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Century-Old Drug Reverses Signs of Autism In Mice
sciencehabit writes: A single dose of a century-old drug has eliminated autism symptoms in adult mice with an experimental form of the disorder. Originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, the compound, called suramin, quells a heightened stress response in neurons that researchers believe may underlie some traits of autism. The finding raises the hope that some hallmarks of the disorder may not be permanent, but could be correctable even in adulthood.
Any idea what will be at this domain when its entire userbase is cured?
Gaining a drug's approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the US — and similar government agencies in other countries — is a very expensive process. The expense is normally offset for by the patent(s) granted to the pharmaceutical company, that developed the drug, which make it an exclusive maker/seller of the medicine for decades.
However, if the drug is long-known — and only needs an approval for new application — who will undertake to pay for the approval, if there is no way to patent it and the approval will allow all drug-makers (both domestic and foreign) to put their own versions on the market?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
How about people?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Well, I think we all agree that enforcing "normality" is both stupid and impossible, because two people can pass each heading opposite directions looking for "normal".
As someone with Aspergers Syndrome this would be a godsend for me. There are many times where my adrenaline level is far above what is needed for the situation. It is extremely frustrating when most of my body is in full fight/flight response and there is a small voice in the back of my head saying "chill out dude, it's not that important". The problem is that the adrenal response usually overrides the cognitive response and bad things happen.
I just hope it does not impact the good things about autism such as the heightened ability to find and keep track of details.
provided it works on people (which is a big if, given that mice can't be autistic; they can only either exhibit behavior that when displayed in a human would be considered autistic, or otherwise have brain structures similar to those of people with autism. Also keep in mind that neural correlates of anything, though, are still rather tricky in contemporary neuroscience), I would take it if it alleviated the symptoms I experience negatively. If it would reduce the stress and anxiety I experience simply being around people or in about fifteen other situations, I would take it in a heartbeat. If it stopped me from enjoying the things I enjoy to the extent that I enjoy them, I would never take it. But maybe that's obvious.
If it let me correctly interpret what other people are thinking I would also take it.
There is a greater than 50% chance of adrenal cortical damage, but only a smaller proportion will require lifelong corticosteroid replacement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suramin
Ask not what big pharama can do for you, ask what you can do for big pharma, said Kohn F Jennedy, don't ever forget that.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
No, we can't treat with a goal of normality, but we can shoot for the goal of maximising happiness and increasing people's ability to not only function, but to excel in whatever environment they're in.
Probably from people who need lifelong care to cope with their condition.
n/t
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
When I have a teenaged nephew who can't form coherent sentences on a regular basis let alone ever live an independent life? Yeah, I think I get to represent his condition as something being wrong.
That's fine if you have this condition (or whatever you'd like to call it) and you're OK with the quality of your life but don't be making that decision for others. I have a bad hip, do you think it would be "wrong" of me to condemn anyone else who has a bad hip who's ready to seek medical treatment to make their life's situation easier for them? Or how about someone with Parkinson's? What about someone who is Bipolar? Where do you get off making the decision for others as to when their life works for them?
How about you stop trying to hunt for ways to make people who want to alter their life's condition via the use of medications seem like they're wrong for not embracing what makes them "unique and special"?
the chill pill will actually be able to be taken.
in the form of a vaccine?
There is a lot of grey area in between that has many ASD people worried. When the public face of autism awareness is often groups like Autism Speaks (which does not actually have any autistic leaders) that mostly exist to frighten parents into helping eradicate autism, non neurotypicals are not entirely out of line for worrying that if such treatments become possible people like them (many of whom are fully functioning members of society) might no longer exist due to parents not wanting their children to have this 'horrible life destroying condition'.
It's one thing to be "unique".
It's a completely different one to be SO "unique" that others shun you for being "weird", with you not even knowing WHY you are. And that you only get "weirder" if you try to mimic them to blend in somehow.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
And with some sort of perfect foresight, that'd be sensible. I'm not sure how possible it is.
