Scientists Zero in on Gene for ADHD Tue Oct 22, 2002 By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Commentary by Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD (10/23/02)

 Fred A Baughman Jr., MD comments on (10/23/02): 

 Scientists Zero in on Gene for ADHD  

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Interesting, they "zero in" on the cause, a gene, when they haven't yet zeroed in on ADHD. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, 10/9/02, Castellanos claimed that children with ADHD, regardless of whether they have been medicated or not have brains that are 3-4 % smaller than those of normal (control) children. They acknowledge that MRI brain scans cannot be used to diagnose individuals said to have ADHD, that these were group differences only that were said to differ significantly. What's more Castellanos et al have by no means refuted the consensus finding of 16 years of MRI/ADHD literature (1986-2002) that allows for no conclusion other than that Ritalin/amphetamine treatment, the only known and demonstrable physical variable (between ADHD subjects and normal controls), is only likely cause of the brain atrophy. This being the case, we are yet without validation of ADHD as a disease/physical abnormality/phenotype. Without an abnormal phenotype one cannot, legitimately, speak of
an abnormal genotype (abnormal gene, genes, chromosome) as it's cause. To do so or to persist in doing so, by persons who clearly know better, is duplicitous, and when done as part of an business enterprise, is fraudulent. ]

  Tue Oct 22, 2002 By Amy Norton
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Researchers have identified a small spot in the
  human genetic makeup they believe holds a gene that plays a key role in the
  risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
as stated by WB Carey at the NIH Consensus Conference, 11/98, the ADHD behaviors are nothing more or less than normal behaviors in normal children, the validity of the disorder/disease, as a disorder/disease is in doubt. That was the status then, affirmed by the Panel of the CC, and remains the status of ADHD today. No validation as a disorder/disease/syndrome/phenotype, it is inappropriate/duplicitous/fraudulent to speak of cause/etiology/genetic cause/infectious cause/any physical cause.]

  The same genetic region has been implicated in the developmental disorder
  autism--suggesting, the investigators say, that the two conditions may share
  some genetic roots.  

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
autism is a term denoting individuals who almost always have some degree of intellectual retardation, and thus, of true, diffuse, brain damage. The term autism is something of a "wastebasket" term otherwise and would have to be tightly defined-much more tightly defined, to responsibly initiate any sort of research in the are, such as genetic research or any other research as to cause]

  The US and UK research team reports the findings in the October issue of the
  American Journal of Human Genetics 

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Surely editors of this journal (American Journal of Human Genetics) are aware that an ADHD phenotype (validation as a disease/physical abnormality) has never been discovered/validated, and that it is inappropriate to be "reporting" it's likely causal gene or genes. That they have done this casts them in the role of colluding in the purveying the notion that ADHD is a bona fide disease, in this case, having a genetic basis, serving no valid scientific purpose, but only to deceive one and all who cannot read this literature critically, including most of the media and all of the public which includes parents, families and their normal children-all potential "patients." ]

 .

  The study implicates a specific region of chromosome 16 in contributing to
  ADHD susceptibility--a region that past research has tied to autism risk.
  The finding, based on 203 families in which at least two siblings had ADHD,
  suggests that an as yet-unidentified gene within this chromosome region is a
  major ADHD risk factor.
  
  "We've narrowed the search for one of the many genes believed to be involved
  in ADHD," the study's lead author, Dr. Susan L. Smalley of the University of
  California, Los Angeles , told Reuters Health.
  
  She and her colleagues estimate that variations in a gene in this chromosome
  16 region could account for about 30% of the genetic risk behind ADHD 

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
I am sure Dr. Smalley and her colleagues, know that ADHD has not been validated as a disease, is not objectively demonstrable in any individual or group of individuals, and that speaking and writing of such things as though it were is anti-scientific and does nothing but purvey, contrary to these facts that ADHD is a medical diagnosis, a disease, something physical with a gene cause. To do so without disease validation is deceit and duplicity]

  Experts believe that, overall, genetics account for 70% to 80% of the
  underlying cause of the disorder, Smalley noted.
  
  She and her colleagues focused on a specific region of chromosome 16 after a
  preliminary "genome scan" suggested its involvement in ADHD--and after
  earlier research implicated it in autism. Autism is a developmental disorder
  estimated to affect 1 in 500 children. To varying degrees, it impairs a
  child's ability to communicate, form relationships and respond normally to
  his or her environment. Some children with autism also show self-injurious
  or aggressive behavior.
  
  ADHD is far more common, and children with the disorder have
  greater-than-normal difficulty focusing their attention and controlling
  their behavior.
  
  Although autism and ADHD are "quite distinct," Smalley and her colleagues
  note, certain general characteristics, such as inattention and
  hyperactivity, mark both disorders. 

