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Study: Rare gene change linked to autism
news.yahoo.com ^ | Jan 9, 2008 | LINDA A. JOHNSON

Posted on 01/09/2008 7:58:35 PM PST by neverdem

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To: Conservativegreatgrandma

Very inspirational story...


21 posted on 01/10/2008 4:49:29 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
Yea, it makes you be grateful but also ask lots of questions. Why did this happen? Is it necessarily bad? What will Adam's children be like?

Our daughter, Adam's mom has a very high IQ and at the time her HS math teacher told me she may have been his best math student, ever. We'll Adam's mom was not nearly the math student as Adam.

There's a bit of a heartwarming story about this. Our daughter's HS math teacher was extremely disappointed she did not go to college. He had retired by the time Adam was becoming a math star with his photo and stories occasionally in the paper. Once when Adam was preparing for a big math contest, Mom called the retired HS teacher to see if he would work with Adam to prepare for the contest.

Adam and the retired HS teacher would meet each night and challenge each other working on complicated math problems. When Adam participated in the math contest, he got first in a multi-state contest. It was a testimonial to the retired HS teacher. He finally got what he wanted but he had to wait a generation. Our hats off to this great teacher.

22 posted on 01/10/2008 5:05:41 AM PST by Conservativegreatgrandma
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To: Conservativegreatgrandma

God bless your grandson and your wonderful family.


23 posted on 01/10/2008 5:10:37 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: jamaly; sageb1

Bill Gates is also thought to have Asperger’s syndrome.


24 posted on 01/10/2008 5:14:18 AM PST by CholeraJoe ("At last my arm is complete!" Sweeney Todd)
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To: sageb1

Joan of Arc may had some serious issues...


25 posted on 01/10/2008 5:16:02 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Fee
I do agree that something is causing this condition. Our daughter and her husband have decided that their son won't receive any more vaccinations until it's time to start school, and they are considering homeschooling both their children. I think their daughter has already gotten a good many vaccinations.

My daughter was telling me that she had heard information about the dosage size of the vaccinations given, and that in some if not all cases the dosage is the same no matter what the weight/age of the child.

26 posted on 01/10/2008 5:20:00 AM PST by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch (If MY people who are called by MY name -- the ball's in our court, folks.)
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To: cherry

Have you considered a gluten free diet for your daughter? It seems to help a lot of individuals who have Aspergers’ or who are on the Autism spectrum. It may be worth looking into for your daughter.


27 posted on 01/10/2008 5:26:38 AM PST by TruthSetsUFree
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To: Tuscaloosa Goldfinch

The states have an opportunity to experiment because it is in their interest financially. For every autistic child identified, it costs $ 100K to provide Special Education. That is over $ 1M per autistic child form pre K to the age of 22. I like to see states spread the vaccination schedule over a wider period of time. Concentrate the vital vaccines against fatal diseases in the early ages, and spread the rest out over the K-5 grades. While they are doing that, monitor the autism rates being reported. If there is a drop, than there is a correlation between possible interaction of side effects with the autism rate. Unfortunately politicians lobbied by health and drug companies are actually adding more mandatory vaccines to the list and any politician who opposes it are labeled anti children.


28 posted on 01/10/2008 8:00:42 AM PST by Fee
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To: neverdem; martin_fierro

Thanks neverdem.


29 posted on 01/10/2008 8:08:55 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________Profile updated Sunday, December 30, 2007)
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To: Fee
We are doing something in the modern life style that is triggering autism in kids who are prone to it that did not happen in the past. IMHO it is the preschool vaccines. It is not the mercury preservative, but in my opinion it may be the large numbers of vaccines givened to the child in such a short period of time...

...This theory comes from a new theory on the Gulf War Syndrome that struck our soldiers in the first Iraqi war. Soldiers were developing many symptoms that could not be narrowed down to one particular cause, however some military doctors are wondering if the huge multitudes of vaccines givened to the soldier in one day before deployment can be the cause...

You make some interesting points.

30 posted on 01/10/2008 8:17:18 AM PST by McGruff (A "Big Time" Fred Thompson supporter!)
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To: Ditto
It still seems to be statistically small.

I don't don't know how much you understand this stuff. In 2003, estimates from gene-prediction programs suggested there might be 24,500 or fewer protein-coding genes (1). The Ensembl genome-annotation system estimates them at 23,299.

