tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post5962869512539160278..comments2024-03-28T20:30:37.506+01:00Comments on Epiphany: Polygenic Disorders that Overlap – Autism(s), Schizophrenia(s), Bipolar(s) and ADHD(s) – Creativity & IntelligencePeter Lloyd-Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10173383229834614994noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-39052318302096639642017-03-07T11:59:36.661+01:002017-03-07T11:59:36.661+01:00Not necessarily applicable to this post, but posti...Not necessarily applicable to this post, but posting here hoping for insights from others - and in case anyone reading might suspect ptsd/trauma type reactions in their ASD kids. I think this is very interesting and will re-visit PEA again for my son:<br /><br />"Furthermore, PEA administration was found to reduce depression and anxiety-like symptoms in animal models of depression [52,53], supporting the hypothesis that PEA may represent a valuable treatment option for depression [54]. So far, the three studies investigating the role of PEA in PTSD found inconsistent results: while Hauer and colleagues [55] reported enhanced PEA levels in PTSD as opposed to trauma-exposed and unexposed controls, two studies did not observe PTSD-associated differences in PEA levels [56,57]. Yet, our results indicate a down-regulation of PEA in PTSD. While future studies are warranted to better understand these inconsistent results, the observed PEA down-regulation in PTSD in this study provides a potential psychobiological explanation for high anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as adverse physical health outcomes observed in this disorder."<br /><br />https://jmolecularpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40303-015-0007-3<br /><br />Tanyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01489962611979985947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-35274012477090301482017-03-06T10:11:10.679+01:002017-03-06T10:11:10.679+01:00Peter, inositol functions as a secondary messenger...Peter, inositol functions as a secondary messenger for the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.<br />If, for some reason, levels are insufficient then dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in the brain cannot work properly.<br />Inositol is also critical in gene expression. Myo-inositol is synthesized from glucose-6 phosphate in two steps.<br />I found a paper saying that G6PD may be associated with autism in developing countries. In this case folate, B6, B12 and lots of antioxidants/nutrients need to be added due to extreme oxidative stress sufferes face.<br />I started supplementing inositol and I am going to investigate further the connection between G6PD and autism symptoms, maybe starting with a good hematologist.<br />You know that my son and my nephew were born with G6PD but then doctors said that they expressed the gene and they closed the case.<br />As I read things are not as simple as that.<br />I only used inositol for some days and still low dose and so far I've noticed a calming effect.<br />There is also a paper about treating malaria by blocking G6P and inositol was attenuated.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16138974464162606874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-4654969199482026852017-03-04T18:15:22.396+01:002017-03-04T18:15:22.396+01:00Roger, WES is getting much better. This and other ...Roger, WES is getting much better. This and other studies are getting to 30-40% of cases where there is useful information to be found. <br /><br />The environment does play a role. There is no other way to explain the Somali autism clusters in Sweden and the US. Those people moved from Somalia, but married a Somali and then produced large numbers of offspring with autism. <br /><br />Autism is just the end result of a small number of very many things going wrong during development.<br /><br />What matters is altered gene expression, however it is caused.Peter Lloyd-Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10173383229834614994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-53710257655941255452017-03-04T09:47:37.379+01:002017-03-04T09:47:37.379+01:00Another thing to consider in the last several gene...Another thing to consider in the last several generations in the west, the value placed on college education has had an artificial sorting effect on western populations in that women rarely will marry a man who has a lower educational level than them as "education" is seen as more of a status signal than even money itself. Several generations ago it was not uncommon for an educated doctor to marry his secretary, but these kind of relationships are now taboo in the west and instead you are expected to marry within your social caste (especially in the United States) which means people of comparable educational levels even if both people do not have the same careers. Marrying a man with less education than his wife is seen as taboo by many people nowadays as interracial marriages were viewed several decades ago. This has had a very extreme segregation effect in a very short period of time which will only be exaggerated in the future and may explain much of the political polarization you find in many western countries these days and especially the west. It could also potentially explain why autism rates are much higher in a wealthy state like New Jersey than in areas of the country where social castes are not as extreme such as Utah where religious affiliation tends to matter more than educational attainment and therefore the rules of assortative mating are a bit different.