Breaking News on Autism

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I just heard on the news, CBC I believe, that they have discovered something about Autism. It had something to do with the 16th Chromosome.

Those who believe Autism is genetic, here's some incontrovertible proof. Look it up, enjoy.

I only caught that little part of the broadcast, so feel free to post more info as you find it, I'm kind of interested, and I'm sure others will be too.

Here's a link to an article about it http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 091119.htm

They only found it in 4 out of 712 subjects with autism which is just 0.6%. Even though there may be genetic causes of autism, it doesn't rule out environmental causes.

So, it causes .5% of Autism cases then? Then I guess that leaves about 99.5% of Autism cases from other things, then.
Man, talk about sensationalization by the media...

I guess you didn't read it. It also said that it is a good start in finding the rest of the causes.

The media seems to be biased in favor of genetic causes. I heard many studies related to genes and autism on the news. They mentioned vaccines but only to tells us that a study couldn't prove that vaccines cause autism (which they deceived us by saying the study proved autism wasn't caused by vaccines - I think the study said the evidence wasn't sufficient to prove a link but recommended further research because it remained a reasonable possibility)

im eagerly anticipating a response here from the pharmaceutical compa....err....beau and autismdiva

The fact that the chromosome abnormality exists in people with autism doesn't necessarily indicate causality.

I know this has been discussed, but I'm still unclear...when they say 1 in 150 have autism, are they talking LFA or LFA/HFA/AS?

yep... correlation does not equal causation.

The entire spectrum.

Meaning those with PDD-NOS are also included.

I have nothing to say

I found the full text of the study. here it is.
http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/ddm376v1.pdf 948KB in size

As they say, "autism" is said to be the end stage of environmental and/or genetic factors that cause similar symptoms.

HFA is 1/2000
LFA is 1/1000
AS 1/200 - 1/500
(Naturally, these figures change depending on what website you go to)

PDD-NOS is the most common ASD.

It could be that there are many genes involved with ASD's. Perhaps all concerning brain development in some way. They still don't know what a lot/most of our genes do at this point. It could be one gene or it could be 20. Then perhaps some of them lay dormant unless you have a benign gene (like blond hair or a longer big toe), perhaps they only change the brain with environmental factors, thus some with the gene may never develop an ASD and another get it very bad.

This interplay of factors can get ever more complex. That they found a (possibly) definite link at all is certainly something to look at. However if they do find a cure I have to wonder is it worth curing high functioning ASDs? Sure a madly autistic person basically needs care all their life and can rarely contribute to society. Even some beneficial help that will allow them to communicate and interact better would be great. However what would the science field be like if there werent say people with AS there? No Microsoft Windows? Sure you may not like it but almost everyone has it, it works.

I already posted a thread about this in "News and Current Events":

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp1138298.html#1138298

Totally agree with you two.