New Study: Clues To Autism’s Gender Bias (April 13, 2012)

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finallyFoundOutWhy
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13 Apr 2012, 12:17 pm

Newspaper stories below:

Link: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Autism gender bias clue found

Link: Vancouver Sun: Gene may be key to why autism affects boys more

Link: Canada.com: Gene glitch could explain gender bias in autism

Link: HealthCanal.com: Gender bias in autism


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psychegots
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13 Apr 2012, 12:21 pm

... and they jump straight to the "this might mean that in the future we can totally prevent it or develop a cure".

Wooooooooooooooooooooo............... /sigh



Sora
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13 Apr 2012, 12:53 pm

Quote:
When investigators analyzed genetic data from 1,158 Canadians and 456 Europeans with autism spectrum disorder, they found a rare family with four generations in which males carrying the glitch were affected but females were not.

Quote:
In this study, investigators also identified six people from the same family who carried the SHANK1 mutation. The most significant finding was that only the four males with the genetic change had ASD, while the female carriers did not. Another male from a different family also had a SHANK1 mutation and ASD.

For clarification in case anyone knows (or in case that I accidentally skipped some information): what about the other 1609 people diagnosed with an ASD of which some were probably male too? Was it only those 5 boys/men who had an ASD and had this mutation?


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finallyFoundOutWhy
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13 Apr 2012, 1:04 pm

psychegots wrote:
... and they jump straight to the "this might mean that in the future we can totally prevent it or develop a cure".

Wooooooooooooooooooooo............... /sigh


i wonder how they will react when realising all their computer and smart phone apps would likely go away if Asperger's/ASD were "cured" - and the world was left without the ASD nerds to create them...?
[SNARK]

even after all the years of daily schoolyard beatings and all the life crap, i don't want my asperger's to go away

i feel bad for ASD people who have major functional problems - but i am in a place i kind of like

i worry i would trade my brainpower and focus for being as much of a dumbass as most of the NT's i see around me


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13 Apr 2012, 1:09 pm

Not very informative. No information, not even guesses, at what the "protective factors" might be. No details on where the males and females in question fall on the spectrum, beyond having a diagnosis or not, nor any information on how they made that judgment. And on top of that, a very small sample size. So, we really don't know if there are protective factors that females have, nor what they are if there are.

Reading those, I was thinking at first that, if this is so, I'm a defective female for lacking those "protective factors". But with further reading and thinking about it, it's also quite possible that the females in the study, the ones that it says don't have autism, are actually people like me.


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13 Apr 2012, 1:22 pm

psychegots wrote:
... and they jump straight to the "this might mean that in the future we can totally prevent it or develop a cure".

Wooooooooooooooooooooo............... /sigh


Not true. There's no mention of the idea of a cure for autism at all. Treatment and prevention. Neither of which are the same as a cure. (A treatment can sometimes be a cure, but not all treatments are cures.)

And the two articles of the 4 which mention the possibility of prevention (the other two only mention treatment) do not say anything along the lines of totally preventing it.


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13 Apr 2012, 1:28 pm

psychegots wrote:
... and they jump straight to the "this might mean that in the future we can totally prevent it or develop a cure".

Wooooooooooooooooooooo............... /sigh


I don't remember seeing that in the article I read, which one did you read? The one I read (CBC) said "A key for a TREATMENT".


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13 Apr 2012, 2:13 pm

First website link, researcher. Notice the ending part about him, in first link. To me he has a conflict of interest.

http://www.hgm2011.org/stephen_scherer.html

http://www.hugo-international.org/aboutus.php


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13 Apr 2012, 2:20 pm

I know I'll get jumped on for not 'getting' the topic (well, possibly), but I think they should focus the researches on why so many girls are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, rather than finding a biological basis for an existing diagnosis.


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psychegots
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13 Apr 2012, 2:55 pm

ocdgirl123 wrote:
psychegots wrote:
... and they jump straight to the "this might mean that in the future we can totally prevent it or develop a cure".

Wooooooooooooooooooooo............... /sigh


I don't remember seeing that in the article I read, which one did you read? The one I read (CBC) said "A key for a TREATMENT".


Also for Mysty.

I only read the one from Vancouver sun and the ending gave me that impression.

""The idea is that now we have a genetic clue into defining what the factors are that govern the fact males are more susceptible to autism than females - We can use that clue to try to tease out how we might alter that process artificially," Scherer said.

Scherer said he believes this protective factor may one day be used to prevent or treat the disorder.

"We might be able to develop drugs, for example, that enhance that missing factor so we can treat individuals who are autistic," he said."

I know he does not specifically say "prevent all cases".



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13 Apr 2012, 3:07 pm

Here's something I don't understand about that information: If a missing gene causes men to develop autism but the missing gene doesn't cause it in women, then what does cause women to develop autism?



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13 Apr 2012, 3:14 pm

Quote:
In this study, investigators also identified six people from the same family who carried the SHANK1 mutation. The most significant finding was that only the four males with the genetic change had ASD, while the female carriers did not. Another male from a different family also had a SHANK1 mutation and ASD.


This accurate of what a SHANK1 gene is? Or not.

http://www.informatics.jax.org/marker/MGI:3613677


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