[neverdem]

Identifying Autism Loci and Genes by Tracing Recent Shared Ancestry

[neverdem]

Ping

[autumnraine]

Shhhh, don’t tell Jenny McCarthy.

[autumnraine]

Now maybe the parents will get their kids vaccinated and not subject them to all the diseases that kills more than autism affects.

It is so weird you posted this, I was just reading about today and one website said autism affect 1 in 166. That seems really high.

Also, another study showed that autism increased at the exact percentage that mental retardation decreased. Apparently there are more funds for autistic children than retarded children.

[truthkeeper]

The new study shows that many of the different genes linked to autism -- and many of the new autism genes discovered in the course of the study -- are part of a network that allows a child's brain to build new connections in response to experience.

I certainly saw it in my own grandson, who was 2 1/2 when first diagnosed. It is remarkable how the brain can build new pathways.

This is why early diagnosis is SO important.

[neverdem]

Why global warming is bad for bread (IMMINENT TRAGEDY ALERT!!)

Spray Gun Shoots Adult Stem Cells Onto Wound

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[LottieDah]

Does anyone know what the statistics regarding autism in Europe?

[xJones]

Neverdem, autism recognition has only become common in the last few decades. Is it that we’ve always had the same numbers of autistic children and didn’t recognize it? That would seem odd since the symptoms are rather unique. I’m just wondering because it would be good to know if the anti-innoculationists have a point, or if it’s simply something we’ve always ‘swept under the carpet’ and said the kids were just weird.

[Incorrigible]

Autism Bump

[browardchad]

Crucial to the Walsh team's findings was the collaboration of scientists in Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. These researchers enrolled 104 families in the study, including 88 families with marriages among cousins. That was an important factor, as rare or recessive genes occur twice as often in such families.

Does this "inclusion" somehow skew the study?

"When we talked to each other, we realized, gee, a lot of our genes that are involved in autism are also their genes that are involved in learning in the brain," Walsh says. "There is nothing more powerful in science than these kinds of serendipitous collisions between people working in related but somewhat distinct fields."

Gee, I'm mystified: why wouldn't the genes involved be related to "learning in the brain?"