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Getting into other peoples heads requires empathy, a virtue that sometimes does not come naturally to engineers. Our profession tends toward the opposing mental disposition, called systemizing, which attends mainly to rule-based systems, such as those that govern machinery.
In October, we got a big response to an article, by Web Editor Philip E. Ross, on a new theory that links systemizing, engineers, and autism, a developmental disorder that has become more common in recent decades .
The author of the theory, Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, argues that in generations past, engineers, mathematicians, and other systemizers had little opportunity to meet potential spouses who thought as they did. Now, however, schools and professions sort both sexes by psychological types, raising the chances that people of like minds will marry and bear children. Baron-Cohen, cousin to comic actor Sacha Baron ï»’Cohen, says that such assortative mating is concentrating the genes that predispose to systemizing thought. That, in turn, ought to be increasing the likelihood of having a child with the most extreme systemizing: autism.
Foundries such as the Edinburgh Genome Foundry assemble fragments of synthetic DNA and send them to labs for testing in cells.
Frist Center For Autism And Innovation
Learn more about the block design test featured on the segment
The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, engineering technologies and transforming the workplace inspired by neurodiversity, at the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering brings engineers, business scholars, and disabilities researchers together with experts in neuroscience and education to understand, maximize, and promote neurodiverse talent. From a strengths-based as opposed to deficit-based understanding of autism and neurodiversity, the Center sees opportunities for innovation in technology and in workplace practices.
Primary areas of focus for the Frist Centers work include:
- inventing and commercializing new technologies that enable autistic and other neurodiverse people to gain employment, succeed at work, and achieve their full potential
- studying and understanding neurodiverse capabilities, and inventing and commercializing algorithms and systems that are inspired by those capabilities
Genetic Overlap Of Autism With Intelligence
Recent increases in sample sizes, extensions of target phenotypes analyzed, and developments in analytic methods for genome-wide association studies, have allowed the first robust tests of the sign and magnitude of genetic correlations, due to pleiotropy and linkage disequilibrium, between intelligence and other traits including risk of psychiatric conditions. Four studies have used data from the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium on polygenic risk for autism to assess overlap of autism risk alleles with alleles for aspects of cognitive ability and intelligence. All four of these studies, which used diverse, independent populations and tests of cognitive abilities, have reported significant, substantial genetically-based positive associations of autism risk with intelligence, notably including full-scale IQ and a PCA-based measure of g , childhood IQ, college attendance, and years of education , cognitive function in childhood and educational attainment , and verbal-numerical reasoning and educational level reached . These studies indicate that polygenic, small-effect size alleles that increased risk of autism are also associated with increased intelligence among neurotypical individuals.
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Ecco Come Rinato Il Ponte Di Genova: La Ricostruzione In 3d Oggi Luned 3 Agosto 2020 Linaugurazione
————————-DEFINITIONThe definition ofchartered engineerin the dictionary is an engineer who is registered with the Engineering Council as having the scientific and technical knowledge and practical experience to satisfy its professional requirements CEng.
But also:Il livello B2B2 First Certificate precedentemente conosciuto come Cambridge English First FCE è una delle certificazioni Cambridge che attestano il livello di conoscenza della lingua inglese. Lesame del Cambridge B2 è il più popolare e richiesto in assoluto ed è accettato da innumerevoli enti, aziende e istituzioni educative nel mondo.Il possesso di un certificato di livello B2 inglese First Certificate attesta che abbiamo le capacità linguistiche necessarie per lavorare e vivere in maniera del tutto indipendente in un paese dove la lingua ufficiale e più ampiamente parlata è linglese.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome And Autism
When looking at the link between autism and androgens, especially elevated levels of testosterone, the science is puzzling. Some research suggests evidence supported by multiple studies of an association between hyperandrogenism and individuals with autism. On the other hand, a contradictory study suggests that their findings reinforce previous research that found there is no consistent relationship between early exposure to androgens and autistic traits.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is essentially a disorder of excess androgen or hyperandrogenism . Women with PCOS have cause for confusion when looking at the contradictory research They may wonder if there is a concrete link between hyperandrogenism and autism. More importantly, is there scientific evidence of a link between PCOS a hormonal condition characterized by excess androgens including elevated testosterone levels and autism?
Parents who have children with autism know that there are many conditions that occur with autism. They may wish to obtain clarification regarding the increased prevalence of PCOS in the autistic population They may also want more information about the statistics that PCOS is associated with an increased risk of having children with autism.
Recommended Reading: Chromosome 9 Autism
Edit Request From Shilliha 7 September 2010
}This text should be removed because it is incorrect:Although many alternative therapies and interventions are available, few are supported by scientific studies. Treatment approaches have little empirical support in quality-of-life contexts, and many programs focus on success measures that lack predictive validity and real-world relevance.
It should read as follows:Although many alternative therapies and interventions are available, few are supported by scientific studies. However, mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to help in the areas of speach and focus in placebo-controlled, double-blind studies.
