U.S. States Expand Newborn Screening For Life-threatening Disorders

ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2009) — Regardless of where they are born in the United States, nearly all newborns now receive mandated screening for many life-threatening disorders, a remarkable public health advance of the last four years, according to a new report issued today by the March of Dimes.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia now require that every baby be screened for 21 or more of the 29 serious genetic or functional disorders on the uniform panel recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) and endorsed by the March of Dimes. If diagnosed early, these disorders can be successfully managed or treated to prevent death, disability, or other severe consequences such as mental retardation.

Although all states now have laws or rules that require the screening, as of December 31, 2008, Pennsylvania and West Virginia still must implement their expanded programs, according to the March of Dimes report card.

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Babies & Robots: Infant Power Mobility On Display

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2009) — Children with mobility issues, like cerebral palsy and spina bifida, can’t explore the world like other babies, because they can’t crawl or walk. Infant development emerges from the thousands of daily discoveries experienced by babies as they move and explore their worlds.

Mobility-deprived kids start exploring when they can operate a traditional power wheelchair, typically at age 3 or often older.

Research done by University of Delaware researchers is turning that on its head and could potentially change the way these children’s brains develop.

Physical therapy professor Cole Galloway and mechanical engineering professor Sunil Agrawal have developed tiny power chairs babies as young as 6 months can operate using a joystick.

Now, they’ve paired with Permobil, a national producer of power chairs, and outfitted a chair for toddlers.

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Read My Lips: Using Multiple Senses In Speech Perception

ScienceDaily (Feb. 13, 2009) — When someone speaks to you, do you see what they are saying? We tend to think of speech as being something we hear, but recent studies suggest that we use a variety of senses for speech perception - that the brain treats speech as something we hear, see and even feel.

In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologist Lawrence Rosenblum describes research examining how our different senses blend together to help us perceive speech.

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Another possible Alzheimer's culprit found

The San Francisco Chronicle (Feb. 18, 2009) -- Researchers at biotechnology giant Genentech and the Salk Institute have discovered a new mechanism of nerve-cell death that might play a role in Alzheimer's disease, opening the door to a fresh array of possible tactics to battle the devastating neurodegenerative illness.

A protein long suspected as the culprit behind the brain disorder might actually release not just one, but two components that can cause nerve cells to self-destruct. In theory, the breakdown of the protein, called APP for short, could unleash a double whammy of harmful effects on nerve cells.

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EASI Webinar on Accessible Distance Learning today Wed Feb 25

EASI Webinar: Distance Learning: How Accessible are Online Educational 
Tools. Public Webinar on Wednesday.
February 25 at 2 PM Eastern

Presenters: Dr. Stacy Kelly, Policy Research Associate, American Foundation 
for the Blind.
Mark Richert, Esq., Director, Public Policy, American Foundation for the Blind.

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) explored ways in which popular 
online educational tools can be made more accessible with the help of 
nearly 100 individuals who recently completed our online survey. Findings 
indicated the most important and necessary features of online educational 
tools present significant problems for those using assistive technology 
such as screen reading or screen magnification software.

In this webinar, we will be discussing the AFB Distance Learning Survey 
results which are available online:

You can read the study at:
www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=3&TopicID=138&DocumentID=4492

You can attend the Webinar Wed. Feb. 25 at
2 PM Eastern
1 Central
noon Mountain
11 AM pacific.

go to
http://easi.cc/afb.htm

If you can't attend but want the recording, send email
norm.coombs@gmail.com

To sign up for the Webinar, please click on the link above

Robots…Monitor Emotional States of Children With Autism

ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2009) — The day that robot playmates help children with autism learn the social skills that they naturally lack has come a step closer with the development of a system that allows a robot to monitor a child's emotional state.

"There is a lot of research going on around the world today trying to use robots to treat children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It has shown that the children are attracted to robots, raising the promise that appropriately designed robots could play an important role in their treatment," says Nilanjan Sarkar, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University. "However, the efforts so far have been quite limited because they haven't had a way to monitor the emotional state of the children, which would allow the robot to respond automatically to their reactions."

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Pollution-related Asthma May Start In The Womb

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2009) — Children born in areas with increased traffic-related pollution may be at greater risk of developing asthma due to genetic changes acquired in the womb, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

In a study of umbilical cord blood from New York City children, researchers have discovered evidence of a possible new biomarker—an epigenetic alteration in the gene ACSL3—associated with prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These chemical compounds are created as byproducts of incomplete combustion from carbon-containing fuels, resulting in high levels in heavy-traffic areas. Exposure to PAHs has been linked to diseases such as cancer and childhood asthma.

