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		<title><![CDATA[Aspies For Freedom - All Forums]]></title>
		<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/</link>
		<description>Aspies For Freedom - http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com</description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 07:12:25 +0200</pubDate>
		<generator>MyBB</generator>
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			<title><![CDATA[Trying to get positive show on Oprah]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13137</link>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 07:07:42 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13137</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Hello! I've been looking for websites that support a positive view of Autism and found this great site.

I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment to get the Oprah show to do a positive show on autism, after the two extremely negative ones she has recently done. I've started sort of a petition on her website and I'm looking for people to support it, hopefully some of you here might help!

The link is http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/63428 if anyone wants to sign up and post some support, also share any positive articles, clips or whatever that supports our cause.

Thanks in advance!

Shelby.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Hello! I've been looking for websites that support a positive view of Autism and found this great site.

I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment to get the Oprah show to do a positive show on autism, after the two extremely negative ones she has recently done. I've started sort of a petition on her website and I'm looking for people to support it, hopefully some of you here might help!

The link is http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/63428 if anyone wants to sign up and post some support, also share any positive articles, clips or whatever that supports our cause.

Thanks in advance!

Shelby.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[These NT girls want to work on a Senior Project with me]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13136</link>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 03:23:21 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13136</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Copying a description of the event from my DA journal:

Quote:These two girls have been sitting behind me in my math class at the regular high school all year and have not spoken a word to me until now. But yesterday, as I was (as usual) sketching a design in class, the TEACHER leaned over my desk and doodled all over my sketches! Which was very immature of her! If she wanted me to stop, she could have just said so. She's never had a problem with it before. Heck, she even let me do my japanese homework in class with no complaint!
Anyway, they must have seen this, because this morning they started talking to me about it. They asked me about my designs, commiserated with me about what a bitch our teacher is (she is- it's not just doodling on my sketches, she's a total bitch in other ways), and then they asked me if I would like to collaborate with them and a bunch of other girls to put on a fashion show for our senior projects! Of course I said that would be awesome, because it would be. I have way too many ideas for possible grad projects, so I guess just going with this opportunity is as good a course of action as any. And because they'd be doing it next year, my Junior year, if it messes up or doesn't pan out I even still have another year to do something else.


What wasn't in my DA journal was all the stress I'm feeling about this because of the difficulty I have with people and school.
First of all, the original conversation was really stressful.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm not good at conversation with total strangers, even if I have been in the same class with them for a year.&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't know what to say to keep the flow going.&nbsp;&nbsp;I managed it just barely this time, but we ended up talking about everything from homeschooling to the way the alternative high school works to how much we disliked our teacher to food.&nbsp;&nbsp;I had to sort of leap from topic to topic to keep it going.&nbsp;&nbsp;They were really nice, and I didn't notice anything about them that indicated they thought I was strange, but then again, I SUCK at noticing that sort of thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;So I may have weirded them out.&nbsp;&nbsp;But if so, they didn't say anything about it.

What's stressing me out now is the question "What the hell do I do now?"&nbsp;&nbsp;Do I try to talk to them again the very next time I see them?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or not?&nbsp;&nbsp;Should I try to talk mostly about the project, or about other stuff?
And that raises more questions.&nbsp;&nbsp;What do I do if I discover that they don't share any tastes with me?&nbsp;&nbsp;I prefer odd, eclectic clothes.&nbsp;&nbsp;On the one hand, they must know that, since that's what I wear and since I sketch in front of them every day.&nbsp;&nbsp;But they might assume I'm going to do something different if I'm working with them.&nbsp;&nbsp;And what if they need me to work to strict deadlines?&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm not so good at that.&nbsp;&nbsp;Executive dysfunction and all that.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can barely manage to get in half of my math assignments, I'd have trouble with a project this big.

I also can't use a sewing machine very well, and it takes me a very, very long time to cut and pin and sew.&nbsp;&nbsp;It took me two hours just to cut and pin some armwarmers I tried to make.&nbsp;&nbsp;I never finished the sewing.&nbsp;&nbsp;Do I have time next year for a project this size?&nbsp;&nbsp;I'll still have regular school work to cope with, too.

Actually, I'm working on making a documentary right now (for school credit), and will be continuing that over the summer.&nbsp;&nbsp;If I don't finish it before next semester begins, I may not be able to work on this project until it's done.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can't handle a fashion show, a documentary, and a normal load of school work all at once.&nbsp;&nbsp;No way.

So obviously I have a lot of reasons to NOT do it.&nbsp;&nbsp;What are the reasons TO do it?
- I really really want to do a fashion show and have for a long time.&nbsp;&nbsp;It would make me unbelievably happy to have my clothes actually exist in 3-d.
- It gets my grad project out of the way a year early, meaning more free time in senior year.
- If it F-s up, and I can't finish it, I still have time to do something different for my grad project.
- I'm very unlikely to get an opportunity for a collaboration like this again.
- It will help me learn more about what obstacles I still need to overcome.
- It will help me learn to work with totally normal people.
- It will tell me whether or not I am likely to be able to make a career out of fashion ('cause if I can't handle this project, I couldn't handle a fashion career).

Thoughts?&nbsp;&nbsp;Observations?&nbsp;&nbsp;Suggestions?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Copying a description of the event from my DA journal:

Quote:These two girls have been sitting behind me in my math class at the regular high school all year and have not spoken a word to me until now. But yesterday, as I was (as usual) sketching a design in class, the TEACHER leaned over my desk and doodled all over my sketches! Which was very immature of her! If she wanted me to stop, she could have just said so. She's never had a problem with it before. Heck, she even let me do my japanese homework in class with no complaint!
Anyway, they must have seen this, because this morning they started talking to me about it. They asked me about my designs, commiserated with me about what a bitch our teacher is (she is- it's not just doodling on my sketches, she's a total bitch in other ways), and then they asked me if I would like to collaborate with them and a bunch of other girls to put on a fashion show for our senior projects! Of course I said that would be awesome, because it would be. I have way too many ideas for possible grad projects, so I guess just going with this opportunity is as good a course of action as any. And because they'd be doing it next year, my Junior year, if it messes up or doesn't pan out I even still have another year to do something else.


What wasn't in my DA journal was all the stress I'm feeling about this because of the difficulty I have with people and school.
First of all, the original conversation was really stressful.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm not good at conversation with total strangers, even if I have been in the same class with them for a year.&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't know what to say to keep the flow going.&nbsp;&nbsp;I managed it just barely this time, but we ended up talking about everything from homeschooling to the way the alternative high school works to how much we disliked our teacher to food.&nbsp;&nbsp;I had to sort of leap from topic to topic to keep it going.&nbsp;&nbsp;They were really nice, and I didn't notice anything about them that indicated they thought I was strange, but then again, I SUCK at noticing that sort of thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;So I may have weirded them out.&nbsp;&nbsp;But if so, they didn't say anything about it.

What's stressing me out now is the question "What the hell do I do now?"&nbsp;&nbsp;Do I try to talk to them again the very next time I see them?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or not?&nbsp;&nbsp;Should I try to talk mostly about the project, or about other stuff?
And that raises more questions.&nbsp;&nbsp;What do I do if I discover that they don't share any tastes with me?&nbsp;&nbsp;I prefer odd, eclectic clothes.&nbsp;&nbsp;On the one hand, they must know that, since that's what I wear and since I sketch in front of them every day.&nbsp;&nbsp;But they might assume I'm going to do something different if I'm working with them.&nbsp;&nbsp;And what if they need me to work to strict deadlines?&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm not so good at that.&nbsp;&nbsp;Executive dysfunction and all that.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can barely manage to get in half of my math assignments, I'd have trouble with a project this big.

I also can't use a sewing machine very well, and it takes me a very, very long time to cut and pin and sew.&nbsp;&nbsp;It took me two hours just to cut and pin some armwarmers I tried to make.&nbsp;&nbsp;I never finished the sewing.&nbsp;&nbsp;Do I have time next year for a project this size?&nbsp;&nbsp;I'll still have regular school work to cope with, too.

Actually, I'm working on making a documentary right now (for school credit), and will be continuing that over the summer.&nbsp;&nbsp;If I don't finish it before next semester begins, I may not be able to work on this project until it's done.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can't handle a fashion show, a documentary, and a normal load of school work all at once.&nbsp;&nbsp;No way.

So obviously I have a lot of reasons to NOT do it.&nbsp;&nbsp;What are the reasons TO do it?
- I really really want to do a fashion show and have for a long time.&nbsp;&nbsp;It would make me unbelievably happy to have my clothes actually exist in 3-d.
- It gets my grad project out of the way a year early, meaning more free time in senior year.
- If it F-s up, and I can't finish it, I still have time to do something different for my grad project.
- I'm very unlikely to get an opportunity for a collaboration like this again.
- It will help me learn more about what obstacles I still need to overcome.
- It will help me learn to work with totally normal people.
- It will tell me whether or not I am likely to be able to make a career out of fashion ('cause if I can't handle this project, I couldn't handle a fashion career).

Thoughts?&nbsp;&nbsp;Observations?&nbsp;&nbsp;Suggestions?]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[How AFF is viewed in society]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13134</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 22:25:04 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13134</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[I am very interested to find out other peoples experiences for the perception of AFF. I ask this because today, I was at a meeting for the 'I Exist' campaign run by the NAS, and at the end I was talking to the woman who ran the meeting. 
I mentioned that I was a member of AFF and asked her if she had heard of it (I asked this because I mentioned it to a person there previously and she hadn't). I was fairly shocked at the negative view she had on the group. She said there had been a meeting recently of AFF people and that it had ended in a fight. I am not sure of what exact meeting it was, I assume it was in London. And so that she took a negative view. Also she thought the group was unorganised. 
Although her view was not entirely negative, she thought it was good that its ran by people on the spectrum. She was in general a very nice, open minded person who was looking to improve services etc for Autistics.

So I'm wondering if others have heard AFF perceived badly? And if so what we can do to change it. I know my experiences of AFF are the complete opposite of views like this which confuses me as to how they came about.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[I am very interested to find out other peoples experiences for the perception of AFF. I ask this because today, I was at a meeting for the 'I Exist' campaign run by the NAS, and at the end I was talking to the woman who ran the meeting. 
I mentioned that I was a member of AFF and asked her if she had heard of it (I asked this because I mentioned it to a person there previously and she hadn't). I was fairly shocked at the negative view she had on the group. She said there had been a meeting recently of AFF people and that it had ended in a fight. I am not sure of what exact meeting it was, I assume it was in London. And so that she took a negative view. Also she thought the group was unorganised. 
Although her view was not entirely negative, she thought it was good that its ran by people on the spectrum. She was in general a very nice, open minded person who was looking to improve services etc for Autistics.