These protein-coding genes, also called exons, are subject to mutations including single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP), epigenetics, copy number variation, including inversion, deletion, duplication, triplication, etc. They are just learning a lot of this stuff. They used to call the DNA on chromosomes that is between exons, the protein-coding genes, "junk DNA" or introns. They have only relatively recently acknowledged that introns have regulatory functions and are highly conserved, i.e. rarely subject to mutation.

Discovery and Analysis of Evolutionarily Conserved Intronic Splicing Regulatory Elements

31 posted on 01/10/2008 10:58:26 AM PST by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: sageb1

“I have a grandson with some problems, as well. He had a traumatic birth (his head got stuck in the birth canal and he swallowed amniotic fluid and developed pneumonia). He’s had problems focusing on instructions given. It’s almost like he’s someplace else and not listening, but when it comes to focusing on a project, especially building, mechanical arts, etc., he is a master”

We are looking at possible Central Processing Disorder (CAPD) with our son for the reasons you just describe.

Give him visual instruction - and he’s got it.
Give him verbal instruction and he’s lost.
Very focused - but has some social problems that has caused some to think about Asperger’s.
However - he is very affectionate and understands the concepts of different emotions - something lacking with kids on the autism spectrum.


32 posted on 01/10/2008 11:04:34 AM PST by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

“Give him verbal instruction and he’s lost.”

My grandson is getting better with verbal instruction. It has taken a lot of effort and of course, it also depends on the patience level of his teacher. Like your grandson, mine is very affectionate.

One thing that my daughter tried that seems to have been very helpful is using a pediatric chiropractor. I’m not sure how frequent the visits are, but there have been studies that have suggested that spinal alignment may have something to do with these type of difficulties.

His pediatrician had said there was no ADD/ADHD and agreed with my daughter that he should not be medicated and I’m very happy about that. There’s a boy who lives 2 houses down from me who is on meds and although he’s calmed down, he’s too calm - he actually seems drugged out and out of it. I’m sure his mom is having an easier time of it, but I just don’t think I could do that.

Frankly, I think it is society that’s screwed up and not so much the kids.


33 posted on 01/10/2008 11:48:27 AM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: sageb1

good luck with your efforts.

I think especially with boys - time and patience is the best medicine.
Many boys get better simply by maturing.
Reaching for a prescription can be tempting in the short term, but may not work any better than allowing the boy to grow and adjust.


34 posted on 01/10/2008 11:51:17 AM PST by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife
We are looking at possible Central Processing Disorder (CAPD) with our son for the reasons you just describe.

APD goes by many other names. Sometimes it is referred to as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Other common names are auditory perception problem, auditory comprehension deficit, central auditory dysfunction, central deafness, and so-called "word deafness."

35 posted on 01/10/2008 1:37:43 PM PST by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: sageb1
I doubt it. I know too many people who smoked dope who have normal children.

But it's a numbers game. If the chance of genetic damage is there, but low, then the overwhelming majority of children would be fine. But even a small increase could mean a large percentage increase in the rate of the disorder.

I don’t know if additives/pesticides play a factor now, however.

Current thinking is turning toward additive or multiplicative effects of multiple agents. A person might be exposed to 5 different agents at below the "1 in a million increase in cancer" or "no obvious effects" level, and old thought was "no effect"...but the overall effect might really be much greater.

And again, this might be a bit of a chance thing--99.9% are fine, but occasionally, even the low-level risk will impact someone.

Disclaimer: I am not a human-health or risk assessment professional.

36 posted on 01/10/2008 2:37:12 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: CholeraJoe; All

Thanks so much for all of the postings on Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. It is very encouraging to see that others are going through the same thing with positive results.


37 posted on 01/10/2008 4:41:55 PM PST by jamaly (Idon't have to evacuate NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE!!!!!)
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To: Fee
We are doing something in the modern life style that is triggering autism in kids who are prone to it that did not happen in the past.

Having one's first child at ages 38 to 45 is one thing that seems strongly correlated with autism (and many other innate disorders) and also is contemporaneous with the rise in autism stats (1970s-80s on).

The vaccinations that the scientifically unlettered tend to blame for this were given to the parents of the autistic kids when they were kids, without any such effect.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

38 posted on 01/17/2008 8:19:27 PM PST by Criminal Number 18F (Humor me, I'm one of those scary combat vets)
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