Saturday, October 25, 2008

Autism Research

Did you hear about the research that might lead to the cause of autism? This is hopeful! Here's an excerpt from this article:
Specific brain protein required for nerve cell connections to form and function

CHAPEL HILL - Neurons, or nerve cells, communicate with each other through contact points called synapses. When these connections are damaged, communication breaks down, causing the messages that would normally help our feet push our bike pedals or our mind locate our car keys to fall short.

Now scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for these nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.
Sarah Palin mocked research done on fruit flies and made fun of it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

But Sarah must have fruit flies around that hairdo! How can she refute such evidence? That woman just frightens me. At lunch yesterday, I was decidedly the Democratic alien and it unnerved me.
I had heard of this research recently. It's encouraging considering how relatively recent the whole business has been identified at all.

ell said...

Palin would be laughable if it weren't so frightening to think that she might end up in the White House.

Any research that can advance the understanding and possible treatment/prevention of autism is important.

Joy said...

It is an important step since knowing the cause can help with prevention and treatment. It is encouraging.

Unknown said...

maybe her comments were because she is against stem cell research. ( Palin, not Ell, :+))