December 20, 2006, 6:46 PM CT
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome In Children
Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have particular difficulty understanding numbers and sequences, a University of Alberta study shows.
An assessment of 50 Canadian children diagnosed with FASD, a condition caused by the mother's alcohol consumption while a fetus is still in the womb, revealed that the youngsters had specific deficits in memory for numbers and sequences, which may contribute to common math difficulties faced by these children. Prenatal alcohol abuse often leaves them with losses in physical, behavioural, emotional and social functioning.
The findings of the study, reported in the recent issue of Child Neuropsychology, may help refine assessments of FASD children and provide a 'neurobehavioural profile' to ensure they receive the most effective therapy possible, said lead author Dr. Carmen Rasmussen, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
"Knowing this would help in classrooms with FASD children," said Rasmussen. The typical teaching rate may be too rapid for children with FASD, resulting in large amounts of missed information, she said. "The study definitely has implications for therapy and education down the road".
The FASD children, aged six to 15 years, scored lower than other 84 per cent of other children their age on memory tests for numbers and sequences.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 13, 2006, 7:50 PM CT
Soft Drink Ads In Schools May Discourage Healthy Nutrition
Commercial activity permitted in schools, such as soft drink ads; the use of Channel One broadcasts in classrooms; sales incentives from soft drink bottlers; and exclusive beverage contracts may discourage a "nutrition-friendly" environment for students, says researchers.
Dr. Claudia Probart, Penn State associate professor of nutritional sciences who led the study, says, "Schools' newly created wellness policies as mandated by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 provide ideal opportunities to examine school environments for advertising that might conflict with their goals for a healthy climate for students."
The study is detailed in the current (December) issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in a paper, "Existence and Predictors of Soft Drink Advertisements in Pennsylvania High Schools." The authors are Probart; Elaine McDonnell, project coordinator, Penn State; Lisa Bailey-Davis, director of operations, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity; and J. Elaine Weirich, project manager at Penn State.
The scientists sent surveys to 271 school foodservice directors at high schools in Pennsylvania and received 84 percent participation. The schools were representative of the entire population of high schools in Pennsylvania.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 13, 2006, 6:41 PM CT
Growing Up In Bad Neighborhood
There's good news for children growing up in bad neighborhoods in a comprehensive study led by nationally renowned University of Colorado at Boulder sociology Professor Delbert Elliott.
The 8-year effort analyzing the successful development of children in different kinds of neighborhoods in Denver and Chicago observed that children growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods were doing much better than expected. The rate of successful development for children from the best neighborhoods was 63 percent while the success rate for children living in high-poverty, disadvantaged neighborhoods was 52 percent.
"There's an 11-point difference between our worst neighborhoods and our best neighborhoods," said Elliott, director of the CU-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. "That's very surprising".
"The idea that living in high-poverty, disorganized, disadvantaged neighborhoods is kind of a death sentence for kids is clearly not the case," he said. "We're getting kids coming out of those neighborhoods that are doing quite well".
The examination of neighborhoods was one of four integrated studies launched by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Network on Successful Adolescent Development. The portion of the study conducted by Elliott and colleagues looked at neighborhoods, while three other teams focused on family and school influences on development, and youth development in rural farming areas.........
Posted by: Janet Permalink Source
December 13, 2006, 6:10 PM CT
Relationships Benefit When New Parents Get Help
The birth of a first child is commonly an exciting and eagerly anticipated milestone in any committed relationship, yet research suggests it can also be the beginning of the end for a number of couples.
As per clinical psychology expert Dr Jemima Petch, about half of all couples report a significant decline in satisfaction with their relationship during the transition to parenthood.
Conflict between the couple, psychological distress, negative relationships with their children and poorer child outcomes can be the result.
"I've realised there is an urgent need to support parents as couples because support for mothers alone in not enough. This is my way of helping children," Dr Petch said.
As part of the research for her PhD, Dr Petch has been evaluating the effectiveness of an early intervention program for couples expecting their first child.
The program, Couple CARE for Parents, included face-to-face group sessions as well as phone support after the birth. It covered issues such as expectations of parenthood, communication skills and conflict management skills.
"In couples who received our program rather than the usual antenatal and postnatal care, the typical decline in satisfaction with their relationship was largely prevented. They invested the effort and had the skills to enhance their relationship and stay happy".........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 7, 2006, 9:41 PM CT
The Friendship Clinic
A number of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder suffer through a range of problems, from poor grades to poor relations with parents and teachers. But more than half of these children also have serious problems making friends. Too often they live lonely lives, never learning to develop the social skills they need to make friends as children or as adults.
"Children with ADHD often are peer-rejected, and their difficulties multiply as they grow to adulthood," said Amori Yee Mikami, assistant professor of psychology and principal investigator for a new clinical study designed to help children with ADHD become better at making friends.
"Children with ADHD often grow up with depression and relationship problems, some may develop criminal behavior and substance abuse problems," Mikami said. "There can be a spiral of failure that is partly the result of not having learned to make and keep friends as children".
About 5 percent of school-age children are affected by ADHD. Symptoms include a short attention span, poor organization, excessive talking, disruptive and aggressive behavior, restlessness and irritability. Children with ADHD often are uncooperative and may make their own rules.
"These symptoms get in the way of making and keeping friends," Mikami said. "The child with ADHD can become stigmatized, known as 'the bad kid,' and this can lead to more inappropriate behavior. It can become a vicious cycle resulting in more social isolation".........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 6, 2006, 8:33 PM CT
How We Put Stress Into Words
How does a child learn that the stress is on the second syllable of giraffe, and on the first of zebra?.
