|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Alcohol Related Birth Injury (FAS/FAE) Resource Site
The Research Centre Abstract Archive
NEW WAY TO MAP BRAIN FUNCTION INTRODUCED
A new technique for mapping human brain function may unlock untold secrets of how the brain acts and responds. The procedure combines magnetoencephalography, which identifies the source of brain cell activity, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which provides highly detailed images of the brain as it works.
Magnetoencephalography and functional MRI combines data from the brain imaging techniques to create a four-dimensional "movie" of brain function.
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT REVEALED IN 4-D
Secrets of brain development and growth continue to emerge, thanks to the possibilities generated by new technologies. The latest advance comes from a joint US-Canadian group of researchers who used sophisticated imaging techniques to visualize changes in brain structure during childhood.
The team described their work as "the creation of spatially complex, four-dimensional quantitative maps of growth patterns in the developing human brain."
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers were able to perform a never-before-accomplished feat -- that of mapping, in detail, the changes occurring in children's brains over a period of years. Among the group's observations was the notable growth of the corpus callosum, a structure that serves to connect the two hemispheres of the brain and which contains hundreds of millions of nerve fibers.
This callosal area, associated with language and certain thinking skills, "grew more rapidly than surrounding regions across time spans before and during puberty (6-13 years), with growth attenuated shortly afterwards (11-15 years)."
SHORT GAP BETWEEN PREGNANCIES BOOSTS INFANT RISK
Intervals of less than one year between pregnancies raise risks for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and infant death through accident or homicide, researchers conclude. The finding "underscores the importance of birth spacing for infant health," said researchers at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital in Illinois.
They found that infants that were conceived within 6 to 12 months of a previous delivery were at a 39% increased risk of death from all causes, compared with infants spaced further apart. Infants conceived within 6 months of a prior delivery faced double the death risk, the authors conclude.
Risks for infant death "associated with childcare practices" rose sharply among babies born soon after a sibling, according to the Chicago researcher. These infants were more than three times as likely to die of intentional abuse, and nearly twice as likely to die from accidental injury than babies spaced further apart.
Researchers also believe short intervals between pregnancies may be a 'marker' for a pattern of high-risk behaviors that contribute to infant death. "Previous research has shown that short intervals are much more common among the poor," he explained. "So some of (the results) we are capturing might be a sort of 'marker' effect -- a marker for high-risk status."
NEW CLUES ABOUT BODY CLOCK SUGGEST BIO-MOM SETS THE TIME
Researchers in France believe they have discovered another piece of the puzzle about how the body's clock, also called circadian rhythm, first starts ticking. The new finding indicates that the clock genes actually start working before the female egg is fertilized. The gene then maintains the same rhythm even as the animal develops.
Circadian clocks regulate the body's daily sleep/wake cycles, and help control the timing of a variety of biological changes including hormone production, blood pressure, and the metabolic slowdown that occurs during sleep.
DRIED BLOOD SPOT SCREENING ESTIMATES PERINATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE
Dried blood spot screening can assist in estimating population-based prevalence of perinatal exposure to cocaine.
Maternal characteristics associated with high rates of benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, in newborns included:
COCAINE "VACCINE" BLUNTS CRAVING IN ADDICTED ANIMALS In laboratory animals, a vaccine has been used successfully to fight cocaine addiction, according to a study presented at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in New Orleans. At the meeting. Researchers reported that the cocaine molecule is too small to stimulate an immune response. The team overcame the problem by attaching a derivative of cocaine to a larger protein -- and found that the result does stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. The technique can be used to "train" the immune system to produce the antibodies. Over several weeks, amounts of these antibodies build up in the body. The antibodies work by attaching themselves to cocaine molecules in the blood, stopping them from reaching receptors in the brain, thus blocking their effects. The team is hoping to begin clinical trials of the two types of "immuno-pharmacotherapy" techniques against cocaine by the winter of 2000. DRINK AND DRUGS ADD UP TO BAD NEWS FOR BRAIN
Cocaine and alcohol use together strikes a greater blow to the brain than use of either drug alone, study findings show. Researchers found that while both cocaine and alcohol exact their own tolls on brain function, they may also work in tandem. Cocaine abuse may make the brain more vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol. While this damage threshold has been suggested to be 21 drinks per week in most people, the cocaine abusers' threshold may be as low as three drinks a week.
Researchers testes the mental abilities of 56 cocaine abusers, half of whom reported downing 10 or more drinks per week. They were tested after one to three days of abstinence and again after four weeks "on the wagon." Both cocaine and alcohol showed unique effects on mental functioning, and the greater the use of each drug, the greater the effects.
