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Sunday, November 25, 2012

FASD News - 47/2012


NEWS and ARTICLES
EurekAlert - Fetal alcohol exposure affects brain structure in children
Children exposed to alcohol during fetal development exhibit changes in brain structure and metabolism that are visible using various imaging techniques, according to a new study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Los Angeles Times - Pregnant women: Just don't drink, study suggests
After years of confusing and contradictory advice about alcohol consumption during pregnancy, a new study may have the final word: Just don’t drink. The study, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, reveals that even a few drinks a week by an expectant mother can lead to reductions in a child’s IQ if the child has certain genetic variations impairing their ability to break down alcohol.
Vancouver Sun (Canada) - Paradigm shift in neuroscience sparks new FASD research in B.C
Despite 40 years of research, medicine has little to offer in the way of treatments after FASD prevention fails. Doctors have long held that brain damage caused by alcohol cannot be corrected.
Maple Ridge News (Canada) - Bylaw to help prevent drinking while pregnant
If you’re curious about what’s like to live with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, have a chat with Katrina Griffin. She can explain how her early life began, when she was born at 24 weeks, spent six months in intensive care and 18 months on oxygen and how having FASD hurts her short-term memory and how she’s spent her life dealing with the condition.
University of Bristol - Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ
Relatively small levels of exposure to alcohol while in the womb can influence a child’s IQ, according to a new study, published today in PLOS ONE, by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Oxford using Children of the 90s study (ALSPAC) data from over 4,000 mothers and their offspring.
The Vancouver Sun - Maternal drinking casts lifelong shadow for children growing up with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Neufeld’s daughter has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). While she grew in the womb, her birth mother drank alcohol. The substance penetrated the placenta and attacked the growing girl, leaving parts of her brain permanently shrunk, scrambled, or simply missing.
Maple Ridge News - Warning about alcohol and pregnancy
The district wants to do its part to get out the message, if you’re expecting and drinking – there is no safe limit. So part of its new business licence bylaw requires bars, restaurants and U-brew stores to post signs reminding people of the above and the dangers of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
UNSW Australia (Australia) - FASD carers carry heavy life-time burden
In an Australian first, researchers have reached out to families and carers affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) to identify gaps in existing services.
Kitchener Post - New strategies discussed at FASD forum
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects approximately nine in every 1,000 births, and for those children and adults, traditional methods of teaching and discipline just don’t work, according to Dan Dubovsky, a mental health professional and social worker who spoke at an FASD conference at Bingemans Monday.

RESEARCH
The Journal of Neuroscience - A Longitudinal Study of the Long-Term Consequences of Drinking during Pregnancy: Heavy In Utero Alcohol Exposure Disrupts the Normal Processes of Brain Development
Exposure to alcohol in utero can cause birth defects, including face and brain abnormalities, and is the most common preventable cause of intellectual disabilities. Here we use structural magnetic resonance imaging to measure cortical volume change longitudinally in a cohort of human children and youth with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and a group of unexposed control subjects, demonstrating that the normal processes of brain maturation are disrupted in individuals whose mothers drank heavily during pregnancy.
PLOS One - Fetal Alcohol Exposure and IQ at Age 8: Evidence from a Population-Based Birth-Cohort Study
Observational studies have generated conflicting evidence on the effects of moderate maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy on offspring cognition mainly reflecting problems of confounding. Among mothers who drink during pregnancy fetal alcohol exposure is influenced not only by mother’s intake but also by genetic variants carried by both the mother and the fetus.
Translational Psychiatry - Stem cell therapy: social recognition recovery in a FASD model
To better understand the cellular pathogenetic mechanisms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and the therapeutic benefit of stem cell treatment, we exposed pregnant rats to ethanol followed by intravenous administration of neural stem cells (NSCs) complexed with atelocollagen to the new born rats and studied recovery of GABAergic interneuron numbers and synaptic protein density in the anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus and amygdala.

MATERIALS and VIDEOS
Second European Conference on FASD
"Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Clinical and Biological Diagnosis Screening and Follow-up"
NeuroDevNet - NeuroDevNet's FASD Project, CAPHC and PHAC Partnered for CAPHC's Webinar Series
Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres (CAPHC)'s Canadian Network for Child and Youth Rehabilitation (CN-CYR), in partnership with Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and NeuroDevNet, is facilitating a series of webinars to extend the discussion of FASD to include more in depth information on various areas of interest including diagnosis of FASD, interventions and service delivery models.
Helpful Teaching Techniques for use Students with FASD
NOFAS - Carolyn Szetela on FASD - Southeast Regional FASD Training Center
NOFAS - Jeanne Mahoney of ACOG - OB/GYNs & FASD

UPCOMING
The 5th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
This conference brings together experts from many disciplines to share international research, to discuss the implications of this research, and to promote scientific/community collaboration.
What's Working in FASD? Interventions That Are Making a Difference!
Screening and diagnosis of FASD are important issues, but if we see a positive diagnosis, what then? Join us as we take a look at what the research is telling us about what is working to help children affected FASD.

IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Ärzte Zeitung (Germany) - Ärzte als Aufklärer gefragt
Alkohol in der Schwangerschaft ist viel gefährlicher als Rauchen. Das Zellgift kann ein Kind bei seiner Entwicklung im Mutterleib schwer und irreversibel schädigen, betroffen ist dabei vor allem das Nervensystem.
L'Impronta L'Aquila (Italy) - Allarme della Società italiana sulla sindrome feto-alcolica, in Italia 30 mila bambini
Il 5 per cento dei bambini che nascono in Italia è affetto da sindrome feto alcolica (Fasd-una patologia legata al consumo di alcol della madre in gravidanza). Una cifra preoccupante visto che si tratta di circa 25-30 mila bambini ogni anno. Non sempre la patologia si manifesta in forma grave, cioè in una vera e propria disabilità cognitiva.
ANSA.it (Italy) - 25 mila bimbi colpiti da sindrome feto-alcolica
Difficolta' nell'apprendimento verbale, nella memoria, nelle abilita' visuo-spaziali e logico-matematiche, nell'attenzione, nella velocita' di elaborazione delle informazioni. Questi gli handicap a cui sono condannati oltre 25 mila bambini colpiti da sindrome feto alcolica in Italia, che nascono cioe' da madri bevitrici o che hanno continuato ad assumere alcol in gravidanza.

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