Is it memory, the structure of the word itself or clues provided by the sounds in the word?.
New research by psychology expert Dr Padraic Monaghan, of the University of York, will try to answer the question. He is leading a new project to study the mechanism of language processing that governs how stress is assigned in words.
The research findings may help in the therapy of reading difficulties and assist in learning a second language, as well as potentially helping recovery after brain injury.
In a joint study with social researchers at Charles Sturt University, in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, he will examine what role the mechanism plays in learning to read. The research, which is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Australian Research Council, will also focus on the variation between languages in the patterns of stress.
Dr Monaghan, of the University of York's Department of Psychology, said: "This research has implications for the developmental processes of reading and language development. It is critically important to be able to understand the process of reading in order to more thoroughly help children with difficulties in reading.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 6, 2006, 8:17 PM CT
Sleep Problems In Overweight Children
One-fourth of overweight children may have sleep problems that regular physical activity can largely resolve, scientists say.
Research reported in the recent issue of Obesity shows a surprising 25 out of 100 overweight, inactive children tested positive for sleep-disordered breathing, including telltale snoring.
After about three months of vigorous after-school physical activity such as jumping rope, basketball and tag games, the number of children who tested positive for a sleep disorder was cut in half, as per lead researcher, Dr. Catherine L. Davis. In children who exercised the longest, the number was reduced by 80 percent.
The children were among 100 black and white boys and girls ages 7 to 11 enrolled in a study looking at the effect of exercise on metabolism. For the purposes of that study, the children were divided into three groups: a control group as well as those who exercised 20 or 40 minutes daily.
In fact scientists found the average score for all children who exercised - even those who did not test positive for sleep disorders - improved on the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire.
"Existing data suggests about two percent of children have sleep problems but with 37 percent of children now considered overweight, the percentage may be much higher," says Dr. Davis, clinical health psychology expert at the Medical College of Georgia and the study's first author.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 5, 2006, 4:53 AM CT
chlorpyrifos exposure in pregnancy
Children who were exposed prenatally to the insecticide chlorpyrifos had significantly poorer mental and motor development by three years of age and increased risk for behavior problems, as per a peer-evaluated study published recently by the American Academy of Pediatrics in its journal, Pediatrics. Chlorpyrifos, which was banned for residential use in 2001, is still widely applied to agricultural crops in the U.S. and abroad, including a number of fruits and vegetables.
The study assessed development of approximately 250 inner-city children from New York City who were born between 1998 and 2002. By age three, the children with the highest levels of chlorpyrifos at birth (upper 20th percentile) had significantly worse mental development and poorer motor skills than children with lower exposure levels. The more highly exposed children were also more likely by age three to exhibit early indications of behavior and attention problems. The study was co-authored by scientists from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"These findings indicate that prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos not only increases the likelihood of developmental delay, but may have long-term consequences for social adjustment and academic achievement" said lead author and investigator on the study, Virginia Rauh, ScD. "Relatively speaking, the insecticide effects reported here are comparable to what has been seen with exposures to other neurotoxicants such as lead and tobacco smoke".........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
December 1, 2006, 4:36 AM CT
Treating The Bedwetters
Children with a form of bedwetting that does not respond to a common medicine have more sodium and urea in their nighttime urine, possibly because of an imbalance of prostaglandin, a hormone-like substance, a new study has observed.
The finding helps physiologists understand why about 30% of children who suffer from bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis) do not respond to desmopressin, a drug that successfully treats the other 70%. The findings, made by Danish medical doctors who treat enuresis, could help lead to better therapy for these children.
The study Nocturnal polyuria in monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis refractory to desmopressin therapy, was carried out by Konstantinos Kamperis and Jens Christian Djurhuus of the University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark and Soren Rittig and Kaj Anker Jorgensen of the Aarhus University Hospital. The study appears in the recent issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology published by the American Physiological Society.
Circadian rhythm importantUrine output is controlled, in part, by our own internal daily clocks, or circadian rhythm. With the transition from day to night, our bodies reduce the amount of excreted water, electrolytes and other metabolic end products in preparation for hours of sleep. We are not born with this circadian rhythm, but it commonly develops in early childhood.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
November 30, 2006, 5:14 AM CT
Fortified Milk For Preschool Children
Consumption of milk fortified with specific micronutrients-zinc, iron, selenium, copper, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E-significantly reduces diarrhea and acute lower respiratory illness among children in developing countries, as per scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Center for Micronutrient Research at Annamalai University in India. The study was published November 28, 2006, on the website of the British Medical Journal.
"Some micronutrients have a crucial role in generation, maintenance and amplification of immune responses in the body. Deficiencies in multiple micronutrients among preschool children are an important determinant of child health in developing countries," said Sunil Sazawal, MD, MPH, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of International Health.
The authors conducted a randomized, controlled trial among 633 children aged 1-4 years in a peri-urban population in New Delhi, India, from April 2002-April 2004. An intervention group of 316 children received milk fortified with additional micronutrients-7.8 mg zinc, 9.6 mg iron, 4.2 µg selenium, 0.27 mg copper, 156 µg vitamin A, 40.2 mg vitamin C and 7.5 mg vitamin E-while a control group of 317 children received the same milk without fortification. The study was undertaken in children over 12 months of age, of which breast feeding is not the primary source of nutrition.........
Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source
