Chindren with Autism: EphB Link through Family Genes

Harvard Medical School researchers at McLean Hospital have found that a gene family linked to autism, EphB, is essential for proper brain wiring during development.

The findings suggest that the abnormal brain wiring that results from mutations in this gene family could contribute to autism symptoms.

"Using animal models, we were able to see that EphB is required for normal brain development. Mutations in EphB that compromise its function led to abnormal connections between key brain regions involved in processing of sensory information," said Christopher Cowan, HMS associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital.

The findings were reported by McLean Hospital researchers and collaborators in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Jan. 22, 2014.

Christopher Cowan

Recent genetic analysis had revealed an EphB gene as a new candidate risk factor for human autism, so investigators targeted the gene in animals to assess its role in the proper development of communication networks between the thalamus and the cortex, the regions of the brain responsible for processing information from the senses, such as touch and hearing.

"Some individuals with autism show abnormalities in sensory perception and processing, including touch, sound and vision," Cowan explained.

Investigators, from left: Yuhong Guo, Jesse Kumar, Laura Smith, Chris Cowan, Adam Harrington, Maria Carreira, Makoto Taniguchi and Rachel Penrod-Martin. 

Not pictured: Carly Hale and Mike Robichaux. 

Image: Patrick O'Connor.

"We found that EphB genes are essential for normal wiring of at least two key parts of the brain that process sensory information, particularly regions involved in touch and sound," Cowan said.

"Our findings suggest that defects in early brain wiring might underlie at least some of the sensory-associated symptoms found in individuals with autism spectrum disorders."

Future work, supported in part by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, seeks to extend these findings to better understand the relationship between EphB genes and the risk for developing autism.

Understanding the underlying causes of autism may help in the development of effective treatments.

More information: "EphB receptor forward signaling regulates area-specific reciprocal thalamic and cortical axon pathfinding." Robichaux MA, Chenaux G, Ho HY, Soskis MJ, Dravis C, Kwan KY, Sestan N, Greenberg ME, Henkemeyer M, Cowan CW. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A.. 2014 Jan 22. 

Military families need more help with mental health - Pediatrics

A leading pediatricians' group is highlighting the plight of children in military families in a new report.

Tours of duty can last up to 18 months, and studies have shown that one in four children of active-duty service members has symptoms of depression.

One in three children experiences excessive worry, and half of children have trouble sleeping, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report.

These problems can be even worse when there are other psychological issues in the family, according to the report, which was published online May 27 and in the June print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

During deployments, preschoolers could become anxious and withdraw. Children between 5 and 17 years old also are at greater risk for emotional and behavioural problems, the report said.

And the situation can get worse when kids' parents are on extended deployments. Meanwhile, the AAP advised that parents or caregivers who remain at home also are under greater stress.

This could, in turn, affect the mental health and well-being of children.

Because half of all children of active-duty military service members are taken care of by nonmilitary pediatricians before, during and after deployment, the AAP emphasized that all health care providers must recognize the mental-health needs of their patients with deployed parents, and those of other family members.

"By understanding the military family and the stressful experiences of parental wartime deployment, all pediatricians—both active duty and civilian—and other health care providers can be the front line in caring for U.S. military children and their families," report co-author Dr. Benjamin Siegel said.

"In the past 10 years, more than 2 million children in the U.S. have experienced the emotional and stressful event of being separated from a loved one deployed for active duty," report co-author Dr. Beth Ellen Davis said in the release.

"Most children cope and adapt quite well, but all children experience a heightened sense of fear and worry during a parent's deployment. It's important for pediatricians caring for these families to be aware of their family's situation so they can guide them appropriately."

Stepfathers: Three Factors Contribute to Closeness

Although one-third of American children live in a step-family during part of their childhood, little is known about the development of the relationship between stepfathers and stepchildren.

New research from Brigham Young University fills that gap with a study that identified three factors that significantly contribute to closeness in stepfamilies:

• The couple keeps arguments to a minimum
• Mothers help children feel comfortable sharing their frustrations. 
• The stepfather and mother agree on how to parent

Kevin Shafer

BYU professor Kevin Shafer's research on step-families appears in the academic journal Social Work.

"Family roles can be negotiated and there is going to be some bumpiness," said Shafer, who teaches and researches in BYU's School of Social Work.

"The notion that couples should put the couple first and everything else will fall into place is false."

Shafer and BYU grad student Todd Jensen analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of 1,088 children in step-families.

From the children's perspective, frustrations occur when the new dad assumes too much parental authority or when he disrupts the family's normal way of doing things.

