My Kid is a Damn Nutter

[Clodfobble]

Just when you think you know at least one tiny thing for sure...

Fragile X is one of the few testable, confirmed genetic diseases, present from birth, that accounts for approximately 5% of autism cases. Some parents do not try biomedical treatments because they have had the genetic testing and know for sure their child has Fragile X, and many more parents assume they shouldn't bother with the genetic testing because their child is responding to biomedical treatments.

Except it turns out that, quite surprisingly, the symptoms of Fragile X actually respond to antibiotics.

Ethell and her colleagues in 2009 found that minocycline lowers the levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), an enzyme present in the normal brain whose levels and activity are over-expressed in the fragile X mouse. MMP9 inhibits development of structures called dendritic spines, tiny mushroom-like projections at the ends of synapses that allow neural cells to communicate. Lowering the amount and activity of MMP9 strengthens the dendritic spines and improves the establishment and maintenance of circuits in the brain.

Lessons for the day:

1.) If a parent says something is working, don't fucking dismiss them. Figure out why it's working.

2.) Overuse of antibiotics may have even more significant implications for our population beyond breeding superbugs.