Researchers say this finding provides a potential clue for predicting environmentally related asthma in children—particularly those born to mothers who live in high-traffic areas like Northern Manhattan and South Bronx when pregnant.

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Potential Health Risks Associated With Stressed Foodstuffs Such As Foie Gras

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2009) — Another reason not to eat pate de foie gras is discussed by Michael Greger of The Humane Society of the United States, Washington DC.

Harmful proteins fragments known as amyloid fibrils associated with damage to brain cells in Alzheimer's disease and to pancreatic cells in Type II diabetes can be present in the meat of poultry and mammals. These amyloids are not destroyed even with high-temperature cooking process.

Greger, who is the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States is concerned with this discovery and the transmissibility of amyloid fibrils. Researchers have recently demonstrated in the laboratory that these compounds, when ingested, can enter the organs of laboratory rats fed affected meat.

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Mediterranean Diet Associated With Lower Risk Of Cognitive Impairment

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2009) — Eating a Mediterranean diet appears to be associated with less risk of mild cognitive impairment—a stage between normal aging and dementia—or of transitioning from mild cognitive impairment into Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

 "Among behavioral traits, diet may play an important role in the cause and prevention of Alzheimer's disease," the authors write as background information in the article. Previous studies have shown a lower risk for Alzheimer's disease among those who eat a Mediterranean diet, characterized by high intakes of fish, vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals and unsaturated fatty acids, low intakes of dairy products, meat and saturated fats and moderate alcohol consumption.

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SC Assistive Technology Exchange Current Listings

***SC Assistive Technology Exchange February 2009 Update***

The SC Assistive Technology Exchange is an online recycling database to help citizens with disabilities and older people with functional limitations find affordable assistive technology devices and equipment. For more information or to buy, sell or donate, visit the Web site at http://www.scatpexchange.net/ or email Catherine Graham at Catherine.graham@palmettohealth.org. 

Catherine Graham and Janet Jendron, SC AT Exchange Administrators

Please visit the page at http://www.scatpexchange.net/ and find the contact information for these and other items.

For more information please click on the title above.

Family Connection Conference Brochure for Conference March 27-28 2009

"Dare to Dream...Helping Dreams Come True!" is Family Connection's 2009 'Of Hopes and Dreams' Conference in support of the child with special needs. It will be held on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28, 2009 at Gateway Baptist Church, 1651 Dutch Fork Road, Irmo

 

There is a mix of full day and single session workshops with a terrific roster of quality speakers and workshops subjects.

 

Of special interest to churches and faith communities is the Saturday workshop on "Including Children with Special Needs in a Faith Community". This workshop will provide participants with the philosophy, methods, strategies, and information to develop a plan for including learners with disabilities in a faith community.

Dr. Jim Pierson of Christian Church Foundation for the Handicapped Ministries in Knoxville, TN is the presenter of this full day workshop. Jim has presented scores of workshops and seminars on special education across America. He is noted for his ability to both present material in a clear and concise manner and to move the hearts of his listeners through the stories taken from his own ministry experiences.

 

Please call 1-800-578-8750 for more information.

To view brochure, please click on the title above.

New Insights Into Growth Factor's Role In Brain Development; Could Lead To Better Understanding Of Memory Formation

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2009) — New research sheds light on a neural growth factor called proBDNF, finding that it is present and potentially active during the perinatal period when the brain's circuitry and memory-encoding regions are being refined. Led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators with those at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and reported in the Jan. 11 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, the study could lead to a better understanding of brain development and the formation of memories.

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Possible Treatment For Neurological Disorder Rett Syndrome -- Most Common Basis Of Autism In Girls

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2009) — Using injections of a small derivate of the protein insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have successfully treated a mouse model of the devastating neurological disorder Rett syndrome.

Rett syndrome is an inherited disease affecting one of 10,000 girls born and is the most common basis of autism in girls. Infants with the disease appear to develop normally for their first six to 18 months, at which point their movement and language skills begin to deteriorate. Loss of speech, reduced head size, breathing and heart rhythm irregularities, and autistic-like symptoms are common by age four. Some symptoms may be mediated with prescription drugs, but no cure or truly effective treatment for the disease exists.

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