"Moms need to let their children know that it's ok to talk if they have a problem with their stepfather because everybody is still trying to figure out this new family dynamic," Shafer said.

And the lack of history between step-fathers and children amplifies the detrimental effects of parental conflict. "Full-blown arguments set up step-families for failure," Shafer said.

Couples typically make one of two mistakes in the transition.

• The first type involves the couple acting as though nothing major has changed. that the new father is a replacement instead of an addition. 
• The second type of mistake is for mom to take upon herself all of the parenting.

The common thread in both scenarios is that the children's voices are missing.

"If you have teenagers, they should be a pretty active participant in discussions of what the family is going to look like and how the family is going to function," Shafer said.

The study contains one pleasant surprise:

Communicating openly and avoiding arguments contributes to closeness regardless of family income or education level.

"It really is the interpersonal dynamic that predicts family closeness," Shafer said. "You can build these bonds in spite of financial challenges."

Modafinil and Sleep: A Sociologocal Speculation

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution is a major proponent of the Great Stagnation thesis: that new innovations are not having the same impact on productivity as those we saw in the previous 150 years.

Think of iPads versus electricity and cloud computing versus the railroad.

Hence, we can expect to see slowing growth in GDP per capita as future productivity gains will take much more effort to unlock.

This week The Economist took up this line of thought with a thorough briefing on the subject that broadly agreed with Cowen, although with some equivocation.

Overall, I think the argument has a lot of merit but there may be at least one more piece of low hanging fruit: a vast reduction in our need for sleep.

The American Time Use survey reports that an average American work day includes 8.8 hours of work and 7.6 hours of sleep.

Sleep is the second largest single use of time. However, new drugs such as Modafinil appear to vastly reduce the need for sleep without significant side effects (at least so far).

Based on reports from users, it seems that people could realistically [edit: potentially (see update)] cut their sleep requirements to as few as 2.5 hours a night without a decrease in mental acuity. That gives us another 5 hours to distribute over the day.

Workers would probably prefer to allocate the bulk of that extra time to leisure but I doubt employers will let that happen.

Let's make a generous breakdown and give work an extra 3 hours and let workers spend another 2 as they wish. This increases working hours by around 34% and potentially increases leisure time by 80%.

This increases the number of hours a worker spends at work from around 1800 hours a year now to about 2,400.

The argument against the use of drugs such as Modafinil, is that a rapid introduction of these pills would amount to an increase in the labour supply and cause a fall in hourly wages or unemployment.

However, it's likely that individuals would generally still see an increase in their overall income and their additional leisure time (2 hours extra) would allow this to be translated into an increase in demand in the economy through increased consumption.

 Overall the transition to a sleepless world seems beneficial to humanity. There's nothing special about the 7 hours of sleep we get right now and I think people would rightly be opposed to a change that made everyone spend an extra hour asleep every day.

Caveats:

• I've never used Modafinil. This is because I don't know where to buy it, I have some moral qualms about using it when the rest of the world is not and because it is still a bit early to conclude that there are no long term health effects; 
• Some people I've talked to have raised the issue of environmental damage. I think the total environmental impact of a sleepless world could be positive or negative but surely the damage would be lower per unit of output (because there are a lot of fixed carbon outputs per work day such as commuting and building overheads). At the very least, a sleepless world looks like a more environmentally friendly growth strategy; 
• This argument is premised on the safety of these drugs. Clearly the calculus will change if they are shown to have negative long term consequences; 
• For those people who already work long hours with little sleep, these drugs should at least make that lifestyle less dangerous. There is convincing evidence that chronic lack of sleep is harmful in normal circumstances; 
• The precise amount of sleep that a Modafinil user can get by with seems to vary but all sources I've seen suggest it is dramatically lower; 
• The short term costs of a rapid change might be substantial so gradual adoption is probably preferable from the standpoint of welfare.

Real the full article here

5 Things Parents can do to Help Children Enjoy Life

There is clear evidence that how parents interact with their children has a lasting effect on the kind of person the child grows into, how happy they will become and how much they will enjoy life.

Whilst at Chicago University, Kevin Rathunde conducted a number of family behaviour studies and observed that teenagers who had a certain type of relation ship with their parents were significantly happier, more satisfied and stronger in most life situations than their peers who did not have this relationship.

The optimal family relationship can be described as having 5 characteristics;

1. Clarity - Clarity of family goals should be unambiguous.
2. Centering - Providing Feedback on the moment or time they are in. Not pre-occupied with future careers or potential outcomes. 
3. Choice - Provide a Feeling of Control over choices but this also includes Consequences.
4. Commitment - Concentration on the task in hand. Becoming unselfconsciously involved.
5. Challenge - Provide increasingly complex opportunities for action or development

The presence of these 5 conditions make possible what is described as the "Autotelic Family Context," because they provide an ideal training for the enjoyment of life.

