Where an infant fixes their gaze 'could be an early indicator of autism'

Source : autismcauses1.com

An early sign that a child may develop autism could be as simple as noting where they fix their gaze.

Those considered at 'high-risk' of developing a form of the disorder were far more likely to become fixated with a non-social toy when left to their own devices.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability and part of a spectrum disorder. The main symptoms are difficulties with social interaction, impaired communication skills and unusual thought and behaviour patterns. 

Autism is thought to affect one in 100 children in England and those with autistic siblings are 25 times times more likely to develop the condition than those with no family history of autism.

Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger institute and University of Delaware studied 25 six-month-old infants in this 'high-risk' group along with 25 of their peers. 

The youngsters were placed in a chair with a simple joystick. When they moved it the musical toy was activated and they were given more attention by their caregiver. When actively engaged the children in both groups spent a similar amount of time looking at the person as they did at the toy.

However, the team found that when the babies were not being engaged, those in the high risk group spent far more time gazing at the toy than the caregiver.

Study author Dr Rebecca Landa, said the study showed a subtle early marker for autism.

'This study shows that there is a particular vulnerability in high-risk siblings at six months of age,' she said.

'They are not as socially interactive and engaged on their own as their peers, but still respond typically when engaged by their caregivers, making for a subtle difference that could be easily overlooked by both parents and some professionals.'

The study suggests that like older children, infants at high risk of autism may benefit from frequent exposure to simple cause and effect lessons to aid their development.

'Babies in both groups of the study learned the multi-stimuli task to the same degree,' Dr Landa said.

'The high-risk siblings still have the capacity to learn cause and effect as well as their low-risk peers at this young age.'

Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta, Action Research Leader at The National Autistic Society was cautiously optimistic about the findings.

She told the Mail Online: 'There has been a lot of research which examines a child's level of joint attention or eye gazing patterns and the potential links to autism.

'This study of siblings is interesting as it shows more problems in initiating joint attention with others than responding to joint attention.

'However, until the children reach an age where diagnosis is possible, it is difficult to say how accurately these behaviours can be used to predict a diagnosis of autism.'

Via : dailymail.co.uk

Autism - Infant's Gaze a Possible Marker

Source : from nichd.nih.gov

Infants who show delayed communication and social skills are at a high risk of developing autism that may be indicated by unprompted gazing at people.

Published in the September issue of the Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatry, the study also found that six-month-old high-risk infants demonstrated the same level of cause and effect learning skills when compared to low-risk infants of the same age.

The study observed 25 infant siblings of children with autism (high-risk group) and 25 infants with no family history of autism (low-risk group) at six months of age in order to assess cause and effect learning as well as social engagement.

Infant siblings of children with autism are considered at high-risk for the disorder, as they are 25 times more likely to develop autism. Researchers at Kennedy Krieger, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Delaware, created a novel, multi-stimuli social learning task, where infants were seated in a custom chair with an attached joystick within easy reach, a musical toy located to the right and their caregiver on the left. Researchers evaluated how quickly the infant learned that the joystick activated the toy and the infant's level of social engagement with their caregiver.

Researchers found that, like the low risk group, the high-risk siblings exhibited typical levels of social gazing when their caregivers actively engaged them, such as pointing at the toy and expressing excitement.

However, high-risk sibs spent less time looking to their caregivers and more time fixated on the non-social stimuli (toy or joystick) when the caregiver was not engaging them, which could indicate a disruption in development related to joint attention. Joint attention is often a core deficit for children with autism.

Via : medindia.net

New Autism Study Concentrates On Infants Gaze

A new study on siblings of infants with Autism has been released by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. 

In the study,  infant brothers and sisters of Autistic children were tested for early signs of the developmental disorder. 

They were tested for signs of social delay and later communication with their caregiver.

The infants in the study, a total of 50, half of which were brothers and sisters of children without Autism.  Infants in the high risk group, those with a family history of Autism, are 25 times more likely to develop the disorder. More children will develop Autism than will be diagnosed HIV/Aids or cancer.

