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A definitive cause for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has remained elusive, although the best picture so far seems to be one of a mix of genetic and environmental factors. This suggests that any genes involved with the condition by necessity are being passed on from generation to generation. A new study now suggests that these genes are being positively selected for.
The study, published in PLOS Genetics[open,DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006618][DX], looked at the prevalence of alleles, or gene variants, commonly associated with an increased risk of ASD. The researchers discovered that these variants were found in much larger numbers than would be expected by chance, and they suggest that this may be because they are also linked to other genes implicated in cognitive ability.
The authors write that this positive selection between the genes thought to contribute to autism and those that might promote intelligence may explain why autism is such a prevalent condition, especially when it seems like it would have been selected against during human evolution.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 07 2017, @01:30PM (3 children)
This theory has been suggested for the last 10-15 years: match.com caused the autism increase.
Anybody read the article deeply enough to find sample sizes? Anything less than thousands is not going to confirm or deny anything.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday March 07 2017, @02:08PM
Its a weird meme because buzzfeed tier media has been pushing it intensely endlessly repeatedly but the academics repeatedly see no evidence of it.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/570079 [jamanetwork.com]
My hard sci fi book plot theory is its just an incident of socioeconomic change and cultural pre-disposition. So 1000 years ago a genetically predisposed turbo-engineer and his genetic kin were just peasant #1535 on the ole feudal estate, nobody cared if a few percent here or there were autistic as long as he could stack hay bales or whatever. Someone a bit on the spectrum isn't a real problem when working in the fields maybe he'd make an unusually good blacksmith apprentice, as for the ones far along the spectrum well infant mortality was extremely high and in those conditions mental illness does not exactly flourish. Turns out a disease of computer programmers and engineers is autism, well, NOW they got lot of money and attention and there's an "outbreak". Where it gets hard sci fi is maybe along the lines of Dune series in 500 years we'll discover that brains attuned to warp field space travel calculations are super susceptible to psychedelic addiction. Or maybe opiate addiction. Or they just need hyper consumption of caffeine or vitamin C to function. Today its just an underclass of homeless people talking to themselves on highway onramps but maybe 500 years from now thats the brain-type that designs starship engines. They got a rough next 500 years coming up, but it gets better after that.
Or if you want fantasy plot, miners would seem to have a competitive advantage with shortness and strongness and body hair for warmth, so you can act all surprised about how dwarfs look and live, but it makes sense, and you'd need a population highly disconnected and ignorant of dwarves to be mystified at why those people that mine the mithril and gold seem to trend toward looking kinda dwarfy.
Almost as if human biological differences exist or something. Which is politically unacceptable for some, so the hamster wheel spins up and we're subjected to "well, um, the most politically acceptable idea I can say is it must be chemtrails like alex jones says" or whatever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @02:24PM (1 child)
Anybody read the article deeply enough to find sample sizes? Anything less than thousands is not going to confirm or deny anything.
These the numbers you're looking for? I don't know how to interpret them, but the sample size seems quite large to me.
Phenotypic Trait | Sample size | Reference
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder | (ADHD) 2,064 trios, 896 cases, and 2,455 controls | 27
Autism Spectrum Disorder | (ASD) | 5,305 ASD cases and 5,305 pseudocontrols | 7
Bipolar Disorder (BP) | 11,974 cases and 51,792 controls | 26
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) | 9,240 cases and 9,519 controls | 28
Schizophrenia (SCZ) | 36,989 cases and 113,075 controls | 23
Source:
Original text http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1006618/ [plos.org]
S6 Table. Details of the GWAS summary statistics used in the present study.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 07 2017, @04:10PM
Thanks - 5000 is large enough to draw some conclusions, if the data cooperates.
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