Autism breakthrough (maybe)

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DomKen -> Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 10:09:54 AM)
A study published in JAMA found that, in a small number of boys, the prefrontal cortex of autistic boys had 67% more neurons than the control group. If this holds up in larger studies it could begin to point the way to the underlying cause and possible treatments. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/18/2001.short

HannahLynn -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 10:24:24 AM)
so the weird little fuckers are actually smarter than the rest of us. i always kind of suspected as much.

Termyn8or -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 12:03:32 PM)
Actually autism and Aspergers are quite unrelated to intelligence. I know a couple of Aspergics and they are both above average intelligence. This discovery is a good thing of course but I don't see a direct path to a treatment or method of prevention. More work to be done. T^T Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ?

Kirata -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 12:22:17 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ? Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic? [:D] (just spitballing here) K.

popeye1250 -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 12:26:56 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Kirata quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ? Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic? [:D] (just spitballing here) K. Gee Kirata, it'd be nice to see slavemike and rulemylife get some treatment.

Rule -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 3:12:18 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DomKen A study published in JAMA found that, in a small number of boys, the prefrontal cortex of autistic boys had 67% more neurons than the control group. Interesting. I wonder whether it is either a consequence of, or a response to compensate for brain damage elsewhere.

Edwynn -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 3:52:20 PM)
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Edwynn -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 4:00:15 PM)
If there were brain damage (consistently) involved at all it would have been identified long ago. It's just its own thing.

Edwynn -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 4:06:25 PM)
(Left hand reaches up and catches Kirata's spitball while not looking up or taking eyes off obsessive-compulsively paddling ping pong ball against the floor). OK, so I worked my way through it. Thanks for "political conservatives" making it take 40 yrs. longer than it should have.

Termyn8or -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 4:31:38 PM)
FR "Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic?" Sarcasm noticed and noted. If you really defined both terms I'm not really sure how it would sift out. We are a land of extremes in a way and I think it would be good to be extremely liberal in some ways yet extemely conservative in others. I have already built a fictional Utopia if anyone is interested. "Interesting. I wonder whether it is either a consequence of, or a response to compensate for brain damage elsewhere." Autism is usually noticed early in life. Of course we have the not quite adequately debunked connection between mercury and the condition. Now let's say it's not necessarily mercury, but something introduced in the very early stages of development. That would affect the formation of the brain one might think. Basically I don't think you catch it from a toilet seat. What about lead ? All the official research says lead is bad to the point where we must change the fuel in our cars and the paint on our walls, but mercury which used to drive hatters mad is somehow OK. The fact is we can't trust any of what is said unless we sift it very carefully. If lead was a component in the preservative used in drugs, I bet the OFFICIAL opinion about it would change real quick. Maybe they would require lead be put back in all the places they made people take it out of. In this country, who knows ? "If there was brain damage involved at all it would have been identified long ago. It's just its own thing." Physical damage. It's easy to spot when caused by contusion or something similar, but just how do you tell if it was caused chemically ? There is no taking a pap smear from the brain nor a spinal tap. You can't do a chemical analysis easily. We do not have tricorders like on Star Trek. This fact is not useless, that is for sure, but what else is for sure is that we do not yet know how to use this fact. Conventional "wisdom" of course says to remove the excess neurons but anyone with a fucking brain knows that's impractical as well as likely to be totally ineffective. To logically deduce anything we are left with the following : What is suspected to cause autism, and what is suspected to cause this anamoly. That is not much to go on really, but it's another baby step. T^T

erieangel -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 5:05:39 PM)
Any advancement in the understanding of autism is greatly appreciated by my family. My brother has three children, 2 boys who have been diagnosed with autism when they were 2 yrs. old and 18 months old and a girl, 11, who was recently diagnosed with Asperger's--which is on the autism spectrum. In my reading about the autism spectrum disorders, I have become convinced, as some scientists are, that autism, like several forms of mental illness, tend to run in families. Not only that, but there is a commonality between the two. Autism and mental illness are both a result, possibly, of a sort of re-wiring in the brain while in utero. Though most forms of mental illness do not become apparent until late teens or early twenties, autism disorders usually are diagnosable in toddlers. My mother's side of the family has a long history of both disorders--both diagnosed and undiagnosed. That my niece has a different mother than my nephews suggests that if it is familial, it comes from my family. And oddly enough, since I started working in the mental health field, I have had more than one clinician ask me if I have ever been tested for Asperger's. Apparently, they think it would be fairly easy diagnosis in me, though at my age, I do not see the benefit in getting tested.

