My husband worked with teens with Asperger’s for years, and he noticed the same strong trend with the fathers. His theory is that that might play some part in why older fathers are more likely to have kids on the autism spectrum: men who have some level of functional Aspergers are more likely to take a longer time to find a partner and start a family, and more likely to pass on that genetic predisposition. So connection rather than causation.
Great. Just fucking great. One more reason I should never have children.
and 
at the same time.
If Google was a guy… (video)
My standard response to Antivax screed on fb while I still had antivax friends on fb. Can’t say that I miss them.
I can add one more case. A woman came up and started talking to me a supermarket. (She decided I must be a professor because who else can be there in the mid-morning and she had noticed me regularly.) It turned out her son had taken a course from me. Most names I forget as soon as the course ended, but not that one. Severe autism. He spoke at max volume and in individual words. Very painful to talk to and in any argument he usually got his way because no one wanted to argue with him. Then the father came by and the mother introduced us. I immediately said to myself: borderline autistic.
So you’re blaming the fathers, Dr Freud? And now mom’s will have some (anecdotal) evidence to push the blame somewhere else? :dubious:
Okay, interesting possible link! Bears some official study, but I can see it. Maybe doctors hadn’t made the connection because the mothers are usually the ones taking Junior to the doctor.
I hope you are all aware that SB 277 is actually part of a racist plot.
*"Minister Tony Muhammad, Western Regional Representative for the Nation of Islam, identifying himself as a Representative of Minister Louis Farrakhan, said, “This heinous bill has come to the attention of the black community. I’m here to represent a man who told me to tell you that this fight is a universal fight.”
He compared the bill to the story of the Pharaoh of Egypt killing all male babies under two in Egypt. “Could this be a bill to destroy our boy babies? I’m letting you know that the black community, we are not going to stand by.”"*
Man, that was difficult to read. The stupid kept getting in my eyes.
I don’t think it’s unknown - the gist of understanding in the field is that it’s from genetic predisposition and strongly patrilineal. Like most afflictions with genetic roots, the efforts are in finding the triggers and developmental causes, since those can theoretically be controlled more easily than genes.
Dear god the comments on that article.
That one has to be a parody, right?
Trump is apparently firmly in the vaccines-cause-autism camp, and Carson and Paul, who are doctors and should know better, didn’t smack him down for it last night: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/opinions/graham-cnn-debate/index.html
I saw the headline on the news.
I didn’t click it - I was deathly afraid that the loons trying to out-reactionary each other had actually revived this ultimate in anti-intellectualism.
It’s one thing to dislike the educated. It is another to condemn your child to an easily preventable disease because you have an incredibly deep-seated fear of science.
For those who thought Reagan’s revival of the Iowa class battleships (yes, it really happened) was the height of stupid - you ain’t seen nuttin’ yet…
The GOP - boldly going where no sane person would go…
But - hey! W almost admitted that the Global Warming just might, maybe have something to do with some human activity.
Global warming is caused by dinosaur farts.
America needs the battleship to kill the farting dinosaurs.
Regan nailed it in one.
Reagan did not sponsor the bill to re-activate the battleships-it was a Democrat senator from NJ.
OK, vaccines do not cause autism . . . but they cause severe “teh dumb” resulting in people believing that they cause autism.
There is no such thing as a Democrat senator. They’re Democratic senators.
So you admit that the two of you have a financial interest in promoting the claims of Big Pharma? :dubious:
Actually, if she wanted to sell more books, wouldn’t it be better in their interest to sow seeds of doubt and uncertainty? Get people skeered, and they might pick up a book to learn more…
Life Hacker just posted this great piece about vaccines, specifically why it’s not a good idea to “space them out”.
That’s what the title and cover blurbs are for, while leaving the insides intact. Unfortunately, vax friends are too earnest and forthright to have a single marketing bone in their bodies and would never consider fighting fire with fire. They need a photo of a white kid with measles or smallpox. Hard to find now, but give it a year.
The World Health Organization has declared Nigeria to be free of polio. That eliminates polio transmission from the African continent and leaves only Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries where polio is transmitted.
So close. Getting cooperation of tribal leaders in the last remaining areas will be a challenge. As will fighting the misconceptions and plain false beliefs that still allow this terrible disease to maintain a tenuous foothold.
WHO Removes Nigeria from Polio-Endemic List