Alcohol use was linked to problems with "executive abilities" like planning ahead and organization, the researchers report, while cocaine abuse created problems with concentration and memory.
Together, cocaine abuse and heavy alcohol use--not necessarily dependence--likely have additive effects on the brain, according to the researchers. When both drugs are used at the same time they produce a chemical by-product that is toxic to cells.
ALCOHOL WARNINGS NEED TO FOCUS ON WOMEN WHO WERE DRINKERS WHEN THEY BECAME PREGNANT
Health campaigns geared at educating women about the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant should have offshoots that focus on the special needs women who drink heavily before pregnancy. These women often continue to drink during pregnancy and need advice on reducing their drinking--and on how much alcohol constitutes the medical definition of a drink.
Women who were drinkers when they became pregnant are unlikely to stop drinking altogether, and some may see no point in cutting down, researchers noted. While abstinence should be the goal, any reduction can have positive effects. Women who drink alcohol should know that drinking less would likely help their unborn child, and programs are needed to help them do this.
Researchers found that many of the women consumed drinks much larger in size than what is considered one drink by normal standards. Some women reported having one drink a day that consisted of a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor.
FETAL BRAIN RESPONDS TO MUSIC WITH BURST OF ACTIVITY
Researchers have found that the brain of a fetus responds to a musical nursery rhyme with a burst of activity in the temporal lobe, a region located at the side of the brain.
The discovery was made using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), a scanning technique that is being used in children and adults to study the brain's reaction to everything from drug use to depression and attention deficit disorder. Now this specialized type of MRI may be used to shed light on fetal brain development.
In the study, recorded nursery rhymes were played on a loudspeaker aimed at the abdomens of four women late in their third trimester of pregnancy. At this point, the fetal head is "dropped" or engaged in the pelvis and much less likely to move around.
Two out of the three fetuses showed a burst of brain activity in the temporal lobe when the music was played, while one fetus moved around so much the researchers could not get a reading.
Fetal brain activity is now measured indirectly, by looking at fetal heart rate associated with fetal movements.The researchers plan on studying what happens to the fetal brain with intrauterine growth retardation -- a condition in which the fetus is abnormally small (a condition commonly seen in children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.)
HANGOVERS FAR FROM HARMLESS - ELPENOR SYNDROME
The jangle of headache, nausea and diarrhea known as the common hangover: its biggest sufferers are light-to-moderate drinkers who pose a definite risk to themselves and enormous costs for society.
Among other things, they found that hangovers almost always result from five to six drinks for a 175-pound (80 kg) man and three to five drinks for a 130-pound (60 kg) woman.
Hangover-induced absenteeism and poor job performance costs the US economy about $148 billion a year, while more than half of all alcohol-related problems in the workplace are caused by light drinkers, and 87% by light-to-moderate drinkers.
HIGH INCIDENCE OF HEARING LOSS REPORTED IN CHILDREN CHRONICALLY EXPOSED TO ALCOHOL IN UTERO
Mild to profound hearing loss occurs in nearly half of pediatric patients with a history of prenatal alcohol exposure, and this exacerbates preexisting delays in speech and hearing Researchers also found that chronic otitis media requiring surgical or medical intervention occurred in 7l% of the patients under study.
Fetal alcohol syndrome predisposes children to serious otitis media, since the syndrome is associated with craniofacial abnormalities (often involving the eustachian tubes), underlying immunodeficiencies and environmental and social factors that increase the risk of upper respiratory tract infections.
HOW THE BRAIN BUILDS A MEMORY
Activation of particular parts of the brain -- and the levels of activity in these brain regions -- determine which facts and events will be remembered.
Scientists have long wondered why -- and how -- the brain retains a memory of some incoming data, but allows other information to be forgotten. The recent development of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows scientists a highly-focused view of brain activity over time, is providing new answers to these old questions.
Subjects placed under fMRI viewed and then re-viewed a series of pictures. The study authors found that activity levels in two brain regions -- the right prefrontal lobe and the parahippocampal cortex -- measure "how well a particular visual experience is encoded and therefore predicts whether it will be remembered well."
IMAGING REVEALS HOW BRAIN GROWS
For the first time, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology is allowing scientists to follow childhood brain development over time.The human brain undergoes a growth explosion during the first 2 years of life, but does not fully mature before adolescence or even late adulthood.
Researchers have discovered that the corticospinal tract -- fibers connecting the cerebral cortex with the spinal cord -- appear to develop at a roughly equal pace in both hemispheres of the brain. The healthy development of this nerve pathway is essential to the transmission of motor signaling, which directs everything from breathing to playing the piano.
