Live data from Hacker News

Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

medicalxpress.com

211–220 of 358 posts

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#211
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a continuous range of people in between. Where do you draw the line?

This is like asking where to draw the line when somebody is bald. Are you bald if you have 1 hair? Yes. 2? 3? 137? There's of course reasonable room for discretion in saying what is or isn't bald. But it isn't reasonable to say somebody with a full-on afro is on the spectrum of being bald. Literally some of the most high functioning and successful individuals are being diagnosed as "on the spectrum" of what is, in it…

Autism is defined by social communication and restrictive behavior - not functioning, why are you so caught up on the functioning side of it?

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#213
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true, miscommunication and misunderstanding, as well as stigmatization can lead to situations where autistic people are hurt or even killed. This happened recently with Ryan Gainer, who was killed by police after he charged at them with a gardening tool during an autistic meltdown. But as you said, we should ask people with milder presentations, and listen. While they may impact quality of life, I don't see any…

> I don't see any autistic people here or in my communities calling for a "cure" to deal with such problems. Then you should step a bit outside of your bubble. It's very common in the autistic community - and the neurodivergent community at large.

Which "autistic community" are you talking about? Do you mean "parents of" Facebook groups?

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#214
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see any autistic people here or in my communities calling for a "cure" to deal with such problems. Then you should step a bit outside of your bubble. It's very common in the autistic community - and the neurodivergent community at large.

Which "autistic community" are you talking about? Do you mean "parents of" Facebook groups?

Obviously I'm a spokesman for Autism Speaks.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#215
>suramin

They're investigating the use of a drug that they don't understand to treat a condition that they don't understand, through the lens of one model that variously competes with or incompletely conforms to a myriad of other models of the condition.

In order to what? Nebulously "manage" a complex neurological difference that will always defy reversion to anything else?

It sounds like they want something that they can prescribe, period. And it sounds like it has the potential to further complicate already difficult lives.

Type 1 Autism may serve a general human gene pool function in terms of edge-dripping a specific intelligence trait into it (low probability of reproduction, protecting general social skill in the pool, but adding a divergent pattern solving skill at the edges).

While autism is difficult, I'm not sure that solving for it in the context of industrial medicine is wise. We don't want to solve for Nicola Tesla, for example.

Type 2 and 3 Autism could be genetically unsuccessful attempts at Type 1 autism development, to spitball. Assuming they are actually related, in most cases. Such management theoretically could be helpful here, but I think that these people deserve a lot better than injected parasite medicine with a lot of side effects. Besides, try getting an autistic child used to regular injections.

Though a low-side effect oral or transdermal medication that would, say, specifically enhance energy support to the Autistic PFC with few side effects could be game changing. Likely for many more conditions than autism.

Inventing such a medication that doesn't lead to a worse baseline would be critical and perhaps unlikely.

Then again its possible that the unique pattern solving ability of the Autistic mind is related to the relative lack of energy supply to an increased volume of PFC neurons; and the subsequent failure of inhibition. Possibly accounting for increased environmental information perception, at least in-part. Which may in turn be mirrored in expanded cognition involved in pattern identification.

The ideal, which again I think is unlikely, would be a PRN medication that could "quiet" the autistic mind via providing more energy to the PFC; while having no withdrawal semi-permanent side effects.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can. When I look at extremely functional autistics like Elon Musk, the idea he has a condition which makes him diseased and disordered is absurd. I think the natural reaction to that is that either diagnostic criteria should be narrowed and/or it should be possible for people to lose their diagnosis if they achieve Elon Musk levels of functioning. -OR- Autism should be viewed more neutrally, as people of a certain…

Elon Musk is highly functional but he also has a wide and deep support network unlike most other autistic people. He self immolates all the time and he's propped up by his great wealth. He self medicates with drugs. He has a team of people who handle his every need. When normal autistic people self immolate as such, they are cast from society forever - fired, locked up, abandoned, or even killed. And just because som…

Not only that, consider the societal advantage of this behavior. Many social rules are wrong and group-level maladaptive. Having a subset of the population that doesn't adhere to those rules benefits society by allowing it to break out of local maxima.

It's not a tendency we should suppress. Punishing people for non-conformity is the act of a villain. And yet we do, so that only people with wealth can survive doing it.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#217
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have. But I do not believe they were as common prior to the 1960s as they are in the 2020s.

Do you have data to inform that belief?

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/80491/1/cesifo_wp436...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37156255/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9947250/

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen the same protests among certain deaf communities and it baffles me that someone would oppose a cure to what is obviously a medical condition. In the same vein, I wouldn't oppose a cure for autism, despite my own diagnosis. Why go through the pain and suffering that comes with autism in a world of non-autists? I've seen more than enough of the lives of people with non-high functioning autism to realise the a…

> it baffles me that someone would oppose a cure to what is obviously a medical condition Ultimately, not everybody seeks to be "normal", and there is plenty of reason to fear the imposition of normalness when simply being functional would have done just fine.

When you are close to the norm, it’s much easier to ignore your differences. When you are farther away, you have to decide what to do: deny them, accept them, mask them, amplify them.

None of us are truly normal.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#219
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're engaging in the no-true-Scotsman fallacy with the claim that highly autistic people with a lot of special needs are really "autistic with intellectual disabilities". I disagree. They're simply more autistic and more impacted than either of us.

They did not say no true autistic person are intellectually disabled. They said they are overlapping groups. Like Scotsmen and people who put sugar in porridge.

They're saying that no true definition of autism can contain intellectual disability by classifying any intellectual disability in an autistic person as a distinct, totally independent condition.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#220
post #3

Actual paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06102-y

"Of 50 biochemical pathways and 450 polar and lipid metabolites examined, the developmental regulation of the purine network was most changed. Purine network hub analysis revealed a 17-fold reversal in typically developing children. This purine network reversal did not occur in ASD."

That's a strong statement, and one which can be checked by others. Anyone trying to replicate this yet?

Post reply on HN