Okay…I’m getting offline and going to do research in the print world… but the news keeps getting weirder and weirder today. I picked this up from slashdot.
This is really creepy…and not considering the issues of learning disabilities (which I can do.. it’s my site), what will happen to the arts and technology without people with autism. Autism can be severe and make everyday life exceedingly difficult, but milder forms…well sometimes ‘milder’…have been shown to occur in abnormally high amounts in folks who are artists and programmers. The tertiary symptoms of autism, the ‘mental illness’–ocd, add, bipolar, etc… have been documented as factors in the creative process.
Well, I’m done thinking. Here’s the article from BBC health:
Fragile X Syndrome is linked to mutation in a gene carried on the X chromosome called FMR1.
It can cause symptoms ranging from mild learning disabilities to severe autism.
The researchers, based at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, targeted an enzyme called PAK which affects the number, size and shape of connection between brain cells.
They found that inhibiting the enzyme stopped mice with Fragile X Syndrome behaving in erratic ways.
Prior to treatment they showed signs of hyperactivity, purposeless and repetitive movements.
Abnormalities corrected
Further analysis showed that not only were structural abnormalities in connections between brain cells righted, proper electrical communication was restored between the cells.
In the brain small protrusions called dendritic spines are responsible for communication between cells.
People with Fragile X Syndrome have more dendritic spines than usual, but each is longer and thinner, and transmits weaker electric signals.
Blocking PAK activity in the lab mice corrected these abnormalities.
Researcher Dr Susumu Tonegawa stressed that the mice were not treated until a few weeks after symptoms of disease first appeared.
“This implies that future treatment may still be effective even after symptoms are already pronounced,” he said.
Professor Eric Klann, of New York University’s Center for Neural Science, agreed that the research was potentially significant.
He said: “This is very exciting because it suggests that PAK inhibitors could be used for therapeutic purposes to reverse already established mental impairments in fragile X children.”
There is a big deal being made about the
This is my first day back to work and it’s nuts. I found out last week there was an ‘issue’ with our approach to the voting issue in Washington County. I haven’t had time to discuss it much, but I’m sure we’ll figure out the proper angle. I have a tremendous amount of meetings and misc process oriented bs to deal with…all while preparing for a review from the feds and a presentation on a national scale to our peers.
More PreFAB Goodness. I really wish I could find property and get one of these….vs buying a preexisting home…
I can’t help but think about the 
Last week, the CDC isolated Andrew Speaker, infected with tuberculosis. By the time officials issued the order, however, the man had already traveled to France, Greece, and Italy for his wedding and honeymoon, exposing a number of airline passengers to the disease along the way. When can the government quarantine its citizens?
