Interesting discussion on twitter regarding the relatively small sample size (n=15) given the heterogeneity of the underlying condition - https://twitter.com/WiringTheBrain/status/112928482114080358...
Finding an indicative difference in a tiny, yet random sample appears to have accomplished more than the guy yelling "small sample size" - and, which I find ironic - "waste!" here. They managed to add a tiny bit of contrast to a picture that's totally blank, and provide 15 pixels of data, please explain how that's supposed to be worthless? By the same logic, if I manage to cure an extremely rare type of cancer under…
Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
31–40 of 79 posts
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is that it's really both. It's kind of pointless to debate the effects of autism when one side is thinking "Light Aspergers" and the other "Adults in diapers".
Unlikely, at least not in a clinically useful manner. A disease is a disease, one of the strongest arguments against the "high functioning" part of the autism spectrum these days is that these people don't seem to exhibit much if any of the comorbidity syndromes prevalent to autism especially the physiological one. The lower you go on the spectrum the higher the chances for comorbidity for a lot of other conditions,…
Or the greater the likelihood that the autism symptoms are caused by one of these conditions as opposed to it being a primary condition. Fragile-x in particular is a genetic condition known for its physical and mental effects, much like like prader-willi syndrome or down syndrome. It's just as likely that effects from these conditions are being misdiagnosed as autism.
Your post seems confused more generally, though. What clinicians are diagnosing with ASD is a cluster of symptoms, not a specific syndrome. Symptoms can have multiple etiologies and that would still be useful clinically. A cold is treated similarly regardless of the exact viral strain causing the infection.
That a particular person doesn't have to deal with anal leakage is not an argument that they don't have a different condition.
"As an anecdotal evidence I managed to get myself diagnosed on the spectrum in the UK I went to an official diagnosis center and had sessions with an "occupational therapist", at no point have I ever seen a doctor not to mention a neurologist. As morbid as it sound I have that framed just by my ordained minister license which I got despite being Jewish."
If I was willing to lie to a therapist, I could probably get diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or any of a large number of disorders, but the presence of malingering creeps doesn't disprove the existence of those conditions.
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was an HN thread the other day about how some (many?) autistic people don't think there is anything wrong with them and that they wouldn't "cure" themselves even if there were a "cure" because from their point of view there is nothing to cure and they are happy the way they are.
Some highly functioning adults which some medical professionals advocate shouldn’t even be on the spectrum might feel like that. Most people on the spectrum will require help to go to the bathroom or complete other basic tasks so them making medical decisions is unlikely. There is now a pretty big concern about the over-diagnosing of ASD especially amongst functioning adults. In many countries you can be diagnosed in…
What's your source for this claim? Is this the majority of all people diagnosed with ASD, or just the majority of people diagnosed with ASD that you believe should have been diagnosed?
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some highly functioning adults which some medical professionals advocate shouldn’t even be on the spectrum might feel like that. Most people on the spectrum will require help to go to the bathroom or complete other basic tasks so them making medical decisions is unlikely. There is now a pretty big concern about the over-diagnosing of ASD especially amongst functioning adults. In many countries you can be diagnosed in…
" Most people on the spectrum will require help to go to the bathroom or complete other basic tasks so them making medical decisions is unlikely. " What's your source for this claim? Is this the majority of all people diagnosed with ASD, or just the majority of people diagnosed with ASD that you believe should have been diagnosed?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20431403 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/ss/ss6706a1.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19268036
Overall this varies based on how many things you tack into the ASD, with PDD-NOS being thrown out of the DSM in 2013 it would take probably another decade if the needle moved.
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#35University of Arizona experimental study on 18 children:
https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186...
A very successful treatment of one child:
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The DSM-III, published in 1980, established autism as its own separate diagnosis and described it as a “pervasive developmental disorder” distinct from schizophrenia.
The DSM is largely a tool for billing insurance, it has so many different "disorders" listed that everyone falls into at least one category or another at some point in their lives.
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#37Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
" Most people on the spectrum will require help to go to the bathroom or complete other basic tasks so them making medical decisions is unlikely. " What's your source for this claim? Is this the majority of all people diagnosed with ASD, or just the majority of people diagnosed with ASD that you believe should have been diagnosed?
1/3rd of people diagnosed with ASD are non-verbal. 56% would have an IQ below 85, 83% would have a other developmental, neurologic, chromosomal, and genetic conditions, with down syndrome, fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis accounting for about 10% of these. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20431403 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/ss/ss6706a1.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19268036 Overall this…
Also, all three of these studies were conducted either before or shortly after the release of the DSM V, and explicitly use the DSM VI diagnostic criteria for autism.:
"Although new diagnostic criteria became available in 2013, the children under surveillance in 2014 would have grown up primarily under the DSM-IV-TR definitions for ASD, which are prioritized in this report."
You seem to be arguing that the relaxed criteria of the DSM V is invalid because the studies on people diagnosed with the stricter methods suggest a more severe condition. This is circular reasoning.
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's different because, at least in some forms, it comes with advantages as well as disadvantages. For some people it's debilitating, but for others it's not.
What possible advantage is there to having any form of autism?
Re: Autism research on single neurons suggests signaling problems in brain circuits
#40Autism (or maybe some forms of it) are now linked to gut problems / inflammation and can be treated with fecal transplants: University of Arizona experimental study on 18 children: https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186... A very successful treatment of one child: https://youtu.be/KRXl_N0OtX4?t=1477
So this study is, IMO, much less about "gut problems cause autism", and I highly doubt that these individuals get any less autistic. A fairer characterization is "autistic people with gastrointestinal distress are less able to deal with things in general, and fixing the GI distress allows them to handle social demands better".