So I'm wondering if others have heard AFF perceived badly? And if so what we can do to change it. I know my experiences of AFF are the complete opposite of views like this which confuses me as to how they came about.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[/emo]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13132</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 21:07:54 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13132</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Hey, was dumped today by my girlfriend. The reason you ask?

Was it my aspie nature, my obsessions getting in the way, did I take something the wrong way? No. No. No.

I am too bastard tall.

Seing as I am not a member of a tall forum I thought I may as well rant here.

I mean come on, too tall? Give me a break.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Hey, was dumped today by my girlfriend. The reason you ask?

Was it my aspie nature, my obsessions getting in the way, did I take something the wrong way? No. No. No.

I am too bastard tall.

Seing as I am not a member of a tall forum I thought I may as well rant here.

I mean come on, too tall? Give me a break.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[News from California - Same Sex Couples Allowed to Marry!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13131</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 20:10:00 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13131</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008
(05-15) 10:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...AVNC5K.DTL]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008
(05-15) 10:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...AVNC5K.DTL]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Autism and our Presidential Canidates]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13130</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 19:34:03 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13130</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/...autism.cnn]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/...autism.cnn]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Another hilarious incident.]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13129</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 18:08:59 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13129</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Was walking up to college, this guy I knew from motor vehicle was pulling out of the drive in his fancy rollerskate, clocked me and whispered dickhead as he drove off.

What a fucking pussy.

And he's a fat four-eyes.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Was walking up to college, this guy I knew from motor vehicle was pulling out of the drive in his fancy rollerskate, clocked me and whispered dickhead as he drove off.

What a fucking pussy.

And he's a fat four-eyes.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Important - re: case manager(s)interaction/interference with aspie kid(s) at scho]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13128</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 17:16:39 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13128</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[This may not make any sense to you, but if it does...

Do any of you remember and wish that the school contact or case manager / case worker, case administrator who "dealt" with you had less dealings with you?&nbsp;&nbsp;Did you feel they had your best interest or did they try to manipulate you or mess with you?&nbsp;&nbsp;Did you wish that your parents knew when they did, I am guessing if they did, it was traumatic or routine altering, even thought they were suppsoedly advocating on your behalf and are suppose to be "on your side". When you had confusing, or if you had confusing dealings with this "authority figure/supposed support person: did you find it too exhasuting to communicate or relate to your parents?&nbsp;&nbsp;
My question is also, Do you wish that the school official would leav you alone more - do you wish your parents were able to swicth your case worker if you didn't trust them anymore?

Also a poll - about being "burnt" by the person at school that was to be on your side...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[This may not make any sense to you, but if it does...

Do any of you remember and wish that the school contact or case manager / case worker, case administrator who "dealt" with you had less dealings with you?&nbsp;&nbsp;Did you feel they had your best interest or did they try to manipulate you or mess with you?&nbsp;&nbsp;Did you wish that your parents knew when they did, I am guessing if they did, it was traumatic or routine altering, even thought they were suppsoedly advocating on your behalf and are suppose to be "on your side". When you had confusing, or if you had confusing dealings with this "authority figure/supposed support person: did you find it too exhasuting to communicate or relate to your parents?&nbsp;&nbsp;
My question is also, Do you wish that the school official would leav you alone more - do you wish your parents were able to swicth your case worker if you didn't trust them anymore?

Also a poll - about being "burnt" by the person at school that was to be on your side...]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Can women be on the spectrum? (Off course they can, but do 'experts' realize that.]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13126</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 13:34:49 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13126</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[A few days ago, reading through the new introduction thread I saw Compgrokker's post. I'll quote a part here.


Quote:Hi all,
I started going on the irc channel after my little brother was officially diagnosed with autism.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'd been thinking for a while (even before asperger's was even heard of down here in NC) that I had some form of autism-- I had a lot of traits, just no verbal issues.&nbsp;&nbsp;I've talked with our (mine and my brother's) psychologist and he says I'm not officially an aspie, I'm a trait or 2 short.&nbsp;&nbsp;Then again, he says he's never seen a female with high-functioning aspergers or high-functioning autism.&nbsp;&nbsp;After talking with the people on the irc channel and finding out that I'm more similar to everyone there than I am to my NT friends, and after looking over the diagnostic criteria on my own, I'm a self-diagnosed aspie.&nbsp;&nbsp;It doesn't faze me being aspie, really, it's just nice to know what *exactly* is wrong with me-- why I can never seem to pick up all social cues, have some trouble with eye contact (I either won't look someone in the eye or I stare them down if I force it), rock when I'm overwhelmed, why I'm so obsessive over things, etc....


The psychologist that diagnosed my husband told me women were very rarely on the spectrum, and I should not think my youngest daughter could be on it; it was allmost impossible. When I reacted telling him I was diagnosed, as well as my oldest daughter he allmost agressively asked to know who had diagnosed us. He had to back off when he found out it was done by his collegues in the same institute.

The 'higher functioning' the autism, the higher the ratio men/women seems to be.

I doubt if this is correct. Do male diagnostics recognize females with autism? The book 'Women from another planet' also suggests women are not recognized as much as men.

Could this also be a reason why there are so many women on AFF when you compare it to the 'official ratio' of gender and autism?

Just a few thoughts that came up.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[A few days ago, reading through the new introduction thread I saw Compgrokker's post. I'll quote a part here.


Quote:Hi all,
I started going on the irc channel after my little brother was officially diagnosed with autism.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'd been thinking for a while (even before asperger's was even heard of down here in NC) that I had some form of autism-- I had a lot of traits, just no verbal issues.&nbsp;&nbsp;I've talked with our (mine and my brother's) psychologist and he says I'm not officially an aspie, I'm a trait or 2 short.&nbsp;&nbsp;Then again, he says he's never seen a female with high-functioning aspergers or high-functioning autism.&nbsp;&nbsp;After talking with the people on the irc channel and finding out that I'm more similar to everyone there than I am to my NT friends, and after looking over the diagnostic criteria on my own, I'm a self-diagnosed aspie.&nbsp;&nbsp;It doesn't faze me being aspie, really, it's just nice to know what *exactly* is wrong with me-- why I can never seem to pick up all social cues, have some trouble with eye contact (I either won't look someone in the eye or I stare them down if I force it), rock when I'm overwhelmed, why I'm so obsessive over things, etc....


The psychologist that diagnosed my husband told me women were very rarely on the spectrum, and I should not think my youngest daughter could be on it; it was allmost impossible. When I reacted telling him I was diagnosed, as well as my oldest daughter he allmost agressively asked to know who had diagnosed us. He had to back off when he found out it was done by his collegues in the same institute.

The 'higher functioning' the autism, the higher the ratio men/women seems to be.

I doubt if this is correct. Do male diagnostics recognize females with autism? The book 'Women from another planet' also suggests women are not recognized as much as men.

Could this also be a reason why there are so many women on AFF when you compare it to the 'official ratio' of gender and autism?

Just a few thoughts that came up.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[My Time at the Gym with Neuro-typicals]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13122</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 03:41:58 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13122</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[B"H

My time at the Gym is an interesting experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;I go there once a week to work out rather heavily.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Gym is where I can concentrate on an upper body workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, a weekly highlight.&nbsp;&nbsp;

However, I do have one challenge.&nbsp;&nbsp;The NT's seem to be able to use the sophisticated equipment at 24 hour fitness with relative ease.&nbsp;&nbsp;I, on the other hand, have had some embarrassing struggles with coordinating my body and the machinery.&nbsp;&nbsp;I will try to replace on bar with another, and end up holding the original one between my elbow and my rib cage, while trying to put the other one in with one hand.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is simply one example.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is one example of how the heavy equipment there can be difficult.&nbsp;&nbsp;All the same, it does not get in the way of a good workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, it is symbolic of the fact that there are some roads that are simply hard for me.&nbsp;&nbsp;And, accepting that has brought me peace.&nbsp;&nbsp;I am only "high functioning" to the extent that I function highly.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is true of anyone.&nbsp;&nbsp;I may have my moments of "low functioning."

At the same time, I still have a good workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;When I bench, I try to have my initial rest on a prime number, and end my series on an even number, so that I can count two prime number sequences.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, some times practicality gets in the way...like when my muscles really do need a rest.&nbsp;&nbsp;Also, it is difficult to bench with a prime number as a weight on both sides.&nbsp;&nbsp;55 is a good Fibonacci numerical weight.&nbsp;&nbsp;But, 89 would require one fifty, one twenty-five, one ten, and four ones.&nbsp;&nbsp;At least I get a double, a prime and a Fibonacci...But, I do not see too many 1 lb. weights around.&nbsp;&nbsp;:);):rolleyes::shy:&nbsp;&nbsp;:D:D:D:D:D:D

OK, I guess I'll end this thread now.&nbsp;&nbsp;I did not mean for it to be ridiculous.&nbsp;&nbsp;I actually do find the machinery a challenge for body-spatial coordination.

Do you have the same problem?

All the best.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[B"H

My time at the Gym is an interesting experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;I go there once a week to work out rather heavily.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Gym is where I can concentrate on an upper body workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, a weekly highlight.&nbsp;&nbsp;

However, I do have one challenge.&nbsp;&nbsp;The NT's seem to be able to use the sophisticated equipment at 24 hour fitness with relative ease.&nbsp;&nbsp;I, on the other hand, have had some embarrassing struggles with coordinating my body and the machinery.&nbsp;&nbsp;I will try to replace on bar with another, and end up holding the original one between my elbow and my rib cage, while trying to put the other one in with one hand.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is simply one example.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is one example of how the heavy equipment there can be difficult.&nbsp;&nbsp;All the same, it does not get in the way of a good workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, it is symbolic of the fact that there are some roads that are simply hard for me.&nbsp;&nbsp;And, accepting that has brought me peace.&nbsp;&nbsp;I am only "high functioning" to the extent that I function highly.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is true of anyone.&nbsp;&nbsp;I may have my moments of "low functioning."

At the same time, I still have a good workout.&nbsp;&nbsp;When I bench, I try to have my initial rest on a prime number, and end my series on an even number, so that I can count two prime number sequences.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, some times practicality gets in the way...like when my muscles really do need a rest.&nbsp;&nbsp;Also, it is difficult to bench with a prime number as a weight on both sides.&nbsp;&nbsp;55 is a good Fibonacci numerical weight.&nbsp;&nbsp;But, 89 would require one fifty, one twenty-five, one ten, and four ones.&nbsp;&nbsp;At least I get a double, a prime and a Fibonacci...But, I do not see too many 1 lb. weights around.&nbsp;&nbsp;:);):rolleyes::shy:&nbsp;&nbsp;:D:D:D:D:D:D

OK, I guess I'll end this thread now.&nbsp;&nbsp;I did not mean for it to be ridiculous.&nbsp;&nbsp;I actually do find the machinery a challenge for body-spatial coordination.

Do you have the same problem?

