


Archive for January, 2011
 
By Jia Feishang  |  2010-8-20
SHANGHAI is being urged to do more to help autistic children and their families.
The city has been slow to set up rehabilitation centers and social security systems, experts said at the city’s first autism seminar yesterday.
Ji Min, vice director of the Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation, said there were 39 institutes offering training services for autistic kids, but fewer than 100 professionals available.

The city has more than 8,000 children diagnosed with autism, but the real figure is estimated at around 10,000 based on the fact that the prevalence of autism is one per 1,000 people, said Peng Xizhe, a professor at Fudan University.
He called for preferential policies on taxes and more educational help for autistic children.
Chen Peide, father of 27-year-old son with autism, said he worries most about who can take care of his son if he and his wife died.
“I haven’t figured out any social security policies or systems for my son.”
About 80 percent of people who have the condition need to rely on others to take care of them throughout their lives.
 
NEW DELHI: The nation on Friday fondly remembered former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 66th birth anniversary.
President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rajiv’s widow and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among the first to pay floral tributes to the late leader at his memorial ‘Veer Bhumi’.
Congress MP Rahul and his sister Priyanka along with her husband Robert Vadra were also present at the remembrance ceremony at the memorial.
Besides, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and senior Congress leaders also paid floral tributes at the memorial.
Later at a separate function, Sonia Gandhi presented motorised vehicles to 150 disabled persons. All recipients of the vehicles suffer from severe lower-limb disability.
The function was organised by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
 
ScienceDaily (Aug. 18, 2010) — Teens who are overweight, get little exercise or who smoke may be more likely to have frequent headaches and migraines than teens with none of these factors, according to a study published in the August 18, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Teens with all three of the negative lifestyle factors were 3.4 times more likely to have frequent headaches than those with none of the negative lifestyle factors. Of those with all three negative lifestyle factors, 55 percent had frequent headaches, compared to 25 percent of those with no negative lifestyle factors. Those with two negative factors were 1.8 times more likely to have frequent headaches.
Overweight teens were 40 percent more likely to have frequent headaches than those with no negative factors. Teens who smoked were 50 percent more likely to have frequent headaches, and teens who exercised less than twice a week were 20 percent more likely to have frequent headaches than those who exercised at least twice a week and had no other negative factors.
“These lifestyle factors have rarely been studied in teens,” said Andrew D. Hershey, MD, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “This study is a vital step toward a better understanding of lifestyle factors and potential preventive measures that can be taken.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100818161445.htm
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 18, 2010
A new Associated Press article out this week suggests that the U.S. Army may have misdiagnosed hundreds of soldiers with a personality disorder, rather than with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Soldiers who carry a diagnosis of a personality disorder often face being discharged, and find that their access to military and health benefits cut at the same time. Nearly 1,000 soldiers a year between 2005 and 2007 were discharged for having a personality disorder. Soldiers who receive a PTSD diagnosis can receive treatment while still being enlisted, and continue to receive all of the military and health benefits of an active duty soldier.
Advocates for veterans suggest that the practice, although supposedly stopped by the Army since it first came to light, is still occurring. Hundreds of soldiers are still receiving personality disorder diagnoses, cutting off their access to needed health care and treatment, according to advocates.
“We really have an obligation to go back and make sure troops weren’t misdiagnosed,†Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen told the Associated Press. Dr. Van Dahlen is a clinical psychologist whose nonprofit “Give an Hour†connects troops with volunteer mental health professionals.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/18/army-misdiagnoses-hundreds-with-personality-disorders-instead-of-ptsd/17022.html
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 18, 2010
Nearly one million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest — and most immature — in their kindergarten class, according to new research by a Michigan State University economist.
These children are significantly more likely than their older classmates to be prescribed behavior-modifying stimulants such as Ritalin, said Todd Elder, whose study will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Health Economics.
Such inappropriate treatment is particularly worrisome because of the unknown impacts of long-term stimulant use on children’s health, Elder said. It also wastes an estimated $320 million to $500 million a year on unnecessary medication — some $80 million to $90 million of it paid by Medicaid, he said.
Elder said the “smoking gun†of the study is that ADHD diagnoses depend on a child’s age relative to classmates and the teacher’s perceptions of whether the child has symptoms.
“If a child is behaving poorly, if he’s inattentive, if he can’t sit still, it may simply be because he’s 5 and the other kids are 6,†said Elder, assistant professor of economics. “There’s a big difference between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and teachers and medical practitioners need to take that into account when evaluating whether children have ADHD.â€
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder for kids in the United States, with at least 4.5 million diagnoses among children under age 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, there are no neurological markers for ADHD (such as a blood test), and experts disagree on its prevalence, fueling intense public debate about whether ADHD is under- or overdiagnosed, Elder said.
Using a sample of nearly 12,000 children, Elder examined the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and oldest children in a grade. The data is from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, which is funded by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/18/16984/16984.html
 
