Items 1 through 9 have been deleted, since they are primarily for families
living in Virginia and Maryland, and I did not want to send useless
information to the folks in the rest of the country. However, please let me
know if you live in Virginia, Maryland or DC; so that I can add you to my
private email distribution list for events in those states.


10. "VILIFED by the MMR zealots- In a powerful first ever interview the
wife of persecuted MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fires back at those who tried
to ruin her husband's reputation" dated 15 October 2006 by Sue Corrigan in
the JABS Forum at http://www.jabs.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=355
<http://www.jabs.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=355> .

"There can't be many married couples who spend hours on the phone, thousands
of miles apart, earnestly discussing inflammatory bowel disease, medical
research in Venezuela or laboratory studies on rats' brains. But Andrew and
Carmel Wakefield do. Carmel's defiance is the only reason why the British
Government and medical authorities have so far failed to silence her husband
despite driving him into professional exile in America, separating him from
his family in London and destroying his reputation. A doctor herself,
49-year-old Carmel is the secret weapon of Andrew, the man many in Britain's
medical establishment regard as Public Enemy No 1; the villain or hero,
depending on your point of view, of the eight year controversy over whether
the MMR triple jab, given to toddlers to protect against measles, mumps and
rubella, is capable of causing autism, other types of brain damage and a
painful new form of gut disease. Since the story broke in 1998, Carmel has
kept out of sight, refusing repeated interview requests and declining to be
photographed. Only now, with her family preparing a permanent move to
America, does she finally feel ready to open fire on her husband's enemies.
'Something is causing an appalling worldwide epidemic of autism and the new
form of inflammatory bowel disease which Andy and his colleagues at the
Royal Free Hospital in London first identified about ten years ago. Yet all
that we ever hear from the authorities is, "It's not MMR,"' she says,
packing up the last of her belongings in her West London home. 'Oddly,
though, they don't seem in the least concerned about finding out what the
actual causes might be. It is impossible for the Principled player... Andrew
Wakefield has been shunned by the medical community since making his
findings on the 'triple jab' vaccine public. Sinister forces of propaganda
and censorship authorities to rule out fears of a link between this vaccine,
autistic disorders and bowel disease because they have not yet done the
detailed clinical studies that Andy and others have, for many years, been
pleading for. 'Why have they not, when, obviously, that is the only way to
settle this controversy once and for all?' ..."

11. "New Autism Gene Doubles Risk- Finding Suggests Autism Is Disease of
Brain and Body" dated 16 October 2006 by Daniel DeNoon from WebMD Medical
News at http://www.webmd.com/content/article/128/117130?src=RSS_PUBLIC
<http://www.webmd.com/content/article/128/117130?src=RSS_PUBLIC> .

"A single gene mutation doubles a child's susceptibility to autism, a
Vanderbilt-led research team reports. It's a discovery with far-reaching
implications. Why? It isn't specifically a brain gene. In fact, it affects
multiple systems in the body, including immune function and gut repair. The
gene in question is a variant form of a gene called MET. This suggests that
the complex set of behaviors and mental disabilities we call autism may not,
as previously thought, be solely a problem with brain development. It may
also be linked to subtle developmental problems throughout the body. The
study, which included Pat Levitt, PhD, of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for
Research on Human Development, appears in the early online edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We hypothesize that the
common, functionally disruptive [MET gene variant] can, together with other
vulnerability genes and [genetic] and environmental factors, precipitate the
onset of autism," Levitt and colleagues suggest. New Autism Gene Important.
Kids with autism usually seem normal at first. Then they seem to backslide,
losing abilities they once had and suddenly withdrawing into their own
world. There are many theories about why this happens. Clearly, something
goes wrong with normal development. The MET gene, Levitt and colleagues
note, encodes an important enzyme called the MET receptor. Among other
things, the MET receptor sends out signals important for brain growth, brain
maturation, immune function, and gut repair. Many parents of children with
autism report that their kids have digestive problems and haywire immune
responses. It's never been clear whether this is directly or indirectly
linked to their autism. Linking the MET gene to autism opens the door to
exciting new research, notes Matthew W. State, MD, PhD, director of the
neurogenetics program at Yale University. State's editorial accompanies the
Levitt team's report. "The possibility that a MET variant might lead to
immune dysfunction and gastrointestinal disturbance along with
autism-spectrum disorders is an important question to pursue and one that
will likely lead to some debate," State writes. That's because the first
theory to link autism, gut problems, and immune dysfunction blamed these
symptoms on childhood immunization with the measles
<http://www.webmd.com/hw/raising_a_family/hw198189.asp> /mumps
<http://www.webmd.com/hw/raising_a_family/hw180631.asp> /rubella (MMR)
vaccine. That theory -- now rejected by all but one of the researchers who
first proposed it -- holds that kids who develop autism are particularly
sensitive to the toxic effects of thimerosol, a form of mercury used as a
vaccine preservative. The thimerosol theory was rejected by an Institute of
Medicine panel of experts. Now the MET gene may reopen investigation into
the link between autism and other developmental problems. "The very
important question of whether and how gut disturbance, regression, and
immunological issues may be related has been, in part, obscured by this
[thimerosol] controversy," State writes. "Hopefully, the present study will
lead to additional rigorous investigations of these questions without
fueling unnecessary concern regarding MMR."

