A few genes were found with a link to autism

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/healt ... ef=science

My brother found this and emailed it to me.

Is there any other way that the de nova gene could be mutated other than being from the age of the parents, particularly the father? I have aspergers, but the age of my parents has nothing to do with the glitch in my genes. My mother was 20 and my father was 18 when I was conceived.

While I'm glad it puts the focus on genetics (instead of encouraging parents to kill immunosuppressed people with their unvacinated brood), I was a little disappointed in the quality of the science, to misquote the animated film Aladdin; Great big ideas and implications, itty bitty sample size. What do you think about it? I'm really interested in other perspectives because I'm not as solid in interpreting this kind of thing as would like to be.

I thought it was kind of interesting/dull haha. I had a hard time concentrating on it right now, I blame add. Glad they found proof of a genetic link instead of "there appears to be a genetic link".

I would almost disagree that this is definitive proof, to my reading of it it seems like more of an indication (2 kids seriously, yes it's a crazy coincidence but to finger-point autism as the reason seems convenient and difficult to prove. Autism may seem the most similar thing about them but it's probably not the only similar thing about them). Also I've been put of the whole thing a bit because Diane Sawyer did a bit on the news where she included every offensive autism reporting trope known to spectrumkind, even puzzle pieces as a mosaic o a child's face (you know, cause we're puzzles) *shudder*

Tony attwood uses a puzzle analogy for aspergers when it comes to social situation awareness. Well they said how dna testing makes it so there is a 99.999% chance that the gene is related to autism. BUT genetic testing have a human error about 1% of the time. In courts genetic testing is used as absolute proof. The 1% human error figure is deemed inadmissible though.

For that and other reasons I find Tony Attwood's work to be problematic. Puzzle pieces are most associated with Autism $peaks and they're appearance is accompanied by something horrible offensive often enough that they're a dead canary.
Oh, my understanding from the text is that while there is essentially no chance the mutation could occur in two independent individuals randomly, they're inferring it's connection to Autism based on the boy's diagnoses.
Mainly I'm looking forward to what they do next because my reaction to this is essentially "huh, interesting" which doesn't make for very compelling discussion.

I don't really care that the analogy uses puzzle pieces. I don't know of any association between Tony Attwood and Autism speaks. Did you know this site is partially funded by Autism speaks

edit: I like puzzles, but haven't really done them in years

It's nice that you don't care. I do, I care very deeply about how autistics and autism are portrayed to the public.
Tony Attwood and Autism Speaks are awful independently of each other.
Tossing a couple dollars a web forum isn't going to make me like a "charity" so fundamentally bad for autistic people. Our voices aren't welcome in their organization but it golly gee whiz was sure nice of them to let us talk amongst ourselves.

puzzles in themselves I take no issue with, puzzle imagery is a different story

All of which is completely off topic, I apologize for the derail.

The article is interesting, thanks for sharing.

...I am getting the impression that you think I like autism speaks, I don't.

Just because I don't care about that the use a puzzle analogy does not mean that I do not care how autism is portrayed to the public. You extrapolated to far from what I said. And I do not understand what you meant in the last sentence about Tony Attwood and Autism speaks

22Q11 gene deletion syndrome is not dependent upon age or gender and is often associated with autism and schizophrenia. The mutation that causes fragile X syndrome is also associated with autism, and is specific to males.

22Q11 gene deletion syndrome is also often associated with many serious health conditions. Not all individuals with the gene deletion will experience those serious health conditions, though.

There has been research on paternal exposure to stress that through epigenetics is suggested to potentially effect sexual-dimorphism of the brain and is associated with the conditions of schizophrenia and autism.

Interestingly, paternal stress is suggested as a potential factor in the dymasculinization of males as well as changes in the sexual dimorphism of the brain, that could lead to potential problems with language development in humans. However, the research has been limited to mouse models.


http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/33/11748.full


Studies show prenatal maternal exposure to stress as a potential factor influencing levels of prenatal testosterone, evidenced as masculinized features in females, per research that suggests that 2d/4d digit ratios are lower among females and males with autism, however the correlation was not found as compelling in milder cases of autism, such as Aspergers.

There is also evidence that exposure to prenatal testosterone impacts brain development and language development.

Epigenetics allows the expression of genes from one generation to the next to differ greatly; even within the course of one lifetime depending on a myriad of environmental factors, many of which will likely never likely be fully understood, because of the effect of synergy.

To test your 2D/4D digit ratio, measure your ring finger from the bottom crease to the tip of the finger as well as your index finger on your right hand, and divide the second digit(2d)index finger measurement in millimeters by the fourth digit(4d)ringer finger measurement in millimeters and it will provide the ratio. The female range is normally close to 1.0 (even ratio). A lower ratio indicates the potential of greater exposure to prenatal testosterone.

Prenatal exposure to testosterone and digit ratio has been associated with many traits including athleticism and is even common among the last few presidents, particularly president Obama, estimated to have an extremely low digit ratio that appears to be close to .90.

This is only an association; low digit ratio is not an indicator by itself of autism spectrum disorders.

If you find that you have a very low ratio, you could ask your mother if she experienced a great deal of stress during pregnancy, and that could be a clue for an association.

i made this same post 5 days ago

Of course curiosity had me just measuring the fingers of my sleeping child
About 0.94 which seems to be average

You did? I found a topic you posted on the 4th that was vaguely similar to this, the article I posted came out on the 5th

i didnt have a link, i saw it on cnn

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt144552.html

I got interested in this along time ago, well before I had any idea I might have a form of autism. My sister measured her right at .93; mine was the same. About a decade later we both ended up diagnosed with an ASD close to a decade later.

Much more unusual for a female than a male. My understanding is that .96 is average for a male, and .98 is average for a female.

The link above is an informal poll I did over a year ago here. The results were interesting in that 50% of individuals reported close to the same length and in some cases the ring finger was significantly shorter than the index finger on the right hand, that some have suggested as a potential indicator of schizophrenia, or an "extreme female" brain. An outlier theory.

But, per Samuel Cohen Baron's research on this it is indicative of his finding that the low digit ratio correlation is not as strong in individuals with Aspergers as those with Autism Disorder.

Interestingly too though, is that the ratio of females to males polled to visit this site in informal polls, is close to a 1 to 1 ratio. Far from the estimated 4 to 1 ratio of diagnosed male aspergers to female aspergers cases in the general population.