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Chemisse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 06:03 AM
Original message
Autism - Too Many Brain Cells?
The brains of autistic children have far more neurons in the prefrontal cortex than the brains of kids without autism, finds a new study that could advance research into the disorder.

Dawn Villella, for USA TODAY

Prior research has also documented "brain overgrowth" in autistic children, but those studies were done by measuring brain circumference or MRIs, experts said.

"For the first time, we have the potential to understand why autism gets started," said study author Eric Courchesne, a professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Autism Center of Excellence.

Specifically, they found autistic children had 79 percent more neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and 29 percent more in the mesial prefrontal cortex than other kids.


http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/autism/story/2011-11-08/Autistic-children-may-have-too-many-brain-cells-study-says/51128494/1

This is encouraging news for those who would like to understand what is causing this disorder.

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JaneQPublic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 08:46 AM
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1. Send the kids to a few college keg parties
They'll decimate those brain cells in no time.

Seriously, though, a remarkable research finding.
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Chemisse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 11:23 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. LOL! Yes it is pretty intriguing. n/t
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mzmolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-11-11 03:54 PM
Response to Reply #1
11. Perhaps we should put alcohol back in cough medicine?
;)
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SidDithers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 09:47 AM
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2. I don't get it. How do childhood vaccines cause more neurons?...nt
Sid
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trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 10:56 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Oh, the anti-vax crowd will spin this into...
somehow the extra brain cells make kids more susceptible to vaccines causing autism. It's a non-falsifiable religion Sid, you and I both know that.
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SidDithers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. Gotta love non-falsifiability...
:hi:

Sid
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Chemisse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 11:25 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. Hmm. Maybe they're retroactive! LOL.
Seriously though, very few people (and zero scientists) still suspect childhood vaccines after their role was cleared in recent years by study after study.
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mzmolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-11-11 04:14 PM
Response to Reply #5
13. Respectfully, it's not accurate to say that zero scientists
Edited on Fri Nov-11-11 04:24 PM by mzmolly
believe vaccines play a role in the development of autism, in some children.
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mzmolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-11-11 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #2
12. Do you get how an environmental trigger might
interact differently with a different human brain?
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SheilaT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-09-11 12:24 PM
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6. Well that's interesting.
Especially when you consider Asperger's Syndrome. Many with it are extremely smart, and as far as I understand none with it are mentally retarded.

My own son as AS, and has a very large head. He's at the extremely smart end of the IQ curve, for what it's all worth.
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-10-11 01:03 PM
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8. It has been often noted that autistics tend to have large heads
Edited on Thu Nov-10-11 01:04 PM by Odin2005
This Aspie certainly does, LOL!
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sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-10-11 11:57 PM
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9. Their brains are like Sputnik!
Edited on Thu Nov-10-11 11:58 PM by sakabatou
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truedelphi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-11-11 03:42 PM
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10. here is where the science of this is so corrupt - if the children already have
Edited on Fri Nov-11-11 03:43 PM by truedelphi
Autism, then whatever agent caused the autism could also cause the neural development of the pre frontal brain cells to be different.

This reminds me of how at the beginning of the 1920's, all these various researchers published articles about the thymus, and it was decades down the line before some researcher pointed out that these studies were invalid because the thymus material that had been studied had all come from children who had died. So who wasn't to say that all the data was thus flawed? Including the weight shape and size of the examined thymuses.

Same here. One thing that the vaccine industry will not allow to be examined is the fact that heavy metals, especially mercury and formaldehyde, are extremely toxic to the human being.

I want to point out at this point is that all the various studies that have come about after the mercury (thimerosol) was removed from vaccination material - in these cases, formaldehyde was introduced as the preservative. And although formaldehyde is not as deadly as Mercury, it is still deadly.

Now it is possible that the difference between one child receiving a vaccine and becoming autistic and the next kid to get a vaccine (but who doesn't become autistic) could be related to any of these possibilities:

One) The nurse or health practitioner who didn't bother to shake up the vial of vaccine material before the injection of the first child did shake up the contents of the vaccination vial before the second child

Two) the child who didn't become autistic had a healthier diet, high in leafy green vegetables, which contain glutathione, and so their body flushed the heavy metals out of the child's system

Three) the child who didn't get autism was simply healthier, while the child who did become autistic was sick the day of the shot

Four) Both children did indeed develop autism, but the parents of the first child had always been dubious of vaccination, and saw to it that the event was reported, while the parents of the second child "believed" in the safety of vaccines, and didn't go the route of reporting the event.


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laconicsax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-11-11 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. That's quite the conspiracy!
:eyes:
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