ShillIHA 18:34, 7 September 2010
- Looks OK to me, except for the hbotreatment link . OhNoitsJamieTalk 18:49, 7 September 2010
Autism As The Result Of A Reptile Brain
A different perspective on the evolution of autism is provided by the Polyvagal theory . Polyvagal theory postulates that through three stages of phylogeny, mammals, especially primates, including humans, have evolved a functional neural organization that regulates emotions and social behavior. The vagus, i.e., the 10th cranial nerve is a major component of the autonomic nervous system that plays an important role in regulating emotions and social behavior. The three stages of phylogeny reflect the emergence of three distinct parts of the autonomic nervous system, each with a different behavioral function. In the first evolutionary stage, the unmyelinated vagus emerged, which regulates immobilization for death feigning and passive avoidance. These are typical responses to dangerous situations in reptiles, but atypical in mammals, including humans. In the second stage, the sympathic- adrenal system emerged, which is characterized by mobilization as a response to dangerous situations. In the third stage, the myelinated vagus emerged, which is involved in social communication, self-soothing and calming. It is proposed that people with autism minimize the expression of the mammalian response, i.e., social communication. Rather, they rely on the defensive strategies that include both mobilization and immobilization.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Life Expectancy Of People With Autism
Sensory Functions Attention And Special Abilities
As noted above, Galton and Spearman first described hypotheses and psychometric evidence that sensory abilities and sensory discrimination skills were strongly positively associated with high intelligence. A resurgence of interest in this phenomenon has led to consistent and diverse evidence for small to moderate links of specific sensory discrimination abilities with intelligence, but strong correlations of intelligence with latent factors that integrate sensory ability variation across domains . The causes of correlations between general intelligence and sensory discrimination abilities remain largely unknown, but they appear to be related to: ability to focus intensely while ignoring irrelevant stimuli a strong positive genetic correlation between intelligence and sensory-neural processing speed speed of neural oscillations, which may underlie both sensory discrimination skills and intelligence white matter structure and integrity, which are positively associated with neural processing speed regional or global increases in gray matter , and the role of sensory input as a limiting step in general cognitive ability, upon which all further neurological components of intelligence depend. Further evaluation of these hypotheses, through GWAS-based tests for genetic correlation and neurological studies that jointly address sensory discrimination and intelligence, are required to evaluate their robustness and generality.
Towards An Integration Of Different Approacheson The Evolution Of Autism: Autism As The Resultof Epistatic Interactions Between The Effects Ofgenes
Each theory described above has its merit each theory explains some part of the phenotype of autism, and is supported to various degrees by empirical evidence. Is it possible to integrate these theories to arrive at a sensible account for maintenance of a highly heritable disorder, which is characterized by low reproductive success?
There are several lines of evidence that support this idea. The first line concerns the relation between autism and intelligence or other exceptional abilities. A behavioral genetic study showed that there is substantial overlap between genetic factors that influence individual differences in autistic traits and intelligence . In addition, on certain intelligence tests, individuals with autism show equal or better performance levels compared to normal individuals. These tests include the Raven’s Progressive Matrices test and the block design test . There is also evidence for the relation between autism and exceptional abilities, with some famous examples of autistic savants . The co-occurrence of savant syndrome and autism is an example of the effect of epistatic interactions between genes, in which potentially beneficial effects of genes are nullified by the negative effect of autism, mental retardation, or other disabilities, on reproductive success .
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Genetics And Early Intervention
The knowledge that genetics is largely responsible for autism may provide some relief to parents who are concerned that their own actions caused the condition but frustration for those who feel helpless about a lack of control over the environmental element. However, knowing that there is a genetic component means that parents who are aware it runs in one or both families may seek early intervention, which can be significantly helpful to children with autism.
There are other unknowns about autism as well. For example, it is still not clear whether the apparent rise is due to better diagnoses. However, with more large-scale research like that published in JAMA Psychiatry, scientists may begin to better understand the condition and its causes.
What About All Vaccinations Combined
Researchers have also looked to see if all the vaccines required before age 2 somehow together triggered autism. Children receive 25 shots in the first 15 months of life. Some people feared that getting all those shots so early in life could lead to the development of autism, but there is no evidence that this is true.
But the CDC compared groups of children who received vaccines on the recommended schedule and those whose vaccines were delayed or didnât get them at all. There was no difference in the autism rate between the two groups.
In 2004, the Immunization Safety Review Committee of the Institute of Medicine published a report on the topic. The group looked at all the studies on vaccines and autism, both published and unpublished. It released a 200-page report stating there was no evidence to support a link between vaccines and autism.
Still, studies continue to look at the issue. In 2019, the largest study to date looked at almost 660-thousand children over a course of 11 years and found no link between the vaccine and autism.
Indian Journal of Psychiatry: âThe MMR Vaccine and Autism: Sensation, Refutation, Retraction, and Fraud.â
Offit, P., and Moser, C., Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact from Fiction, Columbia University Press, 2011.