Put aside the dramatic Hollywood portrayals. Suited, married, high achieving, some of them walk among us. No, not vampires or super-heroes but ‘successful psychopaths’. Like their criminally violent cousins – the standard psychopaths – these people are ruthless, callous, fearless and arrogant. But thanks to their superior self-control and conscientiousness, rather than landing in prison, they end up as company chief executives, university chancellors and Queen’s Council barristers. Well, that’s the idea anyway. But it’s an idea that’s proven difficult for psychologists to investigate. After all, if you advertise for volunteers for a study of successful people who are psychopathic, you’re not likely to get many responses.

Jan
22
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 18, 2010Â
B vitamins (B6, B12 and folate) all nourish the brain. But much remains to be discovered about the relation between these essential nutrients and our brainpower.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutritionist Lindsay H. Allen has collaborated in ongoing research that has taken a closer look at the role these nutrients may play in preventing decline in brain function. The investigations, led by Mary N. Haan of the University of California-San Francisco, are part of the multiyear Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging, or “SALSA.†Begun in 1996, the study attracted nearly 1,800 Hispanic seniors, ages 60 to 101, as volunteers.
According to Allen, the research is needed because many studies of B vitamins and brain function have given inconsistent or conflicting results. Allen is director of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif. ARS is the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA. Scientists from the University of California-Davis (UCD) and the UCD Medical Center also are collaborating in the research.
An analysis of volunteers’ blood samples showed that lower levels of one B vitamin, folate, were associated with symptoms of dementia and poor brain function, also called “cognitive decline,†as determined by standard tests of memory and other factors. The impairments were detectable even though less than one percent of the volunteers were actually deficient in folate.
In women, but not men, low levels of folate were associated with symptoms of depression. In fact, female volunteers whose plasma folate levels were in the lowest third were more than twice as likely to have symptoms of depression as volunteers in the highest third. That finding provided new evidence of an association between lower blood folate and depression. Depression is already known to affect brain function.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/18/b-vitamins-for-brainpower/16993.html
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 18, 2010Â
A new large prospective study confirms prior research that suggests modest levels of alcohol consumption can improve cognitive processes.
Norwegian researchers studied over 5,000 men and women and discovered moderate wine consumption is independently associated with better performance on cognitive tests.
The subjects (average age 58 and free of stroke) were followed over seven years during which they were tested with a range of cognitive function tests.
Among women, there was a lower risk of a poor testing score for those who consumed wine at least four or more times over two weeks in comparison with those who drank less than once during this period.
The expected associations between other risk factors for poor cognitive functioning were seen, i.e. lower testing scores among people who were older, less educated, smokers, and those with depression, diabetes, or hypertension.
It has long been known that “moderate people do moderate things.â€
The authors state the same thing: “A positive effect of wine . . . could also be due to confounders such as socio-economic status and more favorable dietary and other lifestyle habits.â€
The authors also reported that not drinking was associated with significantly lower cognitive performance in women.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/19/moderate-alcohol-consumption-linked-to-knowledge-gain/17038.html
Â
 
