Michjo wrote:
Stinkypuppy wrote:
Not if the gene is under transcriptional control of a sex-specific factor (e.g. a hormone), or whose biological activity is affected by a sex-specific cofactor.
And not if the disorder in question is only viable for females. An XY individual with rett syndrome isn't viable, because one working copy of the gene involved is required for life. I perfectly understand the different concepts involved, but at the end of the day it all comes down to numbers, and the numbers favour more men having sex-chromosome linked autism than females do.
sinsboldly's point is that AS in females is different from AS in males, and that this difference is sufficient to reduce the frequency of AS diagnosis in females. Your statement that "It doesn't change the fact that autism effects [sic] more males than females" is cast into doubt in that light. What is known is that
diagnosis of AS is much higher in males than in females. That doesn't mean necessarily that
AS itself is more prevalent in men than women. We can do all the pedigree analyses and stuff to make hypotheses of the inheritance patterns of AS, but at the end of the day it is merely a hypothesis and not fact until genes which contribute to AS are identified. You need to be careful about overstating hypotheses as facts without the scientific evidence to back up your claims. Incidentally, problems with diagnosis and the sometimes hand-waving application of diagnostic criteria plague human genetic studies, especially those regarding multifactorial psychological conditions. Anyway, this is getting off topic.
More on topic, I've always been hesitant to participate on an Aspie dating site, or really any dating site for that matter, because of a lingering feeling that hooking up with people like that wasn't natural. It just kinda felt like an adult version of a kid asking, "Will you be my friend?" and I don't know how to shake that feeling off. I'm not saying that dating sites are wrong, or right for that matter, just not sure that they actually work all that well.
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Won't you help a poor little puppy?
16 Jul 2009, 2:25 pm
