Mental Deficiency: Gene Mutations That Affect Learning, Memory In Children Identified
Thursday, February 5, 2009 - 23:35
in Psychology & Sociology
Mental deficiency is the most frequently occurring, yet least understood handicap in children. Even a mild form can lead to social isolation, bullying and require assistance with simple tasks. The most common variety, non-syndromic mental deficiency (NSMD), is defined as affecting an otherwise normal looking child. With few physical clues in affected children to point researchers towards candidates to study, progress in identifying genetic causes of NSMD has been very slow. Yet that is beginning to change. Geneticists have now identified mutations in a novel gene in children with NSMD.