Aspies For Freedom

I've been watching NOVA lately and they've talked about epigenetics. Here's a link that might explain it: http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/08/68468

That is interesting, but it felt very spoon-fed.  When I searched on "epigenetics autism," several interesting abstracts were there, but nothing free.  I am not paying $55 to read a paper.  I am going to keep looking.  This line from the abstract was very intriguing for me, "Moreover, the most common recurrent cytogenetic abnormalities in ASD involve maternally derived duplications of the imprinted domain on chromosome 15q11-13."

And then I turned up this blog from a year ago: http://a-shade-of-grey.blogspot.com/2006...lumns.html

It makes sense to me, but I agree with the comments asserting that the twin studies do not necessarily support the "second hit" hypothesis. I also agree that structure does not determine function, though some functions may only be possible given a certain structure exists. Very interesting stuff that I will look into further.  Anyone else aware of this line of research?

This link is over two years old. I wonder if there is any newer research?

Yeah, that's why I googled it.  Didn't find what I was looking for, but I really, really liked the microcolumns/encephalyzation hypothesis(es?).  The explanatory power is impressive, and it's also intuitive.  I was fascinated that the GI issues that Batman has been posting about could also be attributed to brain size/structure.  It is very long to read both of those entries, but well worth it.  Guess it is only peripherally related to epigenetics.

One of the interesting points, however, is that these neural structures are determined within the first 40 days of gestation. As often as not, a woman does not even know that she is pregnant for the first 20-30 days.

I wish that I could have been blisfully unaware of pregnancy for that long - I always started throwing up within days of conceiving. No way of disguising it!

I had no luck with google or anything else either, that was why I asked. Perhaps someone on here has, or knows someone who has, a subscription to medical research journals.

I always had to figure it out because I was late menstruating.  The funniest time was my second. I was five days late and went into a restaurant that fried everything -- I ate two huge baskets of friend jalepeno peppers for lunch.  Then I sat there for a few minutes and considered that what I had just done was very, very strange.  I went right over to the drug store and got a pregnancy test.

I was merely perusing this thread based on the topic line, until I saw my name in the above response.

Could you explain just WHAT you are on about, here?  What do my supposed GI issues (which ones are they?) have to do with epigenomes or anything else, for that matter?

I thought it was you who had posted fairly extensively about digestive issues that may be associated with AS.  I could be mistaken.  As I stated when I posted the link to two rather lengthy blog entries, the relationship to epigenomes is peripheral -- though it was a hit for a google search on "epigenetics autism."  The relationship of this blog entry to epigenetics is the search for the "second hit" that causes the autistically structured brain to function autistically.  I'm not so certain that a "second hit" necessarily exists.

The analysis deals with the greater number of minicolumns and correspondingly smaller neuron size in the autistic brain, as well as encephalization (increased brain size). Among the implications of this physical difference is increased energy requirement for brain growth and maintenance.  The 'efficient tissue' hypothesis leads to an energy trade off with the GI system, and the reduced size of the human GI tract with increased brain size is a fact. If this interests you, I'd encourage you to read it.  It makes solid sense to me.

Well, I know plenty of NTs who sure as heck have an increased brain size or at least a very large head in proportion to the rest of their body, relatively speaking.