12. "Gene Mutation Linked to Risk of Autism" dated 16 October 2006 by Ed
Edelson from HealthDay News at
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061016/hl_hsn/genemutationlinkedtoriskofautis
m>
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061016/hl_hsn/genemutationlinkedtoriskofautism
.

"For the first time, researchers have identified a specific gene mutation
that increases the risk of autism. And while scientists are hailing the
discovery as significant, they add that it will be many years before the
research has medical applications. The study of more than 700 families with
autistic children found that a mutation that decreases the production of a
protein designated MET more than doubles the risk of the disorder. The
report, led by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., was
published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the
<http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=National+Academy+of+Sciences>
National Academy of Sciences. "Rare changes in genes have been identified
before this as contributing to the risk of autism," said Dr. Matthew W.
State, director of the Yale University School of Medicine's program on
neurogenetics, who wrote an accompanying commentary in the journal.
"Conversely, there have been a number of instances where a gene has been
implicated, but where the functional change that led to the finding was not
found." "This time, they have gone all the way, identifying the gene and
the mechanism. It is tremendously important because it tells you what the
biological processes might be," State added. Autism is a disorder that
causes social deficits, language impairment and repetitive behavior. Its
reported incidence has increased sharply in recent years, perhaps because of
more awareness of the condition. The incidence of autism itself is estimated
at one in every 500 American children, and the rate of autism-related
conditions is as high as one in 166. The MET protein studied by the
researchers has many roles in the body. It is best known for promoting
metastasis, the spread of a variety of cancers. But it also has been found
to contribute to immune function and gastrointestinal repair. Recent
studies, by the Vanderbilt group and others, have shown that the protein
contributes to development of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, parts of
the brain that can be abnormal in people with autism. This study found that
a mutation of the portion of the MET gene that governs the production of its
protein was associated with the risk of autism. The strongest association of
the mutation to autism was found in families with more than one affected
child. Overall, the presence of the mutation raised the risk of autism by
2.27 times. An essential step now is to verify the finding, said Andy Shih,
director of research at the National Alliance for Autism Research. "Maybe
100 candidate genes have been identified before this, and most of them have
not been replicated," Shih said. "But what distinguishes this particular
paper is that it involves the biology associated with this condition." Now
that a mutation has been identified, Shih said, "we must try to understand
how this functional variant is related to behavioral manifestations." State
said: "The first thing always is that this absolutely must be replicated in
other laboratories. Second, in terms of understanding the biology better, we
have to take a look at what happens in vivo," meaning in physical function.
One possible method of verifying the finding would be to bioengineer animals
such as mice so their production of MET protein is reduced, to see how that
affects their behavior, State said. But, Shih added, any medical
application of the finding is many years away."

13. "Mutated gene doubles autism risk, study finds- Researchers find first
clear genetic link to the complex disorder" dated 16 October 2006 from
Reuters at <http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15294367/>
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15294367/.

"U.S. researchers said on Monday they had identified a genetic mutation that
raises the risk of autism and could also explain some of the other symptoms
seen in children with autism. Although autism and similar disorders can
clearly run in families, theirs is the first study to find a definitive
genetic link to the disorder, which affects as many as 1 in 175 U.S.
children. Dr. Pat Levitt and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tenn., studied 743 families in which 1,200 family members were
affected by autism spectrum disorders, which range from fully disabling
autism to Asperger's syndrome. They found a single mutation in a gene
called MET, which is known to be involved in brain development, regulation
of the immune system and repair of the gastrointestinal system. All of these
systems can be affected in children with autism. "This is a vulnerability
gene," Levitt said. "There are not genes that actually cause autism. It
raises the risk." 2 copies of gene double the risk. People with two copies
of the mutated gene have 2 to 2.5 times the normal risk of autism and people
with one mutated copy have 1.7 times the risk, he said. The findings,
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer a
way to start looking for the actual causes of autism, Levitt said. Autism
can cause a range of symptoms, from fairly mild social dysfunction to severe
and disabling learning and social impairments. Researchers knew it could
run in families, but the cause has been unknown. Children are usually
diagnosed as toddlers, with parents often describing a sudden regression in
abilities and behavior. There is no known cure. Levitt said the mutation
does not change the function of the gene, but changes gene expression - how
active the gene is. Levitt says his team will now try to make a rat or a
mouse with the same genetic mutation and use it to study what in the
environment might cause autism in people with the mutation. "It may be more
than one thing," Levitt said. "Let's say it is exposure to some chemical.
It is a long list of everything from food additives to mercury to
fertilizers. This will help." ..."