However, the researchers found that the development of a second important pathway -- that linking the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain -- was more pronounced in the left rather than the right hemisphere.
This finding is "noteworthy," the authors say, because the left hemisphere is dominant for speech in most people. The acquisition of language is one of the most important survival skills children learn, and may account for this shift in development favoring the left hemisphere, according to the researchers.
The researchers are optimistic that new MRI processing technologies will open up "new avenues of research on normal and abnormal cognitive (brain) development." Someday, they say, these types of images may even allow physicians to track the effectiveness of various therapies in the brain.
Finally, the researchers speculate that MRI scans focused on brain development may guide them to a better understanding of diseases that may be linked to poor neurological development. The auditory hallucinations ('voices') heard by schizophrenics, for example, are thought by many experts to be caused by 'crossed wires' within the brain, which allow signals from the brain's auditory center to inadvertently intrude upon other areas of neurological regions.
HIGH CYTOKINE PRODUCTION LINKED TO IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION IN FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
The development of immune dysfunction that accompanies fetal alcohol syndrome may result from an elevation of body chemicals in response to prenatal exposure to alcohol. Scientists reported that altered fetal immune development could occur directly or indirectly in response to an altered chemical milieu which alters the development of the “T cells,” the same cells that are reduced in clients with other immune disorders.
FREQUENT MARIJUANA USE AFFECTS BRAIN BLOOD FLOW
Frequent use of marijuana reduces blood flow to some parts of the brain, but regular pot use does not appear to change brain structure or size.Frequent marijuana users demonstrated diminished blood flow in the cerebellum -- an area at the back of the brain that helps to control movement and plays a role in other processes such as memory and attention. Using positron emission tomography (PET scans), researchers found that blood flow to this area of the brain was 18% lower in pot users compared with people who did not use marijuana, even when the drug users had stopped smoking at least a day before the study.
While there wasn't any gross structural brain damage in these patients, there was a fairly large decrease in blood flow, even after a day of abstinence.
MARIJUANA USE LINKED TO PREGNANCY LOSS
Cannabinoids, the psychoactive ingredients in marijuana, may cause the "....abrupt interruption of pregnancy at a very early stage. Researchers found that cannabinoid agonists interfered with pre-implantation embryo development in vitro. This research adds to the growing body of evidence on the serious and harmful effects of marijuana, which many people mistakenly believe is a safe drug.
EFFECTS OF COCAINE ON FETAL OUTCOMES: GROWTH RETARDATION AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL COMPLICATIONS
Fetuses exposed to cocaine show growth retardation and score poorly on neurodevelopment tests after birth, and the severity of these effects is dependent on amount and time of drug exposure Cocaine users had more preterm deliveries and higher prenatal risk scores.
The amount of drug used correlated with fetal growth during each trimester. Moms who smoked further decreased the head and chest circumference of the baby.
Drug interactions also affected babies' scores on the Behavioral Assessment Scales, with "...lower scores among infants who were exposed to both cocaine and tobacco and among those exposed to both marijuana and tobacco. Researchers added that the amount of cocaine used in the third trimester decreased the child’s scores in attention and responsiveness.
PRENATAL COCAINE USE LINKED TO DEFICITS IN INFORMATION PROCESSING
Heavy prenatal use of cocaine is associated with poorer memory and information processing in infants Researchers discovered that children whose mothers used alcohol and cocaine during pregnancy suggested that heavy use early in pregnancy is associated with faster responsiveness on an infant visual responsiveness test but poorer recognition memory and information processing. Dr. Jacobson suspects that the adverse cognitive effects of cocaine on the infant are related to interference with neurotransmitter uptake during gestation.
PRENATAL FAMINE LINKED TO PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
Babies born to mothers who experienced starvation in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy are at increased risk for psychiatric disorders such as manic depression and depression, report US researchers.
Researchers determined that this kind of nutritional deprivation was associated with an increased likelihood of hospitalization for mental disorders, such as depression and manic depression, among individuals born to women who experienced famine.
These findings underscore the importance of adequate prenatal nutrition and infer that subsequent occurrence of affective disorders in the offspring might be prevented.
PRETERM BIRTH LINKED TO TEEN BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
Infants born very prematurely -- less than 33 weeks' gestation -- are at increased risk of behavioral problems during adolescence, and are also more likely to show abnormalities on brain scans in adolescence, British researchers report.
In a study of young teenagers who were born prematurely, 40 out of 72 had "unequivocally abnormal" results on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans.In comparison, only 1 of 21 adolescents who were born at term had abnormal results on MRI brain scans
Adolescents who were born prematurely also had more neurological impairments and reading problems compared with their peers. Behavioral impairments were related to abnormalities seen on the brain scans, according to the report.