The infants were tested for cause and effect learning and communication skills. Given the choice between playing with a musical toy or communicating with their caregiver. The infant was placed in a customized chair that gave them access to a musical plaything via a joystick on one side while a individual was on the other side.

The infants from the high risk group tended to want to have access to the toy as opposed social interaction with the caregiver. This occurred when the individual was not actively engaged with the infant. About 20 percent of the infants in the high risk group may develop Autism later on in childhood.

The study on infant siblings of children with Autism is published in the September issue of The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study was financed by grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Via : gulfstreamcleaning.com

Can Fruits, Veggies Help Ward Off Lung Cancer?

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may help protect some smokers from lung cancer, a new European study suggests.

 

But, the researchers stressed that quitting smoking will do far more to reduce risk than “an apple a day” or having a salad for lunch.

In the study, participants who ate a diet that contained a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables appeared to have a 27 percent lowered risk of a common type of lung cancer, the researchers reported.

“First and foremost, the best way to reduce one’s risk of lung cancer is to quit smoking. That is of paramount importance,” said principal investigator Dr. H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, project director of cancer epidemiology at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands. 

“However, we realize that there are still millions worldwide who cannot and don’t want to quit smoking. To just ignore them would be somewhat of a pity. This study shows there is a possibility of reducing one’s risk even if one is a smoker.”

Keep in mind that “wide variety” meant more than a banana with breakfast and a helping of peas and carrots with dinner. Think kale and spinach; berries and melons; cabbage, cauliflower and eggplant — some 40 different fruits and vegetables in all.

The researchers analyzed data on more than 450,000 adults from 10 European countries. Participants filled out questionnaires about dietary habits and lifestyle, including occupation, medical history, tobacco and alcohol use and physical activity.

Over the course of nine years, 1,613 of the people were diagnosed with lung cancer.Vegetable consumption was divided into eight categories: leafy vegetables; fruiting vegetables; root vegetables; cabbages; mushrooms; grain and pod vegetables; onion and garlic; and stalk vegetables. Vegetables did not include legumes, potatoes and other tubers.

The 14 fruits tracked included fresh, dried and canned fruits but excluded nuts, seeds and olives. Participants were then divided into four groups, or quartiles, based on the diversity of their diet. 

Those in the highest quartile ate between 23 and 40 different types of fruits and vegetables during the prior two weeks. Those in the lowest quartile ate less than 10 different types of fruits and vegetables.

Smokers who ate the greatest variety of fruits and veggies were 27 percent less likely to get squamous cell lung cancer, which accounts for about 25 percent to 30 percent of all lung cancers, than smokers who ate the least variety.

“It is important to realize the risk reduction one can achieve by eating a greater variety of fruits and vegetables will be minor in relation to quitting smoking,” Bueno-de-Mesquita stressed.

The study is published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. It should be noted that the study relied on “self reports” — in which the participants described to the researchers their fruit and vegetable consumption. Such studies, while valuable, are not considered the “gold standard” of research — a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

But what is it about fruits and vegetables that may ward off the changes in cells that cause tumors to grow?

There probably isn’t one “magic” compound in the fruits and vegetables, Bueno-de-Mesquita said, but instead many compounds that interact with each other and the body in ways that aren’t yet understood.

It can be dangerous to put too much stock in any one substance, he added. A study in Finland found smokers who took the antioxidant beta carotene and vitamin E supplements actually had an increased risk of lung cancer.

Previous research has also linked fruits and vegetables with lowered risk of cancer. A 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research report concluded that fruits probably protect against lung cancer, but there was no evidence that vegetables did.

But other research has suggested eating a variety of vegetables can reduce the risk of other types of cancers, including colorectal, gastric, breast, oral and pharyngeal cancer and squamous cell esophageal cancer.

