Genetic Testing for Kids: Is It a Good Idea?

With the advent of new genetic tests, it's increasingly easy to gauge whether you're predisposed to developing certain conditions — diabetes, say, or breast cancer. For adults, that knowledge can be simultaneously overwhelming and empowering. For children, the ramifications of such predictions are especially controversial, which is why professional groups — the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in particular — have come out against genetic testing of children for adult-onset diseases.

Yet a new study published today in the AAP-affiliated journal Pediatrics finds that parents who were offered the option of genetic testing for themselves said they would also like to test their children. The 219 parents surveyed indicated they believe that the risks of testing their children for eight adult-onset conditions — colon, skin and lung cancer; heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis — outweigh the benefits.

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ACTIVE FATHER-FIGURE HELPS KIDS

A new research study highlights the benefit of an active father figure for reducing behavioral problems in boys and psychological problems in young women.

Swedish researchers also found that regular positive contact reduces criminal behavior among children in low-income families and enhances cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning and language development.

Children who lived with both a mother and father figure also had less behavioral problems than those who just lived with their mother.

The review is published in the February issue of Acta Paediatrica.

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How Video Games Stretch the Limits of Our Visual Attention

They are often accused of being distracting, but recent research has found that action packed video games like Halo and Call of Duty can enhance visual attention, the ability that allows us to focus on relevant visual information. This growing body of research, reviewed in WIREs Cognitive Science, suggests that action based games could be used to improve military training, educational approaches, and certain visual deficits.

The review, authored by a group led by Dr Daphne Bavelier from the University of Rochester, focused on the impact video games have on visual attention, the mechanism which allows us to select relevant visual information and suppress irrelevant information, allowing us to function in a world made up of infinite visual data.

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ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE INHERITED THROUGH MATERNAL LINE, STUDY FINDS

A family history of Alzheimer's disease significantly increases the risk for developing this disorder, but a new study in Biological Psychiatry suggests that which of your parents has the disease is very important.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia in late-life, affecting over 5 million elderly in the United States alone. In order to develop preventative treatments, it is necessary to identify those individuals who are at highest risk for developing Alzheimer's.

Although individuals with a parental history of Alzheimer's are at increased risk for developing the disease, the specific biological and genetic mechanisms accounting for this increased risk are not known.

An important consideration may be a phenomenon called genomic imprinting, where the pattern of the inherited disease differs based on whether the risk genes are inherited from the mother or the father.

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USE OF MILD PAINKILLERS IN PREGNANCY LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE PROBLEMS, NEW EVIDENCE SHOWS

New evidence has emerged that the use of mild painkillers such as paracetamol, aspirin and ibuprofen, may be part of the reason for the increase in male reproductive disorders in recent decades. Research published in the journal Human Reproduction shows that women who took a combination of more than one mild analgesic during pregnancy, or who took the painkillers during the second trimester of pregnancy, had an increased risk of giving birth to sons with undescended testicles (cryptorchidism) -- a condition that is known to be a risk factor for poor semen quality and testicular germ cell cancer in later life.

The researchers from Denmark, Finland and France found that women who used more than one painkiller simultaneously (e.g. paracetamol and ibuprofen) had a seven-fold increased risk of giving birth to sons with some form of cryptorchidism compared to women who took nothing.

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PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO NICOTINE AFFECTS STEM CELLS IN HIPPOCAMPUS

Prolonged prenatal exposure to nicotine decreases the number of newborn cells in the hippocampus, a brain area important in learning and memory, according to preliminary research presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held in San Diego. The study offers a neurobiological explanation for why the children of women who smoke during pregnancy are at an increased risk of developing learning disabilities.

"Previous research has shown that nicotine, cocaine, and other addictive drugs decrease the number of newborn cells in adults. Our research suggests that these effects may be even more dramatic in newborn animals," said Robin Lester, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who directed the study. "These findings provide further warnings to expectant mothers that they should seek help in refraining from smoking during pregnancy," Lester said.

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Some Kids With Spinal Cord Injury May Be Overlooked for Walking Rehabilitation

The traditional way to predict whether children can regain movement after spinal cord injuries may exclude a small subset of patients who could benefit from therapy, according to two studies presented by University of Florida researchers at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego.

In one study, researchers present details of a child with incomplete spinal cord injury who continues to improve four years after recovering walking ability in a locomotor training program at UF, even though clinical assessment tools predicted he would never walk again.

In another presentation, the scientists discussed findings in which three of six children with severe, chronic and incomplete spinal cord injuries -- patients who retain some sensation or movement below the injury -- improved through locomotor training,to the point where they could take steps.

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