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Sunday, January 11, 2015

FASD News - 1/2015

NEWS and ARTICLES
Healio - Fetal alcohol syndrome increased psychosocial issues in adulthood
People with fetal alcohol syndrome as children may have a greater level of psychosocial outcomes as they grow older, according to a Swedish study.
KMAland - Message on Drinking When Pregnant is Clear: Zero for Nine
It is completely preventable, but based on historic rates, there will be tens of thousands of babies born in the United States this year, including hundreds in Iowa, with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
Minneapolis Star Tribune (USA) - Researchers developing test for fetal brain injury
Alcohol is the leading known preventable cause of developmental and physical birth defects in the United States, according to Kidshealth.org, but many women still drink during pregnancy (either knowingly or before they know they are pregnant). About 1 in every 750 infants is born with fetal alcohol syndrome and another 40,000 with fetal alcohol effects.
iPolitics.ca (Canada) - Proposed changes to sentencing of FASD victims offer new hope to offenders
Francis Perry is an unintentional authority on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. “Most people with [FASD] have an inability to think before they act, so they often act and then they end up behind bars — then it’s too late.” Perry, a First Nations Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, was diagnosed with FASD when he was 20.
Lexology - Excessive alcohol consumption and the rights of a foetus
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a seven-year-old girl born with learning difficulties because her mother drank heavily while pregnant is not entitled to compensation. The court had to determine whether the harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption amounted to causing criminal injury to the child.
Daily Mail (UK) - Pregnant women should not drink AT ALL because 'no amount of alcohol is safe'
Women should not drink any alcohol while they are pregnant because of the risks to their unborn child, an MP said today. Bill Esterson wants it to be made compulsory for all alcoholic beverages to carry compulsory warning labels directed at expectant mothers.
Voice America (USA) - Developing Services for Canadians Living with FASD
Dr. Dorothy Badry, PhD, RSW, is an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, www.fsw.ucalgary.ca. Her doctoral dissertation, ‘Becoming a Birth Mother of a Child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome’, reviewed the lives of 8 women aged 25 to 60 who’d borne children diagnosed with the Syndrome.
Psychology Today - Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Racial and Social Class Bias
The irony of timing: just last month two articles appeared within weeks of each other. The first was published in the on-line version of Cosmo magazine, detailing why a 30-something year old new mother had decided to have the occasional drink during pregnancy, ranging from an “apple-infused craft beer — ‘sippy cup juice for adults’”— to “a glass or two of wine or a couple of beers per week” and champagne at her baby shower.

RESEARCH
Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics - Fine motor skills in children with prenatal alcohol exposure or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and associated neurodevelopmental impairments. It is uncertain which types of fine motor skills are most likely to be affected after PAE or which assessment tools are most appropriate to use in FASD diagnostic assessments.
Neuroimage - Prenatal alcohol exposure reduces magnetic susceptibility contrast and anisotropy in the white matter of mouse brains
Prenatal alcohol exposure can result in long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) refers to a range of permanent birth defects caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, and is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in the US.
Alcohol - Salivary cortisol levels are elevated in the afternoon and at bedtime in children with prenatal alcohol exposure
Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may underlie some of the behavioral and adaptive problems seen in individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Prenatal alcohol exposure alters response of kisspeptin-ir neurons to estradiol and progesterone in adult female rats
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has adverse effects on reproductive function and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) activity. Kisspeptin neurons play a role in mediating feedback effects of estradiol (E-2) and progesterone (P-4) on the HPG axis.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Adolescent alcohol exposure alters GABA(A) receptor subunit expression in adult hippocampus
The long-term consequences of adolescent alcohol abuse that persist into adulthood are poorly understood and have not been widely investigated. We have shown that intermittent exposure to alcohol during adolescence decreased the amplitude of GABA(A) receptor (GABA(A)R)-mediated tonic currents in hippocampal dentate granule cells in adulthood.
Reproductive Health - Preconception care: caffeine, smoking, alcohol, drugs and other environmental chemical/radiation exposure
As providing health education, optimizing nutrition, and managing risk factors can be effective for ensuring a healthy outcome for women and her yet un-conceived baby, external influences play a significant role as well.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth - Feasibility and acceptability of a novel, computerized screening and brief intervention (SBI) for alcohol and sweetened beverage use in pregnancy
Recommended screening and brief intervention (SBI) for alcohol use during pregnancy is impeded by high patient loads and limited resources in public health settings.
Developmental Neuroscience - Third trimester-equivalent ethanol exposure is characterized by an acute cellular stress response and an ontogenetic disruption of genes critical for synaptic establishment and function in mice
The developing brain is remarkably sensitive to alcohol exposure, resulting in the wide range of cognitive and neurobehavioral characteristics categorized under the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
Brain Injury - Effects of all three trimester moderate binge alcohol exposure on the foetal hippocampal formation and olfactory bulb
Pre-natal alcohol exposure results in injury to the hippocampus and olfactory bulb, but currently there is no consensus on the critical window of vulnerability.

VIDEOS and MATERIALS
YourAlberta - Practical strategies and support for families affected by FASD
Mary provides practical suggestions about what parents can do to strengthen their relationships with their children affected by FASD to give the children the best start in life.
surreyandborders - What can I do to help my child/adult with FASD? Dr Raja Mukherjee answers
City of Lakeville - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Law Enforcment
Discover more about FASD including how it happens, who is effected and what law enforcement does to try and give a measured response to those individuals who encounter police.
Jove - Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
The goal of the protocol presented here is to describe procedures to expose rats to moderate levels of alcohol during prenatal brain development and to quantify resulting alterations in social behavior during adulthood.

IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Gazeta.pl (Poland) - Anna i Jarosław od 7 lat są rodzinnym pogotowiem. "Tu nie ma czego podziwiać"
Pierwsza była Zosia. Waga: niecałe dwa kilo, wzrost: tyle co długość dłoni dorosłego mężczyzny. Do tego FAS (ang. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), czyli płodowy zespół alkoholowy, dysplazja oskrzelowo-płucna i retinopatia (uszkodzenie siatkówki) trzeciego stopnia. Urodziła się w szóstym miesiącu ciąży, trzy miesiące przeleżała w inkubatorze. Matka jeszcze w szpitalu zrzekła się dziecka.

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