I have Asperger's Syndrome and "normal" is not my goal. In fact, if I was neurotypical I would not be as skilled a programmer. I would like to control the situations where the Asperger's gets in the way of doing something I want to do. Too many time by body has been in full fight/flight and a small voice in my mind has said "Chill out dude. It not that important". The fight response has lost me a few jobs. Controlling the extremes is far from being "normal".
When did I suggest that it wasn't a good idea to have autism diagnosed? I most sincerely endorse diagnosis of it at the earliest possible opportunity, because knowing that much can change the entire world. I lived with undiagnosed autism for 30 years, and I can only guess at just how different my life could have been if it had been diagnosed when I was a child. According to nearly every adult that ever spoke with me, I was supposedly far above average in intelligence, but I dealt with no small amount of ostracization when I was a kid, which started with being called "stupid", and only got worse as I got older. To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of times while I was growing up, that I really wished I were more "normal"... but as an adult now, looking back on who I've become today, through it all... I wonder if I really had always just been like everybody else, if I would have been just as uncompassionate towards people who might be different from me as those who ridiculed me when I was growing up? If I had known when I was a child, at least I would have had an unshakable reason to understand why I was being seen as different.
Regardless.... autism is part of what makes me the person I am today.... and I honestly don't think that there's any part of it that really ever needed to be "cured", nor do I think we should be looking for one for others.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
If you teenage nephew had no symptoms of autism but had the same IQ and generally the same mental capacity, how much would his quality of life really change? Autism often has company, especially in the most visible cases, and if you the symptoms that lower his QoL are the ones that are not Autism, making him no longer autistic is not going to solve the problem.
Also, you seem to be more of the one pushing your agenda. He's not asking you to join his club, or to stop people from leaving his club, but rather, to leave it to the individual whether they are comfortable with being autistic. You make comparisons to Parkinson's and Bipolar, but others might compare it to being left-handed or homosexual. There are certainly QoL issues there as well, but the healthy among us tend to see the difficulties they face as being primarily issues of how our society is structured instead of an underlying inferiority.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Not sure why you were modded as Troll. I agree with you with one caveat. The article mentions that this isn't a cure but can alleviate some symptoms. If it helps those on the far end of the Autism spectrum to function in society, then I can see it being useful. If someone wants to take it so they can not feel uneasy looking in people's eyes, though, they should just get some help developing a coping mechanism. (I look at people's noses or right behind their head. This way, it looks like I'm looking in their eyes without having to do so.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
As the parent of a child with Autism, I always hate when I'm ready to buy something because it supports an Autism Charity, only to find out that one of the charity's platforms is "exposing the truth behind vaccines causing Autism."
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
To be blunt, a good portion of my team is probably to some degree "un-normal". At the very least they have severe shortcomings in the empathy department. And, believe it or not, I consider this an awesome trait.
First, there is very, very little that could possibly break their cool. As long as you keep them from experiencing sensory overload, but that's a different matter. They are, though, absolutely immune to the "I am important" spiel. And that is crucial. I need people who do not cave in just because someone waves an important title in front of their nose. It is comforting to know that their response to "But I am the CEO!" is "Oh good, then it should be easy for you to kick off the policy change that allows you to do that".
These people don't play the corporate game. They don't know how to play it and I'm GLAD that I have them. They follow the rules. TO THE LETTER. Because they know no other way to deal with them, they can't judge when to fudge, when to break and when to follow them. And I am in the fortunate situation that security is paramount here and that this allows me to protect them from self-absorbed board asshats.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Funny enough the supporters of "deaf culture" made the same noise as cochlear implants became more common. And the same thing will happen to the "autism rights" imbeciles that is now happening to the "deaf culture" ones--slow but sure annihilation. Good riddance, I say.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
I was diagnosed by a psychologist and expert in Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. I actually get a tax deduction due to it.
I know there are a few other Slashdot readers with a professional diagnosis of AS. What country gives out such tax deductions?