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
As I have noted above, autism includes mental retardation/diffuse brain damage, and, by almost any diagnostic scheme, is a true brain disease/abnormality, while ADHD, on the other hand has never been shown to have an objective abnormality of the brain or body, and is not therefore a validated, bona fide disease. Their co-mingling the two diagnoses is meant to validate ADHD as a disease, if, by no other means than by association. This serves no scientific purpose and is meant, by the authors only to deceive, to have the readership come to consider ADHD as a disease, and this, as they well know, has never been proved. This on their part, is the perversion of science. This article should never have been published in a reputable scientific journal ]

 It is possible, according to Smalley,
  that variations in a gene in the implicated chromosome 16 region contribute
  to "common deficits" found in both ADHD and autism.  

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
More "slight of hand" deception, duplicity]

  However, she added, it is also possible that the two disorders involve
  separate genes that just happen to dwell near each other.
  
  Smalley's team is now trying to zero in on the chromosome 16 gene linked to
  ADHD, while continuing to comb other chromosomes for such "risk genes."
  
  According to Smalley, researchers hope that identifying the genes involved
  in ADHD will allow doctors to more accurately diagnose the disorder--a
  diagnosis that today, she noted, "is based solely on behavior."
  
  Genetic diagnosis of ADHD could also reveal that the disorder has different
  fundamental forms, all of which might respond differently to treatment. And,
  Smalley said, genetic testing could allow doctors to "pick up kids at risk
  before symptoms," when they could potentially be helped by preventive,
  non-drug therapies.
  
  SOURCE: American Journal of Human Genetics 2002;71.

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Some articles by FA Baughman Jr. MD, having to do with genetics:

1. Baughman FA Jr, Hirsch B. Karyotyping of cells from cerebrospinal fluid. Lancet. 1963, 2: 417.

2. Baughman FA, et al. Two Cases of Primary Amenorrhea with Deletion of the Long Arm of the X Chromosome (46 XXq-). Am. J. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 1968; 102: 1065-1069.

3. Baughman FA, et al. The Gioma Polyposis Syndrome. New England J. Med. 1969; 281:1345-1346

4. Baughman FA. CHANDS: The Curly Hair-Ankyloblepharon-Nail Dysplasia Syndrome. Birth Defects :Original Article Series, 7 (8), 100-102

5. Toriello HV, Lindstrom JA, Waterman DF, Baughman FA. Re-evaluation of CHANDS. Med. Genetics, 16:316, 1979

6. Baughman FA, Mann JD. Ascertainment of Seven YY Males in a Private Neurological Practice. JAMA. 1972; 222: 446-448.

7. Baughman FA, et al. Sex Chromosome Anomalies and Essential Tremor. Neurology, 1973;23:623-625.

8. Baughman FA, et al. The Carrying Angle in Sex Chromosome Anomalies. Journal of the American Med. Assn. 230; 718-720, 1974.

Illustrations regarding Scientists Zero in on Gene for ADHD by Amy Norton of Reuters Health, and
my critique.

On page I, figure 1 is normal, having no abnormality (abnormality = disease) of the brain or body. Figure 1, therefore is equal to; the same as figure 2 which has no disease which equals no abnormality which equals a "normal, 46 XY phenotype (male), or a normal, 46 XX phenotype (female). Both figures 1 and 2 equal; are identical with figure 3 which is the phenotype of an individual with ADHD or any psychiatric diagnosis whatsoever (depression, anxiety, bipolar d., OCD, PTSD, etc.), which is to say: no abnormality, no disease, normal, normal phenotype (either 46 XY or 46 XX). This is the case for the simple reason that no psychiatric diagnosis/condition exists in which an abnormality of any sort of the brain or body has been found/proved.

In this study, knowing that all of the above is true, i.e., that the phenotype of ADHD is identical to that of; one-and-the-same-as normal, Smalley, et al would have us believe they have found abnormal genes in ADHD-abnormal genes to explain the brain abnormality of ADHD, they know is not present, but would have us believe exists.

The same deceitful representation of abnormal genes, an abnormal genotype (presupposing an abnormal phenotype) has been published at one time or another regarding every psychiatric "disease". Let there be no mistake they represent all of them as brain diseases.

The author, Amy Norton and Reuters Health have been used. To reclaim a measure of credibility she should return to her sources and ask them questions prompted by this analysis.

Smalley and her fellow researchers and their medical institution-UCLA-know that an abnormal phenotype/physical abnormality/disease, requires the demonstration of an objective abnormality, and they know and are responsible for knowing they have done no such thing. Also they know that to conjecture about a genetic abnormality as a cause/etiology for a psychiatric diagnosis is inherently deceitful because there is no physical abnormality/abnormal phenotype in any psychiatric condition/"disorder" for which a cause/etiology should logically be sought.

Finally, the editors of the American Journal of Human Genetics 2002;71, certainly know that in ADHD there is no proven abnormal phenotype/disease/physical abnormality, for which a causal gene/chromosome abnormality should, logically be sought. It is a standard duplicitous tactic in "biological" psychiatry (oxymoron) to say of one and all of their "disorders" that the etiology/cause is being sought.is thought to be.etc., knowing all the while there is no abnormality for there to be a cause of.
]