UM-Bot Posted June 24, 2009 #1 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Image credit: Zela on sxc.hu A remarkable teenager Brooke Greenberg is the size of a baby and has the mental capacity of a toddler despite being sixteen years old, her doctor believes that her case could be unique."Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler. She turned 16 in January. "Why doesn't she age?" Howard Greenberg, 52, asked of his daughter. "Is she the fountain of youth?" Such questions are why scientists are fascinated by Brooke."View: Full Article | Source: ABC News Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashyne Posted June 24, 2009 #2 Share Posted June 24, 2009 gives a new meaning to the term pedophilia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benz Posted June 24, 2009 #3 Share Posted June 24, 2009 does she age slow or not at all? if its slow then its gonna be kickass being 20-26 (physically) for like 50 years. Imagine if you were really good at a sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www375 Posted June 24, 2009 #4 Share Posted June 24, 2009 gives a new meaning to the term pedophilia. What is that supposed to mean??? Explain, please................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Red Devil Posted June 24, 2009 #5 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Hope her mum doesn't still have to breastfeed her! On a serious note but, this could be a significant step in the study of human biology and the aging process. Maybe we might have found the fountain of youth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbondo Posted June 24, 2009 #6 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Hope her mum doesn't still have to breastfeed her! On a serious note but, this could be a significant step in the study of human biology and the aging process. Maybe we might have found the fountain of youth. If you would have read the article you'd know that she is fed via a tube in her stomach. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd also like to know what that pedophilia comment meant. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yea, I was thinking the same thing of being 25 and shutting it down right there. I am truly amazed by this little girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashyne Posted June 24, 2009 #7 Share Posted June 24, 2009 what i meant by my comment. Pedophilia: As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), pedophilia is specified as a form of paraphilia in which a person either has acted on intense sexual urges towards children, or experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about children that cause distress or interpersonal difficulty. if she has the appearance of a baby or a child, but has the mind of an adult, and a man is sexually/romantically interested in her, is this a form of pedophilia? the DSM needs to change its definition of this term, whether pedophilia is about being attracted to the appearance of children, or to a child-like mental state, or both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exterminator Posted June 24, 2009 #8 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Man.. it's really interesting.. I wonder if she will live for hundreds and hundreds of years... Never heard of anything like this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8ball936 Posted June 24, 2009 #9 Share Posted June 24, 2009 WOW, She probably one the most important people in the world right now. I hope shes healthy, and it does not turn out to be some kind of mental/body size condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siara Posted June 24, 2009 #10 Share Posted June 24, 2009 If it turns out that she's lacking some hormone or other, I wonder if she'll have the option of aging normally. I guess it would be impossible to get her opinion on the matter since she doesn't speak. I wonder how long she will live. It's inaccurate to say she doesn't age if she has the bones of a ten year old. Eventually something will wear out. It would be interesting to read about her neural development. Is her brain capable of establishing neural networks or is she frozen in time mentally as well as physically? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regency Posted June 24, 2009 #11 Share Posted June 24, 2009 what i meant by my comment. Pedophilia: As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), pedophilia is specified as a form of paraphilia in which a person either has acted on intense sexual urges towards children, or experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about children that cause distress or interpersonal difficulty. if she has the appearance of a baby or a child, but has the mind of an adult, and a man is sexually/romantically interested in her, is this a form of pedophilia? the DSM needs to change its definition of this term, whether pedophilia is about being attracted to the appearance of children, or to a child-like mental state, or both. She hasn't got the mind of an adult, it clearly states that she has the mental age of a toddler. A remarkable teenager Brooke Greenberg is the size of a baby and has the mental capacity of a toddler despite being sixteen years old, her doctor believes that her case could be unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbyte Posted June 24, 2009 #12 Share Posted June 24, 2009 (edited) I met a girl like that. I went to Chernobyl and then to an orphanage in Belarus and there was a girl there that was 14. The the same size as her. http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj151/p...Orphanage30.jpg It's the girl on the right. Yes, the bones in her arms are curved and bent. So are her legs Edited June 24, 2009 by Mbyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wexler Posted June 24, 2009 #13 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Man.. it's really interesting.. I wonder if she will live for hundreds and hundreds of years... Never heard of anything like this before. Woah I didn't even think of that, it would be really cool if she aged super slowly, like one year for every 20 regular years. Her face looks older though, she doesn't look like a baby at all in the face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen_iverson Posted June 24, 2009 #14 Share Posted June 24, 2009 so does she just age slowly? when she looks like shes 20 she will be 100 yrs old LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR: Posted June 24, 2009 #15 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I couldn't even imagine a condition like this to be possible. Obviously, cell growth is practically at a stand still. I wonder if cell deterioration is just as slow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larving Posted June 24, 2009 #16 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Woah I didn't even think of that, it would be really cool if she aged super slowly, like one year for every 20 regular years. Her face looks older though, she doesn't look like a baby at all in the face. To me that seemed like the medical condition known as "Ugly-Baby-Syndrom". Quite common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippomchippo Posted June 24, 2009 #17 Share Posted June 24, 2009 If in say 20 years, she appears to be around 10, then hopefully scientists will study this and find something that can make us age slower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Wolfie Posted June 24, 2009 #18 Share Posted June 24, 2009 have you ever thought that, what if doctors were able to extract this sickness and like the public gets it and are able to put it into themselves at a certain age, and never physically or mentally get older???? (example 20 years old XD) they would then die of old age but you know!!!! wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Red Devil Posted June 24, 2009 #19 Share Posted June 24, 2009 If you would have read the article you'd know that she is fed via a tube in her stomach. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where? Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler. She turned 16 in January. Girl Who Doesn't Grow At about 16 pounds and 30 inches, 16-year-old Brooke Greenberg has not aged significantly, physically or apparently cognitively, since she was a toddler. Doctors hope that her case could shed light on the mysterious genetics behind aging. (Courtesy Greenberg Family) More Photos "Why doesn't she age?" Howard Greenberg, 52, asked of his daughter. "Is she the fountain of youth?" Such questions are why scientists are fascinated by Brooke. Among the many documented instances of children who fail to grow or develop in some way, Brooke's case may be unique, according to her doctor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine pediatrician Lawrence Pakula, in Baltimore. "Many of the best-known names in medicine, in their experience ... had not seen anyone who matched up to Brooke," Pakula said. "She is always a surprise." Brooke hasn't aged in the conventional sense. Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke's body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why. Related PHOTOS: The Girl Who Doesn't Age Top 12 Most Baffling Medical Conditions Top 6 Things Your Doc Hates About You In a recent paper for the journal "Mechanisms of Ageing and Development," Walker and his co-authors, who include Pakula and All Children's Hospital (St. Petersburg, Fla.) geneticist Maxine Sutcliffe chronicled a baffling range of inconsistencies in Brooke's aging process. She still has baby teeth at 16, for instance. And her bone age is estimated to be more like 10 years old. "There've been very minimal changes in Brooke's brain," Walker said. "Various parts of her body, rather than all being at the same stage, seem to be disconnected." Brooke's mother, Melanie Greenberg, 48, sees a different picture. "She loves to shop," Greenberg said. "Just like a woman." Brooke rides in a stroller while her mom shops for clothes in the infant sections of department stores near their home in a Baltimore suburb. That Brooke is in her mid-teens is so mind-boggling that if another mother with a toddler asks Greenberg how old Brooke is, she usually doesn't try to explain. "My system always has been to turn years into months," Greenberg said. "So, if someone asked today, I might say, she's 16 months old." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobolds Posted June 24, 2009 #20 Share Posted June 24, 2009 this remind me of one old theory of why human grow old . our body produce an enzyme that allow us to grow . when at baby age our body produce this enzyme in large volume . because of that baby grow faster from age 1 to 10. after that the enzyme production drop slowly . even so the volume still more than what a body need . because of that the grow of human body become slow . after age 28 the enzyme production drop below what our body need . the effect is what we call old . without the enzyme the body can't replace all damage part/cell of our body . this is why human body shrink when they old. so what happen to this girl is at baby age when body suppose to produce this enzyme in large volume didn't happen to her . because of that her body never grow . the next question will l happen next ? possibility 1 when the production of enzyme drop below what her body need . by theory at that time she will start showing sign of aging . the problem will be her body may too fragile to coup . possibility 2 her body continue produce the enzyme in same quantity . if this the case then she will live at such stage possibility 3 her body start produce the enzyme in large quantity . she will start growing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siara Posted June 24, 2009 #21 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Whether or not her condition is a personal tragedy depends on whether her brain ever develops to the point where she can interact with her environment, learn and store memories. Like, why doesn't she talk yet? That seems very bad. There's a level on which she's profoundly retarded. When a baby has a baby brain part of the fascination is the potential and the fact the child's at the beginning of a mysterious process. We don't know what her potential is. It would be incredibly cool, though awfully lonely for her, if she spent 20 years being 1 and the next 20 being 2, etc. She'd be 40 in 800 years and still have a long time to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippomchippo Posted June 25, 2009 #22 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Where? There's more than one page to the story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldTimeRadio Posted June 25, 2009 #23 Share Posted June 25, 2009 (edited) This Florida case is NOT unique. An old girlfriend once revealed to me that during her small town childhood in Upper New York State there was a woman who regularly pushed her "adult baby" daughter around in a perambulator. She apparently did this for a couple of decades, and the sight used to really scare young children. They'd spot the baby carriage a block or two away and go hide until it was well past. Edited June 25, 2009 by OldTimeRadio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldTimeRadio Posted June 25, 2009 #24 Share Posted June 25, 2009 (edited) If in say 20 years, she appears to be around 10, then hopefully scientists will study this and find something that can make us age slower It's by no means uncommon to find "retarded" people who appear radically younger than their chronological age. I've met such individuals who appear to be 14 - 16 years old, at most, but who are actually in their forties or fifties. I suppose we can call it a trade-off, but it's not one which very many of us would care to make. Edited June 25, 2009 by OldTimeRadio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueguardian Posted June 25, 2009 #25 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Brings back a whole new debate on Count De Saint Germain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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