All the best.]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Second Life]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13120</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 01:50:27 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13120</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[All we have is some weird house guarded by 2 stuffed panda bears. What's up with that? 

Who's on there I'm a noob
my SL name is Aspy Szteiger
add me]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[All we have is some weird house guarded by 2 stuffed panda bears. What's up with that? 

Who's on there I'm a noob
my SL name is Aspy Szteiger
add me]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[NEJM objects to vaccine court ruling]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13119</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 01:13:10 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13119</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full...?query=TOC

Vaccines and Autism Revisited — The Hannah Poling Case
Paul A. Offit, M.D.
 	
On April 11, 2008, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee took an unusual step: in the name of transparency, trust, and collaboration, it asked members of the public to help set its vaccine-safety research agenda for the next 5 years. Several parents, given this opportunity, expressed concern that vaccines might cause autism — a fear that had recently been fueled by extensive media coverage of a press conference involving a 9-year-old girl named Hannah Poling.

When she was 19 months old, Hannah, the daughter of Jon and Terry Poling, received five vaccines — diphtheria–tetanus–acellular pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), varicella, and inactivated polio. At the time, Hannah was interactive, playful, and communicative. Two days later, she was lethargic, irritable, and febrile. Ten days after vaccination, she developed a rash consistent with vaccine-induced varicella.

Months later, with delays in neurologic and psychological development, Hannah was diagnosed with encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit. Hannah's signs included problems with language, communication, and behavior — all features of autism spectrum disorder. Although it is not unusual for children with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies to develop neurologic signs between their first and second years of life, Hannah's parents believed that vaccines had triggered her encephalopathy. They sued the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and won.

On March 6, 2008, the Polings took their case to the public. Standing before a bank of microphones from several major news organizations, Jon Poling said that "the results in this case may well signify a landmark decision with children developing autism following vaccinations."1 For years, federal health agencies and professional organizations had reassured the public that vaccines didn't cause autism. Now, with DHHS making this concession in a federal claims court, the government appeared to be saying exactly the opposite. Caught in the middle, clinicians were at a loss to explain the reasoning behind the VICP's decision.

The Poling case is best understood in the context of the decision-making process of this unusual vaccine court. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, American lawyers successfully sued pharmaceutical companies claiming that vaccines caused a variety of illnesses, including unexplained coma, sudden infant death syndrome, Reye's syndrome, transverse myelitis, mental retardation, and epilepsy. By 1986, all but one manufacturer of the diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis vaccine had left the market. The federal government stepped in, passing the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which included the creation of the VICP. Funded by a federal excise tax on each dose of vaccine, the VICP compiled a list of compensable injuries. If scientific studies supported the notion that vaccines caused an adverse event — such as thrombocytopenia after receipt of measles-containing vaccine or paralysis after receipt of oral polio vaccine — children and their families were compensated quickly, generously, and fairly. The number of lawsuits against vaccine makers decreased dramatically.

Unfortunately, in recent years the VICP seems to have turned its back on science. In 2005, Margaret Althen successfully claimed that a tetanus vaccine had caused her optic neuritis. Although there was no evidence to support her claim, the VICP ruled that if a petitioner proposed a biologically plausible mechanism by which a vaccine could cause harm, as well as a logical sequence of cause and effect, an award should be granted. The door opened by this and other rulings allowed petitioners to claim successfully that the MMR vaccine caused fibromyalgia and epilepsy, the hepatitis B vaccine caused Guillain–Barré syndrome and chronic demyelinating polyneuropathy, and the Hib vaccine caused transverse myelitis.

No case, however, represented a greater deviation from the VICP's original standards than that of Dorothy Werderitsh, who in 2006 successfully claimed that a hepatitis B vaccine had caused her multiple sclerosis. By the time of the ruling, several studies had shown that hepatitis B vaccine neither caused nor exacerbated the disease, and the Institute of Medicine had concluded that "evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis."2 But the VICP was less impressed with the scientific literature than it was with an expert's proposal of a mechanism by which hepatitis B vaccine could induce autoimmunity (an ironic conclusion, given that Dorothy Werderitsh never had a detectable immune response to the vaccine).

Like the Werderitsh decision, the VICP's concession to Hannah Poling was poorly reasoned. First, whereas it is clear that natural infections can exacerbate symptoms of encephalopathy in patients with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies, no clear evidence exists that vaccines cause similar exacerbations. Indeed, because children with such deficiencies are particularly susceptible to infections, it is recommended that they receive all vaccines.

Second, the belief that the administration of multiple vaccines can overwhelm or weaken the immune system of a susceptible child is at variance with the number of immunologic components contained in modern vaccines. A century ago, children received one vaccine, smallpox, which contained about 200 structural and nonstructural viral proteins. Today, thanks to advances in protein purification and recombinant DNA technology, the 14 vaccines given to young children contain a total of about 150 immunologic components.3

Third, although experts testifying on behalf of the Polings could reasonably argue that development of fever and a varicella-vaccine rash after the administration of nine vaccines was enough to stress a child with mitochondrial enzyme deficiency, Hannah had other immunologic challenges that were not related to vaccines. She had frequent episodes of fever and otitis media, eventually necessitating placement of bilateral polyethylene tubes. Nor is such a medical history unusual. Children typically have four to six febrile illnesses each year during their first few years of life4; vaccines are a minuscule contributor to this antigenic challenge.

Fourth, without data that clearly exonerate vaccines, it could be argued that children with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies might have a lower risk of exacerbations if vaccines were withheld, delayed, or separated. But such changes would come at a price. Even spacing out vaccinations would increase the period during which children were susceptible to natural infections, giving a theoretical risk from vaccines priority over a known risk from vaccine-preventable diseases. These diseases aren't merely historical: pneumococcus, varicella, and pertussis are still common in the United States. Recent measles outbreaks in California, Arizona, and Wisconsin among children whose parents had chosen not to vaccinate them show the real risks of public distrust of immunization.

After the Polings' press conference, Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, responded to their claims that vaccines had caused their daughter's autism. "Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement . . . indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism," she said.5 Gerberding's biggest challenge was defining the term "autism." Because autism is a clinical diagnosis, children are labeled as autistic on the basis of a collection of clinical features. Hannah Poling clearly had difficulties with language, speech, and communication. But those features of her condition considered autistic were part of a global encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit. Rett's syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, fragile X syndrome, and Down's syndrome in children can also have autistic features. Indeed, features reminiscent of autism are evident in all children with profound impairments in cognition; but these similarities are superficial, and their causal mechanisms and genetic influences are different from those of classic autism.

Going forward, the VICP should more rigorously define the criteria by which it determines that a vaccine has caused harm. Otherwise, the message that the program inadvertently sends to the public will further erode confidence in vaccines and hurt those whom it is charged with protecting.

Dr. Offit reports being a co-inventor and co-holder of a patent on the rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq, from which he and his institution receive royalties, as well as serving on a scientific advisory board for Merck. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.


Source Information

Dr. Offit is chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine — both in Philadelphia.

References

CNN. American Morning. March 6, 2008 (television broadcast). 
Stratton K, Almario DA, McCormick MC, eds. Immunization safety review: hepatitis B vaccine and demyelinating neurological disorders. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002.
Offit PA, Quarles J, Gerber MA, et al. Addressing parents' concerns: do multiple vaccines overwhelm or weaken the infant's immune system? Pediatrics 2002;109:124-129. [Free Full Text]
Dingle JH, Badger GF, Jordan WS Jr. Illness in the home: a study of 25,000 illnesses in a group of Cleveland families. Cleveland: Press of Western Reserve University, 1964.
Rovner J. Case stokes debate about autism, vaccines. National Public Radio (NPR), March 7, 2008. (Available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...=87974932.)]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full...?query=TOC

Vaccines and Autism Revisited — The Hannah Poling Case
Paul A. Offit, M.D.
 	
On April 11, 2008, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee took an unusual step: in the name of transparency, trust, and collaboration, it asked members of the public to help set its vaccine-safety research agenda for the next 5 years. Several parents, given this opportunity, expressed concern that vaccines might cause autism — a fear that had recently been fueled by extensive media coverage of a press conference involving a 9-year-old girl named Hannah Poling.

When she was 19 months old, Hannah, the daughter of Jon and Terry Poling, received five vaccines — diphtheria–tetanus–acellular pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), varicella, and inactivated polio. At the time, Hannah was interactive, playful, and communicative. Two days later, she was lethargic, irritable, and febrile. Ten days after vaccination, she developed a rash consistent with vaccine-induced varicella.

Months later, with delays in neurologic and psychological development, Hannah was diagnosed with encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit. Hannah's signs included problems with language, communication, and behavior — all features of autism spectrum disorder. Although it is not unusual for children with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies to develop neurologic signs between their first and second years of life, Hannah's parents believed that vaccines had triggered her encephalopathy. They sued the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and won.

On March 6, 2008, the Polings took their case to the public. Standing before a bank of microphones from several major news organizations, Jon Poling said that "the results in this case may well signify a landmark decision with children developing autism following vaccinations."1 For years, federal health agencies and professional organizations had reassured the public that vaccines didn't cause autism. Now, with DHHS making this concession in a federal claims court, the government appeared to be saying exactly the opposite. Caught in the middle, clinicians were at a loss to explain the reasoning behind the VICP's decision.

The Poling case is best understood in the context of the decision-making process of this unusual vaccine court. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, American lawyers successfully sued pharmaceutical companies claiming that vaccines caused a variety of illnesses, including unexplained coma, sudden infant death syndrome, Reye's syndrome, transverse myelitis, mental retardation, and epilepsy. By 1986, all but one manufacturer of the diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis vaccine had left the market. The federal government stepped in, passing the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which included the creation of the VICP. Funded by a federal excise tax on each dose of vaccine, the VICP compiled a list of compensable injuries. If scientific studies supported the notion that vaccines caused an adverse event — such as thrombocytopenia after receipt of measles-containing vaccine or paralysis after receipt of oral polio vaccine — children and their families were compensated quickly, generously, and fairly. The number of lawsuits against vaccine makers decreased dramatically.

Unfortunately, in recent years the VICP seems to have turned its back on science. In 2005, Margaret Althen successfully claimed that a tetanus vaccine had caused her optic neuritis. Although there was no evidence to support her claim, the VICP ruled that if a petitioner proposed a biologically plausible mechanism by which a vaccine could cause harm, as well as a logical sequence of cause and effect, an award should be granted. The door opened by this and other rulings allowed petitioners to claim successfully that the MMR vaccine caused fibromyalgia and epilepsy, the hepatitis B vaccine caused Guillain–Barré syndrome and chronic demyelinating polyneuropathy, and the Hib vaccine caused transverse myelitis.