QFT
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
> "if I was neurotypical I would not be as skilled a programmer" [citation needed]
Post peer-reviewed, reproducible research backing up your anecdote, or I call BS. Only a small portion of good developers fall on the spectrum, and even if the incidence of ASD is greater among software developers than the general population, it's not that much of a difference, and, more importantly, still fails to back up your claim.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
People need to eat to live, and people need to get a job to eat. I've found that not enough employers understand how to make the most of an employee with noticeable autism symptoms.
I can't tell if you're joking by posting the same content twice, but if you are, well done, sir.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
There's a good chance you are correct, but don't wrap your life around it. This is evidence based on mice, and people are significantly different. Many things that work on mice don't work on people.
Also, it's not certain that it would have precisely the effect that you are hoping for. It *might*.
That said, check out the side effects of suramin, and *if* they aren't too bad you might see if you can get a doctor to prescribe some for "off label" use. Your insurance probably won't pay, but the patents have probably expired, so it might well be cheap enough to afford.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
In the United States, my Asperger's diagnosis qualified me for vocational rehabilitation services from the state of Indiana, mostly assistance with job placement and interviews. But I'm not aware of any sort of tax deduction for having an impairment unless the impairment is severe enough to make the person unable to engage in "substantial gainful activity". Unless an individual is blind, the SSA defines SGA as an income close to the current poverty level.
Want to do a fun activity? Close your eyes and count to ten. By the time you get to 2, someone will have magically pulled a renewed 100 year old patent out of their ass so they can collect royalties and make it cost $1000 a dose instead of $10. Yay medical patents!
... it is revealed the cure for Autism is pure, undiluted Thimerosal.
Regaining normal moods and behaviors is probably a lot more joyful than writing better code. You might even write better code if normalized. It is almost like someone who is blind or deaf pointing out that there are some benefits with their disabilities. They are not in a situation in which they can judge as they usually have no clue as to what they are missing.
Where does anyone else get off saying that there must be something "wrong" with me because I have autism?
If I have , does anybody have the right to say something is "wrong" with me?
Yes. They do.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not the original poster, but here you go...
What aspects of autism predispose to talent?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
Enhanced perception in savant syndrome: patterns, structure and creativity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
The savant syndrome: intellectual impairment and exceptional skill.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
Comparing the intelligence profiles of savant and nonsavant individuals with autistic disorder
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...
Read more carefully what I'm saying. There's an IF in there. IF there are other conditions that are responsible for lowering his QoL, THEN removing autism symptoms won't change those. If he has an IQ south of 70 and autism, and he no longer has autism for all intents and purposes, he still has an IQ south of 70, and that may be the real problem.
I'm saying that the problem is that society is structured towards neurotypical mindsets. That doesn't mean the best solution is necessarily all going to be on the side of changing society. Left handed people often learn to do various tasks right-handed, and that is the most practical solution in many cases. Even if accommodations are made for them often, they will probably be in situations where said accommodations are not available (having known a few southpaw musicians, almost all of them who take it even kind of seriously can get by on right handed instruments) . However, understanding that left handed people are left handed and may have more difficulty learning to do things right handed makes that process a lot easier than assuming that the lefty just has poor motor skills. It also lets us know that trying to force a left handed person to be right handed is somewhat of a cruel action, and forcing someone who is gay to be straight is a very cruel action.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Aspergers is under the autism label because a person with Aspergers is actually autistic. There are numerous things under ASD which are not autism, of course... but Aspergers is not one of them. Aspergers is realy just a high-functioning autism.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I could not have said it better myself.
You expressed with considerably more grace and dignity (not to mention far less profanity) than what I could muster exactly the point that I was trying to say.
Thank you.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I agree why bother. .. they'll outsmart, outperform and outbreed the non-autists anyway. Nature will run its course, natural selection ftw!
Autists dont need to be corrected
Unless these non-autists get themselves corrected by medicine ofcourse..