14. "The Age of Autism: Many, Many More" by Dan Olmsted from United Press
International at <http://tinyurl.com/yf96o9> http://tinyurl.com/yf96o9 or
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-200610
16-17135500-bc-ageofautism.xml>
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-2006101
6-17135500-bc-ageofautism.xml.

"The debate over the cause or causes of autism has been hung up for years on
a point that should have been settled by now: whether the rate is in fact
increasing. This column long ago concluded that, yes, the autism rate has
risen dramatically over the past couple of decades. What's more, the
disorder seemed to arise out of nowhere starting about 1930. Both those
points are controversial, to say the least. If in fact autism went from
essentially zero in 1930 to 1-in-every-166 kids today, the prime suspect
would be some new harmful exposure, not merely better recognition of a
genetic, highly heritable disorder. The issue can quickly get complicated:
How do you define autism? How have the diagnostic boundaries changed? Is an
autism diagnosis being substituted for mental retardation because it sounds
less devastating or more, well, fashionable? But all this is not as hard to
untangle as some parties would have you believe. In 1943 a Johns Hopkins
child psychiatrist named Leo Kanner identified the syndrome in a landmark
paper, "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact." The 11 case histories
he described among children born starting in 1931 were remarkably similar --
and "markedly and uniquely" different from anything previously reported,
Kanner said. Ultimately, a broader spectrum of pervasive developmental
disorders was included -- from the milder Asperger's to Rett's Syndrome,
which affects girls, to Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise
Specified (PDD-NOS). The severe form first described by Kanner came to be
known as "full-syndrome," "classic" or simply "Kanner autism." That easily
identifiable disorder is what we want to compare. I've suggested the current
incidence of Kanner autism is somewhere between 40 to 60 children per
10,000; when you add in the other disorders on the spectrum, it rises to 60
to 80 per 10,000. Of course, there is debate and uncertainty -- but within
fairly tight parameters. Dr. Deborah Hirtz of the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke -- part of the National Institutes of
Health -- estimates that about 10 to 30 children per 10,000 have classic
autism today, and a combined total of 30 to 60 have one of the pervasive
developmental disorders. That's slightly lower than my numbers, but on the
same order of magnitude. Too bad, some say, we can't match those up with
reliable figures from before 1980; then we would know if we're facing a real
increase. The most frequent objection is the lack of a large, pre-1980
"prospective" study -- one that followed thousands of kids and recorded
which ones developed the classic signs of autism. That would be a fair basis
for comparison. ..."


15. "Brain Communications In Autism Studied from United Press International
at <http://tinyurl.com/y65agq> http://tinyurl.com/y65agq or
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-200610
16-12523500-bc-us-autism.xml>
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-2006101
6-12523500-bc-us-autism.xml.

"U.S. researchers say they've found the brain regions of people suffering
from autism do not communicate as efficiently as they do in other people.
The researchers from the University of Washington's Autism Center say their
study is the first to measure neural activity by using high-resolution
electroencephalography to examine connections in the cerebral cortex -- the
part of the brain that deals with higher cognitive processes. Compared with
normally developing individuals, the scientists found patterns of abnormal
connectivity between brain regions in people with autism. These
abnormalities showed both over and under connectivity between neurons in
different parts of the cortex, according to Michael Murias, a postdoctoral
researcher who headed the study. "Our findings indicate adults with autism
show differences in coordinated neural activity," said Murias, "which
implies poor internal communication between the parts of the brain." The UW
researchers presented their study Monday in Atlanta during the annual
meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Autism, a spectrum of
developmental disorders, is the most common developmental disorder in the
United States, affecting one in every 166
children."

16. "TV Watching Tied To Autism, Study Says" dated 16 October 2006 from
NBC6 News at <http://www.nbc6.net/health/10088353/detail.html>
http://www.nbc6.net/health/10088353/detail.html.

