Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

uclahealth.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 105 posts

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#21

Post by drcongo »

Scandiravian wrote: post #8

Being autistic myself, I feel conflicted about trying to "cure autism" Every day is challenging because I have to manage my energy, mask in social situations and at work, etc On the other hand, I like who I am and I'm also very good at what I do because my brain is structured the way it is. I can imagine a society that is structured in a way, where I don't need the accommodations I'm currently dependent on If the neg…

The flip side - I don't think there's a single upside to the ASD traits I have, I don't like myself, and I would absolutely love to know what it feels like to not have ASD.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#22

Post by nradov »

RobotToaster wrote: post #13
SoMomentary wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the "potential for toxicity from repeated doses" make this sort of doubtful?

Possibly, possibly not. Bryan Johnson took it for 5 years in an attempt to slow aging. He eventually discontinued because it was causing an increase in skin infections (as you'd expect from an immune system suppressant), but cycling could mitigate that.

Regardless of side effects there is no reliable evidence that rapamycin slows aging in humans.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#23

Post by stonyrubbish »

dns_snek wrote: post #14
Scandiravian wrote: post #8

Being autistic myself, I feel conflicted about trying to "cure autism" Every day is challenging because I have to manage my energy, mask in social situations and at work, etc On the other hand, I like who I am and I'm also very good at what I do because my brain is structured the way it is. I can imagine a society that is structured in a way, where I don't need the accommodations I'm currently dependent on If the neg…

I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? You could make the exact same arguments for blindness. Every day is challenging, difficulties are mostly a consequence of how we've structured society, it's other people who should accommodate those who have different needs, etc. This narrative seems to originate from, and is perpetuated…

> How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses?

Part of the confusion here is that autism isn't straightforwardly a disability. A plurality of people with autism are ASD-1, which is the kind requiring the least support needs while, purely empirically speaking, conferring lots of well-documented benefits. The sort of elephant in the room in these conversations is that there are lots of replicable studies which show that autistic people outperform non-autistic people in a variety of areas. The idea of attempting to engineer the removal of a class of people from society-- people with unique strengths which are necessary for the functioning of that society-- has consequences that are significantly less well-understood than proponents of this idea make it out to be.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#24

Post by intothemild »

Scandiravian wrote: post #8

Being autistic myself, I feel conflicted about trying to "cure autism" Every day is challenging because I have to manage my energy, mask in social situations and at work, etc On the other hand, I like who I am and I'm also very good at what I do because my brain is structured the way it is. I can imagine a society that is structured in a way, where I don't need the accommodations I'm currently dependent on If the neg…

I'm autistic myself. I don't want a "cure" but I would like to have something that could help me reduce some of the harder aspects of life.

Right now I'm on anti anxiety drugs, which whilst mostly affective, have sided effects that kind of suck. I'm lucky my wife and daughter love me very much, and I've always been someone who wanted to push myself a little further to get outside or do new things.. mostly because my daughter is also autistic and I want to be a good example of "small steps" ... But it was so hard with no medication that I eventually had a full blown autistic burnout, where therapy, time off work, and eventually medication helped me get back to work.

Yes I want society to be more accommodating to us, but that doesn't stop the multitude of micro-aggressions I suffer daily just trying to navigate life, relationships, work, etc. If something could help remove those, I'd be forever grateful.

I do not however want the way my mind works to change.

Keep the positive, remove or dull the negative.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#25

Post by dns_snek »

ssl-3 wrote: post #19
dns_snek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? You could make the exact same arguments for blindness. Every day is challenging, difficulties are mostly a consequence of how we've structured society, it's other people who should accommodate those who have different needs, etc. This narrative seems to originate from, and is perpetuated…

> I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? These are not equivalent, synonymous terms. I think that your premise might need some work. There's plenty of people in the world who are healthy, autistic, and not disabled at all.

I know they're not synonymous, that's why I used all 3 and not just one.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#26

Post by inigyou »

dns_snek wrote: post #14
Scandiravian wrote: post #8

Being autistic myself, I feel conflicted about trying to "cure autism" Every day is challenging because I have to manage my energy, mask in social situations and at work, etc On the other hand, I like who I am and I'm also very good at what I do because my brain is structured the way it is. I can imagine a society that is structured in a way, where I don't need the accommodations I'm currently dependent on If the neg…

I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? You could make the exact same arguments for blindness. Every day is challenging, difficulties are mostly a consequence of how we've structured society, it's other people who should accommodate those who have different needs, etc. This narrative seems to originate from, and is perpetuated…

It isn't unique. Deaf people fight against research to cure hearing loss and fight against people having it cured, as they say it's betraying the deaf community.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#27

Post by inigyou »

Rapamycin - how strange. The Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) gene/protein regulates cell growth in some not well understood way.

Maternal inflammation also aligns with autistic people being extra sensitive to negative feedback. Maybe if you are born in a world of disease you are supposed to be extra cautious of everything.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#28

Post by inigyou »

nradov wrote: post #22
RobotToaster wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, possibly not. Bryan Johnson took it for 5 years in an attempt to slow aging. He eventually discontinued because it was causing an increase in skin infections (as you'd expect from an immune system suppressant), but cycling could mitigate that.

Regardless of side effects there is no reliable evidence that rapamycin slows aging in humans.

Would we have evidence even if it was true?

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#29

Post by dns_snek »

jimnotgym wrote: post #18
dns_snek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? You could make the exact same arguments for blindness. Every day is challenging, difficulties are mostly a consequence of how we've structured society, it's other people who should accommodate those who have different needs, etc. This narrative seems to originate from, and is perpetuated…

Because many autistic people have superpowers in some areas, like systems thinking, thinking outside the box and maybe suprisingly reading people. If you had a superpower, but it came with a curse, that you couldn't always get to work on time, would you trade it in for a normal life? On the other hand, i don't see why a company wouldn't accommodate someone's minor quirks to get access to a superpower.

I'm well aware and I don't have a problem with you or anyone else living life the way you want. This doesn't explain animosity towards treatment/cure research.

Re: Drug reverses autism-like brain changes in adult mice within hours

#30

Post by dns_snek »

inigyou wrote: post #26
dns_snek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this sentiment often, but only when it comes to autism. How is this different from other disorders, disabilities, illnesses? You could make the exact same arguments for blindness. Every day is challenging, difficulties are mostly a consequence of how we've structured society, it's other people who should accommodate those who have different needs, etc. This narrative seems to originate from, and is perpetuated…

It isn't unique. Deaf people fight against research to cure hearing loss and fight against people having it cured, as they say it's betraying the deaf community.

That's interesting, I didn't know about that!
Post reply on HN