Another save the world from autism website

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04 Feb 2009, 2:41 pm

And, as discussed in this article in Scientific American, it would appear that you are indeed born that way.

The best possible result from such treatment would be nothing - that the body would scavenge and break down the stem cells for their constituent molecules, leaving the brain undamaged.

Other possible results range from minor brain damage, to brain cancer (should the stem cells simply stimulate unregulated growth in the surrounding tissues).

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GoddessofSnowandIce
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12 Feb 2009, 5:03 pm

I wrote a post in a news discussion thread the other day where people were arguing about cures. I find it relevant, so I'll post it here so I don't have to type it all out again in paraphrase:

It's important to keep in mind that a "set of similar symptoms" does not necessarily mean that everything should be classified under one umbrella label of autism. Psychological symptoms are even more subjective to opinion, as they are considered unwanted behavioral traits because of negative social consequences (grating against social norms), and not necessarily negative traits from an evolutionary standpoint.

Consider our society, rising in technology and becoming more automated (think of the root "aut"-- shared in both the word automated and autism) and interpersonal connections becoming more and more quick emails/texts to a friend rather than a face to face converstation requiring good use of body language and eye contact. More and more, autistics (and those with related "disorders") are finding communication easier, and are connecting with people in ways that are more friendly to their neurotype. The rise of the internet is one factor, but there are others. The environment is becoming less unfriendly to the gene pool that possesses these traits. Granted we have a better understanding of them, thus better recognition in the medical community, but I think evolution hasn't ruled us out because we serve a purpose in this new world of technology. This isn't to say that all of us are tech geeks. To the contrary, we possess a variety of skills. It's just to say that from the interpersonal relations standpoint, our quirks are nurtured by an environment that has become less personal.

So for those of us Aspies/HF Autistics who manage to muddle our way through the NT world, a good amount of us pass on our ways to the next generation. Those who are functionally so different that they need constant assistance may not fare so well from a natural selection standpoint, but that doesn't mean that their lives don't have something to offer and teach us about the neurological structure of "spectrumites", as I so affectionately refer to my "kind". Education, compassion, and integration are essential to both the NT and the NA. After all, if we try to cure something just because its different, we could potentially erase great minds like Albert Einstein in the process. Can we honestly say without a doubt that the presence of a set of genes dictates how neuroatypical a person would be, or is the only way to find out letting them grow to their full potential?

Those in favor of eugenics need to re-evaluate your humanity. Me, my husband, and my kids (we're all on the spectrum) are doing just fine and not making excuses for ourselves, rather educating ourselves on why we think the way we think and how to better present ourselves in the company of those who have the opposite type of brain wiring. My husband puts it this way: "It's like life is a poker game, and we play to the best of our ability considering we were given cards from an UNO deck."

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Katie_WPG
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12 Feb 2009, 7:05 pm

Abangyarudo wrote:

dalurker wrote:

Abangyarudo wrote:

really? this is not uncommon especially among geniuses (not saying I am one but for some reason people who are considered geniuses especially artistic geniuses have been shown to have differing IQS). IQ's validity has been challenged for years since you have people who are very gifted receiving low or conflicting iq scores. Now you can hold on to IQ as a determiner of whatever but since there are people with very low iqs making breakthoughs in every area, and demonstrating all the traits an IQ test is supposed to measure I think that pretty much invalidates it. Theres just too much to quantify that an IQ test fails to do.

How can someone be very gifted but have low IQ? Even if the IQ scores varied dramatically, why shouldn't it be recognized that the eventual high IQ scores they attained are indicative of their giftedness? I wonder at what ages such low IQ scores were measured among those with conflicting IQ scores. What kind of breakthroughs could someone with a very low IQ make? A few exceptions to such expectations about IQ aren't invalidating. The correlations aren't 100%.

Feynman's IQ was 126 (bio)
Watson's IQ was 124 (bio)
William Shockley's was 129, then 125 when tested a year later (his 2007 bio)
Luis Alvarez's was below 135 (he failed to qualify for Terman study)
<--- those are scientists with low iqs (not low ilike the results I received near mental retardation but still low for such gifted individuals. ) Thats just doing a quick yahoo search considering most scientists would hide such information because the scientific world would be prejudiced towards their ideas.

