– pD

Something I learned just after I posted this: Apparently there are at least some reports that shrinking of the amygdala, among other parts of the brain, is reported in AUTISTIC children. So, if Hewitson’s observations are accurate, and reveal anything of potential interest related to autism, it is that at least one UNvaccinated monkey developed autism-like features.

I was struck by that too. It immediately made me think of a hematoma, though I don’t know if it would look like this. After looking into it a little further, I think it’s simply a space between the hind brain and a low-hanging piece of the frontal lobes. Something it helped me to remember: These MRI scans are, effectively, two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional object, and as such all kinds of weirdness is possible merely from misleading appearances.
I hope to get the essay up in the next 24 hours or so.

I don’t understand why Mark Blaxill and Lyn Redwood are promoting this failed study, since the sloppy work, its promotion by SafeMinds and Age of Autism, and the vigorous suppression of the truth at Age of Autism provides additional conclusive proof to those who accuse SafeMinds and Age of Autism of ignorance, bias, and of being anti-science. That’s just wacky.

Even if Hewitson et al. hadn’t shot themselves in the foot (or head) by using a ridiculously tiny control group, it happens that these studies are actually technically difficult, as “obtaining volumetric measures in infants is … difficult, as structures are less well defined and largely unmyelinated, making segmentation challenging. Moreover, it is still unclear whether individual anatomic variation across development, in healthy, normally developing infants, is reflected in the configuration and function of the mature brain.” [“Neuroimage. 2010 Feb 1;49(3):2791-9. Epub 2009 Oct 19]

Of course, it’s actually a bit odd to focus on amygdala development in macaques who, like these animals, were removed from their mothers as neonates, since that in and of itself affects the amygdala.

This is just as comical as SafeMind’s support for the laughable Uhlmann (and Wakefield) study despite what may be the most thorough takedown of a paper in the history of molecular biology. I don’t know why Blaxill chose to have “LOSER” tatooed across his forehead, but it is remarkable that he can’t read the the word when he looks in the mirror—everything’s backwards for him, I suppose.

I’m wrapping up a response to this study. My major conclusion: Hewitson was only willing to claim “statistically significant” shrinking in the LEFT amygdala, which could be explained by NORMAL asymmetry in the brain. As for the horror show MRI images, I think a sufficient explanation is that they simply cross-sectioned a lower part of the unexposed brain where development was particularly lopsided.

David,

what concerns me is the big block of missing tissue at about 4-O’Clock on the MRI scan of the control subject. What is up with that?!?

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