
A Brief History of Dwarfism - acsillag
http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/a-brief-history-of-dwarfism-and-the-little-people-of-america/
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skywhopper
On the topic of understanding marginalized groups who build their own culture
(including LPs, the Deaf community, and others) and how "cures" are often
perceived as attempts at elimination, I can't recommend highly enough Andrew
Solomon's book "Far from the Tree"[1], a work 11 years in the making written
with immense empathy that tells the varying stories of dozens of people in
each of these communities and the differing ways they react to mainstream
culture, to the "horizontal" cultures of people like them, and to "cures" for
their condition, specifically told from the angle of the parent-child
relationship. It's utterly fascinating, deeply informative, and often
heartbreakingly personal. It's a huge book, but you can take it chapter by
chapter or I can also highly recommend the audiobook version, read by the
author.

[1]: [http://www.farfromthetree.com/](http://www.farfromthetree.com/)

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reasonattlm
Interestingly, one variant of hereditary dwarfism that is present in a small
group of people, Laron syndrome [1], is a good illustration to show that
methods of altering the operation of metabolism to extend healthy life in
short-lived mammals should not be expected to produce anywhere near the same
gains in long-lived humans. The longest lived engineered mice are those with
disruptions to growth hormone or its receptor, and Laron syndrome is much the
same thing. The mice live as much as 70% longer, but people with Laron
syndrome don't seem to be any longer lived than the rest of us, though it is
possible based on the data gathered to date that they are somewhat more
resistant to cancer and diabetes.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laron_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laron_syndrome)

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a2tech
Who knew there were over 400 different medical conditions that can cause
dwarfism?

~~~
logfromblammo
When you define dwarfism as "adult height <= 147 cm", I'm not surprised.

Animal biology is complex, and a lot of competing factors come into play when
determining the dimensions of an adult.

Cross-species hybrids have reciprocal crosses, like the hinny is to the mule,
or the tigon is to the liger. The gestation environment produces different
results from (theoretically) the same genetic mix. Hinnies are smaller than
mules, and tigons smaller than ligers.

Any deficiency of several single dietary factors prior to maturity could cause
retarded or stunted growth. The drugs typically used in the parents' household
could have an effect, like tobacco smoke. Biological colonies in the home
might have an effect. Cockroaches, dust mites, or mold spores could be
prompting some epigenetic response. Then there's autoimmune disorders,
endocrine feedback disruption, unethical human experimentation, physical
traumas, contagious disease during a critical growth period, etc.

That's really a testament to the adaptability of animal species. A huge
variety of environmental stresses result in a smaller, but still-viable,
organism.

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vonnik
You can almost hear the headline writer flirting with a very bad pun.

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pervycreeper
From TFA:

>Mengele is remembered as the angel of death—a cruel doctor who _performed
unscientific and often deadly experiments_

From Wikipedia [1]:

>He was notorious for the selection of victims to be killed in the gas
chambers and for _performing unscientific and often deadly human experiments_
on prisoners.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele)

