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Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

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Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#41

Post by Varcht »

chki wrote: post #31
whatshisface wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the experience of being a person goes a lot deeper than having any specific personality, if it didn't we wouldn't be sorting traits into good and bad. If not having learned to read has kept someone away from the influences of literature, we could say that it has impacted their personality, but would that be an excuse to never teach them? Some behaviors associated with autism are really results of having less…

This touches on the fundamental debate whether autism is a disease or not. Your comment and especially comparing autism to not being able to read implies that but I personally think there might be parts of the autistic spectrum that do not fall under that definition.

I tend to lean toward a trait, and there really is no arguing that there are benefits, at least on the lower end of the spectrum. Modifying genes for "ideal" traits in humans seems like a bad idea to me...

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#42

Post by nub3 »

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-blocking-enzyme-lin...

The above mentioned study links raising HDAC2 to reverse effects of Alzheimer's disease.

I doubt that the autism study with mice really 'cured' autism. I think the cancer drug reduced cognitive abilities, so mice seemed to react 'normal'.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#43

Post by [deleted] »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #36
chki wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This touches on the fundamental debate whether autism is a disease or not. Your comment and especially comparing autism to not being able to read implies that but I personally think there might be parts of the autistic spectrum that do not fall under that definition.

Autism is especially difficult to categorize as a disease or even a negative, but even when you can relatively easily label something as a technical disability, like deafness, there are perfectly valid reasons why the folks affected would be pretty strongly opposed to a cure. Any issue pertaining to identity is always going to be a very sensitive one.

[deleted]

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#44

Post by smsm42 »

exelius wrote: post #16

As someone on the spectrum, I don’t necessarily know if this is something I would want. My ASD is a big part of my personality; if these social “difficulties” (which really just mean I click with a different type of person) were “solved” I don’t know I would be the same person. Maybe this can offer some hope for others with more profound issues, but if you’ve found a way to function in society I’m not sure this will…

I think it depends on how bad it is. If it's in a way that a person is introverted and has some peculiar communication style, that's one thing and if the person can not go outside, visit public places, hold a job, get an education, etc. then it's a different thing. I imagine some people would very welcome it, some would stay away from it.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#45

Post by BadCookie »

rocqua wrote: post #13
taurath wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So little research is done on Autism from the perspective of adults living on the spectrum - almost all the funding and research seems to go towards childhood and to give parents coping mechanisms. IMO we need clear clinical definitions of different parts of the spectrum so we can have more intelligent conversations about it - is a study cohort involving 10 year olds ones who cannot clothe themselves or participate i…

Does it really make sense to partition the spectrum? It feels more reasonable to replace these exact partitions with something like 'prototypes'. The partitions would make sense if each partition corresponded to a specific physical 'defect'. Such that it actually makes sense to treat everyone in that partition the same. This is why we distinguish diabetes Type 1 from diabetes type 2. This is why we distinguish betwee…

Autism can't be described along a single dimension like temperature can be. Some people with autism are sensory-seeking, some are sensory-avoiding, some are a mix of both. Some act almost immune to pain, while others definitely aren't. Some have no sense of danger, while others are overly cautious and afraid. Some are violent, but most aren't. Some never speak, but most do. Some run wild, while others are rule-followers almost to a fault. My son is newly-diagnosed, and I am constantly surprised by how little he has in common with other kids who share his diagnosis. Do all of these kids actually have the same condition? I don't think we really know the answer to that question yet.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#46

Post by [deleted] »

chki wrote: post #31
whatshisface wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the experience of being a person goes a lot deeper than having any specific personality, if it didn't we wouldn't be sorting traits into good and bad. If not having learned to read has kept someone away from the influences of literature, we could say that it has impacted their personality, but would that be an excuse to never teach them? Some behaviors associated with autism are really results of having less…

This touches on the fundamental debate whether autism is a disease or not. Your comment and especially comparing autism to not being able to read implies that but I personally think there might be parts of the autistic spectrum that do not fall under that definition.

[deleted]

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#47

Post by starpilot »

Jugglerofworlds wrote: post #20

HDAC inhibitors have been discussed before on /r/nootropics and Longecity. I was part of a group buy for Vorinostat, which is a medication with a similar mechanism of action. I only took it once and had a positive experience where I felt very "child-like", in the way that the world seemed vivid and exciting. I haven't taken it since due to concerns about interactions with some of my other medications. The primary goa…

Vorinostat was amazing to me as well in a similar way. I seemed to quickly develop a tolerance for it though, and I'm scared of increasing the amount beyond that. I heard that you couldn't build a tolerance for but that didn't seem to be true in my case.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#48

Post by jacob019 »

cbhl wrote: post #38
jacob019 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That should be between the parents and doctors.

One of the concerns about treatments for ASD and ADHD is that parents could be incentivized to do what is convenient for them, rather than what is best for the child.

Parents don't prescribe drugs, doctors do. No system is perfect but I trust doctors and parents to do a better job than politicians and social workers when it comes to deciding what's best for each unique child.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#49

Post by bsder »

taurath wrote: post #7
asdfasdfdavid wrote: post #2

Another HDAC inhibitor that works against autism and is easy to obtain by eating broccoli sprouts is sulforaphane: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5672987/

So little research is done on Autism from the perspective of adults living on the spectrum - almost all the funding and research seems to go towards childhood and to give parents coping mechanisms. IMO we need clear clinical definitions of different parts of the spectrum so we can have more intelligent conversations about it - is a study cohort involving 10 year olds ones who cannot clothe themselves or participate i…

> So little research is done on Autism from the perspective of adults living on the spectrum - almost all the funding and research seems to go towards childhood and to give parents coping mechanisms.

Well, being able to take a child who is severely autistic with no chance of independent life and moving them to a self-sufficient, if slightly odd, adult is probably more useful to society than helping adults or children who already can function acceptably, more or less.

In addition, I don't always like the whole "autism spectrum" because it's a symptom-based classification that, much like cancer, we're almost certainly going to learn is actually multiple independent diseases.

Re: Autism's social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

#50

Post by [deleted] »

hosh wrote: post #18

Whoa. Though I often question if society should treat social deficits of autism even if such a treatment is effective without side-effects. Another solution would be for society to be generally more neuro-inclusive. I can't help but wonder if there are synergistic benefits from being able to have different ways of experiencing the world. (I don't have ASD; my step-daughter is on the spectrum).

[deleted]
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