"Researchers from Cornell University said they have discovered a link
between TV watching and autism. The authors looked at county-by-county
information on when cable TV entered an area, as well as precipitation
rates. The analysis showed that children from rainy counties watch more
television and that areas with high precipitation also had higher autism
rates. "The analysis shows that early childhood television viewing could be
an environmental trigger for the onset of autism and strongly points to the
need for more research by experts in the field of autism," said Michael
Waldman, a professor of economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of
Management. A news release from Cornell reported that the autism rate was 1
in 2,500 children 30 years ago, but has increased to as high as 1 in 166 as
TV viewing has increased. The authors looked at indirect views such as
weather and cable penetration rates because there was no data to track
autism against how much time children spend watching TV. "Our analysis is
not definitive, but it certainly raises questions that seem to have gone
unasked in autism research to date," said Sean Nicholson, an associate
professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell."

17. "Flu vaccine shortage: hurrah!" dated 16 October 2006 by Julie
Deardorff in an oped article in the Chicago Tribune at
<http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2006/10/f
lu_vaccine_sho.html>
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2006/10/fl
u_vaccine_sho.html.

"In what is now becoming an annual nationwide event--and something of a
joke--we're experiencing our third annual delay in flu shots for young
children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which today sent
out <http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/oct06flu.htm> an alert. I'm not
the least bit surprised or concerned. As a pregnant woman who is supposed
to get a flu shot and the mother of a toddler, who is also supposed to get a
flu shot, I'm happy to skip it altogether. Despite what health officials
keep saying, I just don't think the flu is a pressing health issue. Plus,
don't we all know people who get the flu shot and come down with the flu
anyway? Before AAP spokespeople fire off angry letters about how
irresponsible I am, consider that I'm hardly alone. Only about one-third of
children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years get a flu vaccination,
according to a survey released earlier this month by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and the reason is because parents don't take
the flu seriously. The other reasons we like to avoid hauling our children
in for a flu shot--if it's available--are summarized nicely by my friend and
colleague Christi, mother of two: ..."

18. "Shortage of workers straining Alberta's autism programs" dated 16
October 2006 from CBC News (Canada) at
<http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/10/16/autism-follow.html>
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/10/16/autism-follow.html.

"Families moving to Alberta because of the province's heralded services for
autistic children are discovering a shortage of frontline staff is
preventing their children from getting help. Workers have been lured from
community agencies that work with autistic children by higher paying and
less stressful jobs available thanks to the province's economic boom. Those
agencies are now facing a staffing crisis, said Anne Hughson, an associate
professor in the disability studies department at the University of Calgary.
"When agencies are desperate, they start to maybe reduce their
qualifications, or their credentials, or maybe even standards that they have
for hiring people," she said. Up to $60,000 a year. Autism, or autistic
spectrum disorder, is a neuropsychiatric disorder that impairs a person's
ability to communicate and interact with others. It is estimated to affect
between two and six children in every 1,000. Alberta pays up to $60,000
annually per qualifying child up to age 18 - and anyone who comes to the
province can apply. That's prompted families to pick up and move to
Alberta. Some families with autistic children who have lived in the province
for years have expressed concerns that the influx is straining the system.
The Londons came to Calgary from New Brunswick a year after Mitchell was
diagnosed with autism. "When we first came here we thought, wow, we've got
all this funding," said his mother Miriam London. "But now we're beginning
to realize ... it's very difficult for you to get these services out in the
community because there's ... not enough people that are filling these
positions." Mitchell is now in Grade 1. His parents struggled to find
someone to do one-on-one therapy with him after school, going so far as to
distribute recruitment flyers for Autism Partnership, the agency that works
with her son. The Londons eventually found a psychology student at the
University of Calgary who was willing to work with Mitchell. ..."

19. "Preschool Puberty, and a Search for the Causes" dated 17 October 2006
by DARSHAK M. SANGHAVI from The New York Times at
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17puberty.html?_r=2&ref=health&or
ef=slogin&oref=slogin>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17puberty.html?_r=2&ref=health&ore
f=slogin&oref=slogin.

"Parents often think their children grow up too quickly, but few are
prepared for the problem that Dr. Michael Dedekian and his colleagues at the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/univers
ity_of_massachusetts/index.html?inline=nyt-org> University of Massachusetts
Medical School reported recently.

At the annual Pediatric Academic Society meeting in May in San Francisco,
they presented a report that described how a preschool-age girl, and then
her kindergarten-age brother, mysteriously began growing pubic hair. These
cases were not isolated; in 2004, pediatric endocrinologists from San Diego
reported a similar cluster of five children.

