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Mice Cured of Autism
noahisaac writes "My brother just sent me an article he posted for the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation about a cure for Rett Syndrome, a form of autism. According to the article, researchers successfully re-introduced a fully functional version of the MECP2 gene into mice that had been born with damaged MECP2 genes. Contrary to their expectations, the mice improved. In the article's words, 'restoration of fully functional MECP2 over a four week period eradicated tremors and normalized breathing, mobility and gait in mice that had previously been fully symptomatic and, in some cases, only days away from death.' The ramifications for people suffering from Rett Syndrome are obvious, but mutations of the MECP2 gene are also believed to be the cause of 'classic' autism, and a number of other neurological disorders."
The ramifications for people suffering from Rett Syndrome are obvious, but mutations of the MECP2 gene are also believed to be the cause of 'classic' autism, and a number of other neurological disorders."
So they're saying this will cure people of World of Warcraft?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard
If there is a cure for autism - and it's close cousin, aspergers - then most of us on slashdot will get a life.
How much will the treatment cost Rainman?
"About a hundred dollars."
In other news, a nerdy engineer turns into a superb personnel manager after the genes are corrected. The only problem is the manager now has no way of understanding the code and schematics previously thought to be "fully documented".
no more mice counting cards in Vegas with their brothers?
"1 for bad, 2 for good..."
So they spliced a stop codon into the middle of the relevant gene to disable it, then delivered an enzyme all the way to cell nuclei (!) to delete what they spliced in. The next step then it seems is then to find or engineer a proper enzyme to patch a naturally occurring gene defect -- they've basically proven that runtime patching of the genome works. Nice.
...when you're writing a game...tweak the difficulty of "Easy" to something [your mother] can cope with. -- onion2k
The rats never had autism -- they had Rett syndrome, which was cured. Why does the poster seem to feel that the results here can be generalized to a similar disorder, when it's not even well understood why it even worked for the first?
Good job! Nice to hear of such groundbreaking discoveries! This made my day!
Men, apparently, need not apply- these specific behaviors are female symptoms mostly. I wonder, though- is this the cause of the difference between heavy metal poisoning causing autism and genetics causing autism?
From TFA: * Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a severe childhood neurological disorder, diagnosed almost exclusively in girls. The most physically disabling of the autism spectrum disorders, RTT strikes at random, affecting an estimated 1 in every 10,000 females.
* First symptoms usually appear between 6 to 18 months of age. Development slows or begins to regress. Children at this stage may exhibit the social withdrawal often seen in autism, or cry inconsolably for months as previously acquired language and motor skills disappear. In classic RTT, this regression is accompanied by the onset of constant, compulsive hand wringing and the loss of all functional hand use. The progression of symptoms varies across the RTT spectrum. Many children become wheelchair bound; those who walk display an abnormal stiff-legged gait.
* As the disease progresses, abnormal voluntary and involuntary movements reflect increasing neurological deficits. The children suffer apraxia, the inability to organize voluntary movement. Parkinson-like tremors are common, as are disordered breathing patterns and problems with chewing and swallowing. Some children require feeding tubes or supplementary oxygen. Abnormal brain wave patterns are present in RTT; a percentage of the children experience seizures.
* The only autism spectrum disorder with a known genetic cause, RTT results from mutations in the gene MECP2. This gene was first discovered by Adrian Bird, Ph.D in 1990. MECP2 regulates the expression of other genes by turning them off at the appropriate time.
* Mutations in MECP2 were identified as the cause of RTT in 1999 in the lab of Huda Zoghbi, M.D. MECP2 mutations are now being seen in some cases of childhood schizophrenia, classic autism and learning disabilities.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
MECP2 as "the cause" of autism is overblown-- scientists have isolated several genetic areas that are somewhat probable contributors toward developing autism, but
1. Autism is definitely caused by the contributions of many genes;
2. There are various ways autism presents itself- presumably due to varying genetic contributions. Rett Syndrome is (in my understanding) an atypically (genetically) simple form of autism.
