Autism is a developmental disorder that an increasing number of children are being diagnosed with. The disorder hinders children from developing socially at the same rate as average kids. Originally, when the disease was first becoming prominent, researchers thought it would be fairly easy to diagnose the cause of the disease by studying genetic patterns. But scientists have yet to find a definite genetic cause for autism, but recently scientists have found a chromosome variant that occurs in 65% of autistic kids. This alteration is a variant on the chromosome 5. However, this alteration also occurs on 50% of normally developing children. Although it certainly occurs more on autistic kids, the chromosome variation is clearly not the only factor in developing autism. There are many other non-genetic factors that are believed to be associated with autism, including environmental surroundings and parenting. It is also possible that there are other genes that contribute to the disease that have not yet been discovered.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/43281/title/Connectivity_may_play_role_in_autism
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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2 comments:
Sadly scientists know very little about autism. The causes appear to be complicated and unknown though some distraught parents have blamed vaccines, potentially endangering the lives of thousands who may be at risk for now rare childhood diseases. It is interesting that a chromosome may play a part. Hopefully with more time scientists will put together the puzzle of autism.
Autism seems to be a tough nut to crack. It's great that this is currently getting a lot of attention. I wonder if the movement of parents to keep their kids away from vaccines has fueled the drive to find the cause of Autism. The people who would be doing this research are probably vaccine-supporters, beliving in their importance for the safety of children all over the place, especially in our globalized world. I know that I personally hope that they can figure out what causes Autism before the no-vaccine movement becomes too prominent and an outbreak or something results.
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