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Metallothionein (MT) is a family of cysteine-rich, low molecular weight proteins. They are localized to the membrane of the Golgi apparatus. MTs have the capacity to bind both physiological and xenobiotic heavy metals through the thiol group of its cysteine residues, which represent nearly 30% of its constituent amino acid residues.
In academic publishing, a retraction is the action by which a published paper in an academic journal is removed from the journal.
Diagnoses of autism have become more frequent since the 1980s, which has led to various controversies about both the cause of autism and the nature of the diagnoses themselves. Whether autism has mainly a genetic or developmental cause, and the degree of coincidence between autism and intellectual disability, are all matters of current scientific controversy as well as inquiry. There is also more sociopolitical debate as to whether autism should be considered a disability on its own.
Squalene is an organic compound. It is a triterpenoid with the formula C30H50. It is a colourless oil, although impure samples appear yellow. It was originally obtained from shark liver oil (hence its name, as Squalus is a genus of sharks). An estimated 12% of bodily squalene in humans is found in sebum. Squalene has a role in topical skin lubrication and protection.
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using certain vaccines but not others. The scientific consensus that vaccines are generally safe and effective is overwhelming. Vaccine hesitancy often results in disease outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, the World Health Organization characterizes vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats.
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Brian S. Hooker is a biologist and chemist at Simpson University. He is known for promoting the claim that vaccines cause autism.
In immunology, an adjuvant is a substance that increases or modulates the immune response to a vaccine. The word "adjuvant" comes from the Latin word adiuvare, meaning to help or aid. "An immunologic adjuvant is defined as any substance that acts to accelerate, prolong, or enhance antigen-specific immune responses when used in combination with specific vaccine antigens."
Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The fraudulent research paper authored by Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet claimed to link the vaccine to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaccinationists.
Andrew Jeremy Wakefield is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in The Lancet MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that falsely claimed a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. He has subsequently become known for anti-vaccination activism. Publicity around the 1998 study caused a sharp decline in vaccination uptake, leading to a number of outbreaks of measles around the world. He was a surgeon on the liver transplant programme at the Royal Free Hospital in London and became senior lecturer and honorary consultant in experimental gastroenterology at the Royal Free and University College School of Medicine. He resigned from his positions there in 2001, "by mutual agreement", then moved to the United States. In 2004, Wakefield co-founded and began working at the Thoughtful House research center in Austin, Texas, serving as executive director there until February 2010, when he resigned in the wake of findings against him by the British General Medical Council.
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Stephanie Seneff is a senior research scientist at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Working primarily in the Spoken Language Systems group, her research at CSAIL relates to human-computer interaction, and algorithms for language understanding and speech recognition. In 2011, she began publishing controversial papers in low-impact, open access journals on biology and medical topics; the articles have received "heated objections from experts in almost every field she's delved into," according to the food columnist Ari LeVaux.
The Lancet MMR autism fraud centered on the publication in February 1998 of a fraudulent research paper titled "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children" in The Lancet. The paper, authored by now discredited and deregistered Andrew Wakefield, and listing twelve coauthors, falsely claimed non-existent, causative links between the MMR vaccine, colitis, and autism. The fraud was exposed in a lengthy Sunday Times investigation by reporter Brian Deer, resulting in the paper's retraction in February 2010 and Wakefield being struck off the UK medical register three months later. Wakefield reportedly stood to earn up to $43 million per year selling diagnostic kits for a non-existent syndrome he claimed to have discovered. He also held a patent to a rival vaccine at the time, and he had been employed by a lawyer representing parents in lawsuits against vaccine producers.
Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise, and that the vaccine ingredients do not cause it. Vaccinologist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim and concluded that its spread originated with Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 paper, with no prior paper supporting a link.
The Children's Medical Safety Research Institute (CMSRI) was a United States based anti-vaccination group which funded a number of pseudoscientific studies, notably by Christopher Shaw of the University of British Columbia, and his collaborator Lucija Tomljenovic, and by Christopher Exley of Keele University, which purport to link aluminium in vaccines to autism. The studies have been rejected by the World Health Organization and some have been retracted. A claimed "vaccinated vs. unvaccinated" cohort study has also been debunked.
Misinformation related to immunization and the use of vaccines circulates in mass media and social media in spite of the fact that there is no serious hesitancy or debate within mainstream medical and scientific circles about the benefits of vaccination. Unsubstantiated safety concerns related to vaccines are often presented on the internet as being scientific information. A high proportion of internet sources on the topic are "inaccurate on the whole" which can lead people searching for information to form "significant misconceptions about vaccines".
References
- ↑ Judge, Michael (2000-01-12). "The worst thing since white bread". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
- ↑ "Christopher Shaw". www.neuraldynamicsubc.ca. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
- ↑ Tomljenovic L, Shaw CA (2011). "Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?" Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry.105: 1489–1499.
- ↑ Tomljenovic L, Shaw CA (2011). "Aluminum vaccine adjuvants: are they safe?" Current Medicinal Chemistry.18(17): 2630–2637.
- ↑ Bambury, Brent (2015-02-13). "A UBC prof, his anti-vaccine backers and studies slammed by the WHO". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
- ↑ Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (2012). "Aluminum Adjuvants". Weekly Epidemiological Record. World Health Organization. 87(30): 277–288.
- ↑ Weeks, Carly (2015-03-04). "UBC stands behind vaccine studies discredited by WHO". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
- 1 2 "'There was a screw-up': UBC researchers pull paper linking vaccine component to autism". CBC News . 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
- 1 2 Han, Andrew P. (2018-01-30). "For the second time, researchers retract — then republish — a vaccine paper". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
- ↑ Quan, Douglas (2017-11-01). "UBC journal retraction raises controversial question: Can an activist be a scientist?". National Post . Retrieved 2020-01-08.
- ↑ "A UBC prof, his anti-vaccine backers and studies slammed by the WHO". CBC. February 14, 2015. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
- ↑ "UBC stands behind vaccine studies discredited by WHO" . Retrieved 2019-02-14.
