A multinational research led by Dr. Heather C. Medford of the University of Washington, Dr. Andrew J. Sharp of the University of Geneva, Switzerland revealed a possibly answer to autism, mental and growth retardation, and other disabilities.

A submicroscopic chromosomal glitch found on region 1q21.1 can possibly be linked to a broad range of developmental disorders in children, such as autism, mild or moderate mental retardation, learning disabilities, deformities, seizures and growth retardation. Like a game of Russian roulette, not everyone will experience these disorders: some won’t be affected, some only slightly affected and others seriously affected.

Results of this finding were published on September 11, 2008, in the New England Journal of Medicine in an article titled, “Recurrent Rearrangements of Chromosome 1q21.1 and Variable Pediatric Phenotypes” and accompanied with an editorial by David H. Ledbetter of Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
Source: Medical News