Comment by exhypothesi
Comment by exhypothesi 8 days ago
Tangential: The story of the discovery of the cause of Narcolepsy is fascinating [1], [2], [3]
TL;DR: Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder caused by the destruction of the approximately 70,000 neurons that are responsible for producing the neurotransmitter orexin. [2]
A key piece of evidence was data analysis that showed a correlation between seasonal flu epidemic in China and subsequent new narcolepsy diagnoses. [1]
[1]: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2011/08/study-draws-c...
[2]: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/09/emmanuel-mign...
[3]: https://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/narcolepsy/documents...
(author here) Wait, we finally know the cause now? When did this happen? How did I miss this!!! How definitive is this finding?