Re: Lead Poisoning Can Mimic Autism

[Guest guest]

This raises and interesting point. More and more toys were being made in China. We know that many of these Chinese toys had lead paint and other harmful things about them. One wonders if there might not be a connection between increased Chinese imports in the last 15 years and the increase in diagnosed autism.

In a message dated 1/19/2008 1:04:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

http://www.wftv.com/health/15051675/detail.html?rss=orlc & psp=healthLead Poisoning Can Mimic AutismWe've heard a lot about the recalls for the toys made with lead paint. Lead poisoning can have severe impacts on a child and his or her family.Problems for Noah Breakiron began at nine-months-old. He was often sick and out of control."We couldn't go to the grocery store, church, really anywhere due to the screaming," said Rob, Noah's dad.Noah was diagnosed with autism, but then the underlying problem was discovered: lead poisoning. Noah had seven-times the upper limit of lead in his body."We were shocked," said Breakiron, Noah's mother. "We were absolutely shocked. Like, lead poisoning? That can't be right." and Rob couldn't pinpoint how the lead got in Noah's body. But now, his parents believe it might have been from his toys."I can tell you when he was a toddler, he was always chewing on stuff," said Rob.Chealation treatments have reduced Noah's lead levels and have made a huge impact."It was really powerful and amazing for us to watch. It was like literally watching a miracle right in front of your eyes," said Rob.Pediatrician Berger is Noah's doctor."We have a child here who is virtually indistinguishable from his peers and that's certainly not what he was a year or two years ago," said Dr. Berger.Dr. Berger says a developing brain is much more sensitive to lead exposure. He says universal testing for lead in young kids should be done. It's a blood test doctors stopped doing routinely ten years ago, but one he says parents should ask for."This can cause significant long term problems and it's worthwhile checking for," said Dr. Berger."With Noah's level of lead poisoning, if that would have continued, he could have died," said .Today, you can't tell that Noah's body is in a battle to remove the lead. He just seems like a typical four year old, and that's good news. Because the symptoms of autism and lead poisoning mimic each other, Noah's parents say they will never know which came first, autism or lead poisoning. Copyright 2008 by wftv.com. Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

This raises and interesting point. More and more toys were being made in China. We know that many of these Chinese toys had lead paint and other harmful things about them. One wonders if there might not be a connection between increased Chinese imports in the last 15 years and the increase in diagnosed autism.

In a message dated 1/19/2008 1:04:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

http://www.wftv.com/health/15051675/detail.html?rss=orlc & psp=healthLead Poisoning Can Mimic AutismWe've heard a lot about the recalls for the toys made with lead paint. Lead poisoning can have severe impacts on a child and his or her family.Problems for Noah Breakiron began at nine-months-old. He was often sick and out of control."We couldn't go to the grocery store, church, really anywhere due to the screaming," said Rob, Noah's dad.Noah was diagnosed with autism, but then the underlying problem was discovered: lead poisoning. Noah had seven-times the upper limit of lead in his body."We were shocked," said Breakiron, Noah's mother. "We were absolutely shocked. Like, lead poisoning? That can't be right." and Rob couldn't pinpoint how the lead got in Noah's body. But now, his parents believe it might have been from his toys."I can tell you when he was a toddler, he was always chewing on stuff," said Rob.Chealation treatments have reduced Noah's lead levels and have made a huge impact."It was really powerful and amazing for us to watch. It was like literally watching a miracle right in front of your eyes," said Rob.Pediatrician Berger is Noah's doctor."We have a child here who is virtually indistinguishable from his peers and that's certainly not what he was a year or two years ago," said Dr. Berger.Dr. Berger says a developing brain is much more sensitive to lead exposure. He says universal testing for lead in young kids should be done. It's a blood test doctors stopped doing routinely ten years ago, but one he says parents should ask for."This can cause significant long term problems and it's worthwhile checking for," said Dr. Berger."With Noah's level of lead poisoning, if that would have continued, he could have died," said .Today, you can't tell that Noah's body is in a battle to remove the lead. He just seems like a typical four year old, and that's good news. Because the symptoms of autism and lead poisoning mimic each other, Noah's parents say they will never know which came first, autism or lead poisoning. Copyright 2008 by wftv.com. Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

" This raises and interesting point. More and more toys were being made

in China. We know that many of these Chinese toys had lead paint and

other harmful things about them. One wonders if there might not be a

connection between increased Chinese imports in the last 15 years and

the increase in diagnosed autism. "

I have wondered about this but I have also wondered about soda pop

cans. There have been tentative studies linking aluminum to Alzheimers.

Try to think about how many people have been drinking out of aluminum

pop cans these past few decades. When I was a kid, it was mostly glass

bottles. Maybe aluminum poisoning can produce symptoms that mimmic

autism too.

