Bizzare genetic mutation: People that wrist walk

[LaPalida]

A family in Turkey apparently has 5 children (out of 19) that cannot walk upright. They are no longer kids though, some of them are in their thirties.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/4012/

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060221_unertanfrm.htm

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060225_syndromefrm.htm

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CPNSS/pdf/DP_withCoverPages/DP77/DP7705.pdf

[Dead Road 7]

I have a retarded cousin who walks like that.

[MuffinMan]

genetic mutation? bullshit, just looks like a disease that makes you can't stand upright.

[Blue]

i feel like they are taking this further then it needs to ...

[fukifino]

Crazy! But cool, in a creepy sorta way.

[light]

Do they put their pants on both feet at a time?

[LaPalida]

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/w...comments/4012/

Turkish Wrist Walkers
Status: Real
I've received quite a few emails about the following story, presumably because it seems like something lifted from Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. A family in Turkey contains five siblings who have apparently never learned how to walk on their feet. They still walk on all fours, with the weight of their upper bodies supported by their wrists (wrist walking, as opposed to knuckle walking, which is what apes do).

[LaPalida]

genetic mutation? bullshit, just looks like a disease that makes you can't stand upright.

A Genetic Disease or Disorder is by definition a genetic mutation. A malignant one maybe but a mutation nonetheless. Sikcle cell anemia is a genetic disorder yet the victims become protected in certain cases from malaria which is a benefit.

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060221_unertanfrm.htm

Like most primates, Tan observed, victims of the syndrome walk with a characteristic sequence of movements: after a foot touches the ground, the hand on the other side does. “They could walk fairly fast using their strong legs, without any imbalances.”

Tan said in an email that with colleagues, he has mapped the defect to a region of the genome called chromosome 17p, a site of some of the biggest genetic differences between humans and chimps. Other researchers have also recently linked bipedalism to 17p.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria#Sickle_cell_anemia_and_other_genetic_effec ts

Carriers of the sickle cell anemia gene are protected against malaria because of their particular hemoglobin mutation; this explains why sickle cell anemia is particularly common among people of African origin. They have a specific variant of the beta-globin gene. Some scientists hypothesize that another hemoglobin mutation, which causes the genetic disease thalassemia, may also give its carriers an enhanced immunity to malaria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellar_ataxia

Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a genetic disease with multiple types, each of which could be considered a disease in its own right.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CPNSS/pdf/DP_withCoverPages/DP77/DP7705.pdf

We report the case of a family in which five siblings, who suffer from a rare form of cerebellar ataxia, are still quadrupeds as adults - walking and running on their feet and wrists. We describe the remarkable features of this gait, discuss how it has developed in the members of this family, and consider whether a similar gait may have been used by human ancestors.

[hurricane]

www.museumofhoaxes.com ?

[Prometheus|ANJ]

genetic mutation? bullshit, just looks like a disease that makes you can't stand upright.

mmm... this whole thing seems very... suspicious. It's either people dicking around, or a non-inheritable condition, or an inheritable change in their genetics. If it's the latter, it's certainly evolution at work. Note that 'disease' is a word we monkeys use, to mother nature it's just a state (like any other) that will be trialed against natural selection.

This thing, if true, apparently only affects their brains. A little strange maybe. I'm not that enlightened about how behaviour can be inherited though, but genes can certainly become dormant or latent. It's an advantage to have it that way, if you need to adapt back to a previous state, maybe like those famous english moths.

[JERI]

Genetic mutation? The piece of news I read had people claiming that they walked like that because of some weird upbrining in the family.

[EVIL]

the plot thickens..

[Mort]

its silly , why dont they just walk upright.?