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| Science |
| On autism's cause, researchers just 'scratching the surface' |
| 2011-01-07 |
| Two studies strongly suggest some people have a genetic predisposition to autism, the NIH says. "Identical twin studies show that if one twin is affected, there is a 90 percent chance the other twin will be affected." Not necessarily to the same degree, it sounds. Dr. Eric Hollander, who was director of the Seaver and New York Autism Center of Excellence in 2008, told CNN.com at the time that "of all neuropsychiatric disorders, there's a stronger genetic predisposition for autism. It's also clear that early environmental experiences can play an important role in modifying how these genes develop." And there's your answer, Anonymoose. :-) |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #1 There needs to be a caution that, as with other spectrum medical conditions, there is a tendency to try and fit similar conditions into the spectrum. Just a brief search on the web shows several people asserting that by some means, autism was "cured". But often it wasn't autism in the first place, but something else that had been misdiagnosed as autism. Physicians and psychiatrists can't really be blamed for this, as they have no means to accurately diagnose autism in its early stages, except by a few traits that overlap into other conditions. Even the newly discovered "abnormally high" amounts of white matter in the brain, seen in older autistics, may be shared with other conditions. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-07 09:09 |