Loyola U: "Researchers uncover a primary cause of autism"
Genetic link to Neanderthal ancestors
Autism is now one of the most common developmental disorders affecting children worldwide, with ever-increasing rates no health official can reasonably explain, and it’s also the subject of endless research that leads nowhere.
Over the past 20 years there have been lots of worthless studies showing “associations” between autism and old moms, fat moms, drinking moms, smoking moms, moms who marry old dads, moms who don’t get the right vitamins, moms who have babies too close together, and moms who live too close to freeways. There are more, but this is a good sample.
The message: Autism is a puzzle that we just have to keep investigating.
I like to call all this “autism busywork.” Now the latest “groundbreaking study” is from Loyola University in New Orleans.
We’re told the researchers have found “a primary cause of autism,” and it’s GENETIC. This time it’s a genetic variant linked to our Neanderthal ancestors.
June 7, 2024, Groundbreaking Study Unveils Role of Neanderthal Genes in Autism
Loyola University New Orleans and Clemson University researchers uncover a primary cause of autism
A landmark study recently published in the prestigious science journal Nature: Molecular Psychiatry has unveiled a new discovery in autism research. The research is the first to show that certain genetic traits inherited from Neanderthals play a significant role in autism. Dr. Emily Casanova, assistant professor of neuroscience at Loyola University New Orleans, co-authored this pioneering work alongside her esteemed colleagues at Clemson University.
Fourteen years ago, scientists discovered that modern humans carry Neanderthal DNA, a legacy of interbreeding with our extinct cousins. Since then, researchers have linked these ancient genetic variants to various health conditions, including severe COVID-19, autoimmune diseases, and mental health conditions. This new study adds autism to the list, showing that certain Neanderthal-derived genetic markers are more common in individuals with autism than in the general population.
"Our findings suggest that some Neanderthal genetic variants could play a role in autism susceptibility," said Casanova.
This research sheds light on autism's complex genetic landscape and opens up new possibilities for understanding its origins. It revealed that specific Neanderthal genetic variants are enriched in people with autism compared to ethnically matched control groups. Furthermore, the researchers also found 25 genetic markers linked to the brain that are more common in people with autism. . . .
"We are excited about the potential implications of these findings for autism research," added Casanova. “Understanding the role of Neanderthal DNA in autism could lead to new insights and approaches to diagnosis and a better understanding of the different causes of autism. One example of diagnostics would be the use of these markers in gene panels that could aid in the diagnosis of autism.”
All this will come to nothing. I’m sure NIH and others with deep pockets are funding this dead-end stuff, after all it serves lots of other purposes.
First of all, it makes it seem like experts are concerned about autism, and it conveys the message that autism is this really involved mysterious condition.
Second, it makes it look like no one is desperate to find answers. We have all the time in the world to look at autism.
The co-author of the “pioneering work” said, ‘We are excited.’
From the tone of this article, you’d think they were researching left-handedness or varieties of eye colors, not a disorder that affects three to five percent of American children and that is expected to keep on growing.
Autism often leaves children severely disabled and dependent. There is no known prevention or cure for autism.
A third of autistic children regress and lose learned skills, but researchers are curiously disinterested in that phenomenon.
In California alone, the autism rate is one in every 22 children, one in every 14 boys. I hardly think parents will be interested in the “groundbreaking study” from Loyola University. It tells us nothing about autism.
This study too will disappear into irrelevancy. While the opening sentence declares “researchers uncover a primary cause of autism,” it actually reveals nothing, and they know it.
Later in the article the co-author downplayed the study saying, ‘Our findings suggest that some Neanderthal genetic variants could play a role in autism susceptibility.’
In truth, autism something no one really wants to understand. The possible findings from honest, thorough science are too frightening to even consider.
When the MMR is given to Black males below the age of 24 months of age there is a significant increase in autism. Black American children have no Neanderthal genes unless they are mixed with Europeans or Chinese. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4128611/
Basically a sack of s**t.