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Sunday, May 3, 2020

FASD News - 17/2020


Scottish Daily Record (Scotland) - NHS Lanarkshire is posting out condoms and contraceptive pills during Covid-19 pandemic
NHS Lanarkshire say that around 50 per cent of pregnancies are unplanned, and that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to the baby being born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
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Goondiwindi Argus (Australia) - Fears of baby harm amid drinking spike
Women are being urged to curb their drinking over fears it could lead to a spike in alcohol harm in babies conceived during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Daily Mail - Children of women who drink while pregnant are 17 per cent more likely to develop depression as teenagers, study claims
Mothers who drink alcohol while pregnant are putting their children at a greater risk of developing depression when they become teenagers, a new study revealed.
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Westport News (USA) - Special-needs children facing challenges amid virus outbreak
Chris Hagler functions at the kindergarten level, is non-verbal and wheelchair bound. He used to spend his days learning from a special education teacher, interacting with peers and working with speech, physical and occupational therapists.
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Buffalo News - Pandemic magnifies risks of maternal substance abuse
Immediate impacts of Covid-19 on our health and economy are obvious and insidious. Less visible are dangers to children when anxiety-ridden parents increasingly turn to alcohol and other substances for solace during the pandemic.
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Healio - The landscape of perinatal substance use: Prevalence, outcomes and interventions
Although substance use is less prevalent among pregnant women than nonpregnant women, use during pregnancy has significant adverse effects on maternal, as well as fetal, neonatal and childhood health outcomes, according to a presenter at the American Psychiatric Association Spring Highlights Meeting.
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Indiana NOFAS (USA) - If a woman is pregnant or could become pregnant, she should abstain from drinking alcohol
Alcohol consumed during pregnancy increases the risk of alcohol related birth defects, including growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities, central nervous system or brain impairment, behavioral disorders, and impaired intellectual development.
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University of Sidney (Australia) - Driving a national approach to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Professor Elizabeth Elliott is driving policy and national conversation around fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), working alongside Aboriginal communities to enact change.
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NOFAS UK (UK) - Announcing new projects and our upcoming name change
NOFAS-UK will be changing its name to the National Organisation for FASD. This reflects a national shift in thinking. FASD is finally being recognised by the Department of Health and NICE as a spectrum that has less to do with what a person’s face looks like and more to do with how alcohol exposure in the womb impacts how the brain and body develops.
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COMING UP
FASD HUB Scotland - What is FASD, online training (May 19, Scotland)
FASD Hub Scotland are hosting a series of 3 online sessions that make up their introductory 'What is FASD?' training.
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Parent to Parent - Webinar: Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) (May 6, 2020)
Please join Dianne O'Connor, Regional Coordinator for Parent to Parent of NYS as she presents the webinar Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Children prenatally exposed to alcohol become adults with FASD.