It turns out that there have been clusters of cases in which children have
prematurely developed signs of puberty, outbreaks similar to epidemics of
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/influenza/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> influenza or environmental
poisonings. In 1979, the medical journal The Lancet described an outbreak of
breast enlargement among hundreds of Italian schoolchildren, probably caused
by
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/estrogen/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> estrogen contamination of beef
and poultry. Similar epidemics in Puerto Rico and Haiti were tracked by the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/centers
_for_disease_control_and_prevention/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in the 1980's. Increasingly - though the
science is still far from definitive and the precise number of such cases is
highly speculative - some physicians worry that children are at higher risk
of early puberty as a result of the increasing prevalence of certain drugs,
cosmetics and environmental contaminants, called "endocrine disruptors,"
that can cause breast growth, pubic hair development and other symptoms of
puberty. Most commonly, outbreaks of puberty in children are traced to
accidental drug exposures from products that are used incorrectly. Dr.
Dedekian's first patient was evaluated for possible genetic endocrine
problems and a rare brain
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/tumors/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> tumor before the cause of her
puberty was discovered. It turned out that her
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/testosterone/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> testosterone level was
almost 100 times normal, in the range of an adult man. The same problem
affected her brother. The doctors realized that the girl's father was using
a concentrated testosterone skin cream bought from an Internet compounding
pharmacy for cosmetic and sexual performance purposes. From normal skin
contact with their father, the children absorbed the testosterone, which
caused pubic hair growth and genital enlargement. The boy, in particular,
also developed some aggressive behavior problems. Sex
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/hormones/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> hormones are potent because they
are easily absorbed through the skin and resist degradation better than many
other hormones. Unlike protein-based hormones like insulin, sex hormones
like testosterone and estrogen are technically
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/steroids/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> steroids, meaning they are
derived from
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/cholesterol/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> cholesterol. Primarily made
by the liver, cholesterol begins with tiny pieces of sugar that are joined,
twisted and oxidized in a dizzying series to make an end product that
resembles the interlinked rings of the Olympic emblem. Dr. Joseph L.
Goldstein, Nobel Laureate and a biochemist in Texas, once called it "the
most highly decorated small molecule in biology," because 13
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/nobel_prizes/index.html?i
nline=nyt-classifier> Nobel Prizes have been awarded for its study. Through
further processing, primarily in the gonads and adrenal glands, cholesterol
is converted into sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone. Kenneth Lee
Jones, the former chief of
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics
/pediatrics/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> pediatrics at the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/univers
ity_of_california/index.html?inline=nyt-org> University of California, San
Diego, noted pediatric cases similar to those described by Dr. Dedekian in a
2004 report in the journal Pediatrics. At that time, unregulated
"prohormones" like Andro, famously used by
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mark_mcgwire/i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> Mark McGwire, the former St. Louis Cardinals power
hitter, and banned by federal law in 2005, were available as topical sprays
used to enhance libido. Dr. Jones said the sprays used by adults in some
households permeated the children's bedsheets, and the early puberty stopped
only when the adults stopped using the sprays and also discarded old sheets.
Testosterone-containing products are not the only trigger of disordered
puberty in children. ..."



20. "Finger Forecasts- Palm Reading? Forget It. But the Length of Your
Digits Just Might Hold Hints About Who You Are" dated 17 October 2006 by
Jennifer Huget from The Washington Post at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR200610160
0941_pf.html>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101600
941_pf.html.