No case, however, represented a greater deviation from the VICP's original standards than that of Dorothy Werderitsh, who in 2006 successfully claimed that a hepatitis B vaccine had caused her multiple sclerosis. By the time of the ruling, several studies had shown that hepatitis B vaccine neither caused nor exacerbated the disease, and the Institute of Medicine had concluded that "evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis."2 But the VICP was less impressed with the scientific literature than it was with an expert's proposal of a mechanism by which hepatitis B vaccine could induce autoimmunity (an ironic conclusion, given that Dorothy Werderitsh never had a detectable immune response to the vaccine).

Like the Werderitsh decision, the VICP's concession to Hannah Poling was poorly reasoned. First, whereas it is clear that natural infections can exacerbate symptoms of encephalopathy in patients with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies, no clear evidence exists that vaccines cause similar exacerbations. Indeed, because children with such deficiencies are particularly susceptible to infections, it is recommended that they receive all vaccines.

Second, the belief that the administration of multiple vaccines can overwhelm or weaken the immune system of a susceptible child is at variance with the number of immunologic components contained in modern vaccines. A century ago, children received one vaccine, smallpox, which contained about 200 structural and nonstructural viral proteins. Today, thanks to advances in protein purification and recombinant DNA technology, the 14 vaccines given to young children contain a total of about 150 immunologic components.3

Third, although experts testifying on behalf of the Polings could reasonably argue that development of fever and a varicella-vaccine rash after the administration of nine vaccines was enough to stress a child with mitochondrial enzyme deficiency, Hannah had other immunologic challenges that were not related to vaccines. She had frequent episodes of fever and otitis media, eventually necessitating placement of bilateral polyethylene tubes. Nor is such a medical history unusual. Children typically have four to six febrile illnesses each year during their first few years of life4; vaccines are a minuscule contributor to this antigenic challenge.

Fourth, without data that clearly exonerate vaccines, it could be argued that children with mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies might have a lower risk of exacerbations if vaccines were withheld, delayed, or separated. But such changes would come at a price. Even spacing out vaccinations would increase the period during which children were susceptible to natural infections, giving a theoretical risk from vaccines priority over a known risk from vaccine-preventable diseases. These diseases aren't merely historical: pneumococcus, varicella, and pertussis are still common in the United States. Recent measles outbreaks in California, Arizona, and Wisconsin among children whose parents had chosen not to vaccinate them show the real risks of public distrust of immunization.

After the Polings' press conference, Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, responded to their claims that vaccines had caused their daughter's autism. "Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement . . . indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism," she said.5 Gerberding's biggest challenge was defining the term "autism." Because autism is a clinical diagnosis, children are labeled as autistic on the basis of a collection of clinical features. Hannah Poling clearly had difficulties with language, speech, and communication. But those features of her condition considered autistic were part of a global encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit. Rett's syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, fragile X syndrome, and Down's syndrome in children can also have autistic features. Indeed, features reminiscent of autism are evident in all children with profound impairments in cognition; but these similarities are superficial, and their causal mechanisms and genetic influences are different from those of classic autism.

Going forward, the VICP should more rigorously define the criteria by which it determines that a vaccine has caused harm. Otherwise, the message that the program inadvertently sends to the public will further erode confidence in vaccines and hurt those whom it is charged with protecting.

Dr. Offit reports being a co-inventor and co-holder of a patent on the rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq, from which he and his institution receive royalties, as well as serving on a scientific advisory board for Merck. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.


Source Information

Dr. Offit is chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine — both in Philadelphia.

References

CNN. American Morning. March 6, 2008 (television broadcast). 
Stratton K, Almario DA, McCormick MC, eds. Immunization safety review: hepatitis B vaccine and demyelinating neurological disorders. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002.
Offit PA, Quarles J, Gerber MA, et al. Addressing parents' concerns: do multiple vaccines overwhelm or weaken the infant's immune system? Pediatrics 2002;109:124-129. [Free Full Text]
Dingle JH, Badger GF, Jordan WS Jr. Illness in the home: a study of 25,000 illnesses in a group of Cleveland families. Cleveland: Press of Western Reserve University, 1964.
Rovner J. Case stokes debate about autism, vaccines. National Public Radio (NPR), March 7, 2008. (Available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...=87974932.)]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Government panel recommends who not to vaccinate in pandemic]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13118</link>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 00:22:59 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13118</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[This story is very very disturbing.&nbsp;&nbsp;It shows the true moral degradation of our society.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some will say I am idealistic and we can't realistically give the vaccine to everyone.&nbsp;&nbsp;I disagree.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is a solution: Thimerosol.&nbsp;&nbsp;It makes vaccines last a very long time.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have methiolate, a disinfectant for cuts that contains thimerosol, and it is almost 30 years old and still works.&nbsp;&nbsp;That probably is off the markets now.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is not because of chemical danger, it is because of political danger.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Autism-mercury nut bags who hate the facts their kids have autism had to find a scapegoat, and in doing so they have caused so many to go without vaccines, and may cause many to die.

And that Sykes woman tries to smear and sue those who exploit her as a wolf in sheep's clothing.&nbsp;&nbsp;

click here]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[This story is very very disturbing.&nbsp;&nbsp;It shows the true moral degradation of our society.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some will say I am idealistic and we can't realistically give the vaccine to everyone.&nbsp;&nbsp;I disagree.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is a solution: Thimerosol.&nbsp;&nbsp;It makes vaccines last a very long time.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have methiolate, a disinfectant for cuts that contains thimerosol, and it is almost 30 years old and still works.&nbsp;&nbsp;That probably is off the markets now.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is not because of chemical danger, it is because of political danger.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Autism-mercury nut bags who hate the facts their kids have autism had to find a scapegoat, and in doing so they have caused so many to go without vaccines, and may cause many to die.

And that Sykes woman tries to smear and sue those who exploit her as a wolf in sheep's clothing.&nbsp;&nbsp;

click here]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Oxtocyn as a possible 'cure'&nbsp;&nbsp;- being tested on autistic adults]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13117</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 23:55:29 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13117</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[From the New Scientist:


Quote:'Cuddle chemical' could treat mental illness
14 May 2008 
NewScientist.com news service 
Maia Szalavitz


IT has been called the love hormone, the cuddle chemical and liquid trust. It peaks with orgasm, makes a loving touch magically melt away stress and increases generosity when given as a drug. Oxytocin is the essence of affection itself, the brain chemical that warmly bonds parent to child, lover to lover, friend to friend, and it could soon be unleashing its loved-up powers far and wide.

Oxytocin has long been used to induce labour and assist the let-down of milk in breastfeeding. Now there is growing interest in its potential as a therapy for mental illnesses characterised by "people problems" - autism, personality disorders, depression, social phobia, psychosis and even impotence. Some tout it as an elixir that makes you more likeable, trustworthy and attractive. Decoding its mysteries could even lead to the development of a powerful new recreational drug that makes ecstasy look like a mild dose of cheerfulness.

Oxytocin was discovered in 1909, when British pharmacologist Henry Dale found that a substance extracted from the human brain could cause contractions in pregnant cats. He named it using the Greek for "quick birth", and for decades it was known only for its role as a pregnancy hormone, promoting contractions and aiding breastfeeding.

In the 1970s it started to become clear that oxytocin was more than just a hormone - it was also a neurotransmitter. Released from a brain region called the hypothalamus during social interactions and sex, oxytocin is detected by receptors throughout the brain's emotional centre, the limbic system. This discovery prompted scientific interest that has mushroomed ever since, with oxytocin now one of the hottest topics in neuroscience.

The groundbreaking work on oxytocin's role in the brain was done by C. Sue Carter, then at the University of Maryland in College Park. She studied two closely related species of vole - prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and montane voles (Microtus montanus) - which differ primarily in their reproductive behaviour. Prairie voles form long-lasting pair bonds to rear young whereas montane voles mate promiscuously and fathers do not contribute to parenting.

Carter discovered that the key to the different behaviours was oxytocin. Female prairie voles have many oxytocin receptors in their brains' pleasure centres, while the males have lots of receptors for both oxytocin and a closely related hormone, vasopressin. In montane voles, however, there are far fewer receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin. When these receptors are blocked in prairie voles the animals do not form the usual pair bonds. Carter concluded that oxytocin released in the brain during mating bonds prairie voles to one other, making further contact with that partner pleasurable and separation stressful (Psychoneuroendocrinology, vol 23, p 779).

Bonding and friendship
It also turns out that oxytocin plays a central role in bonding mothers to their offspring and in social behaviour generally. If oxytocin is blocked in rats and mice, for example, they stop nurturing their young and lose their ability to recognise familiar members of their species. "Animals without oxytocin have social amnesia," says Larry Young of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overall, oxytocin's role in the brain appears to be to link social contact with pleasure. Without it, social species could not function. This, of course, includes humans. Evidence is emerging that oxytocin plays a central role in many aspects of human life, including romantic and social interactions and parenting. "It's the glue of society, so simple yet so profound," says Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies in Claremont, California. As an example of its far-reaching effects, Zak and his colleagues have found that people given oxytocin become substantially more generous and trusting in tasks that involve sharing money with strangers (Nature, vol 435, p 673).

So how does oxytocin exert its soothing touch? Recent research has revealed one way: by reducing stress and fear. Markus Heinrichs of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, carried out brain-imaging studies in humans showing that oxytocin damps down activity in the right side of the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes emotional responses (Biological Psychiatry, vol 62, p 1187). When subjects were given oxytocin, exposure to pictures of frightened and angry faces produced a weaker amygdala response. "It's taking over parts of the nervous system and putting information into them about a sense of safety and trust," Carter says.

The chemical also appears to work through the brain's reward system: drugs that block dopamine and opioids - the reward-centre neurotransmitters that signal the anticipation of reward and satiation - also negate some of the effects of oxytocin, even though they do not block the oxytocin receptors themselves. For example, blocking dopamine can prevent the long-lasting pair bonding of prairie voles. Similarly, opioid blockers negate the stress-relieving effects of human petting on rats. In contrast, both opioids and oxytocin powerfully relieve the separation distress felt by young animals kept away from their mothers.

Oxytocin's ability to connect social contact with feelings of pleasure and well-being has got researchers excited about potential therapeutic uses, since so many mental illnesses involve disorders of sociability or empathy. An obvious starting point is autism, which is marked by difficulty understanding the minds of others, aversion to human contact, and repetitive behaviours such as rocking.

Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York is studying what happens when you give oxytocin to autistic adults. He has found that it improves their ability to recognise emotions like happiness and anger in people's tone of voice, something autistic people struggle with. A single intravenous infusion produced improvements that lasted two weeks (Biological Psychiatry, vol 61, p 498).

Hollander has also found that oxytocin increases his volunteers' ability to recognise faces and interpret emotional expressions. Prior studies have already shown that when autistic people see faces, they activate brain areas normally used to recognise inanimate objects. Hollander says his preliminary results show that when given oxytocin intravenously, autistic people are more able to recruit the normal face-recognition area, the fusiform gyrus. Oxytocin also reduced their repetitive behaviours.

