Well, let’s get the dull and obvious out of the way:

Believe (Cher)
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey)
I’m a Believer (The Monkees)
Do You Believe in Magic (The Lovin’ Spoonful)
I Believe (Stevie Wonder)*

*A cheat, since the full title is “I Believe (When I Fall in Love), I think.

Here are a couple things I believe:
 
Inside each DittoHead is a BeckerNeck waiting to get out and wreak havoc on us all. 

Inside me is an American who wants to get out… of America, because we’re overrun with DittoHeads, BeckerNecks, ImPaliners, BachMenn, and other assorted loonies and True Believers who want to wreak havoc on us all…

Daydream Believer, also by the Monkees…

Which leads to California Dreamin’, a sort of belief its better somewhere else (based at least in part on reality - warm weather would be really nice about now).

Oh my, what potential this topic has:

1. “Workin My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl”, The Spinners
2. “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”, Offspring
3. “Walk Away Renee”, Left Banke
4. “Lightning Strikes”, Lou Christie
5. “The Tide Is High”, Blondie
6. “Pressure”, Billy Joel
7. “Private Investigations”, Dire Straits
8. “You Oughta Know”, Alanis Morissette
9. “Girl Anachronism”, Dresden Dolls
10. “We Can Work It Out”, the Beatles

Postscript track: “Let Her Cry”, Hootie and the Blowfish

Oh to be in Denmark.

Used to be Scotland for me, but Thatcher/Major/Blair/Brown/Cameron have ruined it.

Amsterdam for me.

Everyone has known for a long time that the particular autism study that was recently debunked was wrong.

But the fact that a study was debunked doesn’t mean the opposite of what the study supposedly showed was true.

As the links below show, approximately 10%-20% of cases of autism involve a mitochondrial disorder, and persons with that mitochondrial disorder are in danger of having autistic regression triggered by a fever following a vaccination.

Autism is so rare that avoiding vaccines in order to avoid autism is idiotic, IMO.  But the study below suggests that if parents are really worried about vaccines and/or have a family history of autism spectrum disorders, it wouldn’t hurt to carefully manage fevers whether those fevers are induced by vaccines or by illness.

Fever caused by a reaction to vaccines *does* trigger autism for some persons with a mitochondrial disorder—

Abstract
Autistic spectrum disorders encompass etiologically heterogeneous persons, with many genetic causes. A subgroup of these individuals has mitochondrial disease. Because a variety of metabolic disorders, including mitochondrial disease show regression with fever, a retrospective chart review was performed and identified 28 patients who met diagnostic criteria for autistic spectrum disorders and mitochondrial disease. Autistic regression occurred in 60.7% (17 of 28), a statistically significant increase over the general autistic spectrum disorder population (P < .0001). Of the 17 individuals with autistic regression, 70.6% (12 of 17) regressed with fever and 29.4% (5 of 17) regressed without identifiable linkage to fever or vaccinations. None showed regression with vaccination unless a febrile response was present. Although the study is small, a subgroup of patients with mitochondrial disease may be at risk of autistic regression with fever. Although recommended vaccinations schedules are appropriate in mitochondrial disease, fever management appears important for decreasing regression risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19773461?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=6

Also, it is estimated that 10% to 20% of autistic people have this subtype of autism.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html

Ismone:

I think some autism crank has stolen your password. Just thought you might like to know.

BrianX,

Read the abstract on pubmed.  It is pasted in full in my comment, but if you want to see the journal and authors, follow the link.

This is consistent with all of my other comments on autism and vaccines—yes, Jenny McCarthy is clearly an idiot, no, the risk of autism is not high enough that people should not vaccinate their children out of fear of autism, but yes, a fever following a vaccine can trigger autism.  Which is not a shocker because autism has auto-immune features. 

Why didn’t the other studies on all autistic persons pick up on the link?  Because autism has multiple etiologies (and also not all autistic people regress, my cousin never regressed) and even of those autistic persons who have a mitochondrial disorder, not all of them regress following vaccination.

The issue here isn’t as simple as “Jenny McCarthy is an idiot” or “there is no link between vaccines and autism.”  The best medical advice I know right now, based on the published research is, if you are concerned about autism spectrum disorder in a child being vaccinate, control the kid’s fever.

I LOVE JAIL WEDDINGS! WOOT!