The first famous case of someone allegedly losing their job from indiscreet remarks made online was in 2002. Heather Armstrong, author of the blog ‘dooce‘, claimed she was fired after her colleagues discovered she’d been lampooning them online.
In internet terms getting fired for a blog rant is ancient news; to make the headlines now your indiscretions have to be on Twitter or Facebook. One recent example was this girl who was ‘Facebook fired’ after she said exactly what she thought of her boss on Facebook after a bad day at work.
What she’d forgotten was they were Facebook friends, so the update would appear front and centre the next time he logged into Facebook. She might as well have said it straight to his face and, for good measure, kicked him in the shins.
These are two examples of what psychologists call the ‘online disinhibition effect’, the idea that when online people feel less inhibited by social conventions. Compared with face-to-face interactions, online we feel freer to do and say what we want and, as a result, often do and say things we shouldn’t.

Internet psychologist John Suler has written about six characteristics of the internet which lead to radical changes in our online behaviour (Suler, 2004):
1. Anonymity
Online people feel they can’t be identified in the same way they can when they’re in public. It’s similar to going out in a costume at night with a mask on to cover the face (see research on deindividuation). That sense of disconnection from our normal personality allows new ways of behaving. People may even consider their online behaviours to arise from an online alter ego.
Ironically, though, some people are far less anonymous online than offline. Because of the online disinhibition effect some share too much on their social networking profiles, sometimes even things they wouldn’t admit to their closest friends. It’s easy to forget that you don’t need espionage training to type someone’s name into Google.
Read in Full: http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/08/six-causes-of-online-disinhibition.phpÂ
 
18 August 2010 | 12:25 PMÂ
 “TEMPLE GRANDINâ€
DVD widescreen 2010, not rated
Best extra: Commentary with director Mick Jackson, writer Christopher Monger and the “real†Temple Grandin.
FROM THE OPENING sequence, it’s clear that Temple Grandin is different.
Sporting cowgirl attire and a messy mop of curls, Temple (Clare Danes) barks out, “My name is Temple Grandin! I’m not like other people. I think in pictures! And I connect them.â€
Emphasis on the “different, not less,†as Temple’s mother Eustacia (Julia Ormond) reminds us.
We have to agree that this biopic is “different, perhaps more.†It’s no surprising that the film has received 15 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actress.
The storyline follows a young autistic woman who begins her life in the 1940s, when medical understanding of autism is limited and treatment generally included institutionalization.
Instead, Temple is able to put her visual way of thinking to use, solving problems that neurotypicals don’t even realize exist. She graduates college, earns a Ph.D., and quickly becomes a world-known authority in animal science. Today, almost half of North American cattle are handled in a restrainer system she designed.
In the bonus commentary, the “real†Temple Grandin shares stories and experiences from her life with autism alongside director Mick Jackson and writer Christopher Monger. Beginning with the pain that being misunderstood caused and progressing to the challenges she faced as an academic, it is clear that Grandin is a woman who has left few hurdles uncrossed.

What sets this film apart from similar stories about people living with genetic differences is that Grandin credits autism for her success. Without the disorder, she argues, she would never have been so aware of animal sensitivities. Grandin says if she could snap her fingers and be cured of autism, she wouldn’t do it.
Director Jackson used illustrative animations and quick flashes of still imagery to demonstrate how a visual thinker like Temple processes information. One critic likened it to what was done for “A Beautiful Mind.†The treatment pays off well and people in the autism community have hailed the film has an important demonstration of the autistic mind.
The DVD also includes the “Making of Temple Grandin†which focuses mostly on Clare Danes remarkable performance. She is so convincing that Grandin (who is a self-proclaimed detail nut) says watching the film is like going through a strange time warp and watching her life play out. The physical performance alone is impressive. Not only did Danes portray the movements of Grandin with precision, she also expressed a range of ages.
Additional extras like a discussion with the actors and information about Grandin can be found on HBO.com/movies/temple-grandin.
— Olivia Hubert-Allen
Source:Â http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/hbo-film-embraced-autism-community?cid=poblg

