aspie news

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i think this is news from my country (AU) that aspie females are now recognised as existing where as before they were just autistic (now they estimate 30% of aspies are female). also they have located the aspie "gene" which is on the x chromosome so women are more likely to be the ones to pass it on to their children. also if you go through menopause early you probably have the gene as its one of the symptoms. comments anybody, i just thought this was interesting news.

Can you put up a link to the artical. Interested in the aspie gene

That's why I had an early menopause? That's.....That's..... And what's the correlation?
Yes, link please.

Oh, fragile X. Nevermind. Thank you for the link. I thought it would say something else.

Okay, the below post has the info i recon they were talking about on the news.

http://www.fragilex.com.au/fragilex/

"Common features include attention deficit disorders with or without hyperactivity, anxiety (hyperarousal), extreme reaction or aversion to sensory stimuli (loud noise, touch, strong smells or tastes, eye contact) and difficulties with expressive language. Autism-like features include hand flapping and biting (or chewing on clothes), poor eye contact and resistance to changes in routine. A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental delay or Aspergers may have been made. Girls may appear less affected and may present with shyness, social anxiety and moodiness."

"A note on carriers:
A sub-group of carriers of the premutation may exhibit mild features of the full mutation including learning or emotional difficulties.
There is a higher risk of early menopause in females (Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI)) More information: National Fragile X Foundation – Menopause
Older males may develop a neurological disorder with hand tremour and balance problems (Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS)) More information: National Fragile X Foundation – FXTAS"

Interesting.

Wait, wait, that's Fragile X... that's a known genetic disorder, and yes it has autistic features, so maybe some of the same genetics are involved... but I wouldn't say it's "the aspie gene". The autistic features of Fragile X do offer some pretty tantalizing possibilities, though. I bet some of the same bits of DNA are involved in both.

I wouldn't be surprised if autism were somehow X-linked--not entirely X-linked; but maybe an important autism-related gene might be found on the X chromosome--because of how there are more autistic guys than girls. Guys are XY (usually), so when there's a gene on their single X chromosome, there's no other X chromosome to cancel it; girls are XX (usually), so they'll have a gene on the one X chromosome but not on the other, leading to a less obvious expression.

That's also why Rett syndrome is female-only (usually)--because it's X-linked. Males with Rett syndrome don't make it to birth most of the time; girls have a milder form that lets them survive to birth and into adulthood. (There have been a few cases of Rett males with the same lifespan as girls with Rett's; the male Rett's cases are associated with Klinefelter syndrome--that is, XXY chromosomes--so in those cases they are male but still have the "backup" X chromosome that females have.)