Determination? Genuine curiosity about their fields?

IQ actually has less to do with success in life than those two factors. A hard-working studious person with an IQ of 125 will accomplish leagues more in the fields of science and engineering than a lazy person with an IQ of 160.

Abangyarudo
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14 Feb 2009, 2:23 pm

Katie_WPG wrote:

Abangyarudo wrote:

dalurker wrote:

Abangyarudo wrote:

I wholeheartedly agree but in those fields its said they require high iqs and similarly iq means relatively nothing in todays society. It just seems to be the new way to look down upon people genereally since most do not even know what IQ is meant to measure. Who you are should be under which everyone is defined by, Maturity, intelligence, and so forth will never be measured by mere numbers and tests.

ed
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18 Feb 2009, 9:01 am

I Think this news story directly bears on this subject:

Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A family desperate to save a child from a lethal brain disease sought highly experimental injections of fetal stem cells - injections that triggered tumors in the boy's brain and spinal cord, Israeli scientists reported Tuesday.

Scientists are furiously trying to harness different types of stem cells - the building blocks for other cells in the body - to regrow damaged tissues and thus treat devastating diseases. But for all the promise, researchers have long warned that they must learn to control newly injected stem cells so they don't grow where they shouldn't, and small studies in people are only just beginning.

Tuesday's report in the journal PLoS Medicine is the first documented case of a human brain tumor - albeit a benign, slow-growing one - after fetal stem cell therapy, and hammers home the need for careful research. The journal is published by the Public Library of Science.

"Patients, please beware," said Dr. John Gearhart, a stem cell scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who wasn't involved in the Israeli boy's care but who sees similarly desperate U.S. patients head abroad to clinics that offer unproven stem cell injections.

"Cells are not drugs. They can misbehave in so many different ways, it just is going to take a good deal of time" to prove how best to pursue the potential therapy, Gearhart said.

The unidentified Israeli boy has a rare, fatal genetic disease with a tongue-twisting name - ataxia telangiectasia, or A-T. Degeneration of a certain brain region gradually robs these children of movement. Plus, a faulty immune system leads to frequent infections and cancers. Most die in their teens or early 20s.

Israeli doctors pieced together the child's history: When he was 9, the family traveled to Russia, to a Moscow clinic that provided injections of neural stem cells from fetuses - immature cells destined to grow into a main type of brain cells. The cells were injected into his brain and spinal cord twice more, at ages 10 and 12.

Back home in Israel at age 13, the boy's A-T was severe enough to require that he use a wheelchair when he also began complaining of headaches. Tests at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv uncovered a growth pushing on his brain stem and a second on his spinal cord. Surgeons removed the spinal cord mass when the boy was 14, in 2006 and they say his general condition has remained stable since then.

But was the boy prone to tumors anyway or were the fetal stem cells to blame? A Tel Aviv University team extensively tested the tumor tissue and concluded it was the fetal cells. Among other evidence, some of the cells were female and had two normal copies of the gene that causes A-T - although that boy's underlying poor immune function could have allowed the growths to take hold.

Using stem cells from multiple fetuses that also were mixed with growth-spurring compounds "may have created a high-risk situation where abnormal growth of more than one cell occurred," wrote lead researcher Dr. Ninette Amariglio of Sheba Medical. She urged better research to "maximize the potential benefits of regenerative medicine while minimizing the risks."

This brain disease wasn't conducive to stem cell therapy in the first place, said stem cell specialist Dr. Marius Wernig of Stanford University, who said it's unclear exactly what was implanted.

"Stem cell transplantations have a humongous potential," Wernig said. But "if people rush out there without really knowing what they're doing ... that really backfires and can bring this whole field to a halt."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ ... TE=DEFAULT

I couldn't ask for better proof that trying to cure autism with stem cells is very dangerous!

sinsboldly
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18 Feb 2009, 10:15 am

ed wrote:

I Think this news story directly bears on this subject:

Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) "Stem cell transplantations have a humongous potential," Wernig said. But "if people rush out there without really knowing what they're doing ... that really backfires and can bring this whole field to a halt."