<br /><br />As an example, my aunt and uncle are both college professors and met each other in graduate school. They had one child who has pretty much followed the same path as them (has a PhD), however, he has yet to marry and if he does it probably will not be anyone with an educational level less than a PhD as he will likely follow in his parents' footsteps in being selective on that front as well. In effect, even though this side of the family lives nearby plenty of different people of varying educational levels in the big city they live in, they have artificially segregated themselves from the vast majority of people who don't have elite educational attainment. Over time this will create bubbles of populations with genes skewed not only for factors typically associated with elite college education, but many others that are hard to predict as well but which may also include autism as rare genetic diseases thrive best in segregated gene pools whether it be from cousins marrying cousins in Pakistan or everyone with an IV league education sticking within the same limited gene pool.<br /><br />Last but not least, those of low socioeconomic status who are segregated from those with high educational attainment will always have chronic stress problems leading to increased rates of mutation from generation to generation in that population, while the elite population will have reduced rates of clearing out mutations due to the effects of inbreeding.Tylernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-17597848982629737982017-03-04T09:47:33.163+01:002017-03-04T09:47:33.163+01:00Very interesting study. There are plenty of genes ...Very interesting study. There are plenty of genes which regulate DNA repair and if they are downregulated epigenetically, that will affect the rate of mutation in an organism or even a species. It is interesting that acute stress tends to upregulate DNA repair mechanisms while chronic stress whether it be psychological stress or physical stress will cause DNA repair problems leading to more mutations and a generally shorter life for the organism. Nevertheless, if a species has short lives and lots of mutations, they will be better adapted to a constantly shifting and stressful environment than organisms that have very little mutation and live a long life. Also, a high mutation rate in a segregated population from an ancestor population will eventually lead to speciation and if the segregated population has selected for enough positive mutations, the slowly mutating ancestor population if it comes into contact with the segregated population will be wiped out either directly via competition from the segregated population or else most of their non-useful genes will be lost in competition with the more useful variants gained from the segregated population (as are some of the leading theories on interbreeding with Neanderthals among European homo sapiens and Denisovans among Asian homo sapiens).<br /><br />I do think it would be interesting to look at subsequent generations of people with high levels of stress and their de novo mutation rates and of course family autism rates if that is even possible or practical.Tylernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-76039726054416720892017-03-04T01:57:07.919+01:002017-03-04T01:57:07.919+01:00Of course these topics are very taboo and cause di...Of course these topics are very taboo and cause discomfort to some people who don't want to confront them, but to me what is actually horrifying is the coming advances in prenatal screening of embryos for autism and everything else deemed not to be advantageous to offspring (which is a subjective decision of the parents and maybe the government as well). In parts of Europe I believe the abortion rate for Down Syndrome is greater than 90% which really makes you wonder how slippery the slope will be for all kinds of other so-called genetic "abnormalities" once they can be accurately screened in the first trimester. If you think about it, would the prenatal termination of all children with the genetically standard label of "autistic" qualify as actual genocide among the ruling class of western nations as you are literally killing people off based upon their actual genetic makeup, or will they call it some other Orwellian term to sanitize the horror of what is actually being done in the name of "curing disease"?