Gerald R. Patterson
The American Psychological Association (APA) Division 7 (Developmental Psychology), which is holding its annual meeting this weekend in Boston (MA, US), will recognize Gerald R. Patterson with the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society. The award will, no doubt, be based on Jerry’s extensive and sound research on the nature, causes, and treatment of anti-social behavior in families.
According to Web site for Developmental Psychology Division of APA,
The award is for an individual whose work has, over a lifetime career, contributed not only to the science of developmental psychology, and who has also worked to the benefit of the application of developmental psychology to society. The individual’s contributions may have been made through advocacy, direct service, influencing public policy or education, or through any other routes that enable scientific developmental psychology to better the condition of children and families.
This is a wonderfully well-deserved honor for Jerry. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Jerry and his colleagues for a couple of years during my graduate studies; I learned as much about research from hanging around that operation as I did from many of my formal classes combined. His work has influenced many other researchers and clinicians as well as having a direct, beneficial effect on children and youths and their families. Learn more about Jerry and his collaborators’ research at the Oregon Social Learning Center Web site. Also, see Division 7’s Web page about the Bronfenbrenner Award.
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Thanks to Bret over at 29 Marbles I’ve learned that there is an online debate at Opposing Views about the relationship between Autism and vaccinations. Opposing Views publishes statements by people (”interested experts, opinion leaders and advocates”) its editors have identified and invites others to make comments and vote for the pro or con position on the issue. In this instance (there are lots of debates), the question is framed in this way:
Are Autism and Vaccines Linked?
Over the last decade, autism has gone from a rare and misunderstood condition to a disorder that may affect as many as 1.5 million Americans. Without a clear explanation in sight, parents and doctors have worked tirelessly to pinpoint the cause of autism, but the answer remains elusive. Are vaccines the missing link?
The experts arguing the pro position are identified as the National Autism Association, SafeMinds, and Dr. Karima Hirani. The experts arguing the con side are identified as the Montreal Children’s Hospital at MUHC, Dr. Bryna Siegel, and Dr. Jennifer Shu. Readers who support the pro side have cast more votes than those who support the con position; as 6 August at 6:25 AM there were 153 votes, with 82% saying “yes” and 18% saying “no.”
Links to OpposingViews.com and to the debate entitled Are Autism and Vaccines Linked. Although 29 Marbles is included in the blogroll, here’s a link to Bret’s blog (at it’s new site) for good measure.
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I guess one can read geneses as a typographical variant on genes or, as I intended, as the plural of genesis. Using it the latter way: Emerging evidence makes it appear even more unlikely than ever that researchers will be able to identify a relative few genes—let alone the or one gene—for schizophrenia. Writing under the headline “Gene-Hunters Find Hope and Hurdles in Schizophrenia Studies,” the noted science journalist Nicholas Wade published an article summarizing research that points to the conclusion that there may be many different genetic bases for schizophrenia.
Two groups of researchers hunting for schizophrenia genes on a larger scale than ever before have found new genetic variants that point toward a different understanding of the disease.
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The variants discovered by the two groups, one led by Dr. Kari Stefansson of Decode Genetics in Iceland and the other by Dr. Pamela Sklar of the Massachusetts General Hospital, are all rare. They substantially increase the risk of schizophrenia in those affected but account for a tiny fraction of the total number of cases.
This finding, coupled with the general lack of success so far in finding common variants for schizophrenia, raises the possibility that the genetic component of the disease is due to a very large number of variants, each of which is very rare, rather than to a handful of common variants.
This is an article well worth reading. Link to Mr. Wade’s arctile.
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Over on Nature News Alison Abbott has a story about some of the difficulties researchers encounter in pursuing genetic causes of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. It’s worth a read.
Psychiatric genetics: The brains of the family
Does the difficulty in finding the genes responsible for mental illness reflect the complexity of the genetics or the poor definitions of psychiatric disorders? Alison Abbott reports.
Continue reading ‘Genetic research and psychiatric classification’
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Last month when I first saw the title “Thimerosal exposure in infants and neurodevelopmental disorders: An assessment of computerized medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink,” I was initially skeptical, but I wanted to check what was being proposed, so I jumped right past the author list and read the abstract. I was a bit intrigued, thinking to myself, “Hmmm…maybe there’s more to this than I thought.” Then, when I went to locate the actual article, I realized that the second and third authors were the Geiers, David and Mark. Slowed by the connection, I put the study aside for later review. Now, others have already done the analysis for me, and those analyses are the focus of this entry.
Continue reading ‘Young et al. deconstructed’
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Over on Kevin Leitch’s Left Brain/Right Brain, an author identified as Joseph has an entry worth reading. Under the title “Is the Prevalence of Low Functioning Autism Among the Amish Actually Lower Than Expected?” Mr. Joseph discusses data reflecting the hypothesis that prevalence of Autism in children in Amish families will be lower than it is in the general population, because Amish families do not use vaccinations.
Continue reading ‘Prevalence of Autism among Amish’
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