"You've checked out your lover's zodiac sign, and you know what her sleep
number is. Before taking the next step, though, you might want to have a
close look at her fingers. A new study in a British medical journal finds a
link between the relative length of a woman's index and ring fingers and her
athletic prowess. The research takes its place among dozens of other studies
tying that ratio -- known in finger-measurement circles as 2D:4D (the
relationship between the length of the second digit, 2D, and the fourth) --
to all manner of physical and psychological traits, from breast cancer risk
to schizophrenia. Digit ratio, as the measurement is called, has been found
to relate to left-handedness and autism, to hyperactivity and bullying in
children, eating disorders in women and depression in men. You're staring
at your own fingers this very minute, right? Well, before you put too much
stock in what you see there, read on. It has long been known that men's
ring fingers are usually longer than their pointer fingers (giving them a
low digit ratio, calculated by dividing the length of 2D by the length of
4D). Women's second and fourth fingers are generally equal in length. But
nobody was sure why the difference exists or what to do with the information
until, in 1998, British researcher John Thomas Manning suggested that the
difference between male and female digit ratios stemmed from prenatal
exposure to the hormones testosterone and estrogen. If the digit ratio --
which is established by the time a fetus is 9 weeks old and remains constant
throughout a person's life -- reflects the level of that exposure, Manning
reasoned, then it might serve as a marker for other conditions -- including
predisposition to many diseases -- thought to be affected by prenatal
hormone exposure. That gave scientists a good reason for examining digit
ratio. Since he offered his hypothesis, Manning reports, about 150
digit-ratio studies have been published. Manning, a professor of
evolutionary psychology at the University of Central Lancashire, published a
compendium of 2D:4D findings in his 2002 book "Digit Ratio: A Pointer to
Fertility, Behavior, and Health" (Rutgers University Press). The current
study, conducted by researchers at St. Thomas' Hospital in London and
published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, examined hand X-rays
from 607 women, all of them participants in a larger study of twins. While a
strong correlation was found between low (or more manlike) digit ratio and
self-reported athletic achievement, researcher Timothy Spector reports that
the study actually lent added weight to the influence of genes, rather than
prenatal hormone exposure. Studying twins allowed his team "to look at the
relative influences of genes and environment on finger ratios," Spector
wrote via e-mail. "We found that 66 percent of the differences between
people were due to genes -- i.e., heritable -- with no real influence of
common or womb environment." According to Spector, his study confirms that
digit ratio is important in reflecting females' athletic prowess -- a
finding already established among males. But, he wrote, "The twin study
casts some doubt on the original testosterone in utero theory, as we would
have expected to see an effect of the fetal environment influencing our twin
studies. Our results suggest genes and not hormone levels are the
predominant force in shaping sporting potential, and finger length is just a
marker." Whether a key influencing factor or a just a marker, digit ratio
and its potential implications are likely to attract continued scientific
interest. But what distinguishes 2D:4D from other attempts -- such as
phrenology (the practice of "reading" skull shape as an indicator of
character and psychology) and palm reading -- to divine information about
people by measuring their body parts? "Science is about theories and data,"
Manning said in an e-mail. "As far as I can see, phrenology, palmistry,
etcetera has plenty of the first and very little of the latter." ..."



21. "Crater Lake searchers press hunt for boy- All hope 8-year-old found
shelter, is alive" dated 17 October 2006 by Antonia Giedwoyn from KGW News
at http://www.ktvz.com/story.cfm?nav=news
<http://www.ktvz.com/story.cfm?nav=news&storyID=16964> &storyID=16964.



"The search for a missing Portland boy who has spent three nights in
sub-freezing temperatures at snow-covered Crater Lake National Park
continued Tuesday with a growing search party. Improved weather conditions
Tuesday allowed crews looking for 8-year-old Samuel Boehlke to launch two
helicopters which were grounded earlier. "It is our hope that Sammy has
found shelter... it is our best hope that we'll find Sammy alive," chief
ranger Dave Brennan said during a news conference Tuesday morning. Brennan
said the weather deteriorated Monday, with six inches of new snowfall making
the ground search "extremely difficult." Nevertheless, crews managed to
search about half of the 4,000 acre primary search area. No clues have
turned up since Saturday night, when search dogs appear to have picked up
the boy's scent. The ranger also said there is no evidence of foul play.
Samuel Boehlke has shown behavior consistent with mild autism, but has never
been diagnosed, Brennan said. He added that crews were taking that into
consideration during the search. The boy was last seen Saturday afternoon.
He had been sightseeing in the park with his father when he disappeared. Ken
Boehlke told authorities he and his son had stopped at a pull-out along the
East Rim Drive near Cleetwood Cove when Samuel ran into a wooded area and
became lost. The boy and his father had been staying at Diamond Lake and
headed up to Crater Lake on Saturday for a father-son hike, said park
spokesman Michael Justin. The search party has continued to grow, with
additional searchers from Oregon, Washington and California combing the
area, which is at more than 7,000 feet at the crest of the Cascade Range.
Justin said searchers still believe the boy could be alive, despite
overnight temperatures below freezing. The boy was dressed in cargo pants, a
blue winter jacket, a longsleeve green and black striped T-shirt, and red
shoes."



22. "Idaho Mother Sent To Prison For Abusing Autistic Son" dated 17 October
2006 from the Associated Press at <http://tinyurl.com/yf4444>
http://tinyurl.com/yf4444.


"An Idaho woman who pleaded guilty to torturing her eight-year-old autistic
son and starving him until he weighed just 50 pounds has been sentenced to a
minimum of eight and a half years in prison. Fifth District Judge Robert
Elgee yesterday ordered Kyanne Nadalia Pamparau of Richfield to serve at
least eight and a half years, with an additional one and a half years
possible on top of that. Pamparau, who is 29, had been held at the State
Hospital South since January 2005 before being discharged last summer. Her
sentence was reduced by the 21 months she spent in the psychiatric hospital.
She pleaded guilty in August to felony charges of injuring a child."



23. "Autistic Brain Has Difficulty Coordinating" dated 17 October 2006 by
Jon Hamilton from NPR at
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6284914&sc=emaf>
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6284914&sc=emaf or
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6284914>
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6284914.



