The purpose of this consortium is to inform and develop effective interventions and treatment approaches for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), through multidisciplinary research involving basic, behavioral and clinical investigators and projects. We hope to develop an infrastructure to foster collaboration and coordinate basic, clinical and translational research on FASD.
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Drs. Joanne Weinberg and Christina Chambers report that alcohol use during pregnancy can affect a woman’s immune system in ways that may predict her child’s neurodevelopmental outcome. Specific changes in a mother’s immune system can also serve as an indicator of prenatal alcohol use.
CIFASD Investigators' Research Shows Mother’s Immune Profile May Influence Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Outcome
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Michael Charness, CIFASD scientific director and professor of neurology and chief of staff at VA Boston Healthcare System, was selected to receive the 2018 James. H. Tharp Award. This trust-funded award was given by the board of directors of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) to recognize work that has significantly contributed to solving the problem of alcoholism.
CIFASD Scientific Director Was Selected to Receive the 2018 James. H. Tharp Award
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CIFASD Investigators Show a Relationship Between Maternal Cytokine Levels and FASD.
CIFASD Investigators Show a Relationship Between Maternal Cytokine Levels and FASD
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The American Academy of Pediatrics introduces an implementation guide for pediatric primary care providers to support screening for prenatal exposure to alcohol. Recent evidence estimates that approximately 3.3 million women in the U.S. are at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. Not all children who are prenatally exposed to alcohol develop a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) but many do. The implementation guide is available online at aap.org/pae.
Screening for Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol: An Implementation Guide for Pediatric Primary Care Providers
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The Collaborative Initiative on FASD (CIFASD) has launched a research study to investigate how genetics affects various outcomes due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). The study, led by Dr. Tatiana Foroud at Indiana University, is enrolling people with PAE ages 7 or older. Everything is done online and participants provide facial photographs and a saliva sample. Please go to https://digfasd.org or contact us at [email protected] or 1-844-378-0002 (toll-free) for more information.
CIFASD Research Study: Dissecting the Genetics of FASD (DiG FASD)
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PBS NewsHour Focuses on FASD:
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are more common than you think.
CIFASD Investigator Dr. Jeff Wozniak Meets with the PBS Team
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Drs. Miranda and Tina Chambers previously found that markers in the blood (microRNAs) of pregnant women may serve as biomarkers for child outcome. Alex further investigated these identified microRNAs and found that prenatal alcohol exposure may be affect levels of microRNAs that influence early development of the placenta.
Alexander Tseng, a Graduate Student Who Works with Cifasd Investigator Rajesh Miranda, Is Awarded the Enoch Gordis Award for Research Excellence at the Annual Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism
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Dr. Mattson has been a leader in the FASD research field, investigating the neuropsychological consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure. Dr. Ed Riley (left), CIFASD PI and mentor, congratulates Dr. Sarah Mattson (right).
Sarah Mattson, CIFASD Investigator, is Honored with the FASD Study Group Rosett Award
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A major new study out of the US, as well as a subsequent Canadian study, show FASD affects between one and five per cent of children. That means FASD is more common than Down syndrome and as common or more common than autism. Dr. Joanne Weinberg, a neuroscientist who studies FASD, says the new prevalence estimates are highly significant.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome somtimes misdiagnosed and under-reported due to stigmas around drinking
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CIFASD investigators partake in the International FASD conference, focusing on adolescents and adults with FASD. Shown are CIFASD members, Ed Riley (left), Bill Dunty (NIAAA, 3rd from left), and Joanne Weinberg (right) with the Adults with FASD Leadership Committee.
8th International Research Conference on Adolescents and Adults with FASD: Review, Respond and Relate — Integrating Research, Policy and Practice Around the World
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Findings suggest rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders may be similar to autism spectrum disorders.
Children Affected by Prenatal Drinking More Numerous Than Previously Estimated
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Ms. Salem has found that markers in the blood of pregnant women (microRNAs) that relate to prenatal alcohol exposure vary depending on the sex of the child. Nihal Salem (right) is shown with Dr. Miranda (left).
Nihal Salem, Graduate Student With Cifasd Investigator Dr. Rajesh Miranda, Is the Recipient of the Fasd Study Group Timothy A. Cudd Research Award
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Christie Petrenko, left, and electrical and computer engineering research associate Cristiano Tapparello have won a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support their work to develop a mobile app to provide health information for parents and caregivers of children with FASD.
