UCSD finds genes linked to autism

[bananas]

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

UC San Diego has inched closer to the root causes of autism, identifying genes that appear to go haywire before a child is born, preventing the brain from developing normally.

Neuroscientist Eric Courchesne says he and his collaborators found evidence that many genes basically misfire, producing an overabundance of brain cells in the pre-frontal cortex that affect a child’s social, language and communications skills.

<snip>

The findings, published Thursday in PLoS Genetics, could provide insight about how to treat and prevent autism.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/22/ucsd-finds-genes-associated-autism/?sciquest

[Little Star]

1. It would be wonderful if the could treat/prevent autism. k&r

[Leftist Agitator]

8. Be careful...

There are many autistic people who promote neurological diversity. They take great offense at the suggestion that autistic traits should be eliminated from the human genome.

Just in case you were unaware.

P.S. I have no dog in this fight, just spreading knowledge.

[Odin2005]

16. I'm niot "broken" and don't need to be fixed

I want tolerance from society.

[Little Star]

19. Please except my apology Odin2005...

I meant no harm. I will educate myself further and I'm truely sorry I offended you and others.

[Odin2005]

20. Accepted!

[Little Star]

22. Thank you.

[Snake Alchemist]

29. But think what you could have been if you had not been vaccinated. nt

[Odin2005]

31. Took me a while to get the sarcasm, LOL!

I was about to flame at you!

[Snake Alchemist]

32. Thank goodness. I was hoping it was pretty obvious. nt

[MADem]

2. Now they need to find out WHY they misfire--if there's a precursor that causes it.

This is pretty cool.

I guess those frigging vaccines are off the hook, then?

[Warpy]

7. Vaccines have been off the hook for many, many years

but Wakefield's followers just keep on going like Energizer bunnies, desperate to convert nervous mommies to the cause.

[CountAllVotes]

14. my late brother was "autistic"

Too bad they did not have a name for what ailed him in 1960.

He began exhibiting symptoms of autism after they shot him full of all sorts of crap.

My mother thought that he developed this problem from all of the shots/vaccines, etc.

I never disagreed with her as I watched the whole thing manifest.

My brother is now dead sadly. He was quite young.

[JonLP24]

21. I don't know anything about this debate

but I did see Frontline on it but people on there argued, symptoms could readily appear around the same age when ones are scheduled for the shots. Plus, scientific data checkers concluded the rates of autism are the same for the ones that got the shots that were claimed to cause and the ones with mercury and the ones without, and those who didn't get the shots.

One thing that was apparent is plenty of experts looked into the idea of shots causing autism and have yet to find conclusive proof that those shots cause it.

[Warpy]

23. They found the genes

They've found changes that begin in utero.

Your brother was born autistic. Nobody noticed he was different until he was old enough to get vaccines. I'm very sorry his life was so short.

That's why scammers like Wakefield are so dangerous. And in his case, it was all about money. He'd wanted his own vaccine used instead of the MMR vaccine that came out in the late 60s and it wasn't.

[KamaAina]

3. "an overabundance of brain cells in the pre-frontal cortex"

If you ask me, a lot of neurotypicals, particularly repukes, suffer from an underabundance of brain cells.

[IDemo]

30. Or an overabundance in the Reptilian Cortex n/t

[xchrom]

4. ...

[SamG]

5. Thanks for this link!

And, I'm glad that a University I once worked at has been at the forefront of this research.

[DonCoquixote]

6. In the case of we asberger's types

It would be nice if we were not thought of as a diseases, but we will be, though it is funny to think that our problems come from having too many brain cells

[Warpy]

9. I like Aspies

I worked at MIT, which is Aspie Central since so many of them display amazing talent when it comes to math and science. I got a cheap education in all sorts of things because they loved talking about what they were doing. I also found them emotionally restful in an odd way.

It was just odd dealing with an astrophysicist who wasn't able to order his own delivery pizza. To my credit, I just accepted it for what it was and ordered it for him.

[crazylikafox]

10. But that's why you're all so smart. Don't change. We love you.

... from the mother of a wonderful "asberger type" son

[ehrnst]

12. I have heard that autism has been linked to

an accelerated development of the brain at a stage earlier than most.

I have a cousin who is an Aspie, and he enjoyed the idea of that when I sent him the the data I found several years ago.

[sakabatou]

11. Interesting

[pnwmom]

13. But it can't solely be a case of genes, can it? Since autistic identical twins

often have a twin without autism. It must be a combination of genes and something else.

[ehrnst]

15. The same genes can behave or 'misfire' differently - the theory here

is about the behavior of genes. Genetic makeup within a person can change/misfire throughout life, and now it looks like it may be the case in utero.

more info here:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=identical-twins-genes-are-not-identical

[pnwmom]

26. Thanks! n/t

[Odin2005]

18. The brain overgrowth occurs before birth.

fetuses don't get MMR vaccines.

[pnwmom]

25. There are many other factors researchers are investigating

that could affect a fetus, such as environmental toxins the mother is exposed to.

[Odin2005]

17. "overabundance of brain cells in the pre-frontal cortex" so that's why...

...I have such a huge noggin!

[slackmaster]

24. Perhaps there is something to the arcane art of Corrective Phrenology after all

[BlueIris]

27. I am creeped out by the language: "...to treat and prevent autism."

Um, how do they propose to prevent "genes that appear to go haywire"? Is there a way to do that? What are they suggesting, really, re: prevention?

[ehrnst]

28. I'm hoping that they can do this to genes, soon, for personal reasons.

There is a strong family history in my family of early onset alzheimers.

While I have not been tested, the risk factor for me having the genetic time bomb is high.

I'm nearing 50, and every time that I forget something, there is a twinge of panic.

If they could find a drug that would counterract the genetic mechanism that causes this brain misfire, I would take it.

I would also give it to my son, should he prove to have the gene.

I'm not in any way comparing alzhiemers with autism - other than they are genetic issues that cause a difference in the way brain cells work.