Thursday, January 17, 2013

Researchers Study Mystery of the Toddler Who Won't Grow

obviously the scientists studying her have far better qualifications and information than i do, but i can't help but think damage to the brain due to the stroke, coma, and brain tumor she suffered at age 4 (right before she stopped developing) could be a more likely cause than her particular genetic makeup.

Well from the article they said:

?has no apparent abnormalities in her endocrine system, no gross chromosomal abnormalities, or any of the other disruptions known to occur in humans that can cause developmental issues.?

I assume that the endocrine system would have to be affected in order to cause such stunted growth? If the stroke, coma or brain tumor led to this wouldn't they see that abnormality reflected in these growth regulating systems? Also from the article the researchers claimed:

?Cracking the code on Brooke?s condition,? Shadt wrote, ?is the proverbial searching for a needle in a haystack, since likely there is one or a small number of letters changed in Brooke?s genome that has caused her condition.?

Some googling turned up older studies [wikipedia.org] that claim there are no known genetic disorders present or even chromosomal abnormalities and her telomeres seem to be shortening at the normal rate. Also, apparently her body parts are developing out of synchronization. I guess it's possible there is a hidden system that synchronizes development so that your body doesn't develop asymmetrically? And we just haven't found this yet.

Sort of offtopic but I'm a little disappointed that this unfortunate affliction for this person is being spun as a possible "fountain of eternal youth" in the article. Come on, people. We should be working to better understand this so we can help people... that Kurzweil Singularity bullshit should be left out of the discussion until we fully understand it.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/FOu8Ql5_OvI/story01.htm

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