Self-diagnosed Aspergers sufferers will suddenly find themselves without any excuse for their behavior.
...that rocks.
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
Obligatory Douglas Adams:
And far away in some distant dimension, some pan-dimensional hyperintelligent beings have suddenly become extremely anti-social, developed a limp, and are currently wondering if this search for the ultimate question is worth all the bother...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
From: http://www.autistics.org/library/dontmourn.html
Autism isn't something a person has, or a "shell" that a person is trapped inside. There's no normal child hidden behind the autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence. It is not possible to separate the autism from the person--and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the same person you started with.
This is important, so take a moment to consider it: Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism.
Therefore, when parents say,
"I wish my child did not have autism,"
what they're really saying is,
"I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead."
Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.
A story about Water Brain Timmy getting cured, and his role model dies, and its marked as off-topic?
Here is the source of this info.
They keep curing the mice!!! what about us humans? ... :-) [yes this is a joke].
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Actually, a cure for WOW is in development. You can check it out how the cure is coming along here
Happy the restraining order can no longer be enforced?
They've reversed (something like) Rett Syndrome in mice, showing that the nerve malfunctioning is reversable. In humans, however, missing vital developmental milestones is not reversable. E.g. normally we acquire grammar by age three, but if for some reason we don't acquire it before the age of about 10, we never will (or only very poorly.) So even if this treatment transfers to humans, it is unlikely to be a complete miracle cure for adult Rett Syndrome (or autistic) people.
Here's another article about it.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
Yup, that will work. Then 1 in 3 children will die from smallpox and the rest from other diseases. There won't be anyone left to catch Autism...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Congratulations to the all the Universities & Research Institutions & all their staff involved.
The U.S. & Canada have terrific engineers and bio-researchers, but we need even more, yet we are not increasing students in these arenas, we are seeing declines in most notes I see (decidedly unscientific, I am). And it starts with parents.
Some parents don't care, and others take a "social" position of telling their kids to become something "popular" like a Lawyer. I have a god-daughter who is a straight A student, and she is already thinking she wants to be a lawyer. The last survey I heard in So. Cal. was that about 2 out of 3 lawyers there would pick another occupation if they "knew what they know now" and could do it over again.
I just don't think we need more lawyers.
When the cure Apserger's we will all spell better.
Autism is contagious? Oh shit!
Okay, hypothetically, you cure someone from a form of autism. What then? There's still a social aspect to behavior, one that having whatever syndrome on the autistic spectrum is sure to leave a hole in. Who knows, on human patients who have grown up with, say, Asperger's, does anyone really know if their life will improve? They may already be beyond the socialization phase. There could be some kind of 'social shock' following this supposed cure. Nonetheless, we're probably a long ways of from seeing anything even close to this being done on humans.
Sorry. In fact, my first reaction to the headline was Mice Cured Who? of Autism, picturing some kind of regimen designed to help human by engaging them with software.
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
Check out the rank ordered list of bi-variate ecological correlations with autism (ecology at the State level):
e .cgi
a 1998) bettering r1=0.416806570345255 and r2=0.429065274233648e rcapita1998) bettering r1=0.0415403559840862 and r2=0.428994227300325e rcapita1998) bettering r1=0.032753948828485 and r2=0.433268832849086e rcapita1998) bettering r1=0.0386533075155627 and r2=0.428994227300325e rcapita1998) bettering r1=0.0293946227549309 and r2=0.433268832849086q uareMilePerYear1941to1996) bettering r1=0.416806570345255 and r2=-0.2456620400828468 ) bettering r1=0.473217563942744 and r2=0.3948977437946e rcapita1998) bettering r1=0.0504680681454933 and r2=0.415965047850537 ) bettering r1=0.416806570345255 and r2=0.322376040851882 ... etc.
Maximum by-State bivariate corelations with autism percapita 2000.