Marjorie McCullough, strategic director of nutritional epidemiology at the American Cancer Society, said fruits and vegetables may help to protect against lung cancer, but every smoker should be working on quitting.

“Quitting smoking is far and away the most important way to lower the risk of lung cancer, but eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may further help lower the risk of several cancers,” McCullough said.

Via : biomedme.com

European Study: Eating Fruits, Veggies Might Offer Respite from Lung Cancer

A novel European study is of the suggestion that eating a great variation of fruits and veggies might offer protection against lung cancer to smokers.

However, along with that the researchers said that quitting smoking would increase the chances of saving oneself from the risk of developing lung cancer and a regular practice of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, too, would help.

The report submitted by the researchers informed that while conducting the study, volunteers who consumed a diet that comprised a good variety of vegetables and fruits seemed to have cut their chances of developing the most general form of lung cancer by almost 27%.

Dr. H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, who is the Project Director of Cancer Epidemiology at the National Institute for Public Health and Environment in the Netherlands, said that the best way to cut down on the risk of developing lung cancer would always remain quitting smoking.

But the fact remains that there are a lot of people all through the world who yet do not intend to kick the habit. Ignoring them would almost be a pity.

Thus, it is all about including a range of fruits and vegetables in meals that will improve the possibilities of cutting cancer risk.

Via : topnews.co.uk

Veggies May Lower Lung Cancer Risk

Eating a variety of vegetables and fruits may reduce the risk of lung cancer in current smokers, according to research published online Aug. 31 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Frederike L. Büchner, of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, Netherlands, and colleagues evaluated 452,187 individuals from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study, including 1,613 diagnosed with lung cancer after a median follow-up of 8.7 years. Diet diversity scores were used to quantify the variety in fruit and vegetable consumption.

The researchers found that the risk of lung cancer decreased with increasing variety in vegetable subgroups (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77), though the association was restricted to current smokers (HR, 0.73). In continuous analyses, among current smokers, the risk of squamous cell carcinoma decreased with more variety in fruit and vegetable products combined (HR/two products, 0.88), vegetable subgroups (HR/subgroup, 0.88), vegetable products (HR/two products, 0.87), and fruit products (HR/two products, 0.84).

"The greater variety in fruit and/or vegetable consumption was not related to lung cancer risk in former and never smokers nor was it related to the risk of adenocarcinomas and small cell carcinomas. Because smoking is the predominant risk factor, the primary focus for public health in reducing lung cancer incidence should continue to be smoking prevention and cessation," the authors conclude.

Via : mdnews.com

Asparagus, garlic and artichokes 'could help fight obesity and diabetes'

Scientists are examining whether a diet rich in certain types of fibre can suppress hunger and improve the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels.

Foods such as garlic, chicory, asparagus and artichokes are known as fermentable carbohydrates, which are thought to activate the release of gut hormones that reduce appetite.

They also enhance sensitivity to insulin – the hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells – thereby leading to better glucose control, it is believed.

The charity Diabetes UK is now funding research into the health benefits of such foods. If proved to be effective, the findings could revolutionise treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Nicola Guess, a dietitian at Imperial College, London, who is leading the three-year study, said: "By investigating how appetite and blood glucose levels are regulated in people at high risk of Type 2 diabetes, it is hoped that we can find a way to prevent its onset.

"If successful, this study will be able to determine whether fermentable carbohydrates could provide the public with an effective and affordable health intervention to reduce an individual's risk of developing diabetes."

There are 2.35 million people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Britain, and a further half a million sufferers who are unaware that they have the condition. If left untreated, it can lead to complications such as kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and amputation.

Research by the University of Leicester, published last week, suggests that eating green leafy vegetables could help cut the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Broccoli, kale, spinach, sprouts and cabbage can reduce the risk by 14 per cent when eaten daily, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal.

The vegetables are rich in antioxidants and magnesium, which has been linked to lower levels of diabetes.

Via : telegraph.co.uk