American Journal of Medical Genetics: âComorbidity of Intellectual Disability Confounds Ascertainment of Autism: Implications for Genetic Diagnosis.â
BMJ: âHow the Case Against the MMR Vaccine Was Fixed.â
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The Architecture And Correlates Of Human Intelligence
The VPR model of intelligence. Under this model, the higher-level architecture of human intelligence, as indicated by diverse mental-ability tasks, involves one general factor, g, and three mid-level factors, Verbal, Perceptual, and image Rotation, that reflect variation among individuals in large-scale neural structure and processing. Adapted from Johnson et al. .
Two orthogonal dimensions of intelligence, which emerge after the general factor g is statistically removed. Poles of each of the two dimensions demonstrate inverse associations with one another, indicative of neurally-based cognitive trade-offs. The psychotic-affective spectrum includes mainly schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder. Adapted from Johnson et al. .
Brain regions, and temporal stages, representing the P-FIT model of intelligence. Postulated alterations in autism, compared to control individuals, are shown along the periphery, and described in the text. Adapted from Colom et al. .
Inaccuracies/ Lack Of Clarification
“Noted autistic Temple Grandin described her inability to understand the social communication of neurotypicals, or people with normal neural development, as leaving her feeling “like an anthropologist on Mars”.”
The Temple Grandin refernce lacks clarity, particularly due to the highly variable level of difficulties that people on the spectrum experience . Propose instead that clarification focus on difficulties with the understanding of metaphors, tone of voice, body language, etc . This is, of course, not denigrating Temple Grandin herself – rather clarifying that an individual case cannot be representative of ASD as a whole, her quoted example lacks specificity and also that Grandin herself qualifies as a potential case of overlap of diagnosis between “classic” Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome due to temnporal understanding). Perhaps citing the “triad of impairments” would be more suitable?
“About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs”. Again, this seems to be an issue caused by the change in understanding of what “Autism” constitutes. Asperger’s Syndrome is generally considered to be the most common form of Autism, and is actually differentiated by other ASDs by its lack of delay in language development. Therefore, this statement needs reviewing in context of the definition of the word “autism” and the legal definition of “communication”.
Also Check: Is Dr Shaun Murphy Really Autistic
There Is No Evidence That Vaccines Cause Autism The Us Cdc Didnt Change Their Stance On The Subject
SOURCE:Del Bigtree, Informed Consent Action Network, 21 Jan. 2021
Inaccurate
FULL CLAIM: The CDC Finally Capitulated To ICANs Legal Demands and Removed the Claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism From Its Website!, CDC removes claim Vaccines do not cause autism, Following ICAN Lawsuit, CDC Removes Claim Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism from its Website
Proposal To Move This Article To Autistic Disorder
and begin the lead with
Autistic disorder …
and make Autism a disambiguation page along these lines. Please familiarise yourself with the thread immediately above before commenting. Anthony 08:02, 13 November 2010
- I made some recent edits for clarity on your sandbox. Also, what if the lead said:
Autistic disorder …
- Nice. Anthony 10:04, 13 November 2010 Actually, I prefer “include in” to “encompass into”. But I like the other suggestions. Anthony 10:25, 13 November 2010 . Sorry, I just thought of one more thing. I’ve taken it to the disambiguation page sandbox.
- Regarding
Autistic disorder …
I don’t know if “autism” is used in the literature to denote this syndrome more often than “autistic disorder” and “early infantile autism” are. I don’t even know for sure that it is used more often in everyday parlance. So for now it may be more prudent to just say it is “sometimes” called “autism”, without specifying or implying frequency. Anthony 14:33, 14 November 2010
Above, SandyGeorgia implies she doesn’t know of any autism experts presently editing. If that is the case, I’d like to approach some experts for their opinions. Can anyone suggest a name or two? I’m thinking Simon Baron-Cohen, Temple Grandin, some major contributors to DSM V’s “neurodevelopmental disorders” category, James Russell. Anthony 10:19, 13 November 2010
- Addressed below. Anthony 15:38, 16 November 2010
- Anthony 17:41, 16 November 2010
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Inclusion For Children With Autism In The General Education Population
This is an important part of any discussion of autism today as it is exactly where the rubber meets the road for a large percentage of the population effected by autism. It needs to be a distinct part of the article and should not be neglected. Specifically, it would be a very good idea to include some of the research and models being proposed and used by R. L. Simpson and a number of others including S. R. de Boer, K. A. Quill, M. Garcia-Winner, Koegel & Koegel, etc. All of these authors have widely used textbooks in print that are used for education in autism related fields–including education. All of these authors address inclusion
I proposed a small edit to the “Management” section of the article that was immediately reversed citing the wikipedia requirement for reliable sources. However, the reference cited was a major work by a major publisher on exactly the topic discussed. It is hard not to see this as an arbitrary reversal or worse, one motivated by bias. Certainly the reasons given are not sufficient or correct. Preceding unsigned comment added by Reibwo 23:24, 1 November 2010
- I believe your contribution is an improvement to the article. But for the word “successful” to remain, you’ll need to show an independent third-party systematic review of the practice that mirrors the sentiment. The efficacy of interventions is probably the most important part of any health-related article.