The following lines each contain the following items:
1) Correlation coefficient.
2) A function applied to adjust a State's percapita autism.
() means no function applied.
sqrt() means the square root was taken.
log() means the natural logarithm was taken.
3) The bivariate formula predicting the previously adjusted autism rate.
4) r1 is the correlation of the first variable alone with autism.
5) r2 is the correlation of the second variable alone with autism.
To generate a scattergram and see the raw data:
See http://laboratoryofthestates.com/cgi-bin/correlat
then enter "AutismPercapita2000SansOregonAndMass" for the vertical
and the formula given below for the horizontal.
-----------------
0.600310870050065 () sqrt(FinnishPercapita1990*ImmigrantsIndiaPercapit
0.599979036637678 sqrt() log(GSPIndustriesPerGSP1999*ImmigrantsNonWesternP
0.599618721521368 log() log(GSPIndustriesPerGSP1999*ImmigrantsNonWesternP
0.594501164716388 sqrt() log(GSPIndustriesPerGSP2000*ImmigrantsNonWesternP
0.593739683661006 log() log(GSPIndustriesPerGSP2000*ImmigrantsNonWesternP
0.590410355019427 () sqrt(FinnishPercapita1990/UFOReportsPercapitaPerS
0.589344939529547 () (FinnishPercapita1990*ImmigrantsIndiaPercapita199
0.588776855937162 () log(GSPIndustriesPerGSP1999*ImmigrantsNonWesternP
0.586104765698104 () sqrt(FinnishPercapita1990*H1BWithJobsPercapita199
Seastead this.
Just when I had the pet rat counting cards. The house always wins I tells ya.
In Soviet Russia, autism cures YOU!
>mutations of the MECP2 gene are also believed to be the cause of 'classic' autism, and a number of other neurological disorders.
Classic autism aside, I think a lot of people are suffering from a sociological autism that will *not* be improved by gene therapy. What is autism exactly, is there a definition? I can imagine one, but I'm not sure everyone is on the same page with this relatively new disease.
In other words, I don't think gene therapy will get my dad to shop at designer clothing stores, get his car tuned, or hire contractors to improve his house.
Mice are cheap and most home users have hamster
Hell, you could make that argument for ANYTHING.
Therefore, when parents say,
"I wish my child did not have the flu,"
what they're really saying is,
"I wish the sneezing, sniffling child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-flu-having) child instead."
Duh.
Wake me up when they've cured altruism.
Oh wait...
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
In may work in mice, but it may not apply the same for humans...
iTx Technologies: Open source development in Montreal
With all the medicine advances for mice, they might even conquer the world eventually.
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
DEFINITELY good news...
DEFINITELY cool....
DEFINITELY....
Joke DEFINITELY over....
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
Why would many of the functional autistics want that? Hell, why would the non-functionals? The functionals (including AS) have a greater intellect, and do not seem hindered with lies, personal relationships, or other blights.
The non-functionals are completely submersed in their own world, and given how crappy the real world is, how dare people "cure" them of this?
All in all, autistics are genetically superior to all neurotypicals, and should be honored as such.
Alert me after anyone ameliorates alliteration, an absolutely agonizing ailment.
...If I had the mod points I would do it myself.
I have been officially diagnosed with Aspergers and I can attest to much of what the parent has stated.
If I had been born with a typical neural system I would not be the person that I am today. True, I spent time (and still do) obsessively pursuing new interests while other people were busy making friends, but those things that I learn are all useful and many of them allow me to earn a decent income. In fact, I suspect having Aspergers allows me to become proficient at new things more quickly than most people because once I get interested in something I work at it every chance I get.
In a way, having Aspergers is an asset despite the price that I pay for it (the price can be rather steep in the areas of personal relationships and physical aptitude since I also have Dyspraxia) -- most people spend their lives becoming specialized on only a few things; due to the fact that I remember everything about my past interests I am constantly becoming more versatile and I have an ever-increasing skill set.