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Get your hip fixed and give me my meds. The tool who told you not to is a tool. And he is getting older by the minute too. At some point, he will need a walker, wheelchair, meds, hearing aids, reading glasses, and lots of crap just to keep his ticker going. Its a Republican thing to be young and 'I don't ever need health care'. When you get old, you might get crotchety, but the docs don't come to you: you wind up going to them. And they fix you and make your life better. Fuck this "embrace your uniqueness" shit.
Another one of these drugs is NAC (n-acetylcystein) which is sold as an OTC expectorant in some countries (not in the US for some reason):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
I had always misinterpreted the term "helicopter parenting" to mean the exact opposite of what it means: To me the thing that characterizes a helicopter is the fact that it can land and take off at arbitrary places... So I assumed that this mean a parent who drops in on their child (out of the blue) and then disappears... i.e. intermittent parenting. But apparently people think that helicopters can hover in one place for long periods of time and use it to mean the opposite - a parent who hangs around / hovers around their child too much. I have never gotten used to the term... It just strikes me as the wrong way to think about helicopters :)
It seems divided:
1) Aspies mostly believes self-diagnosis is OK, even when properly diagnosed by professionals. That's probably the way they took the first step towards diagnosis after all. However, not everybody wants to be "tagged", for some future culling (history being the only evidence you need for that).
You are more likely to be killed for your race, religion (or lack of), clothing, sex, sexual preferences or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But you keep worrying about those "aspie killers", LOL.
2) Non-aspies thinks illogical thoughts as usual, lacking insight, intuition and reality-checks. However, they DO excel at patting eachother's backs and dissing everyone who is "different". Same old, same old.
How anyone can be jealous on aspies are beyond me. If we're lucky we can socialize, but get very "hot" in the head quickly, and it always drains us of energy. In the worse cases, aspies can hardly function socially at all, as well as in life even.
Btw, someone who self-diagnose are probably way more introspective and insightful than someone accepting any external advice without any discrimination and verification, and thus more mentally and physically healthy as a result.
You can't like science with an attitude like that. No self diagnosis doesn't work like that, just like horoscopes seems to fit everyone there are a lot of diagnostics criteria someone not skilled in the area may think apply while someone with proper education knows doesn't. Self suggestion and the placebo effect (thinking something makes that something true - at least mentally) also applies. There's no joke that a lot of people gets discouraged from reading medical texts by their doctors as they begin to think the symptoms they read apply to them, this isn't including hypocondriacs which is an illness in itself.
Just try to realize that humans (as all animals) are different from genetics, upbringing, environmental factors (leaded gasoline anyone?) and just simply chance. E.g. being creative or having social skills are partially "free" and partially something that can be trained.
Most traits of individuals aren't and shouldn't be diagnosed as an illness, that includes the traits of most self-diagnosed people...
Same... when I first heard the term I thought it was similar in meaning to "Seagull manager", but for parents. It does make sense when you see parents hanging around like a news chopper over a house fire, though.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
Isn't this reservation applicable to any drug, or even any interaction? So the optimal choice of action would always be - nothing? If not, then why are the situations were it is not the case different from medical treatments?
Not in the context of my argument, if you look back, I said focusing on more extreme(and obviously debilitating) cases is a better approach.
Kirk: Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain!
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
For every feel-good article about autism there's a dozen real-life cases like yours.
I wish you nothing but the best of luck.
"Like children with autism, the mice born after these pregnancies were less social and did not seek novelty; they avoided unfamiliar mice and passed up the chance to explore new runs of a maze. In the 2013 paper, the researchers reported that these traits vanished after weekly injections of suramin begun when the mice were 6 weeks old (equivalent to 15-year-old humans)." Those are autism traits? Seems more like those are basic survival traits. Right? I mean you wouldn't want your kid hanging out with strangers and checking out every dark alley they come across.
Finally the world will get rid of this horrible plague of mouse autism!!
-- 29A the number of the Beast