Changes

==Theories of causes of autism==

==Theories of causes of autism==

As noted above, there is a strong interest in whether a possible link exists between the increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with autism, and the use of thimerosal (which contains mercury) as a preservative in vaccines.

As noted above, there is a strong interest in whether a possible link exists between the increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with autism, and the use of thimerosal (which contains mercury) as a preservative in vaccines. However, this has been disproved as a likely cause of autism and now most data indicates that autism is a mostly genetic condition. <ref> ''American Acadamy of Family Physicians'' http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020301/tips/14.html </ref>. The genetics of this condition are not yet fully understood and could be caused by complex interactions between multiple genes which would account for the "spectrum" like differences in the severity of many cases <ref> http://66.102.1.104/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=cache:7kMNqvTgRtoJ:www.ikhebeenvraag.be/mediastorage/FSDocument/52/Freitag-2.pdf+</ref><ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17764594</ref>

Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the [[University of Cambridge]] (U.K.) notes the strong evidence that males and females are hardwired for different behavior, with boys tending to be stronger at mechanics, categorizing and systemizing information, mathematics, etc. and girls stronger at emotionalizing and empathizing.  He has proposed that autism is merely an extreme version of the male brain type, in which the (female) urge to empathize is nearly absent and the brain is almost entirely hardwired for the (male) tasks of systemizing.<ref>Baron-Cohen, Simon.  ''The Essential Difference'', Basic Books 2003.</ref>

Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the [[University of Cambridge]] (U.K.) notes the strong evidence that males and females are hardwired for different behavior, with boys tending to be stronger at mechanics, categorizing and systemizing information, mathematics, etc. and girls stronger at emotionalizing and empathizing.  He has proposed that autism is merely an extreme version of the male brain type, in which the (female) urge to empathize is nearly absent and the brain is almost entirely hardwired for the (male) tasks of systemizing.<ref>Baron-Cohen, Simon.  ''The Essential Difference'', Basic Books 2003.</ref>