tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post6267424734066782124..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: The wishing well: money down but wishes unansweredAnne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-53677871310579856162010-08-31T19:23:42.610-04:002010-08-31T19:23:42.610-04:00http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100824/full/466103...http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100824/full/4661031a.html<br /><br />(not so great news on the AD front)occamserasernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-82271320265503144982010-08-31T08:32:27.443-04:002010-08-31T08:32:27.443-04:00Yes, autism and many other diseases and disorders....Yes, autism and many other diseases and disorders. In fact, not long ago, a paper on asthma in the Lancet concluded by saying that every case of asthma should be treated as unique. <br /><br />The environmental factors are certainly one complicating factor but, to complicate things even further, probably these kinds of complex traits are due to many genes with weak effect, which also plays havoc with genetic studies. As we've said before, we're prisoners of Mendel -- still looking for single genes with large effect. We need to change our focus.Anne Buchananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-60094177452344429932010-08-31T08:09:02.241-04:002010-08-31T08:09:02.241-04:00"Almost certainly AD is along a spectrum of m..."Almost certainly AD is along a spectrum of mental-function, a point on a continuum that we define as disease. It may have many causes because there's not actually an 'it'. 'It' is more likely 'them.'"<br /><br />I'm often confronted with this same thought when I consider the challenges facing autistic spectrum disorder researchers. It seems very clear to be that autism is likely many disorders - with many types of causes - yet with symptoms manifesting themselves in very similar ways. Some causes may be genetic, while others are probably influenced by environmental factors - which is probably why association studies keep coming up short. <br /><br />I wonder if researchers of this type of complex disease need to change the focus of their research. Maybe they need to begin, not by looking at how diseased individuals are similar to each other, but instead at how they differ from healthy relatives. Although for any significant revelations to come out of this type of study, we'd have to understand the healthy state of the body alot better than we currently do. My guess is, there are many ways to not have a disease.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17949972520871418816noreply@blogger.com