Harvard brain collection lost, autism research delayed.

Post Reply New Topic

NOS.nl (Dutch public news) reported this, sources:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-11/n ... ch-freezer
http://nos.nl/artikel/382689-vriezer-de ... dooid.html

Short version:
150 brains thawed, some 50 of those from autistics. Dr. Pardo had established causality between the immune system and autism using this collection in 2004. Further research is expect to be hampered by this loss. The director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center said the situation is so unusual (alarm and thermostat failure plus the concentration of samples) that she cannot rule out foul play. The collection of autistic brains is owned by autism speaks, who also funds Dr. Pardo's research.

And the opinion bit:
In his study Dr. Pardo expressly (FULL CAPS ON FIRST PAGE) states that nobody should attempt to "treat" autism by influencing the immune system, since the relationship is not understood. Obviously, there are always pseudo-scientists who ignore these things and make money off gullible parents by torturing their autistic children with immune system influencing medication. I wouldn't not be surprised if someone purposely destroyed this collection and hope their eye for detail prevents them from getting caught, but the cat is out of the bag.... shame this slows down understanding the human brain in relation to autism.

Man, that sucks.

I doubt it was intentional, but if it was, that's just disgraceful. For some reason, I can hardly think of a worse crime. I mean, I know that murder is technically worse, but there is just something so horrific about the idea of destroying potential knowledge.

Hmmm ... Suspicious!
For the freezer, the meter AND both alarms to fail at the same time... Unlikely

You are now entering the Twilight Zone.

At first, I imagined this to be a collection of brains in glass jars stolen by an evil madman.
The real news is probably even more tragic, though.

Does the mean you believe the collection was sabotaged by an autistic person, as those on the spectrum are known for their attention to detail?

I have Aspergers.
My immune systems works splendidly.
Dr.Pardo needs to retire.
We do not need a 'cure', just guidance and supportiveness to help us negotiate and dwell in an alien world.

Were those brains donated in advance, knowingly, or stolen, which has been proven to have happened, time and time again......

Sylkat

Maybe this is bad, but I would laugh if the reason for the malfunction was someone stepping over the power cord and unhooking it without knowing. It'd be like a cartoon except not.

It's probably not that though; I don't think they store organs in that kind of freezer.

Maybe a guy on bath salts ate them?

If the collection was sabotaged, then yes, I would say it is highly likely. Consider the owner and purpose.



My girlfriends immune system works fine against the outside world. She does have an auto-immune disease however, so one does not exclude the other.
Dr. Pardo didn't do anything wrong if you ask me. He doesn't advocate a "cure", he researches brains. Like Declension said, knowledge!
Let's not argue about what you, I, or anyone else needs. (But clearly, my classmates would like it if they understood abstract relationships better. Perhaps a pill for that?)

After reading the article, I was under the impression some of the brains are donated by parents. I am suspicious what tactics where used. Not like anyway else was going to use em though. But your reaction lacks sources or argumentation, so not much I can add, anyone got info?

A more sinister possibility is that someone from the pharmacutical industry is behind this. Someone who wants to make sure everyone's kids keep getting their many many vaccinations.
Or someone from the government, for the same reason. Remember, the government is concerned with "herd" immunity, not individual safety.

I thought Autism Speaks was somewhat controversial, to say the least.

Umm vaccinations are against nasty diseases......how would destroying autistic brains have an effect on that? People get vaccinations to avoid diseases not because they think it helps autism. So I am confused. Hell if anything this hurts the pharmacutial industry because it will be harder for a cure to be found for them to sell.

Vaccines trigger a response by the immune system. The study was examining a possible causality between the immune system and autism.
Hence (possibily) a causal chain linking vaccines and autism.

I know what vaccines do and that they do not cause autism otherwise since most people get vaccines most people would have autism. See thing is its not as if people are born normal and develop autism they are autistic from birth so how does a vaccine cause autism?

Well, Autism Speaks is controversial (thankfully, not just here). But it's also a US based, donation driven organisation. If any interested party suspects vaccinations trigger autism (unlikely*, but hey, smoking pot can trigger schizophrenia!) and would somehow be unable to stop this research (since 2004) by cutting his funding, then yes, this could be the case.

But given the nature of Autism Speaks I can't imagine it being that hard to influence with a big pile of money (over 8 years) even assuming vaccinations trigger autism spectrum disorders and someone is certain enough about this to sabotage research. A plain old "you shouldn't examine this part of the human being, God would be angry" seems more likely to me. Or simply an accident, perhaps "Autism Speaks should stop looking for a cure" motivation in case of malicious intent.

*Vaccinations might train the immune system, but suppressing it doesn't do anything for those on the spectrum, so I don't see how they could. Then again, deductive reasoning is no replacement for medical research.