New Evidence 2: Mutated gene increases autism, too

Seems to be the day for Autism research: CNN reports that a mutated gene contributes up to 2.5 percent chance of autism:

Dr. Pat Levitt and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, studied 743 families in which 1,200 family members were affected by autism spectrum disorders, which range from fully disabling autism to Asperger's syndrome.
They found a single mutation in a gene called MET, which is known to be involved in brain development, regulation of the immune system and repair of the gastrointestinal system. All of these systems can be affected in children with autism.
"This is a vulnerability gene," Levitt said in a telephone interview. "There are not genes that actually cause autism. It raises the risk."
People with two copies of the mutated gene have 2 to 2.5 times the normal risk of autism and people with one mutated copy have 1.7 times the risk, he said.

New Evidence: TV viewing causes Autism

I like to keep an eye out for new research on Autism or Asperger's Syndrome, ever since reading this article in Wired. Today Slate reports on a study showing a strong correlation between cable-TV households and Autism rates.

The Cornell study looks at county-by-county growth in cable television access and autism rates in California and Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1989. The researchers find an overall rise in both cable-TV access and autism, but autism diagnoses rose more rapidly in counties where a high percentage of households received cable than in counties with a low percentage of cable-TV homes. Waldman and Nicholson employ statistical controls to factor out the possibility that the two patterns were simply unrelated events happening simultaneously. (For instance, petroleum use also rose during the period but is unrelated to autism.) Waldman and Nicholson conclude that "roughly 17 percent of the growth in autism in California and Pennsylvania during the 1970s and 1980s was due to the growth in cable television."

Autism occurs frequently (at least, more frequently) among children of high-IQ parents, and autism rates have been exploding in tech-heavy cities, including Seattle. In an almost amusing part of the study, rain is an incidental factor:

But the fact that rising household access to cable television seems to associate with rising autism does not reveal anything about how viewing hours might link to the disorder. The Cornell team searched for some independent measure of increased television viewing. In recent years, leading behavioral economists such as Caroline Hoxby and Steven Leavitt have used weather or geography to test assumptions about behavior. Bureau of Labor Statistics studies have found that when it rains or snows, television viewing by young children rises. So Waldman studied precipitation records for California, Oregon, and Washington state, which, because of climate and geography, experience big swings in precipitation levels both year-by-year and county-by-county. He found what appears to be a dramatic relationship between television viewing and autism onset. In counties or years when rain and snow were unusually high, and hence it is assumed children spent a lot of time watching television, autism rates shot up; in places or years of low precipitation, autism rates were low. Waldman and Nicholson conclude that "just under 40 percent of autism diagnoses in the three states studied is the result of television watching." Thus the study has two separate findings: that having cable television in the home increased autism rates in California and Pennsylvania somewhat, and that more hours of actually watching television increased autism in California, Oregon, and Washington by a lot.

This study shows correlation, not causation (a caveat I ignored in the title of this post as dramatic license) but does have a good recommendation:

If television viewing by toddlers is a factor in autism, the parents of afflicted children should not reproach themselves, as there was no warning of this risk. Now there is: The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends against any TV for children under the age of 2. Waldman thinks that until more is known about what triggers autism, families with children under the age of 3 should get them away from the television and keep them away.

Northwest Airlines miles are useless

This is the second time I've attempted to redeem Northwest Airlines Worldperks miles for air travel. This is the second time I've been completely out of luck.

This second time around, I was trying to book an Alaska Air flight to Vegas. Alaska Air is a partner, and a lot of my Worldperks miles were earned ON Alaska flights. Since Northwest the website claims they don't fly to Vegas, it shouldn't be a problem - Alaska has like 10 flights leaving Seattle for Vegas everyday.

First, the Alaska Air website doesn't allow you to use their partner's miles to book flights. They refer you to the telephone number for Northwest.

Northwest's web site will happily list flights that you should be able to book using miles. When you select the flights, however, it then dumps you back to the search screen with a message that says (paraphrase) "Whoops, you didn't mean THOSE flights, I can't book THAT".

Dialing Northwest's so-called "customer service" was also ineffectual. At 8pm I dialed their line, gave the robot some itinerary information, and was told that I should expect a 15-minute wait. After an hour on hold, I hung up.

Dialing them today, they made no pretense of wanting my business - after talking to the robot, they said "Due to call volumes, we can't take your call right now." which is the customer service equivalent of "FUCK OFF". A decent customer service operation almost never "busies out" their customers, certainly not on a Thursday in October.

Ironically, I had to book with Southwest instead. Which was a completely painless operation, since cash was involved.

At this point, I think I'm going to gift my Northwest miles to charity and tell them never to contact me ever again.