Drug Reverses Retardation In Mice

snydeq writes "Rapamycin, a medication doctors prescribe to transplant patients to prevent organ rejection, has been used to reverse learning disorders and mild retardation associated with TSC (tuberous sclerosis complex) in mice. Because the condition is linked to autism, scientists believe the drug may be used to treat learning disabilities and short-term memory deficits in all kinds of autism as well. The scientists chose rapamycin after they realized the drug regulates one of the same proteins that the TSC gene does, just in different parts of the body. 'What was surprising is that we could give rapamycin to adult mice and reverse their condition,' said neurobiologist Alcino Silva of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. 'We did not know ... that this drug would be equally effective for the learning disabilities as it is for tissue rejection.' Rapamycin treatment leveled the playing field between normal and TSC mice in as little as three days."

Comments

How do you tell a mouse is mentally Impaired?

[Technopaladin]

Well besides the obvious...votes Republican and makes less the 150k a year, Laughs at Carlos Mencia jokes, and lawyers beat it through the maze?

Guessing a drug that cures those symptoms would truly be a blessing

Re:How do you tell a mouse is mentally Impaired?

[Technopaladin]

I gotta ask. Whoever marked me down troll...which of the 3 were you?

Re:$1k per month

[Hurricane78]

> 1K to turn someone into a productive slave of the pharma industry and lead a meaningless life?

Here, fixed that for you.

Re:Cool!

[billcopc]

I hate replying to ACs, they're all trolls!

Anyway, there's nothing dumb about dropping out of school, _if_ it's done for the right reasons.

1. The North American school systems are garbage, they even fail at instilling basic discipline and respect.

2. These days you can't get shit with most college/uni degrees anyway. Experience trumps education every time.

3. Money, contrary to what many believe, is not the key to happiness. I would gladly take a pay cut to work a job that's more in-line with my own interests. The "fun" lost from not being about to buy as much crap, would be replaced and surpassed by fun on the job.

4. People with high IQ are always expected to be visionaries and change the world overnight. Sure, maybe if I dedicated 24 hours a day to finding the cure for Americanism, I might actually find it one day. Guess what ? I don't wanna. I'm way happier poking at computers all day long, using perhaps one-tenth of my mental capacity for work, another 1% for replying to AC trolls on /., and the remainder for my own enjoyment.

Y'know what ? Maybe the GP's daughter actually likes what she's doing, and thus the GameStop job gets her what she wants: money, and games. Hell, I used to run a computer store; it let me make money doing what I do, and gave me the time and resources to build the most ridiculous PCs for kicks. Plus I had plenty of time to flame people on /.