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Biotech Education Science

A Gene Causing Dyslexia Found 47

Posted by timothy from the hopeful-signs dept.
Rovaani writes "A group of Finnish scientist have found a gene causing dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder among children and affects anywhere between 3 percent and 10 percent of the population."
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A Gene Causing Dyslexia Found More

A Gene Causing Dyslexia Found

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  • And... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:24AM (#6804068)
    ...in other news: Dubya stops wearing jeans.

  • Ageing causes dyslexia? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    But how can ageing cause dyslexia? I thought people had it when they were young?

  • Obvious (Score:4, Informative)

    by IainHere ( 536270 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:36AM (#6804174)
    It has been known for over a century that dyslexia runs in families. It is common practise today to keep a particular eye on siblings of those with dyslexia in order to diagnose them quicker if they turn out also to have it.

    All this means that it is obvious that there are genes that cause dyslexia. Also, this research has been done on a single family, which will likely only find a single cause of a problem that has many causes.

    Don't get me wrong, it's great that this research is ongoing, it's just that it's of no real use, or news value.

    • Re:Obvious (Score:3, Insightful)

      by JohnPM ( 163131 )
      I don't think you could be more wrong...unless you left out the bit about it being done in only one family.

      Firstly, just because siblings sometimes share a problem doesn't prove that it's genetic. Siblings often share a bicycle, but that doesn't mean there's a gene for that. To really prove this sort of thing you need to look at twins who preferably have grown up apart. Researches are starting to realise that even this is not always enough. Changes in gene activation can be inherited without having anythin

    • Re:Obvious (Score:2, Insightful)

      by henrygb ( 668225 )
      Perhaps even worse than obvious. Assuming the research has correctly idetified a particular genetic factor...

      1. In the first family, a gene called DYXC1 was disrupted. So if there is anything to this story, then the gene may help prevent dyslexia, rather than cause it.

      2. "In a complex disorder, even a modest increase in genetic risk may be interesting," they wrote. "There is overwhelming evidence that dyslexia is a genetically complex condition." So if this is really a factor, then it is likely to

    • I guess you might be dyslexic. The study is stating more than the fact that the illness is genetic. It is in fact suggesting a specific gene that is the putative cause of the disorder. Saying Down's Syndrome is genetic in nature is a separate thing from saying it is the result of trisomy of the 21 chromosome.
      • Well, I respectfully say that I don't think your reading of the article is correct. If I understand you correctly, you're saying that they've found the single cause of dyslexia. They haven't. If you'd said "[this research has found a] specific gene that is *a* putative cause of the disorder", we'd have been much closer to agreement on this. I think the point was well made above:

        http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=76258&cid=6 8 06 179

        Incidentally, I'm not dyslexic, but some of my best friends are :o
  • Is it just me or after the decoding of the human genome there has been an increase in DNA discoveries such as this one? (I'm not very knowledgeable in DNA issues, be gentle with me. :) )

  • Graet (Score:4, Funny)

    by kinnell ( 607819 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:40AM (#6804211)
    Hofepully we cna fnid a ruce for tihs tebbirle codnition

  • Uh huh. (Score:3, Funny)

    by torpor ( 458 ) <ibisum AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @09:57AM (#6804366) Homepage Journal
    Of course, this all hinges on whether or not you believe in 'gene theory', an as yet unproven thesis which cannot be fully scientifically validated until certain international restrictions on the subject of genetic experiments are lifted ...

    Next up: the gene that makes a /. troll ...

  • Genius Gene has been found! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by erinacht ( 592019 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:12AM (#6804492) Homepage
    A remarkable number of people that are rated as geniuses have/had dyslexia

    examples are:
    Leonardo DaVinci [dyslexia.com]
    Michael Faraday [uh.edu]
    Thomas Edison [memphis.edu]


    and more here. [dyslexia.com]
    I wonder if they could poke the genius bit on but leave the learning difficulty out, or perhaps the different way of learning that dyslexics have makes a far better connected brain than us normal saps have

    Info about the GIFT of dyslexia [dyslexia.com]

  • Dyslexia "abuse" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by neglige ( 641101 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:38AM (#6804691)
    Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder among children and affects anywhere between 3 percent and 10 percent of the population.