For now though, I'd have to say that it could be lead. If you look at

the degeneration of kids these days, it is rememiscent of publications

describing the fall of the Roman Empire due to their having lead water

pipes in some areas.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

There is also this following article. Rome was an advanced culture, but it had some very brutal undercurrents to it. It was primarily a slave based economy with a small number of very rich people, a tiny middle class, if it even existed, and a huge population of poor and slaves. Gladiatorial combat was a popular and encouraged entertainment. This was largely because Rome was always at war, and that was probably in large part because war was a good way for the ambitious to advance their political careers, and get rich by selling captured enemy combatants and civilians as slaves.

There is another article I'm not sure that I will be able to track down, but it was about how culture actually changes how the brain functions. With the article that follows and given what that other one says, this thug culture is literally wiring many young people's brains to be violent, anarchic criminals. Too bad we ignored the warning signs decades ago. I will also point out that the whole aim of the behavior describe in the article is purely social grandstanding, dominance and so for at the crudest NT level.

The pull of pop culture

By Deborah January 18, 2008

We talk, we all talk, a lot about education. School choice, class size, testing and accountability, teacher pay and per-pupil spending all rank high on the school-reform agenda because those very aspects seemingly affect what matters most inside the classroom. Perhaps we should turn the spotlight on another area of the schoolhouse — the hallway.

A land English teacher by the name of Lynn H. Fox has written a provocative opinion piece in a weekly newspaper called The Gazette (published by The Washington Post Co.). He poignantly lays out a constant conflict that teachers and students alike confront each school day. It's called the "hallway culture vs. the classroom culture."

"If you were to spend five minutes in my school's hallways at class change or at the end of the day, you would despair for our country's future. Students screaming obscenities at each other, male students bullying and degrading, in the most graphic and unmistakable ways, female students (and the females usually laughing hysterically at each insult), fights between residents of one neighborhood vs. another, and enough anger to blow up a city block or, for that matter, a city."

Haven't seen that story on the 6 o'clock news, have we?

Mr. Fox introduces us to this untold story through one of his students, , (a pseudonym, of course), who stands one day in the threshold uncertain of whether he wants to enter the classroom culture or the hallway culture — "50 Cent or Shakespeare, the pull of the popular or the push of schooling." chooses the former.

Lament the lamentable because there are s in schoolhouses all across America making such choices, the wrong choices, and there are Lynn Foxes who are not only trying to rock the noggins of the s in their midst with knowledge but also get teenage knuckleheads to understand that one wrong turn could lead them down a road to nowhere.

The hallway culture is not unlike the "street culture." It's that our refusal to confront the obvious has allowed both "cultures" to claim the lives of so many youths.

It's good to know that is at least in the schoolhouse, and that we have an opportunity every time he turns up to get him inside the classroom. (Remember, as long as a child is enrolled in a school, that school gets local, state and federal dollars on his behalf.) But it's incumbent upon us to ask what happens when even the hallway culture becomes as boring as the Iliad, which could teach teens a thing or two about channeling anger. Or what happens when that hallway becomes too small a pond?

Our dropout and graduation rates speak as much about the future of America as do crime and juvenile statistics, and critically important to those facts is that the warning signs were around long before CDs replaced eight-track tapes. Indeed, the seminal 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report is as startling as the images burnished by Mr. Fox.

• Some 23 million American adults are functionally illiterate.

• About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds can be considered functionally illiterate.

• Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.

• Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.

• Many 17-year-olds do not possess the "higher order" intellectual skills we should expect of them.

• Nearly 40 percent of 17-year-olds cannot draw inferences from written material.

• Only one-fifth of 17-year-olds can write a persuasive essay.

• Only one-third of 17-year-olds can solve a mathematics problem requiring several steps.

Again, that report came out in 1983. The seeds for were sown a long time ago. Look what we hath wrought.

The state-to-state variable in calculating dropout and graduation rates leaves many in disagreement about whether rates or higher or lower since the nation-at-risk study. Suffice it say, however, that the federal government's calculations paint a dire portrait. Data released last year show the D.C. graduation rate at 59 percent, which effectively means that students in the capital of the free world have a 50-50 shot at graduating from high school.

It's not hard to figure out that while lives in Prince 's County, Md., the wealthiest black county in America, his chances of rejecting the hallway culture for the classroom culture are growing slimmer as he grows older, and if drops out and never learns the difference between a black comedy and a black comic, then we haven't learned anything either. As Mr. Fox writes, 's "decision is a fundamental battle that rages inside almost every public high school in the country. But surprisingly, after all the words used to describe our broken schools, very few educational researchers or critics talk about the choice facing " — contemporary culture vs. unpopular class.

