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How History Repeats Itself: The Rise of SciTech & the Evolution of Blue...
It’s happened before. None of us were alive to remember it. Handloom weavers burned mills, textile workers smashed looms, and farmhands broke threshing machines, all to protest the deplorable state of...
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Women’s March on Washington & a Quick Visit to the Smithsonian
Last weekend, my mother and I took a charter bus to Washington DC to attend the now-famous Women’s March. We made our saucy posters, donned our nasty sweatshirts, and boarded the bus for a long weary...
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Is the Autism Spectrum Also a Genetic Spectrum?
Genetics research into autism has made considerable strides in recent years. While it may seem to most lay people that a lot of funding goes into a field that has offered little translational help to...
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Online Survey for Adult Women on the Autism Spectrum
For any of you who follow this blog regularly, you’ll know that I’m almost without exception a Sunday blogger. Today’s post in fact isn’t a blog at all but an advertisement for some research I’m doing....
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Worms & Human Evolution
The immune system exists as a very complex multiorgan system, composed of numerous sub-branches. The process of inflammation itself can be subdivided into: allergic responses; cytotoxic responses...
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In Mary Anning’s Footsteps
It’s been quite awhile since my last blog, in part because I was away for a couple weeks traveling through the UK. While my family and I visited a variety of sites, by far my favorite pilgrimage was to...
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Mast Cell Activation: a Very New, Old Problem
Mast cells are one of the most ancient of immune cells. They’re foundational to the innate immune system, which is the first line of defense to any invading pathogen. However, they also help to...
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Gene Variants Associated with Educational Attainment
Educational attainment (EA), defined by the number of years of schooling a person has completed, is a complex human trait. However, it is one which seems to be partly under the influence of genetic...
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Do Transposable Elements Predispose towards Genetic Copy Number Variations?
Certain regions of the human genome seem to be prone towards copy number variations (CNV), which are large rearrangements of DNA that often occur in the form of deletions and duplications of genetic...
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A Time Window for Treating Autism?
One of the more popular theories explaining autism symptomology concerns an excitatory:inhibitory (E:I) imbalance in the brain [1, 2]. This states that an E:I imbalance leads to overexcitation in...
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A Survey Investigating Medical Issues in the Autism Spectrum and...
Hi, everyone. My team and I are looking for adults aged 25 years or older (or the legal wards of adults who fit those criteria) to take part in an online survey study investigating a range of symptoms...
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The Inner Core of the Earth May Drive Climate Change
Most people have a hard time imagining that earth’s climate hasn’t always been what it is today. And the global warming that we see occurring now is perhaps even more frightening because the human...
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Prematurity, Brain Bleeds, & Autism
Prematurity seems to be a significant risk factor for developing autism. About 13% of all births are premature, although these stats vary by higher- vs. lower-income countries. In higher-income...
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Response to NIMH Director Dr. Joshua Gordon’s: “Autism Awareness Message”
Source: Response to NIMH Director Dr. Joshua Gordon’s: “Autism Awareness Message”
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Chicago’s Field Museum
Recently my husband and I spent a few days in Chicago and of course, being the science nuts that we are, had to spend a day at the world famous Field Museum. For a little background: the museum opened...
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Connective Tissue Diseases & the Immune System
Connective tissue diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Marfan Syndrome (MFS) are overlapping conditions that are often linked with mutations in connective tissue genes, such as collagen...
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Genetic & Symptom Clusters within Autism & Intellectual Disability
Apologies for my blogging absence, everyone. I’m working towards a rapidly-approaching book deadline and much of my writing energies have gone towards that project. However, rest assured, my blogging...
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So Many Diagnoses!! Changes to Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Criteria
In the spring of 2017, a large group of papers were published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics summarizing the state of knowledge of the connective tissue disorders known as Ehlers-Danlos...
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Book Review: ‘Understanding Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and...
Although the syndromes we now know as Ehlers-Danlos (EDS) were first described as far back as 1892, the number of available materials for patients and medical professionals is surprisingly few....
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Dysautonomia: A Common but Commonly Undiagnosed Condition
Dysautonomia is not a diagnosis but an umbrella term that refers to dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which can have a variety of complex causes. To better understand what...
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