So it seems like my Cat Lady hypothesis linking toxoplasmosis and crazy cattitude that I blogged about in August of 2006 seems to have taken root elsewhere in the scientific community. The New York Times is reporting that the crazy idea may not be so crazy.

“That idea doesn’t seem completely crazy,” Sapolsky says. “But there’s no data supporting it.” [Toxo expert Robert Sapolsky of Stanford]

Not yet. But Jaroslav Flegr, an evolutionary biologist at Charles University in the Czech Republic, is looking into it.

It’s a rather simple leap in logic for anyone who knows the effects of toxoplasmosis, so I’m not surprised that someone else glommed onto the idea. However, I like to think that I may have helped it percolate to the surface, so now it can get some actual scientific study.

The next time I read anyone saying that “autism is not a disorder but simply a different way of being,” and using the stupid label neurodiversity (or worse, the reverse term neurotypical), I’m pointing them to this study:

Autism Costs Society An Estimated $3 Million Per Patient, According To Report
Each individual with autism accrues about $3.2 million in costs to society over his or her lifetime, with lost productivity and adult care being the most expensive components, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on autism spectrum disorders.
read the rest of the article at Science Daily

Sure we should treat autistics like human beings rather than broken misfit toys to be fixed. That goes without saying really. As does the idea that autistics should be supported in a manner that best supports their mindset.

Cure = Genocide!?!

There is no way to cure autism once it is set in, and I doubt we’ll ever find a cure that works that way. However, there may be hope to tackle it earlier through gene therapy or other means during the fetal development process. Some of the anti-cure zealots of the Autism rights movement refer to this form of prevention as genocide.

Now where they do have a bit of a point is when we only have the technology for prenatal diagnosis but not treatment. In this situation the mother is given only the options of either going forward with the pregnancy or termination. this is the scenario put forth by the reactionary people behind the The Autistic Genocide Clock.

Of course all this assumes that all our diagnosis tests are really accurate and highly predictive, which is a BIG if; usually the level of prognostication is low unless it’s a blatant physical defect. Most likely the parents will be told something like: “The test results show that your fetus has a XX% chance of developing autism. This is not a guarantee that your child will have autism and we don’t know where on the spectrum of autism your child will be. It could be mild or it could be severe” After, this it’s up to the mother.

It’s not good news to be sure, and some mothers will terminate out of fear for the worst. However, even if it’s at the mild end of the spectrum it still requires a lot of support both emotionally, physically, and financially, which some mothers may feel they couldn’t handle. Even in this situation it is the mother’s choice; just like when it’s the mother’s choice when she doesn’t feel she could handle a “normal” baby. It’s really not that much different.

New issue (episode, showing, sequestering, parade?) of Encephalon is out hosted this time on Peripersonal Space: Encephalon 19: Emotion and Reason Match Postponed Due to Flares on the Pitch, Hooliganism!

Didn’t have time to read all the articles, but I recommend A neural substrate for moral decisions.

Hopefully I’ll have time to get back to real reading and posting soon. Been too busy with work, school, side projects and a short but obnoxious bout with a norovirus.

The tour presentation went exceedingly well with rave reviews—though frankly it’s hard for it not to with Dr. Harrison, the “Father of Fetal Surgery” giving the talk. It was filmed too which is excellent, and I’ll endeavor to link to it once it’s edited and online.

The main point of Dr. Harrison’s talk was how intrinsic fetal diagnosis and therapy is going to be for the future of medicine. Currently, most people think of fetal treatment solely as the surgical treatment of birth defects. However, as neonatal diagnosis improves, we will be able to diagnose more and more childhood diseases before birth. As a result, this opens the door for potentially starting treatment in utero using stem cells, gene therapy, and other minimally invasive treatments. There is research going on right now into treating sickle cell anemia before birth, and there is hope that various autoimmune disorders might be able to be treated this way.

Even more radical is the evidence that many adult diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, may be triggered initially not just by your genes but also by your placental environment. Thus, it may be possible to detect and hopefully prevent some adult diseases through monitoring for adverse in utero conditions or potentially some form of fetal treatment.

The effect of maternal stress on the fetal brain is actually a hot topic in neuroscience. Some studies (1, 2) point towards it being a predictor for depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, learning disabilities, you name it. And other studies (3) indicate that mild to moderate material stress might actually have a beneficial effect on fetal development. Of course, it’s also hard to tease apart the genetic component: does the child have a cortisol sensitivity due to increased cortisal levels in the fetal environment or does the child just have the same stress sensitive genes as the mother?

The latest edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon is being hosted by Pure Pedantry.

I’m glad to see that Chris Chatham’s excellent Dopamine for Dummies post made it in this edition.

Dropping da neuroscience seems to have even gotten some street cred lately: a google search of “dopamine rap” pops up the hip hop artist Dopamine. His myspace profile boasts, “Dopamine is a neurochemical occuring naturally in the brain. It is responsible for movement and emotion, much like the music this artist creates.” Not exactly right, but I guess close enough for Myspace.

At least it’s a better description than the one Made With Molecules uses in describing their dopamine necklace: “love, passion & pleasure,” which annoyingly perpetuates the stereotype of dopamine as a pleasure chemical.

I can hear you all asking, “so if dopamine isn’t a pleasure chemical what is it? Cause dude I‚ÄîI mean a friend of mine‚Äîonce did some coke and said it was a blast!” The quick answer is that dopamine is involved in learning and the pleasure one feels is a secondary effect of the rewarding nature of the drug. The long answer is as overwhelmingly verbose as one would expect, and frankly no one really completely understands it yet. I can however give a slightly more informed yet still understandable version, which in the very least might help you seem smart at cocktail parties.

Dopamine “the slightly more informed” Primer

Let’s start by destroying a metaphor. You’re brain is not a bathtub with neuron spigots for neurochemicals labeled “happy” or “pleasure.” In fact, the chemicals themselves are valueless and are often used in rather unrelated sections of the brain and body. Dopamine is no different, but we’re just gonna focus on it’s function in the reward and learning system.

In the spirit of accessible and interesting approaches to science, I’ve constructed an little neuro-allegory entitled “The Shrine of Wa-King and the Dopa-monks”.
[...]