<br /><br />There are already massive amounts of sex-selected abortion in China and India and probably a few other countries that don't advertise those statistics, but what about sexuality selected abortion and where does this rabbit hole actually end when any embryo deemed genetically "aberrant" is aborted before it has had its own chance to succeed in this world. Even worse than that, what about all of the so-called genetic risk factors that will be eliminated or dampened via genetic engineering (Crispr/CAS9) because it skirts around the inconvenience of abortion to the degree that even though you still might have superficial differences in people in terms of eye, skin, and hair color, you will nevertheless end up with a population of poeple that will more or less be homogenous in just about every way they think and act since those "quirky" autism genes will have been permanently eradicated from the human gene pool altogether.Tylernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-32402228541251105412017-03-04T01:56:42.986+01:002017-03-04T01:56:42.986+01:00Polygenic scoring is a taboo subject to say the le...Polygenic scoring is a taboo subject to say the least when it comes to the human proclivity to want to categorize everything, which of course includes people as well. Too many blended primary colors in a world where thinking in black and white is the norm gives many people the cognitive dissonance that seems to make everyone's head explode.<br /><br />For example, in the very taboo subject of male homosexuality, there is good evidence that mothers who display greater fecundity, tend to have a higher risk for having a gay male child. In the time before birth control, women who had a higher sex drive would generally have more children because they had sex more often with one man or another, leading to more children whether it be through polyamory relationships with tribal men and a cuckholded husband, or else just with their husband alone if he was of high enough status to fight off additional suitors. Nonetheless, since men were often out hunting or going to war or engaging in polyamorous behavior themselves when out on a "late night hunt" which was the ancient code for the modern day excuse of "working late at the office", the women who were more willing to take engage in the risks of sex and suffer the consequences, also ended up having the most children. Since sex drive in men and women seems related to testosterone levels then women with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to have a gay male child (gay men on average have more circulating andorgens and bigger penises) but also more likely to have more children overall so long as the levels of androgens in her blood are not so high that infertility problems such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) ensue. Of course modern birth control paradoxically eliminates this fecundity advantage of women with higher than average levels testosterone, so at least with gay males you might find the numbers in this population to naturally reduce considerably after a few more generations (at least in westernized nations). However, since intelligence and creativity will continue to be in high demand until AI usurps those human qualities, you might continue to end up geting higher rates of autism and schizophrenia as well until a certain equilibrium is met where additional the benefits in additional intellect in a child is outweighed by the costs and risks of autism and schizophrenia in children as well (and we might already be there).Tylernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-56820739354207216272017-03-03T17:07:26.682+01:002017-03-03T17:07:26.682+01:00and the overlap might possibly explain changes you...and the overlap might possibly explain changes you see during adolescence with autism that are not related to seizures? something to keep an eye all for all parents once reaching adolescence/early adulthoodTanyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01489962611979985947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-84832445739174388332017-03-03T17:03:08.548+01:002017-03-03T17:03:08.548+01:00Great post. I live for the day to see a "tigh...Great post. I live for the day to see a "tighter" definition of autism. One reason why I feel doubtful reading studies/trials on certain interventions for "autism". I need more specifics than that - even more than just "core symptoms of autism". Tanyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01489962611979985947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-655962722302095847.post-4103777959916097782017-03-03T12:17:18.555+01:002017-03-03T12:17:18.555+01:00Hi Peter,
I think this is an under-rated post. It...Hi Peter,<br /><br />I think this is an under-rated post. It might not get that much fanfare but this is how I've really come to look at neuropsychiatric conditions.<br /><br />The implications of this post are huge and work in our favour. I don't think Autism is going to get the type of investment that the other conditions do, but my hope/faith is that a serendipitous discovery is made by researchers working on those overlapping conditions that someone in the strictly Autism field of research reads and makes an obvious connection to Autism.<br /><br />I was inspired when I purchased a series called "Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies". The final episode (6) is human ingenuity at its finest. The researchers actually use the highly evolved human immune system as a way of defeating something equally evolved as Cancer. Looking at the approaches they use with such high success in some instances fills me with hope that Autism can also be treated to a point where it is regarded more like a quirk and less like an impairment.<br /><br />PS. Thank you for taking the time to write up a post on Dopamine. My views focus more on spinogenesis, synaptogenesis, dendritic growth, neural pathways and signalling and how Dopamine influences these. Hopefully I can write a comment.<br /><br />Regards,<br />D&G<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com