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Here are some readings for today!
“Do you like to do good things for other people? If so, your genes might be responsible for this. At least, the results of a study conducted by researchers of the University of Bonn suggest this. According to the study, a minute change in a particular gene is associated with a significantly higher willingness to donate. People with this change gave twice as much money on average to a charitable cause as did other study subjects.”
“Young mice that experienced the psychosocial stress of prolonged separation from their mothers had a higher incidence and faster onset of breast tumors compared with young mice who did not experience this stressful life event. Specifically, neonatal mice separated from their mothers for a prolonged period of time developed mammary tumors twice as fast as mice that experienced short or no maternal separation.”
“UCSF researchers are kicking off a clinical trial to test whether certain children with autism can benefit from regular doses of an enzyme to help them digest proteins, which may in turn improve their brain function and ease some symptoms of their disease.”
5 Comments
Lindsay · November 9, 2010 at 10:45 am
There is an altruism gene
I found this interesting. I am always one to help anyone out especially those in desperate need any way that i can. Im very generous when it comes to helping out with money too which can be a problem for me since i am a college student but i never considered this characteristic about myself as genetic. I guess i havent really thought about whether or not my parents are as generous. i know that my grandparents are not generous with money but i always took that as a generation thing. I would love to learn more about this if there is anymore studies out there. But i do have a question: what age group did they study? was it a variety? and gender wise i was curious if there was anything different based on gender maybe? Also, i babysit a girl who is nine and her family is pretty well off. I think that i noticed most about her right off the bat is how generous she is with her possessions and money. I thought it was weird that she was so willing to let a lot of her things go especially since i watched a five year old over the summer and he wouldnt even want me to eat ANY food that was in the house even though his parents would tell me right infront of him that i can treat myself to anything in the house. Do you think that its environment thing as well as genetic. Maybe is there a study that has identical twins to see if there is any correlation between this altruism gene and the environment they group up in?
I just want to know more.
Lindsay Barone
johnson · November 9, 2010 at 1:26 pm
altruism gene
It is interesting to read that just one building block in the COMT gene can cause such a noticeable difference in behavior among the students. I wonder of the students who won the prize money, what percentage of the students donated if they felt they did good on the test or whether they felt bad about their performance on their test. That mind set could have some influence on whether the student chose to donate regardless of the presence of the COMT-Val gene.
johnson · November 9, 2010 at 1:39 pm
prolonged maternal separation
Certain things like smoking are well known to be connected with cancer, so I find it intriguing to know that something as trivial as isolation is a big enough environmental stressor that can possible cause cancer. I was surprised reading their finding that 53% of the mice exposed to prolonged separation developed more invasive palpable breast lesions. It really shows us that animals are relational beings, and being alone has its consequences
rpoppin · November 15, 2010 at 11:42 am
test enzyme study to treat autism
My fiance’s niece is autistic and she’s been on a very strict diet since the day they found out she had Asperger’s Syndrome. Her mom cut out all gluten and sugars, and she claims she’s seen a major improvement in Kayla’s (the child) social skills and demeanor. Before they’d started the diet and treatment (e.g., hours of social interaction with “teachers”) she was very shy and clingy. Since she’s been gluten and sugar free she’s become much more interactive with her family and others. This research may strengthen her argument for a diet-autism link. I remember a quote from your book, “Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal the patient with food,” by Hippocrates. It seems this still rings true!
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