VIDEOS and MATERIALS
TexasHHSC - Prenatal Alcohol and Substance Exposure
Prenatal exposure to alcohol, tobacco and other substances can cause birth defects and permanent intellectual or developmental disabilities. Although all of these substances are harmful to a developing fetus, alcohol has the strongest influence.
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Kehitysvammaliitto - Miten lääkäri kertoo FASDista?
Miten ottaa FASD puheeksi? -videoita voi käyttää tukena keskusteltaessa nuoren kanssa FASD-diagnoosista tai FASDin vaikutuksista.
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Proof Alliance - Welcome from Proof Alliance Executive Director, Sara Messelt
Jill Crewes - FASD Webinar April 24 2020
Wise Group - Mahi Rawe Webinar April 2020: FASDRead more
HealthINfoNet - Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and complex trauma: a resource for educators
This resource provides guidance for educators who might be working with children and young people with Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
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BMA Report - Alcohol and pregnancy: preventing and managing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
In an update to our 2007 report, we outline the responsibilities of healthcare professionals and policy makers to improve the prevention, diagnosis and management of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
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RESEARCH
Nordic Welfare Center - Identifying use of alcohol and other substances during pregnancy
The Nordic Welfare Centre has a long history of working with questions of alcohol consumption and its different aspects and contexts. While alcohol is a socially accepted substance consumed in all parts of society, alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a risk behaviour and can cause severe damage to the foetus.
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digitalcommons.ursinus.edu - Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Alters the Number, Not Distribution. of Corridor Cells at Embryonic Day 13.5
The distribution of cells was not altered by PAE. Altered corridor cell count could impair TCA migration and lead to observed sensory processing deficits in FASD. Future work will study Slit/Robo signaling pathways, which are involved in guidance of both TCAs and corridor cells.
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Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Chronic Binge Alcohol Exposure During Pregnancy Alters mTOR System in Rat Fetal Hippocampus
We conclude that chronic binge alcohol exposure during pregnancy alters mTORC1 signaling pathway in the fetal hippocampus. We conjecture that this dysregulation of mTOR protein expression, its activity, and downstream proteins may play a critical role in FASD neurobiological phenotypes.
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Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - The Demographic and Neurocognitive Profile of Clients diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in PATCHES Paediatrics clinics across Western Australia and the Northern Territory
This study improves our current understanding of neurocognitive and demographic profiles in individuals with FASD that have been clinically referred for diagnosis within Western Australia and the Northern Territory; and highlights the importance of prevention and early assessment/diagnosis as well as guidance regarding more targeted interventions.
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nature.com - FASD: new insights from zebrafish
A study used zebrafish to model FASD and assess the metabolic consequences of embryonic alcohol exposure (EAE) in fish fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet.
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ir.lib.uwo.ca - Motives of Caregivers for Children with FASD to Become Peer Mentors
The purpose of this study was to identify the motives of peer mentors to caregivers of children and youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Ten mentors with lived experience raising a dependent with FASD participated in in person or telephone interviews that included the focal question: “Why do you want to be a peer mentor?”
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OpenUCT - Mothers’ facilitation of the occupational engagement of their children with FASD: a qualitative descriptive study in an under-resourced district in South Africa
The findings of this study highlight the important role mothers play to facilitate the occupational engagement of children with FASD. Recognising mothers as agents of change and including them in intervention will enhance occupational therapy practice in the area of FASD.
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FASEB - Effect of Maternal Age on Offspring Growth and Craniofacial Development After Early Prenatal Alcohol Exposure in a Mouse Model
As many women are delaying childbirth, there is an increasing need to carryout preclinical studies with appropriate experimental controls to better understand the relative risk of PAE and maternal age, and ultimately contribute to public health policy for pregnant women.
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Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience - Prenatal Alcohol Exposure as a Case of Involuntary Early Onset of Alcohol Use: Consequences and Proposed Mechanisms From Animal Studies
Understanding the mechanisms by which prenatal alcohol exposure favors the early initiation of alcohol consumption, along with its role in the causal pathway to alcohol disorders, may allow us to find strategies to mitigate the behavioral effects of this early experience with the drug.
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Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Chronic Binge Alcohol Exposure During Pregnancy Alters mTOR System in Rat Fetal Hippocampus
We conclude that chronic binge alcohol exposure during pregnancy alters mTORC1 signaling pathway in the fetal hippocampus. We conjecture that this dysregulation of mTOR protein expression, its activity, and downstream proteins may play a critical role in FASD neurobiological phenotypes.
Read more
Repository Pubblicazioni Università Cattolica - CDT reference values for monitoring chronic alcohol abuse in pregnancy
Conclusions In order to prevent the development of maternal and fetal prenatal alcohol exposure complications, the use of alcohol biomarkers, including CDT, has been proposed.
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Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Association of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Offspring Depression: A Negative Control Analysis of Maternal and Partner Consumption
Maternal drinking in pregnancy was associated with increased risk of offspring depression at age 18. Residual confounding may explain this association, but the negative control comparison of paternal drinking provides some evidence that it may be causal, and this warrants further investigation.
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Brain Imaging and Behavior - Structural and functional brain network alterations in prenatal alcohol exposed neonates
The findings suggest early functional disruption on a global and regional level after prenatal alcohol exposure and indicate suboptimal organization of functional networks. These differences likely underlie sensory dysregulation and behavioral difficulties in prenatal alcohol exposure.
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FASEB - Teratogenic effects of 1.5% EtOH in Cranial Blood Vessel development and Neurogenesis in Zebrafish larvae at 72hpf
Our preliminary results suggest that EtOH at 1.5% leads to reduced number of cranial vessels and altered vessel branching, and decreased density of telencephalic and hindbrain neurons.
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IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Kehitysvammaliitto (Finland) - MITEN OTTAA FASD PUHEEKSI?
Kehitysvammaliiton FASD-toiminta on julkaissut puheeksi ottamisen vihkon ja videon. Materiaaleja voi käyttää tukena keskusteltaessa nuoren kanssa FASD-diagnoosista tai FASDin vaikutuksista. Tukimateriaalit soveltuvat hyvin esimerkiksi lääkärien tai vanhempien käyttöön.
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