    And in some cases, parents urge doctors to diagnose dyslexia so the child gets 'special' treatment (e.g. more time at exams) at school resulting in better grades...

    Yes, I know, there are children that really suffer from dyslexia, and yes, there are doctors who refuse to give a false diagnosis. But sometimes I get the feeling that the percentage of kids suffering from dyslexia is somewhat higher than 10% -- or is this a local phenomenon or my misconception?

  • The percentages seem odd (Score:3, Funny)

    by jbarr ( 2233 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @10:41AM (#6804710) Homepage
    Between 1 and 30 percent?

  • I read that as "A Genie Causing Dyslexia Found." I just knew there couldn't be magic involved here.

    Solidarity brothers! DYSLEXICS UNTIE!

  • People are cruel (Score:4, Funny)

    by Twylite ( 234238 ) <twylite&crypt,co,za> on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @12:43PM (#6805951) Homepage

    People are cruel. What jerk came up with the name "lisp" (the speech impediment)? And why name it "dyslexia" instead of using a suitable palindrome?

    • "And why name it "dyslexia" instead of using a suitable palindrome?"

      In classic geek form, I will refute your joke with an detailed analytical post.

      I believe that the text 'lex' refers to spelling, or in general, having letters in the correct order. I have read in text comparison functions in programming languages that they do lexiographic comparisons of strings. (Can anyone confirm if it is more general than this, i.e. does it apply to more than letters?) And since dyslexia is generally associated to se

      • Ah, but you failed to account for the suffix 'ia'. Surely, given its phonetic similarity to 'ear', this would mean that dyslexia would be a functional impediment in the hearing rather than the seeing of letters in the correct order?

  • Irony is identifying a gene that garbles and confuses with a various mix of numbers and letters that are equally confusing and garbled to the rest of the world. There ya go folks, that's what a dyslexic reads! I am sure to the science community it makes perfect sense but if you are trying to address these mind boggled but brilliant people ( I am modest too :) ) the least you could do is name it Gene Bob or something easy. Dyslexics of the world UNTIE!!!
  • ... it's CGTAATTCGATTA and not CAGTAGCTATTTA?

  • First meeting to be held next week, see the website for more info.

    http://www.dyslexics.rog.uk/ [dyslexics.org.uk]
  • I have dyslexia you insensitive cold!
  • Didn't the Scientologists solve this already? That's what Tom Cruise says anyway...
  • It has been known for some time now that dyslexia is not a disorder, but a special ability in certain individuals that enables them to perceive objects in full 3D. That is, when they look at something, their minds instantly build a full 3D image and lets them 'see' it from all directions simultaneously, with no particular direction being any more important than the other. That is why they treat letters and words as 3D, spin them around in their mind, and often write them down backwards or in the wrong order

    • It's a fallacy to believe that one brain is superior to another just because it may be wired a little differently. If what you say is true, it just goes to show that dyslexics process information differently rather than showing that a non-dyslexic brain is hindered in some way. An example is the disease (or injury) that prevents people from forgetting (I think it's called hypernesia.) While it might seem like an advantage to be able to remember every single detail of your life, it's actually quite debilitat
  • "... randomising letters in the middle of words [has] little or no effect on the ability of skilled readers to understand the text. This is easy to denmtrasote. In a pubiltacion of New Scnieitst you could ramdinose all the letetrs, keipeng the first two and last two the same, and reibadailty would hadrly be aftcfeed. My ansaylis did not come to much beucase the thoery at the time was for shape and senqeuce retigcionon. Saberi's work sugsegts we may have some pofrweul palrlael prsooscers at work. The resaon
  • Hehe, I just read the title as "A Game Causing Dyslexia Found"

  • From some of my readings (New Scientist, IIRC), humans have an area for reading that is specialized on the left hand side that makes it more amenable for reading. The mirror brain area on the right hand side has kept its function from primates. In primates, both sides have the same function.

    So what is the function of this magical area?

    Experiments have determined that it seems to be used to recognize various kinds of shapes without regard to its three-dimensional orientation. There are a limited number o

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