CIFASD Investigators Are Building a Mobile App to Help Caregivers of Children with FASD
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CIFASD Investigator, Joanne Weinberg, is recognized by the International FASD community for her outstanding contribution to the field.
Dr. Joanne Weinberg Recognized
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Working with CIFASD investigators, Dr. Diego Mesa reports that a simple and inexpensive test of heart rate pattern may serve as a useful screening tool for prenatal alcohol effects.
Cardiac Orienting Response in Infants Can Indicate Developmental Delays in Infants with FASD
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CIFASD investigators find that the outer surface of the brain, the cortex, is less well-developed in individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure. This might explain why children and adolescents with FASD struggle to learn, plan, organize, make decisions, and function independently.
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Disrupts Development of the Cortex
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As we continue to observe Alcohol Awareness Month during April, it is an appropriate time to learn more about FASD and its potential impact on women Veterans and others.
Alcohol and pregnancy: What Women Veterans Should Know - VAntage Point
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Mice were exposed to alcohol on a single day of early pregnancy, during a critical period of brain development. The alcohol-exposed offspring and controls grew to early adolescence, then were tested them on a variety of behavioral tasks and imaged their brains with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
CIFASD Investigator, Scott Parnell, Shows That Alcohol Exposure During Development Leads to Sex-Dependent Behavioral Alterations and Changes in Shape of Brain Structures
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Researchers have identified a blood test that could help predict how severely a baby may be affected by alcohol use during pregnancy. An early diagnostic test to identify children with fetal alcohol syndrome allows the opportunity for intervention to improve outcomes.
CIFASD Researchers Develop Potential Blood Test For Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
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Dr. Charness has been investigating mechanisms by which alcohol disrupts neural development and agents that can block alcohol's effects.
Dr. Michael Charness, Scientific Director Of CIFASD,
Delivered The 21st Annual Mark Keller Honorary Lecture At The National Institutes Of Health
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CIFASD investigators developed a decision tree using a very small number of variables that accurately identified alcohol affected children. The decision tree was tested on children in 2 age groups (5-7 years and 10-16 years) and overall accuracy for identifying individuals who had been exposed to alcohol prenatally was 80% or greater.
Investigator Creates a Simple Screening Decision Tree for Identifying Individuals with FASD
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Toddler's ability to learn about their world was assessed by looking at their heart rate changes while hearing and seeing things presented to them, called cardiac orienting responses. CIFASD investigators have shown that prenatal alcohol exposure reduced the cardiac orienting response, suggesting that the ability to sustain attention is impaired.
Prenatal Alcohol Alters Heart Rate Changes Associated With Learning about Novel Things in Toddlers
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Early identification of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) would allow timely interventions to benefit mother and child. CIFASD investigator, Dr. Christina Chambers found that some specific ultrasound measures collected during the second trimester of pregnancy were associated with FASD outcomes and lower neurobehavioral scores.
Prenatal Ultrasound May Help Identify FASD
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CIFASD investigator, Dr. Jeff Wozniak, used brain imaging with functional connectivity analyses and found that abnormalities in the efficiency of the brain's network were two and a half times more common in children with FASD than non-alcohol-exposed controls and could enhance detection of FASD.
Subtle Abnormalities in Brain Efficiency May Help To Refine Diagnostic Criteria for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
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CIFASD investigators examined whether changes in the levels of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in mother's plasma during pregnancy could work as a biomarker for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in the developing fetus. Their findings suggest that maternal plasma miRNAs may be a useful and very early biomarker for FASD.
Promising Findings Suggest Maternal Biomarker May Help To Identify Earlier In Life Infants with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
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CIFASD investigators, Drs. Christina Chambers, Julie Kable, and Claire Coles, found that measuring heart rate responses to stimuli (the cardiac orienting response) in infants at 6 months of age was better than the Bayley's test of development in predicting both normal and impaired infant performance at 12 months of age.
Researchers Find That Simple Test May Help Identify Infants Who Have Been Affected By Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol So That Early Intervention Can Help
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The best prevention for FASD is avoidance of alcohol in pregnancy. However, when pregnancy is not planned and the mother has consumed substantial amounts of alcohol in the early weeks of pregnancy, this study suggests that mother's nutritional intake -- here in the form of vitamin/mineral supplements -- may help modify some of the effects of the alcohol already consumed.
