Appetite
may be hard-wired
Richard Simerly ...examined the role of a hormone
called leptin in brain development and obesity, by using mice genetically
engineered not to produce that hormone. ...their lack of leptin makes
them grow fat as adults. But when given leptin in the first few week
of their life, the growing mice eat much less. ...he found that there
were more neurons in the part of the brain that controls hunger in
mice given the leptin dose. "The changes are permanent"
Autism
hope from genetic breakthrough: but
now indications are that a particular process known as genetic imprinting
is at work. Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have concluded
that fathers can carry the autism gene on chromosome 7 while mothers
carry the faulty material on chromosome 15.