Hollander is not the first researcher to connect autism to oxytocin. A 1998 study detected lower levels of oxytocin in the blood plasma of severely socially-averse autistic children (Biological Psychiatry, vol 43, p 270), and more recently variants in the oxytocin receptor gene have been linked to the risk of developing autism (Biological Psychiatry, vol 58, p 74).

Until now, Hollander has only dispensed oxytocin to consenting adults, but he believes that its effects in children might be even stronger, and he's not alone. "I'm absolutely convinced that we should study administering oxytocin when there is an early diagnosis of autism," says Heinrichs, "but it's difficult to get permission to administer to children."

One argument for starting oxytocin treatment early in a child's life is that it appears to play a crucial role in brain development during infancy, helping babies learn to associate social contact with calmness and pleasure. For example, rats that receive more grooming from their mothers are better able to manage social stress. "In rats which get lots of attention from mom, there is a higher level of oxytocin in certain parts of the brain than in those that get less. These are systems shaped by early life experience," says Young.

Zak adds: "We find in animal studies that if the mother neglects the baby, the number of oxytocin receptors atrophies." Similarly, studies of monkeys raised without mothers find that they have lower oxytocin levels than monkeys reared normally.

The influence of oxytocin on mother-infant attachment can be seen in humans, too. Children who suffer severe early neglect - for example, raised without individual attention in a bare orphanage - often have symptoms indistinguishable from those of autism. A 2005 study found that children who had spent the first few months or years of their lives in a Romanian orphanage had lower than normal oxytocin responses to contact with their adoptive mothers (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 102, p 17237).

As a result of such work, Hollander is interested to see whether oxytocin can help alleviate disorders associated with early neglect. One of these is borderline personality disorder, which is overwhelmingly associated with childhood trauma. People with this disorder have severe relationship problems, find social stress difficult to cope with and rejection unbearable.

If oxytocin can help treat borderline personality disorder, then it could help rescue abused and neglected children from a lifetime of mental health problems. These children are at higher risk of developing virtually every psychiatric illness, from post-traumatic stress disorder to addiction, depression, anxiety disorders, antisocial personality disorder and schizophrenia.

The list of potential applications for oxytocin doesn't stop there. Heinrichs is studying oxytocin as a therapy for social phobia, an anxiety disorder characterised by crippling self-consciousness. Ziad Nahas at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston is looking at oxytocin as a treatment for depression, which is also marked by social withdrawal. A team at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is even investigating its use in treating psychosis, which can be seen as an extreme fear of others.

Oxytocin may also help a different type of social interaction problem: erectile dysfunction. Zak notes that about 25 per cent of male volunteers given oxytocin in his trust experiments get erections, while Meyer Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that Viagra affects oxytocin levels, making neurons that are already releasing it churn out even more (Journal of Physiology, vol 584, p 137). As yet oxytocin's role in erection isn't known, but it's an interesting avenue for future research.

Climactic events
The link between Viagra and oxytocin also hints at why the little blue pill has a reputation as an enhancer of sex, rather than simply a facilitator. Since large amounts of oxytocin are released as both men and women reach climax, it's possible that Viagra potentiates and enhances orgasm. "There are lots of anecdotes and nonscientific chatter about Viagra enhancing sex, but now that there is a plausible mechanism, it would be worthwhile performing a definitive study," says Jackson. He has also suggested giving Viagra to women to help during childbirth (see "Labour of love").

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a chemical that is intimately associated with sex, love and pleasure, there is much speculation about oxytocin's potential as a recreational drug. However, the question of whether oxytocin is pleasurable - and if so, under what conditions - has been maddeningly difficult to resolve. What little evidence there is suggests that oxytocin won't be the next OxyContin - a prescription painkiller that was abused recreationally in the late 1990s, resulting in thousands of people being admitted to hospital.

"We spent a lot of time asking, 'Will oxytocin be desirable if it is injected into the brain?'," says Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University in Pullman, a long-time oxytocin researcher. He expected that it would be, so he tried to find out.

A standard test for whether a drug is likely to be misused is to give it to rats and see whether they develop a preference for the location where they received it, as they do with cocaine and heroin. Panksepp tried this with oxytocin but saw no reaction. "Over and over, we never saw a very clear place preference," he says.

So what effect would oxytocin have if taken recreationally in humans? Panksepp has tried taking it and says he felt only a mild effect. "I seemed to be in a more relaxed 'in the moment' mood, with a greater confidence and appreciation of my connectedness to other people and nature," he says. Most people, however, cannot tell whether they've been given oxytocin or a placebo. Women seem slightly more likely to report subjective effects like calmness, according to Panksepp. Hollander, meanwhile, says his subjects experience "no rush, high or euphoria".

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the abuse potential of oxytocin is low. Oxytocin is sold freely in many countries in the form of a nasal spray to help stimulate breastfeeding. If it had abuse potential you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be a thriving underground market, yet there are no reports of people buying oxytocin for recreational use. That hasn't stopped some internet entrepreneurs from selling oxytocin as a "trust elixir" that, when sprayed on your clothes, will make people find you more congenial, attractive and trustworthy. Whether there's any truth in this claim has yet to be tested scientifically.

So why does a substance that seems so likely to be rewarding have so little subjective effect - or none at all? It could be that, early in life, oxytocin wires the connection between social contact and pleasure, but the pleasure itself comes from the reward regions, not oxytocin itself.

Alternatively, some researchers believe that the problem is not that oxytocin isn't pleasurable, but that current methods of administration don't get it into the brain in the right amount at the right time. Some estimate that only 10 per cent of intranasal oxytocin reaches the brain, while only a small proportion of intravenous doses cross the blood-brain barrier. What is more, Iain McGregor of the University of Sydney, Australia, notes that natural oxytocin release is rhythmic. This pulsing may be required for oxytocin to have subjective effects.

McGregor suspects that oxytocin would be rewarding if administered in the right way. He has found that the club drug MDMA (the main active ingredient of ecstasy) raises oxytocin levels and thinks that oxytocin may contribute to MDMA's subjective effects, which often include a profound sense of joyful empathy (Neuroscience, vol 146, p 509). When he gave rats on MDMA an oxytocin-blocking drug, he found that it reduced, though didn't eliminate, MDMA's ability to make the rats more sociable. McGregor now plans to see whether rats on oxytocin-blockers will, like normal rats, work to get MDMA - another common test used to determine which drugs have abuse potential. If the rats don't bother, that would mean oxytocin is at least partly responsible for the MDMA high.

Another problem is that oxytocin's effects tend to be short-lived, and this could reduce both its potential as a therapy and appeal as a recreational drug. Pharmaceutical companies are eager to find a small molecule that would enter the brain more easily and switch on oxytocin receptors long-term. An "oxytocin agonist" is the ultimate prize, says Zak. So far, no one has announced such a discovery.

Ideally, such a substance would be beneficial but not prone to misuse. Yet given oxytocin's association with comfort, love and sex, such a molecule could turn out to be hugely pleasurable, or even make users fall in love. MDMA is often credited with unleashing the "second summer of love". Just imagine what the third could be like.

Labour of love
Though they don't realise it, millions of women have already taken artificial oxytocin. The drug Pitocin, used to induce or speed up labour, is a synthetic version of the hormone. It works because contractions are initiated by pulses of natural oxytocin, which stimulate newly sprouted receptors in the uterus.

Women given Pitocin tend to dislike it because it makes labour more painful. One reason for this is that oxytocin is released in waves during labour. Pitocin is not able to replicate this pattern and so causes persistent, sustained contractions.

Meyer Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has suggested a better way of accessing the oxytocin system in childbirth: Viagra. He recently showed that Viagra enhances the natural release of oxytocin. And because Viagra increases oxytocin levels only when it is already being released, it could intensify contractions without eliminating the breaks between them.

]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[From the New Scientist:


Quote:'Cuddle chemical' could treat mental illness
14 May 2008 
NewScientist.com news service 
Maia Szalavitz


IT has been called the love hormone, the cuddle chemical and liquid trust. It peaks with orgasm, makes a loving touch magically melt away stress and increases generosity when given as a drug. Oxytocin is the essence of affection itself, the brain chemical that warmly bonds parent to child, lover to lover, friend to friend, and it could soon be unleashing its loved-up powers far and wide.

Oxytocin has long been used to induce labour and assist the let-down of milk in breastfeeding. Now there is growing interest in its potential as a therapy for mental illnesses characterised by "people problems" - autism, personality disorders, depression, social phobia, psychosis and even impotence. Some tout it as an elixir that makes you more likeable, trustworthy and attractive. Decoding its mysteries could even lead to the development of a powerful new recreational drug that makes ecstasy look like a mild dose of cheerfulness.

Oxytocin was discovered in 1909, when British pharmacologist Henry Dale found that a substance extracted from the human brain could cause contractions in pregnant cats. He named it using the Greek for "quick birth", and for decades it was known only for its role as a pregnancy hormone, promoting contractions and aiding breastfeeding.

In the 1970s it started to become clear that oxytocin was more than just a hormone - it was also a neurotransmitter. Released from a brain region called the hypothalamus during social interactions and sex, oxytocin is detected by receptors throughout the brain's emotional centre, the limbic system. This discovery prompted scientific interest that has mushroomed ever since, with oxytocin now one of the hottest topics in neuroscience.

The groundbreaking work on oxytocin's role in the brain was done by C. Sue Carter, then at the University of Maryland in College Park. She studied two closely related species of vole - prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and montane voles (Microtus montanus) - which differ primarily in their reproductive behaviour. Prairie voles form long-lasting pair bonds to rear young whereas montane voles mate promiscuously and fathers do not contribute to parenting.

Carter discovered that the key to the different behaviours was oxytocin. Female prairie voles have many oxytocin receptors in their brains' pleasure centres, while the males have lots of receptors for both oxytocin and a closely related hormone, vasopressin. In montane voles, however, there are far fewer receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin. When these receptors are blocked in prairie voles the animals do not form the usual pair bonds. Carter concluded that oxytocin released in the brain during mating bonds prairie voles to one other, making further contact with that partner pleasurable and separation stressful (Psychoneuroendocrinology, vol 23, p 779).

Bonding and friendship
It also turns out that oxytocin plays a central role in bonding mothers to their offspring and in social behaviour generally. If oxytocin is blocked in rats and mice, for example, they stop nurturing their young and lose their ability to recognise familiar members of their species. "Animals without oxytocin have social amnesia," says Larry Young of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overall, oxytocin's role in the brain appears to be to link social contact with pleasure. Without it, social species could not function. This, of course, includes humans. Evidence is emerging that oxytocin plays a central role in many aspects of human life, including romantic and social interactions and parenting. "It's the glue of society, so simple yet so profound," says Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies in Claremont, California. As an example of its far-reaching effects, Zak and his colleagues have found that people given oxytocin become substantially more generous and trusting in tasks that involve sharing money with strangers (Nature, vol 435, p 673).