Our future — America's future — depends on making sure there are fewer and fewer s as the calendar rolls along. We are our brother's keeper.

In a message dated 1/20/2008 1:03:54 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

For now though, I'd have to say that it could be lead. If you look at the degeneration of kids these days, it is rememiscent of publications describing the fall of the Roman Empire due to their having lead water pipes in some areas.TomAdministratorStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Found it. Very brief and refers to another article that the link does not seem to be working for. The PC worries mentioned toward the end are very interesting. They are worried that the study may cause people to judge cultures and create stereotypes. They just need to get over themselves and realize that not all cultures are equal. I consider standard Western Society as far preferable to this thug culture of violence and ignorance that is growing in our midst.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080118/sc_livescience/culturefundamentallyaltersthebrain

Culture Fundamentally Alters the Brain

Clara MoskowitzLiveScience Staff WriterSPACE.com Fri Jan 18, 10:55 AM ET

It's no secret culture influences your food preferences and taste in music. But now scientists say it impacts the hard-wiring of your brain.

New research shows that people from different cultures use their brains differently to solve basic perceptual tasks.

Neuroscientists Trey Hedden and i of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research asked Americans and East Asians to solve basic shape puzzles while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. They found that both groups could successfully complete the tasks, but American brains had to work harder at relative judgments, while East Asian brains found absolute judgments more challenging.

Previous psychology research has shown that American culture focuses on the individual and values independence, while East Asian culture is more community-focused and emphasizes seeing people and objects in context. This study provides the first neurological evidence that these cultural differences extend to brain activity patterns.

"It's kind of obvious if you look at ads and movies," i told LiveScience. "You can tell that East Asian cultures emphasize interdependence and the U.S. ads all say things like, 'Be yourself, you're number one, pursue your goals.' But how deep does this go? Does it really influence the way you perceive the world in the most basic way? It's very striking that what seems to be a social perspective within the culture drives all the way to perceptual judgment."

The results of the study were published in the January issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Hard work

The scientists asked 10 Americans and 10 East Asians who had recently arrived in the U.S. to look at pictures of lines within squares.

In some trials, subjects decided whether the lines were the same length, regardless of the surrounding squares, requiring them to judge individual objects independent of context. In others, participants judged whether different sets of lines and squares were in the same proportion, regardless of their absolute sizes, a task that requires comparing objects relative to each other.

The fMRI revealed that Americans' brains worked harder while making relative judgments, because brain regions that reflect mentally demanding tasks lit up. Conversely, East Asians activated the brain's system for difficult jobs while making absolute judgments. Both groups showed less activation in those brain areas while doing tasks that researchers believe are in their cultural comfort zones.

"For the kind of thinking that was thought to be culturally unpreferred, this system gets turned on," i said. "The harder you have to think about something, the more it will be activated."

Individual flexibility

The researchers were surprised to see so strong an effect, i said, and interested in the reasons for individual variations within a culture.

So they surveyed subjects to find out how strongly they identified with their culture by asking questions about social attitudes, such as whether a person is responsible for the failure of a family member.

In both groups, participants whose views were most aligned with their culture's values showed stronger brain effects.

i said he is interested in testing whether brain patterns change if a person immigrates.

"There's a hint that six months in a culture already changes you," he said, referring to psychological, rather than neurological, research. "It suggests that there's a lot of flexibility."

The big divide

Scientists have long wondered about the biological root of cultural differences.

"One question was, when people see the line and box, do they look different all the way, starting at your retina?" i said. "Or do you see the same thing to start with but then your mind focuses on one dimension or another. These data indicate that it's at that later stage. In parts of the brain that are involved in early vision, we didn't see a difference. Rather we saw a difference in higher-processing brain areas. People from different cultures don't see the world differently, but they think differently about what they see."

Gabireli said he does worry about unintended consequences of his research.

"The downside of these cultural studies is that one ends up stereotyping a culture," he said. "Are you creating big differences between people? I like to think the more you understand different cultures, the better you understand their perspectives."

In a message dated 1/20/2008 1:03:54 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

For now though, I'd have to say that it could be lead. If you look at the degeneration of kids these days, it is rememiscent of publications describing the fall of the Roman Empire due to their having lead water pipes in some areas.TomAdministratorStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Could be, but also notice that that report was written in 1983. The trends were already clear back then, but nothing was done to change it.

In a message dated 1/20/2008 3:51:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Perhaps the nation at Risk report explains why it is the majority of Aspies goof off over at WrongPlanet.TomAdministrator Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Could be, but also notice that that report was written in 1983. The trends were already clear back then, but nothing was done to change it.

In a message dated 1/20/2008 3:51:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Perhaps the nation at Risk report explains why it is the majority of Aspies goof off over at WrongPlanet.TomAdministrator Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

I think you could be right. Because we generally aren't accepted in regular society, we can see how it works from outside observation. Even more, we often spend time with computer which, while not human, work according to logical and orderly rules.

