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Sunday, August 4, 2013

FASD News - 30/2013

NEWS and ARTICLES
SBS (Australia) - Foetal alcohol syndrome victim calls on pregnant women not to drink
When it comes to the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant, the message may not be getting through. Australian researchers say only two out of three women know that alcohol can affect their unborn child.
Parent Herald - Alcohol During Pregnancy Damages Learning and Memory in Children, Study Finds
A team of researchers from Xinxiang Medical University in China found that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy damaged learning and memory in children.
Voice of America (South Africa) - Mentally Disabled Women Endure Intense Abuse in South Africa
They’re mentally ill or disabled, suffering from conditions such as cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol syndrome. The women are at Ikhaya Loxolo, “Home of Peace,” a collection of mud huts in the district of Hobeni in a particularly isolated part of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
EurekAlert - FASD impacts brain development throughout childhood and adolescence not just at birth
Medical researchers at the University of Alberta recently published findings showing that brain development is delayed throughout childhood and adolescence for people born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Alaska Dispatch (Canada) - Senior Nunavut judge urges territory to help inmates with FASD
An offender suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will have a hard time getting treatment in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut because there are no programs for the disorder in the territory’s correctional system.
The Guardian (UK) - A day in the life of ... a health charity executive director
Our charity, the National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, supports people who have foetal alcohol-related disabilities as well as their families, and I'm a pretty hands-on type of person so no two days are the same.
Ninemsn (Australia) - GPs fail to warn drinking mums, prof says
GPs have been too concerned about offending people to warn women of the dangers of drinking while pregnant, leaving their unborn children at risk of birth defects, a professor of pediatrics says.
Scotland on Sunday (Scotland) - Alcohol syndrome babies slip through safety net
LARGE numbers of children in Scotland affected by their mothers drinking alcohol during pregnancy have not been diagnosed, experts suspect.
National Magazine (Canada) - Court system an abusive one for victims of FASD
The criminal justice system can be an abusive one for children and adults with the kind of disability that robs them the ability to foresee the consequences of their actions, says a lawyer who is intimately acquainted with the problem.
Labcanada (Canada) - $1.7M project examines genetic roots of FASD
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has awarded $1.37 million in funding to a team at the University of Manitoba that is led by James Davie, Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Chromatin Dynamics.

UPCOMING EVENTS
First International Conference on Prevention of FASD
This is the first international conference to address the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of FASD. Plenary sessions will promote discussion and reflection on promising and innovative approaches for preventing FASD, such as policies and programs to address alcohol use and the social determinants of health.
MOFAS - 2013 FASD matters conference: exploring the spectrum November 14-15, 2013
The Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (MOFAS) is the statewide organization serving as the leading voice and resource on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in Minnesota – standing up for the rights of the FASD community, providing education and training so FASD is better understood and working to ensure that all women know that there is no safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy.
Living With FASD 2013 Summit, September 9 2013
The purpose of this telesummit is to provide families with information about practical strategies to implement at home, based on the newest FASD research. Speakers have been specially selected because they have experience on a professional level and also have first-hand experience raising children with FASD.
Interprofessional Continuing Education - 6th National Biennial Conference on Adolescence and adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - Call for Abstracts
he conference does not cover honoraria, accommodation, travel or other associated expenses. However, the primary presenter of 3-hour/90-minute abstracts willreceive complimentary registration to the conference (~$600 value).

VIDEOS, MATERIALS
Youtube - FASD COMMUNITIES, informational video by Elizabeth H.
Many young adults grow up with FASD and have problems adjusting to life after school. FASD Communities is a 501c(3) organization that raises funds to establish group homes for this growing population of young adults.
sydney.edu.au - A success story - a community led collaboration with remote indigenous Australia
‘Our children are our greatest asset’ says Professor Elizabeth Elliott, paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, and Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney. Yet many children suffer brain damage even before they are born, through exposure to alcohol in the womb.

RESEARCH
PubMed - Involving consumers and the community in the development of a diagnostic instrument for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in Australia
The successful involvement of consumers and the community in the FASD Project can be attributed to active consumer and community participation, which included continued involvement throughout the project, funding of participation activities, and an understanding of the various contributions by the Collaboration members.
Educational Psychology in Practice - Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: as prevalent as autism?
An examination of the literature on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and its relevance to the work of Educational Psychologists (EPs) suggested that the impact of FASD on EPs’ casework is an area which has been underexplored, and which merits further attention.
Brain Sciences - Drug-Induced Apoptosis: Mechanism by which Alcohol and Many Other Drugs Can Disrupt Brain Development
Maternal ingestion of alcohol during pregnancy can cause a disability syndrome termed Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), which may include craniofacial malformations, structural pathology in the brain, and a variety of long-term neuropsychiatric disturbances.
Alcoholism - Early Fetal Binge Alcohol Exposure Predicts High Behavioral Symptom Scores in 5.5-Year-Old Children
Fetal binge alcohol exposure has been associated with neurobehavioral and cognitive symptoms. This study explored whether binge drinking mainly before recognition of pregnancy predicted high symptom scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in 5.5-year-old children.
Alcohol - Neonatal ethanol exposure results in dose-dependent impairments in the acquisition and timing of the conditioned eyeblink response and altered cerebellar interpositus nucleus and hippocampal CA1 unit activity in adult rats
Exposure to ethanol in neonatal rats results in reduced neuronal numbers in the cerebellar cortex and deep nuclei of juvenile and adult animals. This reduction in cell numbers is correlated with impaired delay eyeblink conditioning (EBC), a simple motor learning task in which a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS; tone) is repeatedly paired with a co-terminating unconditioned stimulus (US; periorbital shock).

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