Consequences

It is essential that parents provide realistic encouragement, support and motivation to their children in all their activities, leaving room for them to succeed or fail on their own terms and to experience the consequences.

It is equally essential that parents refrain from sugar-coating and soft-padding the reality of life's ups and downs. 

Consequences are a part of life's rich tapestry and the sooner children understand that they are responsible for their own actions the better for them.

The parent is there to provide reassurance that their children are loved and belong as part of a 'family' who support and encourage each other. It is part of the responsibility and consequence of being a parent.

Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: Tougher to Treat in Kids and Teens

Type 2 diabetes, the kind linked with obesity, progresses much faster and is harder to treat in children than in adults, according to the disappointing results of a new study that sought to determine the best treatment for the disease in obese teens.

The study, the largest to examine Type 2 diabetes treatment in youth, looked at the effectiveness of several methods to manage blood sugar in newly diagnosed teens aged 10 to 17. The researchers found that nearly half of all participants failed to maintain stable blood sugar over the four-year study, and 1 in 5 suffered serious complications as a result.

The findings are troubling for teens’ health since obesity and diabetes rates are increasing nationwide. Uncontrolled diabetes can increase the risk for serious health problems, including heart disease, vision loss, nerve problems, amputations and kidney failure.

Type 2 diabetes — once referred to as adult-onset diabetes — was rarely seen among children before the 1990s. But as American children and teens started getting fatter, related cases of diabetes began to rise. Today, Type 2 diabetes is still uncommon in children (Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes affects more youths), but the disease continues to increase at an alarming rate: between 2002 and 2005, there were about 3,600 new cases of Type 2 diabetes in children and teens a year.

For the new study, released Sunday by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers followed 699 overweight and obese teens who had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. Most of the participants were from low-income families; 40% were Hispanic, 33% black, 20% white, 6% American Indian and fewer than 2% were Asian.

All of the participants were started off on metformin, the standard oral medication for Type 2 diabetes, to normalize their blood sugar levels. They were then divided into three treatment groups to maintain blood sugar control. One group continued to use metformin alone; another used metformin along with an intensive diet, exercise and weight-loss program; the third used metformin plus another drug, rosiglitazone (Avandia).

Failure rates were high for all three treatment groups. About half of the teens in the metformin group failed to keep their blood sugar down, 39% failed in the group using metformin plus Avandia, and 47% failed in the diet and exercise group.

“It’s frightening how severe this metabolic disease is in children,” study author Dr. David M. Nathan, director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the New York Times. “I fear that these children are going to become sick earlier in their lives than we’ve ever seen before

The authors could only speculate why diabetes is so hard to treat in children and teens, but it could be due to rapid growth and hormonal changes during puberty.

To read the whole article click here

ADHD Cases on the Rise in US

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is on the rise, with nearly one in 10 American children receiving an ADHD diagnosis, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"ADHD continues to increase, and that has implications for educational and health care because kids with ADHD disproportionately use more services, and there are several co-morbid conditions that go along with it," Dr. Lara J. Akinbami, lead author of the study, told ABCNews.com.

From 1998 to 2009, according to the study, the percentage of children ever diagnosed with ADHD increased from 7 percent to 9 percent. The study also found a larger increase in ADHD among children in the South and Midwest regions of the U.S.

ADHD is one of the most common behavioral problems in children, characterized by difficulty in sustaining attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. It continues to occur more frequently in boys than girls, and the number of cases increased by about 10 percent in children living in low-income households.

"ADHD is genetically based and often unnoticed," said Michael Manos, head of the Center for Pediatric Behavioral Health at the Cleveland Clinic. "We're far better at noticing it now, and that is good."

But researchers say it's not clear whether the number of reported cases of ADHD has actually increased or whether there's simply more awareness of the disorder.

"Most informed professionals will concur that it is better reported and recognized. This fact has resulted in the prevalence increases," said Manos.

Every major ethnic group saw an increase in ADHD except for children of Mexican descent.

"Mexican children remain with much lower ADHD prevalence than other Hispanics," said Akinbami. "We tend to miss the differences between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans, and this difference could be largely due to remaining language behaviors and cultural attitudes. Whether this is a real lower prevalence or if it remains unreported is unclear."

Past research shows that only about half of children who qualify for an ADHD test actually receive one, researchers noted in the study.