I couldn't ask for better proof that trying to cure autism with stem cells is very dangerous!

If some doctor said 'humongous' to me I could not take him seriously. I mean. . seriously!

Merle

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ed
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18 Feb 2009, 11:55 am

sinsboldly wrote:

ed wrote:

I Think this news story directly bears on this subject:

Quote:

I couldn't ask for better proof that trying to cure autism with stem cells is very dangerous!

If some doctor said 'humongous' to me I could not take him seriously. I mean. . seriously!

Merle

Who cares what he said? The kid developed tumors from the stem cells - that's what counts.

sinsboldly
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20 Feb 2009, 10:58 am

ed wrote:

sinsboldly wrote:

ed wrote:

I Think this news story directly bears on this subject:

Quote:

I couldn't ask for better proof that trying to cure autism with stem cells is very dangerous!

If some doctor said 'humongous' to me I could not take him seriously. I mean. . seriously!

Merle

Who cares what he said? The kid developed tumors from the stem cells - that's what counts.

well, pardon me for having an opinion.

Merle

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ed
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20 Feb 2009, 11:24 am

...so you're going to consider the whole article useless because some doctor was quoted using the word "humongous" at the end? Seriously!

Kangoogle
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20 Feb 2009, 1:15 pm

ed wrote:

...so you're going to consider the whole article useless because some doctor was quoted using the word "humongous" at the end? Seriously!

Not to mention that the better someone is, the more they can get away with ignoring conventions on style.

KoAutism
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25 Feb 2009, 10:19 am

I hate people who act as or more normal than me to set
there and say how they are like my kids ! You
people need to stay away from me and my kids !
Draw your check for your scam . I am raising
the money for my kids myself ! It will not effect
the scam you are pulling with the government !
But do stay away from me and myboys ! If you would
like to help ! Thanks ! But if you wanna act like
my kids want this nightmare they are living ! Well
just stay away !

NomadicAssassin
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09 Mar 2009, 9:26 am

Dr.Goodnight wrote:

Wow.... ok not sure what you just said..... Um in light of that fact i might be a bit off, and if I am I apologize. I whole heartedly agree that it's not easy for people with AS or any autism to go through life without problems, obstacles, ect... but to look for a "cure", and then to have it involve "stem cell research"? I do believe that’s a bit far, there is no cure, and there never will be one ... whether a group of 1,000 scientists say "hey we got it", or the world believes that there is one, makes no difference. To have AS is not to live through a nightmare ... more, it's to live life with your own view on the world in a much more grand way.

I have Aspersers Syndrome, Severe Depression, Severe Anxiety, and School phobia; i know that it’s not easy, but I view this world as a book with empty pages that i can write anything i want :sunny:

However if you still view your opinion I have nothing more to say except this, "I wish you and your children a wonderful life, I cannot donate, or change anything in your life, but I can at least say good luck."

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ed
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09 Mar 2009, 9:59 am

Quote:

Dr.Goodnight wrote

Dr.Goodnight? :scratch:

NomadicAssassin
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09 Mar 2009, 10:06 pm

Um..... well thats odd i could have sworn i quoted "KoAutism" ? :scratch: Yeah that was ment for KoAutism, weird error i guess ?

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Abangyarudo
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17 Mar 2009, 6:23 am

Dr.Goodnight wrote:

because admitting that your kids may be like a group of people who are actively here would be so disheartening. For the record I can't talk for anyone but personally I have never drew a SSI or SSD check from the government. My money comes strictly from working, I work, go to sleep, and continue school. Whatever problem your child has is not being helped by your blind hate. If your children have autism its not possible to love your boys but hate autism because its a part of who they are. When you come to grips with this you may actually have a meaningful relationship with your children.

I know people saying I'm too harsh are going to come outta the wood work but thats what I think and I'll stand by it. Ignorance doesn't sit well with me ...

Abangyarudo
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17 Mar 2009, 6:25 am

NomadicAssassin wrote:

Um..... well thats odd i could have sworn i quoted "KoAutism" ? :scratch:

Yeah that was ment for KoAutism, weird error i guess ?

he goes by the name dr goodnight as well I dunno if the forum allows it but he may have simply changed his name on here.

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