So how does oxytocin exert its soothing touch? Recent research has revealed one way: by reducing stress and fear. Markus Heinrichs of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, carried out brain-imaging studies in humans showing that oxytocin damps down activity in the right side of the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes emotional responses (Biological Psychiatry, vol 62, p 1187). When subjects were given oxytocin, exposure to pictures of frightened and angry faces produced a weaker amygdala response. "It's taking over parts of the nervous system and putting information into them about a sense of safety and trust," Carter says.

The chemical also appears to work through the brain's reward system: drugs that block dopamine and opioids - the reward-centre neurotransmitters that signal the anticipation of reward and satiation - also negate some of the effects of oxytocin, even though they do not block the oxytocin receptors themselves. For example, blocking dopamine can prevent the long-lasting pair bonding of prairie voles. Similarly, opioid blockers negate the stress-relieving effects of human petting on rats. In contrast, both opioids and oxytocin powerfully relieve the separation distress felt by young animals kept away from their mothers.

Oxytocin's ability to connect social contact with feelings of pleasure and well-being has got researchers excited about potential therapeutic uses, since so many mental illnesses involve disorders of sociability or empathy. An obvious starting point is autism, which is marked by difficulty understanding the minds of others, aversion to human contact, and repetitive behaviours such as rocking.

Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York is studying what happens when you give oxytocin to autistic adults. He has found that it improves their ability to recognise emotions like happiness and anger in people's tone of voice, something autistic people struggle with. A single intravenous infusion produced improvements that lasted two weeks (Biological Psychiatry, vol 61, p 498).

Hollander has also found that oxytocin increases his volunteers' ability to recognise faces and interpret emotional expressions. Prior studies have already shown that when autistic people see faces, they activate brain areas normally used to recognise inanimate objects. Hollander says his preliminary results show that when given oxytocin intravenously, autistic people are more able to recruit the normal face-recognition area, the fusiform gyrus. Oxytocin also reduced their repetitive behaviours.

Hollander is not the first researcher to connect autism to oxytocin. A 1998 study detected lower levels of oxytocin in the blood plasma of severely socially-averse autistic children (Biological Psychiatry, vol 43, p 270), and more recently variants in the oxytocin receptor gene have been linked to the risk of developing autism (Biological Psychiatry, vol 58, p 74).

Until now, Hollander has only dispensed oxytocin to consenting adults, but he believes that its effects in children might be even stronger, and he's not alone. "I'm absolutely convinced that we should study administering oxytocin when there is an early diagnosis of autism," says Heinrichs, "but it's difficult to get permission to administer to children."

One argument for starting oxytocin treatment early in a child's life is that it appears to play a crucial role in brain development during infancy, helping babies learn to associate social contact with calmness and pleasure. For example, rats that receive more grooming from their mothers are better able to manage social stress. "In rats which get lots of attention from mom, there is a higher level of oxytocin in certain parts of the brain than in those that get less. These are systems shaped by early life experience," says Young.

Zak adds: "We find in animal studies that if the mother neglects the baby, the number of oxytocin receptors atrophies." Similarly, studies of monkeys raised without mothers find that they have lower oxytocin levels than monkeys reared normally.

The influence of oxytocin on mother-infant attachment can be seen in humans, too. Children who suffer severe early neglect - for example, raised without individual attention in a bare orphanage - often have symptoms indistinguishable from those of autism. A 2005 study found that children who had spent the first few months or years of their lives in a Romanian orphanage had lower than normal oxytocin responses to contact with their adoptive mothers (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 102, p 17237).

As a result of such work, Hollander is interested to see whether oxytocin can help alleviate disorders associated with early neglect. One of these is borderline personality disorder, which is overwhelmingly associated with childhood trauma. People with this disorder have severe relationship problems, find social stress difficult to cope with and rejection unbearable.

If oxytocin can help treat borderline personality disorder, then it could help rescue abused and neglected children from a lifetime of mental health problems. These children are at higher risk of developing virtually every psychiatric illness, from post-traumatic stress disorder to addiction, depression, anxiety disorders, antisocial personality disorder and schizophrenia.

The list of potential applications for oxytocin doesn't stop there. Heinrichs is studying oxytocin as a therapy for social phobia, an anxiety disorder characterised by crippling self-consciousness. Ziad Nahas at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston is looking at oxytocin as a treatment for depression, which is also marked by social withdrawal. A team at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is even investigating its use in treating psychosis, which can be seen as an extreme fear of others.

Oxytocin may also help a different type of social interaction problem: erectile dysfunction. Zak notes that about 25 per cent of male volunteers given oxytocin in his trust experiments get erections, while Meyer Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that Viagra affects oxytocin levels, making neurons that are already releasing it churn out even more (Journal of Physiology, vol 584, p 137). As yet oxytocin's role in erection isn't known, but it's an interesting avenue for future research.

Climactic events
The link between Viagra and oxytocin also hints at why the little blue pill has a reputation as an enhancer of sex, rather than simply a facilitator. Since large amounts of oxytocin are released as both men and women reach climax, it's possible that Viagra potentiates and enhances orgasm. "There are lots of anecdotes and nonscientific chatter about Viagra enhancing sex, but now that there is a plausible mechanism, it would be worthwhile performing a definitive study," says Jackson. He has also suggested giving Viagra to women to help during childbirth (see "Labour of love").

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a chemical that is intimately associated with sex, love and pleasure, there is much speculation about oxytocin's potential as a recreational drug. However, the question of whether oxytocin is pleasurable - and if so, under what conditions - has been maddeningly difficult to resolve. What little evidence there is suggests that oxytocin won't be the next OxyContin - a prescription painkiller that was abused recreationally in the late 1990s, resulting in thousands of people being admitted to hospital.

"We spent a lot of time asking, 'Will oxytocin be desirable if it is injected into the brain?'," says Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University in Pullman, a long-time oxytocin researcher. He expected that it would be, so he tried to find out.

A standard test for whether a drug is likely to be misused is to give it to rats and see whether they develop a preference for the location where they received it, as they do with cocaine and heroin. Panksepp tried this with oxytocin but saw no reaction. "Over and over, we never saw a very clear place preference," he says.

So what effect would oxytocin have if taken recreationally in humans? Panksepp has tried taking it and says he felt only a mild effect. "I seemed to be in a more relaxed 'in the moment' mood, with a greater confidence and appreciation of my connectedness to other people and nature," he says. Most people, however, cannot tell whether they've been given oxytocin or a placebo. Women seem slightly more likely to report subjective effects like calmness, according to Panksepp. Hollander, meanwhile, says his subjects experience "no rush, high or euphoria".

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the abuse potential of oxytocin is low. Oxytocin is sold freely in many countries in the form of a nasal spray to help stimulate breastfeeding. If it had abuse potential you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be a thriving underground market, yet there are no reports of people buying oxytocin for recreational use. That hasn't stopped some internet entrepreneurs from selling oxytocin as a "trust elixir" that, when sprayed on your clothes, will make people find you more congenial, attractive and trustworthy. Whether there's any truth in this claim has yet to be tested scientifically.

So why does a substance that seems so likely to be rewarding have so little subjective effect - or none at all? It could be that, early in life, oxytocin wires the connection between social contact and pleasure, but the pleasure itself comes from the reward regions, not oxytocin itself.

Alternatively, some researchers believe that the problem is not that oxytocin isn't pleasurable, but that current methods of administration don't get it into the brain in the right amount at the right time. Some estimate that only 10 per cent of intranasal oxytocin reaches the brain, while only a small proportion of intravenous doses cross the blood-brain barrier. What is more, Iain McGregor of the University of Sydney, Australia, notes that natural oxytocin release is rhythmic. This pulsing may be required for oxytocin to have subjective effects.

McGregor suspects that oxytocin would be rewarding if administered in the right way. He has found that the club drug MDMA (the main active ingredient of ecstasy) raises oxytocin levels and thinks that oxytocin may contribute to MDMA's subjective effects, which often include a profound sense of joyful empathy (Neuroscience, vol 146, p 509). When he gave rats on MDMA an oxytocin-blocking drug, he found that it reduced, though didn't eliminate, MDMA's ability to make the rats more sociable. McGregor now plans to see whether rats on oxytocin-blockers will, like normal rats, work to get MDMA - another common test used to determine which drugs have abuse potential. If the rats don't bother, that would mean oxytocin is at least partly responsible for the MDMA high.

Another problem is that oxytocin's effects tend to be short-lived, and this could reduce both its potential as a therapy and appeal as a recreational drug. Pharmaceutical companies are eager to find a small molecule that would enter the brain more easily and switch on oxytocin receptors long-term. An "oxytocin agonist" is the ultimate prize, says Zak. So far, no one has announced such a discovery.

Ideally, such a substance would be beneficial but not prone to misuse. Yet given oxytocin's association with comfort, love and sex, such a molecule could turn out to be hugely pleasurable, or even make users fall in love. MDMA is often credited with unleashing the "second summer of love". Just imagine what the third could be like.

Labour of love
Though they don't realise it, millions of women have already taken artificial oxytocin. The drug Pitocin, used to induce or speed up labour, is a synthetic version of the hormone. It works because contractions are initiated by pulses of natural oxytocin, which stimulate newly sprouted receptors in the uterus.

Women given Pitocin tend to dislike it because it makes labour more painful. One reason for this is that oxytocin is released in waves during labour. Pitocin is not able to replicate this pattern and so causes persistent, sustained contractions.

Meyer Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has suggested a better way of accessing the oxytocin system in childbirth: Viagra. He recently showed that Viagra enhances the natural release of oxytocin. And because Viagra increases oxytocin levels only when it is already being released, it could intensify contractions without eliminating the breaks between them.

]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Where Aspergia would be?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13116</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 22:23:09 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13116</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[If we have the chance to create Aspergia, where about in the world would likely to be?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[If we have the chance to create Aspergia, where about in the world would likely to be?]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Do you think people can tell your an Aspie]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13114</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 15:52:15 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13114</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[When you meet someone at first glance, do they notice that you are an Aspie?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[When you meet someone at first glance, do they notice that you are an Aspie?]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Nachos!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13110</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 07:43:00 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13110</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[I would have put this in food, but I do not know how to cook nachos and they can be extremely fun, I like it when the chips have cheese flavouring on them and burnt melted cheese on top of that and tomato and I like to look at pictures of nachos sometimes on the internet because they look so amazing and delicious. They are also fun to think about. They were invented by Ignacio Anayan and the international day of the nacho is almost as fun as pi day, in which people eat pie and celebrate the wonder of the number pi.

