The Medical Thread

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Oh dear GOD!!!!! I am so embarrassed!! Rubella, Rubella, Rubella!! I seriously thought it was "rumbella". (giggling) Thanks? Well, you guys knew what I meant. Right?

o.k. you guys may be right, there is little evidence that vaccines cause autism, but it is possible that vaccines trigger autism in a small subset of children, but if so, that subset has yet to be identified. A study really was done in the 90s that investigated 12 children, and the study did reveal that symptoms of autism did emerge shortly after the MMR vaccine was given to them.

If it can't be proven that vaccines play a role in the increase of autism, can someone explain why the rates of autism continue to rise? Do you think genetic factors play a role? I honestly don't believe that genetic influences alone can account for such an astronomical rise in a disorder's prevalence over a matter of just a few years. Could environmental factors be a potential explanation? AKA_Monet mentioned something about environmental factors in an earlier post. We were discussing a different topic, but could this also fall under environmental factors?

You have to be very careful when evaluating research on this topic since the main proponent of this theory was revealed to have falsified his data. Re-evaluation revealed no causation.

[AKA_Monet]

This statement is from the National Institutes of Mental Health website:

Medications for bipolar disorder are prescribed by psychiatrists—medical doctors (M.D.) with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. While primary care physicians who do not specialize in psychiatry also may prescribe these medications, it is recommended that people with bipolar disorder see a psychiatrist for treatment.

Some mental illnesses are treated by primary care physicians - but they will give a referral for further evaluation by a mental health care provider.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

You have to be very careful when evaluating research on this topic since the main proponent of this theory was revealed to have falsified his data. Re-evaluation revealed no causation.

What data was falsified? He was sick, and needed help.

[cheerfulgreek]

Call me weird, but I just bought a tarantula a couple of days ago. I used to have one years ago and if they lose a leg, it usually, if not always grows back after molting. Infact, there's several species in the animal kingdom that can regenerate lost body parts, and when this happens (usually in lizards) the epidermal cells around the wound migrate in to close it without creating scar tissue. The different cell types revert to stem cells in order to form a blastema that will later turn into a new limb and so on. In humans, like the human heart, it forms a scar after a heart attack rather than new muscle, and every year people die from complications related to scarring. What about the human finger, when it's kept clean and unstitched? It can grow back. Do you think scientist can develop something to regenerate body parts? What about cloning body parts?