Prenatal Micronutrient Supplements Improve Outcome Among Children Exposed To Alcohol Prenatally
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CIFASD investigator, Dr. Sarah Mattson, examined whether the neuropsychological and behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure change during childhood (5-7) and adolescence (10-16). The study found that in youth exposed to alcohol prenatally, deficits neither worsen nor improve with age.
Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Are Consistent across Childhood and Adolescence and in both Boys and Girls
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CIFASD investigators, Drs. Christina Chambers, Claire Coles and Julie Kable, report that maternal depression may increase the adverse effects of alcohol on behavioral outcome of infants.
The Combination of Prenatal Alcohol and Depression Is Linked To More Deficits in Infants than either Alcohol or Depression Alone
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CIFASD investigators, Drs. Christina Chambers, Claire Coles and Julie Kable, report that maternal depression may increase the adverse effects of alcohol on behavioral outcome of infants.
Drinking Mothers Also Likely To Be Short On Vitamin D
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CIFASD investigator, Johann Eberhart, uses zebrafish to study genes that affect risk to FASD.
Making a Fish Face: More Complicated Than You Think -
Normal genetic variation contributes to an individual's susceptibility to prenatal ethanol exposure. This review discusses what we know about the myriad genes that are known to alter sensitivity to prenatal ethanol exposure.
CIFASD Investigators Review the Genetics of FASD -
Forty-three year old with FASD has the developmental age of a first-grader. Her mother drank while pregnant, unaware of the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Mother Warns of Consequences of Drinking Alcohol While Pregnant -
Fetal exposure to alcohol carries a risk at any dose, with the potential to harm both the body and the brain, said Michael Charness of Harvard Medical School, an expert on the neurological effects of alcohol.
CIFASD Researcher Adds Caution on Pregnancy and Alcohol -
The CDC released new guidelines urging women of childbearing age to avoid drinking alcohol unless they are using contraception. This new guideline is designed to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD is a 100 percent preventable condition.
Is It OK To Drink Alcohol While Pregnant? 10 Things You Should Know -
In an effort to once and for all put a rest to any debate about drinking during pregnancy, the American Academy of Pediatrics has put out a clear message: Don't do it. Ever. At all. Not even a tiny bit. "No amount of alcohol should be considered safe to drink during any trimester of pregnancy," the group wrote.
No Alcohol during Pregnancy – Ever – Plead U.S. Pediatricians -
Dipak K. Sarkar, a distinguished professor in the Department of Animal Sciences whose research focuses on understanding how stress promotes infection, cancers and alcohol-related diseases, has been named a Board of Governors Professor.
Rutgers Names CIFASD Researcher Dipak K. Sarkar Board of Governors Professor -
Dr. Ed Riley (right), PI of the CIFASD Administrative Core, receives the Starfish Award for his work in the FASD field at the 6th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Vancouver.
Congratulations to Dr. Ed Riley for Winning the Starfish Award -
Ed Riley, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Behavioral Teratology at San Diego State University, described his research, which is funded by NIAAA, aimed at developing a reliable method for diagnosis of FASD. One of the main challenges in diagnosis is that children can manifest a wide range of symptoms and signs.
Edward Riley, CIFASD PI, speaks at APA congressional briefing on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders -
Elizabeth Sowell, PhD, director of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Professor of Pediatrics at the USC Keck School of Medicine shares her thoughts.
Can I Drink While Pregnant? Brain Imaging Expert Weighs In -
These findings can help distinguish children with prenatal alcohol exposure from children with ADHD and suggests that alcohol-exposed children may benefit from treatment recommendations with a strong focus on inattention.
CIFASD Investigators Study Inattention & Hyperactivity in Children with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure -
Tatiana Foroud, IU P. Michael Conneally Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics and Chancellor's Professor, speaks about her work with the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD).
CIFASD Visualization Experts Help Doctors Diagnose Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders -
Overall, our results suggest that if a child is alcohol-exposed, having an additional ADHD diagnosis does not further negatively affect their cognitive abilities. Therefore, children with prenatal alcohol exposure, regardless of whether they have ADHD, may benefit from interventions targeted at improving cognitive abilities.
Children with Alcohol Exposure Don’t Perform Worse Cognitively with an Additional Diagnosis of ADHD
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