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#21
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Possible Cure For Autism
"Ninereeds" wrote in message ups.com... On Feb 23, 3:41 pm, "Jeff" wrote: " vernon" stilthere@athere wrote in message So, you assume the retarded or uncivilized or undeveloped or early evolution must have been black? People evolved in Africa before they migrated to other parts of the world. Jeff *may* be right to point out that those early Africans were not necessarily black. Modern native north Africans are Arabs, and not black. The evidence suggests that modern humans first evolved somewhere near the East coast of Africa. North and East clearly overlap. That said, the greatest genetic diversity in our species can be found in black Africans. And there is also evidence for an evolutionary 'bottleneck' - we lack genetic diversity because our ancestors nearly went extinct around the time that modern humans evolved. This suggests that everyone alive today is descended from a very small population of black Africans around (IIRC) 100 thousand years ago. The modern non- black races descend from a relatively small subgroup of that population (the people who migrated), which is why our genetic diversity is relatively small. So, in a way, you are both right. You can't just assume our ancestors were black just because they were African, but nonetheless we know from other evidence that they almost certainly were. Not that I agree with Vernons clumsy attempt to discredit you by accusing you of racism, but there you go. As for the whole is-autism-a-disease thing, my view is that the symptoms most directly link to brain injury rather than a disease. But at the same time, that brain injury may be caused by any of a number of things, including viral disease processes and genetic disease processes. I say 'genetic disease' not just because the problematic combinations of genes are relatively unusual, but because the resulting symptoms include real disabilities. Consider mental retardation. As I'm British, if I was being politically correct, I'd say 'learning disabilities', but that term is ambiguous so I won't. The guideline IQ cutoff for mental retardation is 70. This doesn't define mental retardation, since there are criteria relating to practical functioning, but nevertheless the IQ cutoff is significant. Given the bell curve shape of the IQ distribution, it seems that mental retardation cannot be considered a disease - its just a part of the normal variation of human ability. Just as being a genius (with, by the principle of symmetry, an IQ of over 130) isn't considered a disease. But that bell curve is artificially imposed. If you graph the distribution of actual IQ scores for a sufficiently large population, you will see that there is a small peak centered around IQ 30 - an extra bell-curve superimposed on the main one. This bump seems to represent those who are mentally retarded due to brain injury or disease. So many cases of mental retardation (particularly people with IQs above about 50) result from the normal variation of the human species, but many others result from brain injury or brain disease. And there is no reliable way to separate them - and probably no reason to do so either. They all have the same kinds of problems, and they all need the same kinds of help. Similar logic can apply to things like being short - as likely a result of dietary deficiencies and other environmental factors as it is a result of genetics. The same thing probably applies to autism. It may well be possible to have autism as part of the normal variation in social ability - one extreme end of a bell curve. But there is already plenty of evidence stacked up for brain injury and brain disease also causing autism. Either way, the needs are the same, and the only reason for identifying the specific mechanism is in order to give treatments that prevent injury/disease based autism from getting worse. So again, I think you're both partly right - genetic causes doesn't necessarily make autism a disease, just because the relevant combinations of genes are unusual, but for many if not most of us it almost certainly is anyway. My point is. If a cause of a "disease" is found, a cure follows. A genetic difference is NOT a disease. My point was that blacks do not have a "disease", just because they are black. The reason I referenced blacks, beyond the bigot's comprehension, was his reference to sickle cell anemia. Guess where that base gene runs. Another point: A symptom is NOT a disease. Several diseases may exhibit the same or similar symptoms. The worst example is the "generic" use of the word "cancer". Well maybe the worst example is "follow the money" |
#22
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Possible Cure For Autism
In message , Vernon wrote:
My point is. If a cause of a "disease" is found, a cure follows. A genetic difference is NOT a disease. Tay-Sachs. -- | Bogus as it might seem, people, this really is a deliverable | | e-mail address. Of course, there isn't REALLY a lumber cartel. | | There isn't really a Santa Claus, but try www.santaclaus.com. | +--------------- D. C. Sessions --------------+ |
#23
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Possible Cure For Autism
On Feb 20, 11:48 pm, "Raving" wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:12 pm, "Jan Drew" wrote: http://science.slashdot.org/article..../02/19/2252244 Possible Cure For Autism Henry V .009 writes ... I'm Henry the 5th I am Henry the 5th, I am, I am I got married to the widow next door She's been married seven times before And every one was an Henry (Henry) She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam) I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry Henry the fifth I am ~ HH and HAND :-) HA! I just heard that on an oldie station locally...lol Kerry |
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