Autism

What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disorder that typically appears in the first 3 years of a child's life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communicational skills. Autism is a physical condition linked to abnormal biology  in the brain. The specific causes of these abnormalities remain unknown, but this is a very active research area. Chromosomal abnormalities and other neurological issues are also more common in families with autism.
Boys are 3 to 4 times more likely to develop autism than girls; a fact that was unknown to me untill recently.
Children with autism typically have difficulties in:

• playing pretend
• Social interactions
• Verbal/nonverbal communication

Some children with autism appear normal before age 1 or 2 and then suddenly begin to regress and lose language and/or social skills they had previously acquired.


(Cute  kid, eh? :3 )

People with autism may:

• Be overly sensitive in the 5 senses
• Have unusual distress to change
• Perform body movements repeatedly
• Show unusual attachments to objects

Communication problems may include:

• Cannot start a conversation
• Communicates with gestures, not words
• Develops language slowly, if at all
• Uses nonsense rhyming
• Does not adjust gaze to look at objects others are looking at
• Does not correctly refer to self
• Does not point to direct others' attention to objects
• Repeats words or passages, such as commercials

Social interaction:

• Doesn't make friends
• Doesn't play interactive games
• May avoid eye contact
• Withdrawn behavior
• May treat others as objects
• Prefers to spend time alone
• Lack of empathy

Other behaviors:

• Doesn't startle at loud noises
• Has heightened or lowered senses
• May withdraw from physical contact because it is overwhelming
• Rubs surfaces, mouths or licks objects
• heightened or lowered response to pain

Play:

• Doesn't imitate the others
• Prefers ritualistic play
• Shows little imaginative play

Behaviors:

• intense tantrums
• Gets stuck on a single topic
• short attention span
• very narrow interests
• overactive or very passive
• Shows aggression to others or self
• strong need for sameness
• repetitive body movements

Stem Cell Research: Stiumulating Controversy

1st Artificial Windpipe Made With Stem Cells Seems Successful

Although stem cell research appears to stimulate controversy, it's also stimulating scientific changes to people's lives. That's at least the way its been portrayed, but looking at it with a skeptic eye, it may be the way they want people to see it as.

Basic Stem Cell Information 
Stem cells have the ability to develop into many different kind of cells during early life and growth, hence their seemingly usefulness in the scientific field.

Two important characteristics of stem cells:
1. they are nonspecialist cells capable or renewing themselves through cell division
2. under certain physiologic conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions

The embryos used in stem cell studies were created for reproductive purposes through in vitro fertilization.

Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells:
1. embryonic stem cells
2. stomatic stem cells

A starting population of stem cells that proliferate in months may yield millions of cells.

Embryonic cells are not derived from the eggs inside a woman's body.

Human embryonic stem cells are generated by transferring cells from a preimplantation-stage embryo into a plastic laboratory culture dish that contains a nutrient broth known as culture medium.

To be useful for transplanting, stem cells must be reproducibly made to:

• Proliferate extensively and generate sufficient tissue quantities 
• Differentiate into the desired cell type or types.
• Survive in the recipient post-transplantation
• Avoid harming the recipient
• Integrate into the surrounding tissue after transplant.
• Function for the duration of the recipient's life.

A slightly religious way people tend to look at it:

I like this particular political cartoon because it illustrates (it's a pun....get it?....hehe) the controversy behind the stem cell research. Many believe it to be unethical and murderous, and many others believe it to be revolutionary and helpful.

Occupy Wall Street Protests

Well...

I'm all for activism and the sharing of opinions, but what are they expecting the protesting to do? There isn't an overnight solution that's going to solve everything at once. But my concern is more of the violence that's resulting from these protests. Pepper spray has been most prominent in the news. I'm curious to see if Obama plans to take action in this situation.

http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-movement-inspires-rise-u-campus-activism-165348141.html