Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
A drug discovered more than 100 years ago may hold the key to combating autism symptoms, according to a study.
Researcher Dr Robert Naviaux of the San Diego School of Medicine gave suramin, a drug first developed in 1916, to 10 autistic boys between the ages of five and 14, and noted transformative results.
"After the single dose, it was almost like a roadblock had been released," he said. "If the future studies show that there's continued health benefits, this could be a game-changer for families with autism."
The study, which has been published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, saw five of the participants receive suramin, while the remainder were given placebos. Included in the group were four non-verbal children – two six year olds and two 14 year olds.
"The six year old and the 14 year old who received suramin said the first sentences of their lives about one week after the single suramin infusion," Naviaux told the UC San Diego Health website. "This did not happen in any of the children given the placebo."
Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/390222-autism-research-suramin-symptoms/
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday June 01 2017, @12:58AM
Hardly rigorous if something as ubiquitous as a fly hadn't occurred yet. And why *wouldn't* he have considered such a failure mode (I'm assuming it was simply the presence of the fly, not some other independent failure mode that happened simultaneously? I don't think I ever actually saw it)
And that's ignoring the fact that the entire premise is a bit ridiculous - if a teleporter accident somehow fused the DNA of the beings being teleported - both man and fly would heavily outnumbered by skin mites, not to mention bacteria - our cells are outnumbered by what, like 100-to-one by the bacteria living within us? Though I'll admit "The Bacteria" would have been a much tougher sell as a horror movie.