"A growing number of scientists believe autism may be caused by a lack of
coordination in the brain. "Some people think that autism is a disruption
of social function," says Marcel Just of Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh. "But I think it's much more widespread. It's a disruption of
many kinds of behaviors that require good cortical coordination." For
example, a conversation requires some areas of the brain to produce words.
At the same time, Just says, other parts need to assess whether the listener
understands those words. If those areas don't coordinate, there's no
conversation. Just says important skills require more than one part of the
brain to work together. "It's like the Internet," he says. "It's not one
place. It's not Los Angeles. It's not Zurich. It's the network." And in
people with autism, Los Angeles and Zurich don't have a very good
connection, Just says. Researchers discussed the idea as part of the 2006
Society for Neuroscience Meeting in Atlanta. Michael Murias of the
University of Washington presented a study on brain coordination. It
compared 18 adults who have autism spectrum disorder with 18 typical adults.
All of them had electrodes attached to their scalps. Murias says the
experiment itself was pretty easy: "We just instructed them to close their
eyes and relax." Then Murias and his team measured brain waves called alpha
waves to see whether certain areas in the brain were communicating. In
people with autism, they weren't -- at least not very well. "The degree of
communication within the brain was diminished," Murias says. "Particularly
within the frontal lobes and particularly between the frontal lobes and the
rest of the brain." Murias says that's important because the frontal lobes
are involved in so-called "executive functions," which help us recognize
another person's intentions and avoid antisocial behavior. But only when the
frontal lobes are connected to other parts of the brain. In autism, the
problem appears to be with the brain's connecting cables. Those cables are
contained in what scientists call white matter. Marcel Just, who has been
studying white matter using a technique called diffusion-tensor imaging,
says he's found that "the quality of the white matter is lower in autism.
It's less coherently organized." So Los Angeles can't talk to Zurich
because the long-distance cables aren't very good. Just says that in
autism, certain areas of the brain may adapt by becoming stronger and more
independent. "You do the best you can with what you have," Just says. "It's
not a style preference or an aesthetic preference." That may explain why
some people with autism can do complicated math in their head, but have no
idea what they should pay for a turkey sandwich. Just says this line of
research might eventually lead to drugs that could treat autism by improving
the quality of white matter. ..."



24. "He has his grandfather's grimace: Study links genes, expressions"
dated 18 October 2006 by Serena Gordon from HealthDay at
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1018facial10
18.html
<http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1018facial1
018.html> .



"Did your mother ever tell you to stop making a funny face because it might
"freeze" that way? Well, in a way, she was right. New research shows that
facial expressions may be "frozen" by your genes. Comparing the expressions
of blind people to other family members, Israeli researchers discovered
there's probably a genetic component to facial expressions and that human
faces may be programmed from the start to look, and act, the same as those
of their parents and siblings. "There is evidence for a hereditary basis
for facial expressions," said the study's lead author, Gili Peleg, a
doctoral candidate at the University of Haifa in Israel. "This study paves
the way for discovering genes that influence facial expressions,
understanding their evolutionary significance and elucidating repair
mechanisms for syndromes characterized by lack of facial expression, such as
autism," the researcher said. "This is an interesting study that raises yet
another question about those qualities that we have thought of as having a
purely emotional basis," commented Dr. Charles Goodstein, a psychoanalyst
and professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center. "Many
more qualities may be based on physiology and genetics than we've realized."
He said that having families share similar facial expressions might perform
some evolutionary function. "If you have the genetically linked capacity to
emulate the facial expressions of your parents, in terms of evolution, you'd
probably be the most likely to survive," he said. "There's evolutionary
value to having similar facial expressions; you may be more likely to gain
the care, love and attention of your parents."
Results of the study were published in this week's issue of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. Peleg, under the supervision of
Professors Eviatar Nevo and Gadi Katzir at the International Graduate Center
of Evolution at the University of Haifa, compared the facial expressions of
21 people who were blind from birth with the expressions of 30 of their
relatives. The facial expressions of congenitally blind people could not
have been influenced by their environment, the researchers pointed out,
since they remain visually unaware of their relatives' faces. ..."



25. "NGOs take lead in providing shelter to 'rain men'" dated 18 October
2006 by Xie Fang from China Daily at
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/18/content_710666.htm>
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/18/content_710666.htm.



