pamp@bcsaic.UUCP (pam pincha) (01/01/70)
(I finally found my files again and wanted to put a few references be hind my earlier statements about left-handedness and intelligence and such.....) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Marx,Jean L., 1982, Autoimmunity in left-handers, Science,v.217, July 9,p.141-142,144. ---------------------------------------------------------------- (Norman Geschwind,Harvard Medical School)" and his collleages have linked left-handedness to language disorders, such as dyslexia,which is characterized by difficulty in learning to read. 'This is not particularily new,'Geswind notes,'but we have also linked it to migraine and autoimmune diseases.'" .... "the percentage of left-handers with autoimmune disease was 2 1/2 times the percentage of right-handers. For an autoimmune disease to be counted (in this study),it had to be diagnosed in a hospital. The diseases that turned-up most often were Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and conditions such as celiac disease,and ulcerative colitis,which affects the intestines. In a third study, left-handedness was found to be more frequent in patients who suffered from severe migraine headaches than the controls taken from the general population." ..... "according to geswind, both the autoimmunity and the neurological effects may result from excess production of, or sensitivity to, testosterone in the fetus. This maybe caused in most cases by a genetic predisposition, although environmental effects may also be involved." (Brain anatomy is affected by hormonal variations in various ways depending upon when the excess occurs.) ..... "'The interesting thing,'(Geswind) he continues,'is that the pathology of these disorders is a pathology of superiority as well as inferiority,since you often find remarkable talents in the learning disabled.' Although the affected individuals may stutter,have trouble reading,or have other speech related deficits, their spatial talents may be better than average. As shown by Marian Annett of the Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry,England, a disproportionate number of artists,musicians,mathematicians, and engineers are left-handed." --------------------------------------------------------------- Durden-Smith,J.,DeSimone,D.,1984,Hidden threads of illness, Science Digest,v.92,n.1 (Jan),p.51-53,103-105. --------------------------------------------------------------- This is a good overview article of the data linking lefties to allergies,learning problems and a host of other ailments -- and also mathematical genius. The article points out that the research points to a linking of three classes of disorders -- developmental,hormonal,and immunological. Another point made was that the disorders associated were most often occurring in men -- Dyslexia (5,6 to 1) Hyperactivity (5 to 1) stuttering (3 to 1) difficulty learning to talk (5 to 1). "The suffers are also often left-handed, but if right-handed, they tended to have left-handers in their immediate families." Other links, autism, and allergies (asthma,hayfever,hives), migranes. "More males than females,he (Geswind) pointed out, are left-handed; more suffer from language-based, left-hemisphere learning disorders; thus by inference, more have anomolous cerebral dominance.In human fetuses,he added,the linguistic left hemisphere developes more slowly than the visual-spatial right:in males, its development seems to be slower than it is in females....(reason)...The main male sex hormone, testosterone,he suggested,might well be responsible for all these conditions. If the developing fetus recieved too much testosterone,he wrote ,its left hemisphere might develope even more slowly than normal -- slowly enough,in fact, to cause learning problems and/or a shift in handedness. In addition,he wrote,testosterone alters the expression of certian parts of the immune sytem." Discoveries since the 1982 study report-- 1)Thymus(immune system regulator) does have estrogen and testosterone recptors--lending support to interaction with brain's internal communication system; 2)There is an immune system asymmetry,similar to the brain's asymmetry -- this also links to sex hormone and brain structure patterns; 3)Benbow discovered an above average rate of lefthandedness among both mathematically gifted children AND those with high verbal abilities. There is also a high (50%)rate of childhood allergies and MYOPIA (70%): this suggests that the visual cortex may also be affected. 4)LOW TESTOSTERONE is linked by Gunter Dorner tomale homosexuality and left-handedness, immune problems,and learning problems. 5)There is a study to check out the high rate of lebianism or bisexuality in DES daughters by ANke Ehrhardt(New York State Psychiatric Institute) to see if links can be found to left-handedness,learning disorders or autoimmune diseases. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Check also Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Orton Society,August,1982, for paper written by N.Geswind and Peter Behan. Durden-Smith,J.,DeSimnoe,D.,Sex and the Brain. Beale,I.L.,Corballis,M.C.,1983,The ambivalent mind: The Neuropsycholoy of left and right;Nelson Hall Publishers,Chicago. ____________________________________________________________________ I hope this helps some of those interested. Does anybody have anymore information along these lines (besides the Science article recently (August 16) by Witelson? If so please send mail. Thanks in advance, Pamela Pincha-Wagener