This is my favourite image of a nacho/a nacho dish/nachos

]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[I would have put this in food, but I do not know how to cook nachos and they can be extremely fun, I like it when the chips have cheese flavouring on them and burnt melted cheese on top of that and tomato and I like to look at pictures of nachos sometimes on the internet because they look so amazing and delicious. They are also fun to think about. They were invented by Ignacio Anayan and the international day of the nacho is almost as fun as pi day, in which people eat pie and celebrate the wonder of the number pi.

This is my favourite image of a nacho/a nacho dish/nachos

]]></content:encoded>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Disability Identity Survey]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13109</link>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 04:59:45 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13109</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Not sure which one to put this in.
I wrote a survey for disabled people (as defined by society) to fill out about how they view their condition. Here it is:
http://tigersurvey.com/survey.php?survey=5957
Ettina]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Not sure which one to put this in.
I wrote a survey for disabled people (as defined by society) to fill out about how they view their condition. Here it is:
http://tigersurvey.com/survey.php?survey=5957
Ettina]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[&quot;Doctor plans novel treatment for autism&quot;]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13108</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 May 2008 23:39:12 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13108</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Post Gazette


Quote:With childhood autism cases skyrocketing and no cure in sight, doctors at the Children's Institute in Squirrel Hill are planning on a Hail Mary pass approach to the mysterious disorder -- housing young patients for weeks at a time in a pollutant-free "clean room," in an attempt to detoxify their bodies.

No cause for autism has been found, and debates rage as to whether the brain development disorder is purely genetic or caused in part by environmental factors, including air and food-borne chemicals.

With roots in autism treatment theories that until now have lived mostly on the Internet, the pediatric clean room plan would be the first of its kind in a mainstream American hospital environment.

The Children Institute's Scott Faber, a pediatrician with several hundred autistic patients and a waiting list six months long, is one of the believers in toxic causes, and the institute is trying to back him with a multimillion dollar test of the novel theory.

Under the plans -- developed with help from Duquesne University -- autistic patients would live for more than six weeks in a 1,000-square-foot room kept mostly free of harmful chemicals and pollutants, using special air-filtering systems, ultraviolet lights and air locks on doorways.

Furniture, paints, toys and floor coverings would be designed to be toxin-free, and food, clothing and water organic and clean. Doctors would seek to rid patients' bodies of chemicals and boost their immune systems through natural means such as nutritional supplements and dietary changes.

Basically, it would be pushing a "reset" button on the child's body, with the hope of wiping autistic symptoms away.

"What we would like to do is have kids live in this wonderful environment where they are exposed to almost none of the Industrial Revolution. And we wonder, if the chemicals come out and the heavy metals come out, will the children start improving?" Dr. Faber said.

"Will they start showing signs of clinical improvement, such as language improvement and socialization improvement? Will they become less obsessive? Less fascinated?"

Autism is one of a group of developmental disabilities disorders that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication and are characterized by unusual behaviors and interests. Many people with these disorders also have unusual ways of learning, paying attention and reacting to sensation. Rates have greatly increased in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though some of the rise may be due to changes in reporting and diagnosing the disorder.

Planning and fund-raising for the "Environmental Pediatric Room" is in the early stages, with the Alcoa Foundation awarding an initial &#36;200,000 grant April 28. It will require an estimated &#36;500,000 to fully design and at least &#36;1 million in yearly operating support its first three years.

The 106-year-old Children's Institute (formerly called the Rehabilitation Institute) plans to fund the room through the &#36;30 million capital campaign it launched in 2005, after buying out its Shady Avenue site from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It completed an expansion last year that doubled its building space and its capacity, from 39 to 82 beds. Almost &#36;24 million of the campaign total has been raised, with fund-raising for the clean room and other programs ongoing.
A fringe movement

Clean rooms are common in high-tech manufacturing and research environments and have been used in hospital settings for patients struggling with infectious diseases and transplants. They have also been used to treat children with autism, but only in patients' homes, largely in work by Virginia researcher and nutritionist Karen Slimak.

Dr. Faber noted that Ms. Slimak's clean room work -- like much of the research on toxicity in autism -- "hasn't been written for the main [scientific] literature" but instead has been written mostly for the Internet. The Children's Institute plan would be taking what is arguably a fringe movement into the mainstream: It would be the first autism treatment of this kind staged in an American hospital setting. It will be matched with scientific analysis, sensors and video cameras to study the real impacts of detoxification. The data and findings will be shared openly, he said.

With so many doubts -- and so few answers -- about effective autism treatments among the growing community of families affected by the condition, the institute said openness is vital to the experimental method's success.

"We're not saying this is the full cause" of autism and related illnesses, Dr. Faber said. "Obviously there are multiple causes, and there are going to be found many genetic causes, many environmental causes and many genetic-environmental interactions. But we wonder -- we speculate -- that it's possible if we have children living in a unique environment that has not [previously] been created scientifically that we can make a difference.

"We want to have it be very transparent to the world what we're doing. We want this to be basically an intellectual exercise that's shared with everyone."

Educational, physical, speech and behavioral therapies have long been the traditional treatments for autism, but a growing number of families and researchers have called for further biomedical treatments as well, suspecting there is a chemical side to the disorder.

(One of the biomedical treatments -- which is not accepted by mainstream medicine, including the Children's Institute -- is removing heavy metals from the bloodstream through a process called chelation. An autistic boy died in Butler County after a chelation treatment in 2005. Authorities filed criminal charges but dropped them last week, saying they were not sure of a conviction.)

Families often say their environmental suspicions about the disorder aren't taken seriously.

"I can give you a detailed account of how I know that exposure to toxic mold has caused my son's autism. I have been saying it for years and no one believes me. They think I am crazy, even a [Defeat Autism Now doctor] we once saw," said a message posted by a parent on the AutismWeb.com bulletin board in March

Parents "research anything they can get their hands on and there are so many things saying 'Try this or try that' that aren't necessarily safe. It's a frightening thing," said Kim Aburachis, of Peters, who has twin 10-year-old boys, Nathan and Tyler, with severe cases of autism. Her boys have seen Dr. Faber for more than seven years and are likely to take part in the clean room treatment.

"We're so excited, so enthusiastic, just for the hope of this," she said.

Elliot Frank, the chairman of Pittsburgh's Advisory Board on Autism and Related Disorders, said the proposed clean room should not raise any red flags. Even if it does not work, patients will be in a safe and professional environment, benefiting from passive treatments such as nutrition and clean air.

Among parents of children with autism, Mr. Frank said, "some will say, 'Come on, who are you kidding?' But a significant portion of parents will feel good about this and watch this with incredible interest. Others will watch and say, 'Hmm, let's see what happens.' "
Long time in coming

Dr. Faber, 49, is a neurodevelopmental and developmental behavioral pediatrician with 24 years in the field, who came to the institute four years ago from Mercy Hospital. He has been working on the clean room concept for at least two years, alongside Duquesne University chemistry professor and environmental expert Skip Kingston.

He has been trying to build the scientific case that environmental factors such as toxic chemicals do trigger autistic symptoms. His findings are complicated, but basically blood tests show 70 percent of his autistic patients have zinc deficiencies (pointing to problems with processing heavy metals), and the vast majority also have immune system problems of varying kinds.

"We know that the data for this is just emerging, but we feel it's a very safe intervention, and it's empowering for families and very reasonable," he said.

The room would house only one patient at a time and be similar to other spaces at the institute's Center for Autism, with educational and play spaces, and a table for dining. Medical staff, teachers and family would have regular access to the room through an air-locked entrance, and another air lock would separate the room from a kitchen and laundry area. There will be a small bedroom for the child and a couch for a family member to stay overnight.
A place like home

Traditional therapies would continue during the patient's stay. But by exposing children to a clean atmosphere and toxic-free diet, doctors will also try to slowly release chemicals from the children's bodies, through their skin, urine and stool. In the meantime they will be living in a space that is anything but hospital or scientific-feeling.

"To parents and children it's going to be the opposite of a sterile environment. It's going to be home," Dr. Faber said. "If it's not beautiful and it isn't nurturant, it doesn't fit our research plans."

At the outset, patients would be only the sickest children, who have not responded to other treatments. They would stay six to 12 weeks, allowing an estimated four to six children to be treated per year. (Twenty families have already expressed interest.) After leaving, spaces at each patient's home would be equipped with lower-level clean technology, such as ultraviolet lights and air filters, and children would continue with special diets.

A six-week stay is not uncommon at Children's Institute, said president and chief executive officer David Miles, as patients with traumatic brain injuries, often from car or bike accidents, can stay for months at a time. The average stay in its acute care unit is 23 days.

Still, he said the room poses some unique challenges.

"Talking to architects, the technology to create the room is out there. It's not really a problem," Mr. Miles said. "It's really what you put in the room that is an issue."

Equipment and gear for use in industrial clean rooms are easy to find, but educational materials, toys and normal-looking furniture are not. Most will have to be fabricated from scratch, using the help of students at Duquesne's Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and other research teams. The institute also has to start from scratch on government permits, insurance issues and other red tape.

Fund-raising is the most obvious challenge facing the proposal. There is also the worry of raising expectations too high.

"We want to explore this hypothesis thoroughly," Dr. Faber said. "But we can't promise we'll make any biologic difference or any kind of physiologic difference. What we want to do is to create a loving, nurturant environment where the kids are a gift to us and we're a gift to them, and it all works very nicely."


good grief, even his Colleges think he's nuts! even DAN thought he was!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Post Gazette


Quote:With childhood autism cases skyrocketing and no cure in sight, doctors at the Children's Institute in Squirrel Hill are planning on a Hail Mary pass approach to the mysterious disorder -- housing young patients for weeks at a time in a pollutant-free "clean room," in an attempt to detoxify their bodies.

No cause for autism has been found, and debates rage as to whether the brain development disorder is purely genetic or caused in part by environmental factors, including air and food-borne chemicals.

With roots in autism treatment theories that until now have lived mostly on the Internet, the pediatric clean room plan would be the first of its kind in a mainstream American hospital environment.

The Children Institute's Scott Faber, a pediatrician with several hundred autistic patients and a waiting list six months long, is one of the believers in toxic causes, and the institute is trying to back him with a multimillion dollar test of the novel theory.

Under the plans -- developed with help from Duquesne University -- autistic patients would live for more than six weeks in a 1,000-square-foot room kept mostly free of harmful chemicals and pollutants, using special air-filtering systems, ultraviolet lights and air locks on doorways.

Furniture, paints, toys and floor coverings would be designed to be toxin-free, and food, clothing and water organic and clean. Doctors would seek to rid patients' bodies of chemicals and boost their immune systems through natural means such as nutritional supplements and dietary changes.

Basically, it would be pushing a "reset" button on the child's body, with the hope of wiping autistic symptoms away.