"Xiao Bao is cute and mischievous like most 6-year-old boys. When he plays
on a swing, his face lights up. But if you spend more time with him, you
will notice he seems overactive. And he's aloof, immersed in his own world.
There's a reason Xiao Bao was diagnosed with autism in July. "Autistic
children may appear to be like aliens who don't know how to communicate with
others," said Chen Jie, headmaster of Shanghai Qingcongquan Autistic
Children Training Centre. "They need to be taught everything. They need to
be pushed in whatever they do, which is challenging for parents and
teachers." Autism is a severely incapacitating life-long developmental
disability that typically appears in children by the age of 3. It occurs in
approximately 15 out of every 10,000 and is four times more common in boys
than girls. According to a report on the website Xinhuanet.com, there are
more than 800,000 autistic children in China, most younger than 14. And a
shortage of training centres is making life difficult for their parents.
There are only four centres in Shanghai, providing treatment to no more than
150 children, despite experts' estimating that there are over 8,000 autistic
children in the city. Most of China's autism training centres are
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) run by parents, who know the pain of
having autistic children. Jiang Limin, from Shanghai, is one of them.
Jiang said she suspected something was not right with her son when he was 2
years old in 1996. The young mother took him to many hospitals before he
was finally diagnosed with autism by a doctor in Beijing. After he received
treatment for three months in the Beijing Xingxingyu Autistic Children
Training Centre, Jiang began to look for a kindergarten in Shanghai for her
son. "We tried as many kindergartens as we could, but they all kicked him
out," she recalled, shaking her head. "Can you imagine having such a lively
child, but never having the chance to send him to kindergarten?" At first
Jiang urged the government to provide support. But she soon realized that
starting her own autistic training centre would be more efficient as "early
intervention is vital to the future development of the children, and they
cannot wait." In spring 2003, Jiang opened the first NGO autistic children
centre in the city, the Shanghai Xingyu Autistic Children Training Centre.
The shortage of funds was a constant headache for the new headmaster. She
even had to borrow tables and chairs. A former teacher at the Xingyu
centre, surnamed Ruan, admitted the school was much worse equipped than she
had expected when she had first visited it. She hesitated before taking the
job when an autistic boy rushed to her, calling her "ayi" (aunt) as she
walked into a classroom. "His mother burst into tears of joy when she heard
him calling me, as the boy had even never managed to pronounce the word
'mother' before," said Ruan. "She grabbed her son, hugged him and pleaded
with me to stay with him. "I was deeply touched and decided to stay because
I am a mother too." Teaching autistic children requires enormous patience,
according to Ruan. Most importantly "you should treat them as if they were
your own children." Ruan said she is delighted whenever an autistic child
glances or smiles at her, even without words. "That simple reaction shows
that I am close to them that's enough for me," she said. ..."



26. "Activists Lobby For N.Va. Disabled, Say Agencies Must Get More Money"
dated 19 October 2006 by Chris Jenkins from The Washington Post at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180
0034.html>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101800
034.html.



"The Virginia General Assembly set aside an unprecedented amount of money
two years ago for people with mental disabilities, enabling placements in
group homes for those with cerebral palsy and other disorders, and offering
other services across the state. Many had been on waiting lists for years.
But in Fairfax County and elsewhere in Northern Virginia, one problem
persists: The state consistently has underfunded many local agencies that
provide the services, because the cost of doing business in the area is
higher than in other parts of the commonwealth. As a result, providers are
reducing services. Advocates for people with mental disabilities in Fairfax
have started pushing aggressively to increase state payments to the region,
hoping to persuade lawmakers during the 2007 legislative session to put more
money directly into the Washington suburbs. Activists have appealed directly
to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and to members of the General Assembly's
committees that develop the state budget. They also have invited Democrats
and Republicans in Northern Virginia to meet people with disabilities as
part of the Arc of Northern Virginia's A Life Like Yours program. Advocates
hope that public officials who spend time with those who have disabilities
will have a better understanding of the needs of that community and be
encouraged to take action. In particular, advocates have reached out to
Republican Fairfax Sens. Ken Cuccinelli II and James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr. as
well as Fairfax Dels. David B. Albo (R), Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R) and
James M. Scott (D). "It's never been anyone's number one priority. . . . No
one ever makes it their pet project," said Nancy Mercer, executive director
for the Falls Church-based Arc, referring to the difficulty that advocates
have had in the past. "We're doing everything we can this year to change
that." Virginia's Medicaid program reimburses agencies that work with
people with mental disabilities in rural Virginia the same amount as it pays
in reimbursement to those in Fairfax. But the cost of doing business is
often more than 20 percent higher in Northern Virginia, according to state
audits. For instance, the state reimburses agencies that run group homes
about $17 an hour per client, according to state records. The actual cost
hovers around $41 an hour, making it difficult for facilities to provide
complete services for those entitled to them. The economics of such
services also discourage agencies from setting up in Northern Virginia,
which limits the choices for those seeking providers. ..."



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