"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."
Rett syndrome is not even considered a form of autism. They are both pervasive developmental disorders, but they are not both autistic spectrum disorders. This article is horrendous.
+5 Insightful. Srsly.
Actually Rett syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder, not a form of autism. They are both pervasive developmental disorders, however, Rett syndrome does not fit into the class of Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
They share some sympotomatology... and that's about it.
We do not need you to spew your FACTS here!
The latest Slashdot meme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_For_Algernon
Heck, the "organic" food crowd would have you believe, that eating genetically modified foods may be gravely dangerous to you and the humanity.
I would've ignored this crowd for the loons they are, yet, unfortunately, for well-grown food to be given the coveted "Organic" label, it has to be made from non-GM ingredients. That's just annoying — and gratuitously more expensive.
Yet here they are talking about genetically modifying people directly... Why are we willing to modify a sick person's genes, but not those of cows or maize?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
I'm pretty sure the rise in diagnosis of autism correlates with a decline in the number of women smoking while pregnant and a rise in women having children later in life, so we should stop getting immunized AND start smoking more AND have more premarital sex.
You had me at "have more premarital sex."
Remember, it's for the children!!
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Genetic studies are showing fairly clearly now that there is no single gene implicated in autism. When different people are tested, it shows involvement in multiple chromosomes, and in multiple different sites on the same chromosome in different people. There is considerably variability from one person to another. As others have mentioned above, Rett's is different in presentation and likely etiology than other forms of autism. This study likely has limited relevance to treatment of any form of autism other than Rett's.
It's the powerup you do not want to take while stuck in the cube!
Circumcision is child abuse.
The issue is that there has developed the attitude among (some) deaf people that being deaf and speaking sign have created a deaf community and culture separate (or at least equally valid) as that of the 'hearing community.' More to the point, they view medical treatment for deafness as an imposition and threat to their culture. From Deaf Community at Wikipedia: "A belief commonly shared by Deaf people from around the world is that deafness should not be regarded as an impairment or disability."
An analogy I've come to appreciate is that of deaf culture to the gay community: One could argue that being gay is a genetic flaw, as it gets in the way of the most efficient possible reproduction rates. However, most gay people (and an ever-growing number of straight people) would say that being gay does not mean they are "flawed." In the movie 'The Family Stones' there is a scene where one character asks a gay man whether he would want the child he is attempting to adopt to be gay, because it must have been incredibly difficult growing up gay in this society. The gay man's mother objects, saying there is something wrong with society, not with her son. (That's from memory, so it may not be exactly right, but it's the basic idea of the scene.) There are people in the deaf community who would argue the same thing, that being deaf is not a disability or disadvantage, and it is only because society makes it difficult to be deaf that there are problems. (I think the scene is also interesting because the man is also deaf, but that's not really important for the analogy...)
That said, I disagree with the concept of deaf culture and would tend to agree that deafness is a disability. However, I also feel very strongly that being gay is not a disability and that it is society's 'fault' that gay people have problems existing in the world. I've thought a lot about it (the comparison of gay-ness and deaf-ness as genetic 'problems') and have come up with primarily emotional reasons for feeling the way I do, rather than logical ones...
I'm only aware of the idea of deaf culture because my mom works extensively with the deaf students and is fluent in sign language. Although neither she nor I are deaf (or even have any particular hearing problems) we've talked a lot about this and I feel qualified to comment on it. I must add that this is all my understanding of things and someone who is deaf would probably know better than I.
If you're still interested in the idea of deaf culture, the movie Sound and Fury might be interesting, as it's a documentary about a deaf culture (in part) and much of the movie focuses on a family of two (genetically) deaf parents with children who also have genetic hearing problems. A question throughout the movie is whether or not to 'fix' the children with cochlear implants (which can provide partial hearing, depending on the cause of deafness). The documentary ends with the decision to not get the implants in most of the children, but there was recently a followup documentary in which almost all of the children (and some of the adults) have now gotten cochlear implants and are enjoying having partial hearing. The wikipedia article on Sound and Fury has some more info.
