Sunday, 22 November 2009
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Genetic Link for Autism?
I have strongly felt that there was a genetic link for autism but the focus on immunizations seemed to take the focus off of this kind of research. U.S. News and World Report has reported that scientists have found that an error on a gene may be related to autism.
Scientists studied the DNA of familys of those with autism, those with autism and then a control group of people without autism. They found a significant difference.
In our family alone we have two with autism and one with ADHD. My husband is suspected of having had PDD-NOS as a child. We have a niece on the autism spectrum as well. I have no doubt that there is a genetic link--the question we face now is what are we going to do about it?
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About the Author
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- From: copingwithautism
- About Me: Laura Echevarria Until June 30, 2004, Laura Echevarria was the Director of Media Relations and a spokesperson for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) for seven years. She is currently teaching high school English, Speech and Biology for a private school. Ms. Echevarria holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communications. Prior to studying speech, she was a biology major who intended to go to medical school. In addition, she holds an undeclared major in Bible. She is currently completing her second book (the first is unpublished) and has written for Touchstone magazine, Human Life Review and other publications. She has been a frequent contributor to the opinion pages of The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ms. Echevarria is also the first opinion columnist for LifeNews.com, the internet pro-life news source that reaches over 250,000 people each week through internet, radio and e-mail.
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Comments (15)
i was watching Virus Hunters lastnite and they believe theres a virus that determines all kinds of mental diseases such as autism and also heart ailments,and alot of other things. Maybe people need to just stop mating.. That would solve ALOT of problems..But thats just me
I wish I know more about Autism and the reason for it's existence. Thank you for this information.
The government should give more fund into autism research and studies. We need to learn more about autism.
"Let's just blame it on genetics because it gives us more excuse to make money off of helpless individuals. That's the way we do everything else, tell them there is no cure, and just manage symptoms. The genetics excuse is a great one, because it keeps us in business." - Big Pharma Execs.
We need to figure it out whatever the cause.
I could pick apart my family, all 9 biological siblings and say that one of them may have a slight hint of a minor characteristic that could possibly be related to the autism spectrum but then that would be grasping at straws, wouldn't it. Fact is, none of them have anything related to autism and neither do any of their biological children. My husband's side of the family has no one on the spectrum either so why our son?
@mashroob@xanga -
The viral theory is interesting. It was long thought that ulcers were caused only by stress until the 1980's when it was discovered that a bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori caused many peptic ulcers and could be treated effectively with antibiotics.
I love it when a long believed theory is debunked and there is actually a remedy instead of a constant drip, drip, drip of $$$ into an industry that has ulterior motives.
@P1AutismMom - Yea. They injected mum mice with some type of virus and the baby showed signs of autism because it didnt explore a cup they put into the tank. it sat in a corner and coward. So its some kind of virus that the fetus contracts from the mothe in the womb or whatever point they were trying to make. I'm just really tired of hearing about autism. I mean it sucks if you have a child like that but its not the only illness in the world. By all means looking at the symptoms i'm autistic but i'm not...@mathematicalbagpiper@xanga - yea i say the whole they're never going to find a cure nor want to because the money is in the medicine thing to my friends constantly because well..its the truth.. If we cured everything what would we have to whine and gripe about constantly. What would we have those walkathons for..There wouldnt even be a need for commercials.. idk..i'm over the hoopla..deal with it
@mashroob@xanga - I'm tired of hearing about it too because the information is messed up.. I would be happy never to hear of it again unless of course they call to alert me of a cure for my son because I'd really like to have a conversation with him some day. :)
Hi.. UC-Davis in California has a group that does autism research. It's called the M.I.N.D. Institute. There they have linked autism to a genetic disorder called Fragile X Syndrome. While FXS isn't the cause of ALL Autism there is a link. My son has FXS but not Autism. He does however have some autistic behaviors. I couldn't explain it all in such a small post on here. You should try to contact the office of the doctor doing the research there if you want more information. Her name is Dr. Randi Hagerman. She and her husband Paul are leading clinical researchers in Fragile X Syndrome and Autism as well. I hope this small bit of information helps in some way. In Fragile S Syndrome you will find components of many disorders such as ADHD, sleep disorders, mania, depression, moderate to severe anxiety, etc. FXS kids also hand flap when excited, bite themselves, rock back and forth etc.. I really hope that you find some useful information on the M.I.N.D. Institutes website. You can also go to http://www.fragilex.org to see a bit more information. And http://fraxa.org also has some information but I'm not sure how much there is on the link between Autism and genetics.
It most likely is genetic. Unfortunately, gene therapy is pretty much non-existant in that it is vastly less understood than the public believes. There has never been one single successful attempt at gene therapy. It's still a ways off, but within my life time we will see that change, I am certain.
This isn't really new. I guess it just takes time for the general public to become aware of things.
There have been many studies done on the genetic link of autism, Asperger's syndrome, and PDD-NOS. There are many genes that are good candidates right now. It is often the case that Autism Spectrum Disorders run in families. Mouse genetics studies have taught us a lot about new potential drug therapies. It's not only for pharmaceutical companies to make money off of, it's to understand HOW/WHY autism happens. In this case, some scientists are trying to figure out how Autism works - you know, what exactly are we dealing with here? - and then we can develop therapies/cures. Other people try to treat symptoms. It takes both sides to come to a good treatment.
It may be that autism is the outward expression, the symptoms, resulting from many different causes. There are many physical illnesses, some trifling, some potentially fatal, where it is muscle weakness, an icky chest and fever that predominate.
Well loads of people in my family are autistic. My mum was, and my great granny was. My 2 little sisters are, and i have slight autism.
I thought a genetic link was already fairly well established.
The article in question discusses at least several points of interest regarding genes and genomic regions and their possible relation to autism yet your entry refers to "a" and "an." The article portrays science in discovery mode, not autism puzzle all solved, meaning that what we presently lump under the autism range will probably be further differentiated, with greater clarity given to different complex causes and their dynamics.
Responding not to just the entry but the flow of the entry and comments...
It's wrong to call autism a disease on several counts. It's wrong to describe a complex set of differences using the disease model. It tends toward dehumanizing and marginalizing. It does.
The differences presently lumped together under autism are generally systemic (affects multiple systems including the gut, skin, and immune system...to different degrees in different individuals) and shouldn't be labeled as mental disease either. I am not diseased because I'm different, thank you, and I'm certainly not "mentally diseased." Yes, my grandson is severely autistic and nonverbal at age 7 but I still don't want people looking at him, an entire holistic human being, through the lens of disease.
Addressing autism won't be impossible but it won't be easy. If you could picture humanity (yeah, define that, heh) and the autism range in a 3D sort of way, they'd look more like extremely enmeshed objects with many fuzzy projections that deeply penetrate the other, with one "range" within the other. As there are many different ranges or clusters of exceptions in huamn reality besides autism, "normal" appears as something very spotty and infiltrated rather than the huge crystal clear majority of humanity. Picturing linear left to right ranges (such as the autism range) is a start but becomes extremely problematic on anything more than a very superficial level of comprehension.
It's not going to be as simple as, oh, autistics or autism carriers, heh, shouldn't mate. We can't take away people's reproductive rights and they're not going to all forfeit ever having their own children.
One more thing...saying autism is largely genetic is not the same thing as giving up and giving in. If autism is 90% genetic, and that is one of the latest estimates due to identical twin and other studies, that doesn't mean we have to pull an either / or (false) dilemma and ignore the other factors (the other 10%). We can still have a sensible approach without thinking it's just another disease to throw pills, programs, or money at without checking effectiveness, the big picture, and the long run.