >> this is a girl shaken as a baby. >> reporter: her process mirrors traumatic brain injury. first, a charcoal rendering of her subject. th then, she cuts the work into pieces. >> here i have something that is beautiful and whole, and by putting it and taking scissors

to it, i feel like i'm reinflicting the traumatic injure toy the person. >> reporter: the next process, reassembling the image. >> a parallel for traumatic brain injury, fractured, reassembled and whole. it shows all the scars that we have as a, survivors of traumatic brain injury. whether they're emotional, physical, cognitive. they're all part of that reassembled portrait. >> reporter: the result is larger than life portraits of people who, like she, intensively rehabilitated both body and spirit and overcame. >> there is hope that you know -- do not of lose hope. you will recover. you will do something with yourself. it's long, it's painful, but there is hope. and it's worth pointing out as well, her exhibition will be displayed at art galleries across the country in the coming months. her hope in these pandinintings

what she calls icons of hope, inspiring those with tdi to be active participants in their own recovery. before we go, news when it comes to chasing life this week. you're going to like this one. regular chocolate consumption linked to lower bmi. body mass index. a hypothesis the metabolic benefits of chocolate, just may offset the amount of calories consumed. researchers think it may be the caffeine and other ingredients that in fact increase your metabolic rate. dark chocolate in particular is high in anti-oxidants. we've talked about that, also anti-inflammatory properties. cocoa, lowers hdl, good cholesterol and lowers bad, ldl, the bad cholesterol. don't go crazy. a chocolate bar contains hundreds of calories and most of those are from saturated fats and sugars. moderation. going to wrap things up for "sgmd"or