Phew! That was more than I thought I was going to type. Hope it's helpful to someone...
-Trillian
That sounds FUCK great!
http://outcampaign.org/
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Its not bullshit, there are many kids who didn't have any autistic symptoms and subsequently developed them immediately after their shots. A subset of these kids then got much improved upon doing chelation therapy for mercury poisoning. If Autism was just genetic, its rates wouldn't be increasing as more people aren't just magically getting the gene and passing it on to their kids. Its is far more likely that the majority of the kids considered Autistic in the past 10 years have a greater genetic susceptibility to damage by heavy metals, and getting 20 shots that contain mercury before their first birthday put them over the edge. Because what has been increasing sine the late 80s/early 90s is the number of mercury containing vaccines required for babies.
= search&DB=pubmed
The idea that there is mercury in vaccines and dental fillings in this country still is just fscking nuts anyhow. Its not necessary in either case and should be banned as it has been in many European countries. For christ sake, we freak out about eating a can of tuna once a week, but we shoot Hg into our babies and put it in our mouth. What a modern society have we..
For further evidence of mercury toxicity in Autism, see:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD
Its not the immunizations, its the preservative Thimeresol that was used in most childhood vaccines up until a year or so ago. Thimeresol is Ethyl mercury, a very toxic chemical. Why they decided to use that in vaccines is beyond me, seems like the last thing you'd want to shoot into a baby. In any case, it *is* possible to make vaccines that don't contain Thimeresol, so people can still be immunized and not get mercury poisoning. Its primarily a cost issue, as non preservative containing vaccines have to be made in single dose vials, whereas their mercury containing counterparts can be distributed in multi-dose vials. Hardly a worthwhile tradeoff IMHO
If you read the article carefully you will note that the experiment proved that the effects of the disorder could be reversed if a treatment is found. Whereas everyone expected them to be permanent.
They did not however find a cure for rett syndrome, they found a cure for a fake rett syndrome they created in a cleverly reversible way. They inserted blocking genes in front of the gene responsible for the disorder and then used a treatment which could actually remove the block in the grown mice that grew from those genes, they did nothing to the actual gene. If the genes they started with had been mutated to begin with then the treatment wouldn't have cured them.
The article makes a big deal about it sort of being a cure, at least for the mice involved, but whats really interesting here is the fact that damage from genetic neurological disorders might not be irreversible if treatments can be found.
so yeah one day you will all stop reading the internet compulsively and gaming 24/7 and just sit calmly in front of the television like normal people.
I believe the domain name www.stevesliva2008.com is available.
Just sayin'
...to play the mouse in the film version.
No chance of a "Gone With The Wind" remake then?
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I have read a fascinating book called "Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon that deals with this subject matter.
Amazon clip:
Corporate life in early 21st-century America is even more ruthless than it was at the turn of the millennium. Lou Arrendale, well compensated for his remarkable pattern-recognition skills, enjoys his job and expects never to lose it. But he has a new boss, a man who thinks Lou and the others in his building are a liability. Lou and his coworkers are autistic. And the new boss is going to fire Lou and all his coworkers--unless they agree to undergo an experimental new procedure to "cure" them.
The short version: Autistics all have gifts that we just don't recognize, what if they don't want to be 'cured'
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
While Rett's syndrome falls into the rubric of pervasive developmental disorders, it is not technically considered a form of autism, but in fact often mistaken for autism at time of diagnosis. This is because the victims develop normally for the first 12-24 months of life then have rapid loss of social and cognitive skills. Another point is that the overwhelming majority of the patients are female because it is felt the genetic defect is lethal in utero in males and those males that are born generally die in the first year of life. Additionally, unlike autism and Aspergers, Rett's has a definitive genetic link (note they say the the genetic defect _MAY_ be linked to classic autism). Therefore, it is not surprising that someone eventually found a treatment. The etiology of autism is less clear, more likely due to a combinatorial effect of genetics and environment, and is much less likely to be "cured." People in this forum need to get the facts straight before talking about WoW players, /.ers, etc because Rett's is a serious disease.
Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.
I hear you. My son was born without any arms and legs.
My favorite of his doctors and therapists are those who are enthusiastic and pragmatic about finding ways for him to do things he wants to do (including, for some tasks, prosthetics he wears for limited periods of time).
My least favorite of his doctors and therapists are those who keep saying how great it will be when these bionic limbs they see on NOVA and at their seminars become available. I don't think he's going to want any such thing. They'll be hot (he has a big problem with losing heat fast enough) and heavy (I don't care how good they are, they aren't going to be self supporting against gravity like real limbs). But this other set of professionals can't seem to see him as anything but broken and needing fixing, rather than somebody who just needs a different set of tools available.
While, I am glad to see that progress has been made in curing Rett's, the title is misleading and a bit pretensive. As a parent with an autistic child, and a volunteer for autistic work programs, I believe, IMHO, that autism is who somebody is, not what they have. My stepson is one of the brightest, most behaved and loving children his age that I know. Does he have his rough days, yes. But, I wouldn't change him one bit. As far as I'm concerned, quit trying to find a "cure" for autism, and concentrate on researching the best ways to teach and nurture those who are autistic to best function in the world today.
I'm one of presumably the minority of people with autism (I was diagnosed at 16 with NLD after the usual traumatic experience with the neurotypical education system) who'd love to be cured myself, if such a thing became available. Autism is a genetic aberration and a curse, for the most part, and needs to be seen as such. Being autistic is neither glamorous or enjoyable, and the only people who try and see it as a blessing are those who wish to gain some extra privelege over and above the normal population, as members of yet another minority. The neurotypical population sees us as the proverbial sewer-dwelling mutants for a reason; it's because we genuinely are.
I've also written numerous times that I believe that the overwhelming predominance of autism in the Linux community is the single main thing holding Linux as an operating system back. Autistics who use Linux (Stallman being primary among them) believe that their philosophical view is morally superior, when I feel that in reality it (particularly the degree of repetitive consistency of the message over time) is simply a result of their neurological disability.
The "five freedoms" aren't things Linux users care about so strongly because they're people with an inherently more developed moral sense than most people, or because of the inherent moral value of the ideas; they're things that Linux users care about to that degree because autism causes rote, uncontrollable fixations with certain concepts or areas of interest, sometimes on a long term basis. In some kids with Asperger's it's trains or a collection of toilet brushes. In the case of Stallman and the Debian developers, it's a perverted definition of software freedom. The fixation is with an abstract concept rather than physical objects, but that's about the only difference.
As the parent of a 13 year old son with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified) I don't find a lot of your remarks that funny. Flowers for.. was about a retarded man, not an autistic one. I don't think you people have any clue what life is like for my son, my daughter, my wife and myself. Of course you wouldn't, you are all in your mom's basement gaming and maturbating. We can hope for a cure anyway... Then your mom can have her house back.
No word yet on whether the formerly autistic mice were still able to play the piano, perform complex calculus in their heads, or consistently beat the house at Blackjack.
Life needs more saving throws.
I read "Mice cured of altruism" ?
Too true. Ive seen the exact same thing happen to friends and realatives who started taking anti depressants. These things evolved for a reason and shouldn't be medicated away. Diversity of the species ftw.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
The definition is in the DSM. Rett's syndrome has a different set of criteria.
On vit, on code et puis on meurt.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD
That's just the web site of PubMed, which is the index to the entire peer-reviewed medical literature.
That's like saying, "If you go to the library, you'll find lots of books that prove my point." Without mentioning which books they are.
(If you do want to look something up on Pubmed, Lancet, the journal that started the whole thing, now says that mercury-containing vaccines are harmless and save lots of lives.)