Hawk one
Emperor of the Internet
And this time, I think we're talking about something that shows promise:
First of all, some background. Some year's back, The National People's Health Institute (Nasjonale Folkehelseinstituttet) in Norway had another project going on with regards to expecting mothers. So far, 60 000 mothers and children have had blood tests done during pregnancy, and shortly after birth. I don't remember what exactly this project was originally trying to map out, but that's not so important now.
The important thing is that a lot of blood tests were carried out, on a scale never done before anywhere else in the world. And all of these tests are still available. So, now a new project is starting, which is designed to see if we can get closer to finding out the causes of autism with a much better accuracy than we have done so far. (I say causes, because this project has already revealed that the variety amongst the different cases is too big for a single cause.)
Basically, they first send out a survey about the kid's behaviour which the parents will answer. If a certain score is reached, they will be invited to find out if, in fact, the child is indeed authistic (if not already diagnosed by another doctor).
And after that (if the child is indeed autistic), I assume it'll be a matter of cross-checking the tests from the previous project over and over, searching for the possible hypothesises. Considering this project has a -very- big control group, I for one am pretty excited about the possibilities this project is carrying. And with pretty heavy funding from USA to cover the costs, it's clear I'm not alone in thinking that. I for one wish them luck in the following months and years of tedious work.
I first learned this through a Norwegian pop-science program (named Schroedinger's Cat) about half an hour ago. I made sure to read up on this on the broadcaster's web site to make sure I remembered the details correctly. Oh, and not once was vaccines mentioned.
First of all, some background. Some year's back, The National People's Health Institute (Nasjonale Folkehelseinstituttet) in Norway had another project going on with regards to expecting mothers. So far, 60 000 mothers and children have had blood tests done during pregnancy, and shortly after birth. I don't remember what exactly this project was originally trying to map out, but that's not so important now.
The important thing is that a lot of blood tests were carried out, on a scale never done before anywhere else in the world. And all of these tests are still available. So, now a new project is starting, which is designed to see if we can get closer to finding out the causes of autism with a much better accuracy than we have done so far. (I say causes, because this project has already revealed that the variety amongst the different cases is too big for a single cause.)
Basically, they first send out a survey about the kid's behaviour which the parents will answer. If a certain score is reached, they will be invited to find out if, in fact, the child is indeed authistic (if not already diagnosed by another doctor).
And after that (if the child is indeed autistic), I assume it'll be a matter of cross-checking the tests from the previous project over and over, searching for the possible hypothesises. Considering this project has a -very- big control group, I for one am pretty excited about the possibilities this project is carrying. And with pretty heavy funding from USA to cover the costs, it's clear I'm not alone in thinking that. I for one wish them luck in the following months and years of tedious work.
I first learned this through a Norwegian pop-science program (named Schroedinger's Cat) about half an hour ago. I made sure to read up on this on the broadcaster's web site to make sure I remembered the details correctly. Oh, and not once was vaccines mentioned.
