Thursday, February 22, 2007

In the largest study of its kind, a genetic analysis of 1,168 families with multiple cases of autism has identified genetic links to autism. A previously overlooked stretch of DNA on chromosome 11 implicates a gene called neurexin 1 and increases the evidence for the involvement of neurexins and genes related to glutamate transmission in the brain.

Genetic studies of autism have previously been undertaken; however the new study involves the collaboration of more than 120 scientists from more than 50 institutions representing 19 countries who pooled their data as part of the Autism Genome Project. The findings were published in the Feb. 18 issue of Nature Genetics.

Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of autism, said: “The identification of susceptibility genes will provide profound new insight into the basis of autism offering a route to breakthroughs in new treatments in support of families.” Autism Speaks funded this project in conjunction with the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Joachim Hallmayer, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Stanford and chair of the collaboration’s executive committee, explains what is next: “While promising, these results need to be followed up with more refined genetic maps to home in on other specific candidate genes. We also need to look more closely at chromosomal anomalies in large samples of children with autism.” In the paper, researchers caution that the genetic foundation of autism probably involves multiple genes and chromosomal abnormalities.

Autism affects about one in every 150 children, and the CDC has called it an “urgent health concern”. Autism is a developmental disorder which impairs social interaction, communication and features restricted and repetitive interests and activities. Twin studies and other research clearly suggest a genetic basis for the condition. Currently there is no cure for autism, but both behavioral or sensory interventions and drugs can influence the symptoms.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Louisiana representative has proposed a controversial solution to “generational welfare,” which would pay women on welfare to get sterilization. Republican John LaBruzzo said he thought of the idea because of his constituents’ outrage over paying for welfare.

“You have these people who are just fed up with working their buns off to try to provide for their own family and being forced by the government [to] provide for others’ families who just want to have unlimited kids”, he commented. He is currently working with Baton Rouge to gather data in support of his proposal.

The idea, which LaBruzzo has not finished forming, would award any woman on government assistance a check of $1,000 if she gets a tubal ligation operation. LaBruzzo is also considering rewarding sterilization in poor men and giving tax incentives for higher-income families to have more children.

LaBruzzo, who is pro-life, said that the people “on the other side of the political spectrum are pro-choice. Well, let’s give these people the ability to choose.”

While LaBruzzo has stated that he has received an outpouring of support over his idea, the ACLU spoke out against the proposal and called it a “meanspirited attempt to eliminate the poor.” Planned Parenthood representative Julie Mickelberry called it a “bribery”, suggesting a solution which attacked the root of the problem was needed and that the representative needed to “go back to addressing issues of education about unintended pregnancy and opening healthcare access.”

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

New Jersey’s state legislature has passed a bill that will legalize medicinal marijuana for patients with chronic disease. The state’s outgoing Governor, Jon Corzine, said that he will sign the bill before he leaves office next week. Upon passage of the bill, New Jersey will become the 14th state in the nation to permit medical marijuana.

Patients with a prescription would be able to purchase up to 2 ounces (56.7 grams) of cannabis per month. The bill specifies that only certain chronic diseases are eligible, ALS, AIDS, cancer, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis. The bill specifically bans the unlicensed growing of cannabis, driving under the influence of the drug, and only allows six licensed dispensaries in the state.

One of the supporters of the bill, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora said that “I truly believe this will become a model for other states because it balances the compassionate use of medical marijuana while limiting the number of ailments that a physician can prescribe it for”.

Opponents of the bill point to California where they say that cannabis is too loosely regulated. Governor-elect Chris Christie said that “I think we all see what’s happened in California,” he said. “It’s gotten completely out of control.”

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The trial of eight retired police officers and two witnesses involved in a high-profile Welsh miscarriage of justice began yesterday in Swansea, south Wales. The ten are accused of framing three men for murder. The Independent Police Complaints Commission thinks it is the largest trial of police the UK has ever seen.

20-year-old prostitute Lynette White was murdered in her Cardiff flat in 1988. Two years later, the ‘Cardiff Three’ — Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris — were convicted of her murder. They were cleared on appeal in 1992. Cousins Ronnie and John Actie were tried alongside the Three, but cleared.

In 2003 the real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor, admitted to the crime and was sentenced to life in prison. Gafoor, a client of White’s, stabbed her more than 50 times.

All those presently accused deny the allegations against them. The eight policemen are accused of a joint conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in a plot to “mould, manipulate, influence and fabricate evidence.”

Amongst these are three senior officers — chief superintendent Thomas Page, chief inspector Graham Mouncher and chief inspector Richard Powell. Mouncher also faces two charges of perjury — the offence of lying under oath in court. The junior officers accused in the conspiracy are Michael Daniels, Paul Jennings, Paul Stephen, Peter Greenwood, and John Seaford.

Alongside Mouncher, original trial witnesses Violet Perriam and Ian Massey also face two counts of perjury each. Both were civilians working for the police. Perriam is said to have lied by saying she saw people including Actie at the crime scene; Massey’s charges relate to his claiming Paris had confessed.

The ten defendants are being tried before Mr Justice Sweeney, who will also oversee a second trial next year in which four more police officers face related charges. The cases were not tried together because of practicalities.

A jury was sworn in at Swansea Crown Court yesterday, drawn from a panel of 400 potential jurors. The judge warned them to take no heed of contemporary or historic reporting on any of the trials, and refrain from talking to anyone about the case. Nick Dean QC, for the prosecution, told them they were dealing with a complicated, unusual case. The trial could take up to six months to complete.