"What we would like to do is have kids live in this wonderful environment where they are exposed to almost none of the Industrial Revolution. And we wonder, if the chemicals come out and the heavy metals come out, will the children start improving?" Dr. Faber said.

"Will they start showing signs of clinical improvement, such as language improvement and socialization improvement? Will they become less obsessive? Less fascinated?"

Autism is one of a group of developmental disabilities disorders that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication and are characterized by unusual behaviors and interests. Many people with these disorders also have unusual ways of learning, paying attention and reacting to sensation. Rates have greatly increased in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though some of the rise may be due to changes in reporting and diagnosing the disorder.

Planning and fund-raising for the "Environmental Pediatric Room" is in the early stages, with the Alcoa Foundation awarding an initial &#36;200,000 grant April 28. It will require an estimated &#36;500,000 to fully design and at least &#36;1 million in yearly operating support its first three years.

The 106-year-old Children's Institute (formerly called the Rehabilitation Institute) plans to fund the room through the &#36;30 million capital campaign it launched in 2005, after buying out its Shady Avenue site from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It completed an expansion last year that doubled its building space and its capacity, from 39 to 82 beds. Almost &#36;24 million of the campaign total has been raised, with fund-raising for the clean room and other programs ongoing.
A fringe movement

Clean rooms are common in high-tech manufacturing and research environments and have been used in hospital settings for patients struggling with infectious diseases and transplants. They have also been used to treat children with autism, but only in patients' homes, largely in work by Virginia researcher and nutritionist Karen Slimak.

Dr. Faber noted that Ms. Slimak's clean room work -- like much of the research on toxicity in autism -- "hasn't been written for the main [scientific] literature" but instead has been written mostly for the Internet. The Children's Institute plan would be taking what is arguably a fringe movement into the mainstream: It would be the first autism treatment of this kind staged in an American hospital setting. It will be matched with scientific analysis, sensors and video cameras to study the real impacts of detoxification. The data and findings will be shared openly, he said.

With so many doubts -- and so few answers -- about effective autism treatments among the growing community of families affected by the condition, the institute said openness is vital to the experimental method's success.

"We're not saying this is the full cause" of autism and related illnesses, Dr. Faber said. "Obviously there are multiple causes, and there are going to be found many genetic causes, many environmental causes and many genetic-environmental interactions. But we wonder -- we speculate -- that it's possible if we have children living in a unique environment that has not [previously] been created scientifically that we can make a difference.

"We want to have it be very transparent to the world what we're doing. We want this to be basically an intellectual exercise that's shared with everyone."

Educational, physical, speech and behavioral therapies have long been the traditional treatments for autism, but a growing number of families and researchers have called for further biomedical treatments as well, suspecting there is a chemical side to the disorder.

(One of the biomedical treatments -- which is not accepted by mainstream medicine, including the Children's Institute -- is removing heavy metals from the bloodstream through a process called chelation. An autistic boy died in Butler County after a chelation treatment in 2005. Authorities filed criminal charges but dropped them last week, saying they were not sure of a conviction.)

Families often say their environmental suspicions about the disorder aren't taken seriously.

"I can give you a detailed account of how I know that exposure to toxic mold has caused my son's autism. I have been saying it for years and no one believes me. They think I am crazy, even a [Defeat Autism Now doctor] we once saw," said a message posted by a parent on the AutismWeb.com bulletin board in March

Parents "research anything they can get their hands on and there are so many things saying 'Try this or try that' that aren't necessarily safe. It's a frightening thing," said Kim Aburachis, of Peters, who has twin 10-year-old boys, Nathan and Tyler, with severe cases of autism. Her boys have seen Dr. Faber for more than seven years and are likely to take part in the clean room treatment.

"We're so excited, so enthusiastic, just for the hope of this," she said.

Elliot Frank, the chairman of Pittsburgh's Advisory Board on Autism and Related Disorders, said the proposed clean room should not raise any red flags. Even if it does not work, patients will be in a safe and professional environment, benefiting from passive treatments such as nutrition and clean air.

Among parents of children with autism, Mr. Frank said, "some will say, 'Come on, who are you kidding?' But a significant portion of parents will feel good about this and watch this with incredible interest. Others will watch and say, 'Hmm, let's see what happens.' "
Long time in coming

Dr. Faber, 49, is a neurodevelopmental and developmental behavioral pediatrician with 24 years in the field, who came to the institute four years ago from Mercy Hospital. He has been working on the clean room concept for at least two years, alongside Duquesne University chemistry professor and environmental expert Skip Kingston.

He has been trying to build the scientific case that environmental factors such as toxic chemicals do trigger autistic symptoms. His findings are complicated, but basically blood tests show 70 percent of his autistic patients have zinc deficiencies (pointing to problems with processing heavy metals), and the vast majority also have immune system problems of varying kinds.

"We know that the data for this is just emerging, but we feel it's a very safe intervention, and it's empowering for families and very reasonable," he said.

The room would house only one patient at a time and be similar to other spaces at the institute's Center for Autism, with educational and play spaces, and a table for dining. Medical staff, teachers and family would have regular access to the room through an air-locked entrance, and another air lock would separate the room from a kitchen and laundry area. There will be a small bedroom for the child and a couch for a family member to stay overnight.
A place like home

Traditional therapies would continue during the patient's stay. But by exposing children to a clean atmosphere and toxic-free diet, doctors will also try to slowly release chemicals from the children's bodies, through their skin, urine and stool. In the meantime they will be living in a space that is anything but hospital or scientific-feeling.

"To parents and children it's going to be the opposite of a sterile environment. It's going to be home," Dr. Faber said. "If it's not beautiful and it isn't nurturant, it doesn't fit our research plans."

At the outset, patients would be only the sickest children, who have not responded to other treatments. They would stay six to 12 weeks, allowing an estimated four to six children to be treated per year. (Twenty families have already expressed interest.) After leaving, spaces at each patient's home would be equipped with lower-level clean technology, such as ultraviolet lights and air filters, and children would continue with special diets.

A six-week stay is not uncommon at Children's Institute, said president and chief executive officer David Miles, as patients with traumatic brain injuries, often from car or bike accidents, can stay for months at a time. The average stay in its acute care unit is 23 days.

Still, he said the room poses some unique challenges.

"Talking to architects, the technology to create the room is out there. It's not really a problem," Mr. Miles said. "It's really what you put in the room that is an issue."

Equipment and gear for use in industrial clean rooms are easy to find, but educational materials, toys and normal-looking furniture are not. Most will have to be fabricated from scratch, using the help of students at Duquesne's Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and other research teams. The institute also has to start from scratch on government permits, insurance issues and other red tape.

Fund-raising is the most obvious challenge facing the proposal. There is also the worry of raising expectations too high.

"We want to explore this hypothesis thoroughly," Dr. Faber said. "But we can't promise we'll make any biologic difference or any kind of physiologic difference. What we want to do is to create a loving, nurturant environment where the kids are a gift to us and we're a gift to them, and it all works very nicely."


good grief, even his Colleges think he's nuts! even DAN thought he was!]]></content:encoded>
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			<title><![CDATA[Ever been called a poser?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13106</link>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 May 2008 20:07:31 +0200</pubDate>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=13106</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Hello folks, I started this thread to talk about an identity crisis I’m having. My skills in making friends isn’t bad but apparently I’m annoying one my associates, who seems to go towards the way at the end of sixth form he will loose contact with me on purpose. And before you say I’m starting another thread all about me, what I’m going to talk about is something you lot a properly family about. I’m taking about being a ‘poser’- a person who fakes his/hers interests so he/she be accepted as a friend amongst his/her peers and in youth culture posers aren’t&nbsp;&nbsp;taken too kindly as they would be likely to loose their friends. Apparently my Aspie ways had led to that associate’s conclusion that I’m a poser and he doesn’t want me to hang around with our friends anymore. What I found out that there are three reasons why I’m accused of being a poser.

First reason is that I’m not big on music, computer games, etc. I do have interests in the same sort of stuff as any average teenager does, especially music, but not fanatical. However, this isn’t good enough for my opinionated&nbsp;&nbsp;friend of mine so he class me as a poser. To be truthful before I met my friends I never had&nbsp;&nbsp;strong interests in music but during my process in socialising I develop a wide taste in music and have many favourite musicians and bands, especially such bands as Led Zeppelin and System of a Down. Therefore that’s a daft justification of me being a poser. Second reason is I don’t dress as fashionably as them, but still, not good enough reason.

Third reason is my social skills. That’s due to my shyness and moments of solitary, but the majority of time I’m a friendly and sociable person. However, I don’t go to much&nbsp;&nbsp;concerts, festivals, etc, so he class me as a poser. I think that’s unfair because I don’t get invited out to these places and I’m not well off enough to go for weekly concerts. And half the time I’m not bothered, but right now what I’m bothered about is him making me look bad in front of my mates which led to be being isolated sometimes. How do you get rid off that reputation? Also have you ever&nbsp;&nbsp;being accused of being a poser because of your Aspergers, Autism, etc?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Hello folks, I started this thread to talk about an identity crisis I’m having. My skills in making friends isn’t bad but apparently I’m annoying one my associates, who seems to go towards the way at the end of sixth form he will loose contact with me on purpose. And before you say I’m starting another thread all about me, what I’m going to talk about is something you lot a properly family about. I’m taking about being a ‘poser’- a person who fakes his/hers interests so he/she be accepted as a friend amongst his/her peers and in youth culture posers aren’t&nbsp;&nbsp;taken too kindly as they would be likely to loose their friends. Apparently my Aspie ways had led to that associate’s conclusion that I’m a poser and he doesn’t want me to hang around with our friends anymore. What I found out that there are three reasons why I’m accused of being a poser.

First reason is that I’m not big on music, computer games, etc. I do have interests in the same sort of stuff as any average teenager does, especially music, but not fanatical. However, this isn’t good enough for my opinionated&nbsp;&nbsp;friend of mine so he class me as a poser. To be truthful before I met my friends I never had&nbsp;&nbsp;strong interests in music but during my process in socialising I develop a wide taste in music and have many favourite musicians and bands, especially such bands as Led Zeppelin and System of a Down. Therefore that’s a daft justification of me being a poser. Second reason is I don’t dress as fashionably as them, but still, not good enough reason.

Third reason is my social skills. That’s due to my shyness and moments of solitary, but the majority of time I’m a friendly and sociable person. However, I don’t go to much&nbsp;&nbsp;concerts, festivals, etc, so he class me as a poser. I think that’s unfair because I don’t get invited out to these places and I’m not well off enough to go for weekly concerts. And half the time I’m not bothered, but right now what I’m bothered about is him making me look bad in front of my mates which led to be being isolated sometimes. How do you get rid off that reputation? Also have you ever&nbsp;&nbsp;being accused of being a poser because of your Aspergers, Autism, etc?]]></content:encoded>
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