xssve -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 5:20:09 PM)
Fascinating stuff.

xssve -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 5:31:32 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Kirata quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ? Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic? [:D] (just spitballing here) K. Um, more neurons in the prefrontal cortex wouldn't necessarily make you smarter, the cognitive aspects of the PFC have more to do with social controls, "fitting in" etc., and it would make more sense that conservatives are more autistic in this sense, given their unquestioning obedience to authority and deep, rigid attachment to social ritual that often crosses the line into O/C. i.e. increased conformity (fear of ostracization due to non-conformity) would be one possible predictable result of PFC overdevelopment. It essentially would make you less likely to think for yourself and more likely to agree with your peer group in order to "fit in". It's why you all sound like a bunch of parrots.

outhere69 -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/11/2011 6:21:38 PM)
I saw some articles about 7 years ago that mentioned how the brain goes through rapid neuron growth throughout infancy, followed by a "weeding" period approaching age 2.

Kirata -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 1:00:40 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: xssve Um, more neurons in the prefrontal cortex wouldn't necessarily make you smarter... Yes I know, but see the post before Termy's. It was a joke, dipshit. quote: ORIGINAL: xssve It's why you all sound like a bunch of parrots. "You all," eh? Heh. K.

thishereboi -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 5:15:17 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: xssve quote: ORIGINAL: Kirata quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ? Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic? [:D] (just spitballing here) K. Um, more neurons in the prefrontal cortex wouldn't necessarily make you smarter, the cognitive aspects of the PFC have more to do with social controls, "fitting in" etc., and it would make more sense that conservatives are more autistic in this sense, given their unquestioning obedience to authority and deep, rigid attachment to social ritual that often crosses the line into O/C. i.e. increased conformity (fear of ostracization due to non-conformity) would be one possible predictable result of PFC overdevelopment. It essentially would make you less likely to think for yourself and more likely to agree with your peer group in order to "fit in". It's why you all sound like a bunch of parrots. "given their unquestioning obedience to authority and deep, rigid attachment to social ritual that often crosses the line into O/C." Now that is fucking funny as hell. Where do you come up with this shit[8\|] But seriously if that's what makes them sound like parrots, what is it that makes you sound like a bigot?

tazzygirl -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 5:18:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 quote: ORIGINAL: Kirata quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or Edited To Ask : Why is this in politics & religion ? Because it raises the question if liberals are more intelligent than conservatives, are they also closer to being autistic? [:D] (just spitballing here) K. Gee Kirata, it'd be nice to see slavemike and rulemylife get some treatment. I'm curious as to why you would post about two people who haven't even posted to this thread. These types of personal attacks are just plain tacky... and against TOS

frodomaggins -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 5:42:03 AM)
Having worked with autism and aspergers for the last 3 years, I am absolutely convinced that autism is a genetic condition. If I had a penny for every parent of an autistic child that I met and diagnosed with aspergers (in my own head obviously, I'm not a doctor). This research is very interesting, but I don't see it as being a breakthrough. A lot of people are missing the point about intelligence. I have worked with people who can do things like play pairs (the card game where every card is laid face down and you have to make pairs by selecting two at random) and get every pair on their first try. On a slightly different level, I have worked with some young men who were completely non-verbal, and had to find their own method of communication. The point is not intelligence, but application. People with autism and aspergers cannot predict peoples actions, struggle to understand societal norms and values, struggle to problem solve and think their way to a solution. I think its easy to empathise with this, as to a certain extent everyone has this problem, or can think of a situation where they genuinely had no idea what was happening or going to happen next. In the cases of aspergers its incredible to observe how these supposedly unintelligent men and women have developed incredibly complex masking systems, to the extent that they can get through their day without anyone realising that they have aspergers. Sorry about the essay, but this is a subject close to my heart

Kirata -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 7:47:30 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: thishereboi Now that is fucking funny as hell. Where do you come up with this shit[8\|] His ass maybe. He doesn't seem to know that parroting and repetitive behaviors are among the indicators of autism. K. edited to add: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-index.shtml

Edwynn -> RE: Autism breakthrough (maybe) (11/12/2011 8:35:12 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Kirata "You all," eh? Heh. K. You caught that one too, did you? That should have been "ya'll." You midwesterners (and other westeners) are finally catching up here. Unlike Hollywood, you NEVER say "ya'll," much less "yawl" in the first person singular.

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