"With prevalence rates so high across sex and race, and with the barriers that limit treatment in low-income families, we do a disservice to a large percentage of our population," said Manos.

"There are ways of making the world work for people with ADHD, people whose attention functions serve other purposes than those required in school," continued Manos. "If we got serious, we would completely alter how we teach children to learn. If we created educational programs that work for children and youth with ADHD, we would create educational programs that work for everyone."

Extended Parental support in Teenage years

A new study from the Journal of Marriage and Family shows that contrary to popular anxieties about slacker young adults who refuse to grow up, or indulgent parents who stifle their adult children’s development by continuing to support them, there is evidence that parental assistance in early adulthood promotes progress toward autonomy and self-reliance.

Study author Teresa Swartz, “The fact that young people depend so heavily upon their parents well beyond the age when most people from earlier generations had already started families and had dependable jobs has triggered a great deal of public anxiety over whether these trends signal young adult immaturity and stunted development.

The larger social trends in delaying family formation may be one reason for the extended dependence upon parents. Today, the road to adulthood is much longer and more arduous than it was thirty years ago.”

The researchers collected longitudinal data to examine the conditions under which young adults are more likely to receive financial support for living expenses, or to live in the parental home.

Although almost half of the respondents received either money for living expenses or lived with their parents (or both) in their mid-twenties, only 10-15% received financial or housing help when in their early 30s.

The likelihood of receiving financial help decreased 15% each year, and the likelihood of living with parents decreased by 18% each year. Swartz, “These results indicate that young people do eventually become independent of parents as they grow older.”

Beyond the effects of age, young people were more likely to receive help from their parents if they were students or had encountered recent difficulties such as a job loss, a serious illness, or a divorce. Swartz, “Parental aid serves as ‘scaffolding’ to help young people who are working towards financial self-sufficiency and as ‘safety nets’ for those who have experienced serious difficulties.

In an economy that requires advanced education for good jobs, parents are more likely to aid their children when they are students. As the labor market offers fewer opportunities for stable, full-time, well-paid work for the young, parents often fill in when needed.”

The authors find that parental support tapers as young adult children take on adult roles such as earning higher incomes or forming families, regardless of their age. Lead author Teresa Swartz, “Forming intimate partnerships, in the forms of marriage and cohabitation, appears to signal to parents that their children have moved into adulthood and should now be on their own.

Although family formation is largely understood as a ‘choice’ today and not viewed as essential for achieving adult status, it does appear that parents and/or adult children themselves interpret family formation as an indicator that adult self-sufficiency is appropriate.”

The findings provide evidence that families are adaptive and responsive to family members needs and troubles, and that parents are more likely to support adult children, even those who are older, to help them get through hard times and to help them attain self-sufficiency.

The instability and rapid pace of change during early adulthood may make young adulthood a particularly vulnerable period necessitating a safety net more frequently than other stages in life.

Full paper available here

Why Mothers are not fully engaged by TV shows - a media concern

A TV media company recently conducted an interesting research with over 400 mothers who have children under the age of 12 living in their homes.

They found that:

• 75% of respondents watch certain TV shows with their children.
• 50% of respondents indicated that they’re likely to be doing other things while watching television with their children. (This could mean that although they are watching the program, they aren’t really engaging in it.)
• Women with very small children indicated that it was “impossible for anyone to watch anything on the TV when the kids are up.”
• Women with older children experienced phases of “family TV viewing” where they watched shows targeted to their kids’ age group between ages 4-7. (Shows selected by the children or chosen to entertain the children)
• Interestingly, as the kids get older, women become more engaged in the programming as they come to share favourite shows with their kids, such as “American Idol” and “Survivor.”
• The respondents indicated that ultimately they can only truly engage in what’s on the television when their children aren’t present. (This was a consistent response among all respondents regardless of the age of the children.)
• 81% of our survey respondents stated that they have “their shows” that they watch during what they deem to be their “me time.” This offers them an “escape” from the daily pressures of work and family.
• Women are also prone to “time-shifting” their preferred programming by recording their favourite shows or by visiting On Demand network websites, to re-watch shows or catch episodes they’ve missed.

What does this mean?

According to the research, if mothers are watching TV with their children they are not probably not engaging with the programs that their children are enjoying.

I think its easy to conclude that if they aren’t engaging with the programs, they are definitely not engaging with the commercials, which is more of a concern for the media ad sales people than the mothers.

My greatest concern in all this is that mothers, fathers and family members are not engaging with each other or their children, even if they appear to be sharing the experience of coming together, to form an 'audience' to watch a specific TV show.