This isn't true for all of us mind you, but we still can see the pettiness of NT society by watching it from the sidelines.

Socializing can obstruct thought patterns if the society is destructive. Clearly the society described in the article is brutal, base and utterly irredeemable. In a supportive society, things would be quite the opposite I would think.

In a message dated 1/20/2008 4:03:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

I think since Aspies are so far removed from social interaction that they have an objective way of thinking that the society they are living in finds offensive. I think an alternative point the article indirectly presents is that socializing obstructs thought patterns.TomAdministratorStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

I think you could be right. Because we generally aren't accepted in regular society, we can see how it works from outside observation. Even more, we often spend time with computer which, while not human, work according to logical and orderly rules.

This isn't true for all of us mind you, but we still can see the pettiness of NT society by watching it from the sidelines.

Socializing can obstruct thought patterns if the society is destructive. Clearly the society described in the article is brutal, base and utterly irredeemable. In a supportive society, things would be quite the opposite I would think.

In a message dated 1/20/2008 4:03:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

I think since Aspies are so far removed from social interaction that they have an objective way of thinking that the society they are living in finds offensive. I think an alternative point the article indirectly presents is that socializing obstructs thought patterns.TomAdministratorStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Perhaps the nation at Risk report explains why it is the majority of

Aspies goof off over at WrongPlanet.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

Perhaps the nation at Risk report explains why it is the majority of

Aspies goof off over at WrongPlanet.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

" i said he is interested in testing whether brain patterns

change if a person immigrates.

" There's a hint that six months in a culture already changes you, " he

said, referring to psychological, rather than neurological,

research. " It suggests that there's a lot of flexibility. "

I think since Aspies are so far removed from social interaction that

they have an objective way of thinking that the society they are living

in finds offensive.

I think an alternative point the article indirectly presents is that

socializing obstructs thought patterns.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

" i said he is interested in testing whether brain patterns

change if a person immigrates.

" There's a hint that six months in a culture already changes you, " he

said, referring to psychological, rather than neurological,

research. " It suggests that there's a lot of flexibility. "

I think since Aspies are so far removed from social interaction that

they have an objective way of thinking that the society they are living

in finds offensive.

I think an alternative point the article indirectly presents is that

socializing obstructs thought patterns.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

I must have missed that too. When I was a kid we would sometimes drink from hoses. The main concern back then wasn't lead, but stagnant water inside the hoses, which could infect the water with bacteria. Also, there could be bugs and things in it too.

In a message dated 1/23/2008 8:56:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

"did anyone see the news article over the summer abouthoses(and children drinking from them?) Like the drug studies, theyare hushed, dissapear or are rewritten As though they are incompliance but they aren't. Hose company was sued by the gov't Etcetc"I noticed that the "hoses might contain lead" story was sort of flash-in-the-pan. If someone had been on a two day vacation away from all media during that time, they would have missed it.TomAdministrator Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

>

> This raises and interesting point. More and more toys were being made

in

> China. We know that many of these Chinese toys had lead paint and

other harmful

> things about them. One wonders if there might not be a connection

between

> increased Chinese imports in the last 15 years and the increase in

diagnosed

> autism.

>

>

>

um in a word yes

[Guest guest]

>

> I have wondered about this but I have also wondered about soda pop

> cans. There have been tentative studies linking aluminum to

Alzheimers.

> Try to think about how many people have been drinking out of

aluminum

> pop cans these past few decades. When I was a kid, it was mostly

glass

> bottles. Maybe aluminum poisoning can produce symptoms that mimmic

> autism too.

>

> For now though, I'd have to say that it could be lead. If you look

at

> the degeneration of kids these days, it is rememiscent of

publications

> describing the fall of the Roman Empire due to their having lead

water

> pipes in some areas.

>

> Tom

> Administrator

>

The environment has changed in so many ways. plastics(studies have

come out that plastics should not contain edibles(baby feeding

bottles) That heating them releases the gases in the plastic that can

be harmful. did anyone see the news article over the summer about

hoses(and children drinking from them?) Like the drug studies, they

are hushed, dissapear or are rewritten As though they are in

compliance but they aren't. Hose company was sued by the gov't Etc

etc

[Guest guest]

" did anyone see the news article over the summer about

hoses(and children drinking from them?) Like the drug studies, they

are hushed, dissapear or are rewritten As though they are in

compliance but they aren't. Hose company was sued by the gov't Etc

etc "

I noticed that the " hoses might contain lead " story was sort of flash-

in-the-pan. If someone had been on a two day vacation away from all

media during that time, they would have missed it.

Tom

Administrator