MODERATE ALCOHOL INTAKE DURING PREGNANCY ADVERSELY AFFECTS PSYCHOMOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Results of a longitudinal study suggest that moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy, at levels well below those associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, has an adverse effect on psychomotor development in offspring.
Researchers report that preschool children of women who consumed three or more drinks per day during pregnancy had significantly poorer psychomotor development than the children of women.
PUNISHING DRUG USE IN PREGNANCY "DANGEROUS" Over the last 10 years, up to 300 American women have been arrested and charged with a crime for using substances during pregnancy that might harm their unborn child.The specter of punishment deters women from seeking prenatal care or substance abuse treatment. Jailing them during pregnancy or after birth often cuts them off from important health services, leads to broken homes and, potentially, developmental problems in their children. No states expressly make prenatal substance abuse illegal, but more than 200 women in 35 states have been arrested in the last decade or so for just that. Most appellate courts have rejected the use of existing laws to prosecute women, but lawyers have used other avenues, claiming child abuse or distribution of a substance to a minor. In South Carolina, the state Supreme Court ruled that two women could be prosecuted for using crack cocaine during pregnancy, stating that their fetuses could live outside the uterus, and thus, the drug use was child abuse. One of those women, Cornelia Whitner, is now serving an 8-year prison sentence. Alcohol abuse during pregnancy -- which is higher in more educated, affluent women -- is not screened for at all. Cocaine-exposed children have an IQ drop of about 3.26 points by school age -- a big difference in youngsters who already have below-normal intelligence. SCHIZOPHRENIC BRAIN HAS LESS GRAY MATTER
Schizophrenia patients have less gray matter in their brains, a change that may one day be shown to predispose individuals to the psychiatric illness. Gray matter, the interior of the brain that contains the nerve cell bodies, is also reduced in other illnesses, such as dementia and chronic alcoholism.
The finding adds to the growing evidence that an underlying brain structural problem may contribute to the psychiatric illness.
Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the volume of gray matter in the brains of 22 newly diagnosed schizophrenia patients, and 51 people the same age. Not only does gray matter vary with illness, its volume changes with age and head size.
The schizophrenic patients had lower gray matter volume and larger ventricles, the cavities in the brain that contain cerebrospinal fluid.
"Gray matter deficiency is not specific to schizophrenia. It is also seen in chronic alcoholics and in other disorders such as congenital rubella. Children born to mothers who contract rubella, or German measles, during pregnancy can exhibit psychotic symptoms and gray matter deficiency.
Schizophrenia occurs in 1% of the population, striking most often in men between the ages of 15 and 24, and women between the ages of 25 to 34. The onset is characterized by distortion of reality, language and communication disturbances, and withdrawal from social interaction.
SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY LINKED TO CLEFT LIP
Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of having a baby with cleft lip or palate. These are two of the most common birth defects, affecting about 1 in 1,000 newborns. A new study shows that women who smoke during pregnancy are up to 70% more likely to have a baby with a cleft lip or palate than nonsmoking women.
"The most important point about this study is that women who smoke during pregnancy will have a higher risk for having a newborn with cleft lip or palate. Cleft lip and palate is a devastating disease in a child because of facial deformity and speech impairment.
The risk of cleft lip or palate increased with the number of cigarettes smoked -- up to 70% increased risk if they smoke greater than 21 cigarettes per day said researchers.
Any amount of smoking during pregnancy is detrimental to the newborn. In addition to cleft lip and palate, these risks include prematurity and low birth weight.
STRESS EARLY IN PREGNANCY MAY INCREASE RISK OF BIRTH DEFECTS
Stressful events around the time of conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase the risk of birth defects (or congenital abnormalities), according to results of a study.
Mothers who reported one or more stressful life events were slightly more likely to have babies with birth defects. The chances of having a baby with cardiovascular defects was 1.4 times higher; the chances of having a baby with skull or spinal problems, 1.5 times greater; of having a baby with cleft lip and/or palate, about 1.4 times greater; and of having a baby with a limb anomaly, 1.3 times greater.
For all four types of abnormality, the relationship between stress and risk of defects was significantly less in obese women. The authors suggest that the "stress system" may be less active in obese women, thus protecting the fetus from harm.
On the other hand, the relationship between stress and risk of defects was significantly greater in women with lower levels of education. The authors suggest that education level may reflect socioeconomic status, pointing out "the chronic stressors, behaviors, and conditions that often go along with lower socioeconomic status... may increase the impact of stressful life events on fetal development."
Stress might affect a developing fetus by changing levels of body chemicals such as catecholamines and corticosteroids that would affect the fetal environment. Stress might also cause the mother to engage in "harmful coping behaviors" such as smoking, drinking, or poor nutrition.
TERRIBLE TWOS WORSE IF MOTHER SMOKED DURING PREGNANCY
Results of a new study show that women who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to have toddlers with behavior problems.
The finding fits a pattern suggested by previous studies, which linked smoking during pregnancy with disruptive and even criminal behavior in the child years late.
Researchers found that the level of negativity displayed by the child was related directly to the mother's level of smoking during pregnancy. The more a woman smoked, the worse the tantrums, impulsive behavior and risk taking in her toddler.
Angry and negative behavior was also worsened by an uneasy relationship between mother and child and by a discipline style that favored punishment over persuasion.
Older mothers tended to have more difficult toddlers. On the other hand, the mother's personality, marital status, drug use, and other characteristics had no apparent influence on the toddler's bad behaviors.
Mothers who want to have an easier time with their 2-year-old toddlers should avoid cigarette smoke during their pregnancy. Improving the terrible twos might even make for an easier childhood and adolescence -- for the child as well as the parents.
MEDICINE RETURNS THE ZOMBIE'S STARE
The existence of zombies -- dead, soulless bodies 'revived' to a semblance of life through sorcery -- is taken for granted by much of the populace of Haiti. But scientists say neurological illness may account for the numbers of 'undead' roaming the Caribbean nation.
"Mistaken identification of a wandering, mentally ill stranger by bereaved relatives is the most likely explanation for the zombies and their generally considerate treatment might be seen as an institutionalized restitution of the destitute mentally ill.
BRAIN CAN REPAIR ITSELF, STUDY IN MICE SUGGESTS
Adding to a growing body of research showing that the adult brain can indeed grow new cells, Harvard investigators have the first evidence that the brain tries to repair itself after injury.
In experiments with mice, researchers damaged a specific set of mature nerve cells in the cerebral cortex, and found that primitive cells known as neural precursors began to divide in an effort to replace the damaged cells.
Researchers feel that in the next 10 to 30 years, scientists may be able to "repopulate" damaged areas of the adult brain with new, functioning cells born of the person's own precursor cells.
Is there an addictions "domino effect?" Neuroscientists believe that there is a link to the flooding effect of brain signals that may increase a persons risk of addiction. By identifying the molecules they may be able to develop a way to interrupt the process.
Another myth has been shattered! Recent studies indicate that nerve cells in the adult human brain can regenerate. The fact that the brain has potential for self repair may mean that there is hope on the horizon for people who have disorders of the nervous system.
It appears that being young does not prevent the degenerative effects of alcoholism. A recent study found that even young alcoholics (18-35) may suffer brain injury after as little as 6 years of drinking. Bombarded by alcohol advertisements and subjected to peer pressure, teens are at high risk for developing an alcohol habit that is difficult to break. A new study by researchers at Duke University finds that the younger you are, the more alcohol affects your ability to learn.
Studies indicate that the quantity of treatment sessions may be more important than the type of treatment that is offered. By matching available services to clients needs, there was an improvement in outcomes with a minimal increase in cost.
Scientists were surprised to find that the part of the brain that controls eye movement overlaps with the part that controls the switching of attention. Further studies need to explore the possibility of a relationship between eye movements and attention disorders. How much alcohol does it take to cause symptoms of FAS? Experts say that the best way to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is to refrain from drinking any alcohol while pregnant. This also includes using the many over-the-counter medications that contain high levels of alcohol (cough syrups, some herbal tonics, etc.) The public is warned that the simple absence of the physical characteristics associate with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome does not mean that serious brain injury has been avoided. The facial characteristics are formed during days 15-22 of fetal development. Most women pass through this period without knowing they are pregnant.
Nearly 10% of the population suffers from chronic mental depression. Evidence has been found that indicates that if you are depressed and you come from a family that suffers from depression, you might have a smaller amount of the specific kind of brain cell than to depressed patients who had no known family ties to the disease and to people with sunnier dispositions. More studies are likely.
"It's not just pills, it's pills and skills," said Dr. Clare B. Jones, concerning effective treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). By that she meant that when managing people affected with the disorder, optimal treatment consists of more than just pharmacotherapy. Education of the patient, family, and teachers regarding special approaches in communication and teaching are imperative for success.
People who received the medication know as "Naltrexone" were less likely to drink heavily. Some but not all of the benefits resulting from short-term therapy persisted after the drug was stopped. Researchers feel that the study suggests that continued treatment with Naltrexone may be beneficial for some patients.
©2000 ARBI.ORG All rights reserved
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
