Brain Studies in At-Risk-Children in Canada and Washington

Canadian Study in Adolescents

Research presented at the International Society for Affective Disorders Conference in Toronto showed that “victims of child abuse may have altered brains and stunted stress responses, according to new Canadian research. Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse can alter victims’ brain chemistry and may increase their risk of depression.”

” The study looked at adolescents who had some form of abuse as children and who were mildly depressed. They were found to release abnormally high levels of cortisol in response to mild stressors.

The teens lacked fully-operating endocrine response systems to help them deal with stress.

“This kind of reaction is a problem because cortisol kills cells in areas of the brain that control memory and emotion regulation,” said Kate Harkness of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. “Over time, cortisol levels can build up and increase a person’s risk for more severe endocrine impairment and more severe depression.”

Child Abuse Victims Have Altered Brains, Study Shows
[ThirdAge.com 4/25/11 by Carly Fiske]

Upcoming Brain Study in Foster Children in Washington

There is something about the words “brain study” in the same sentence as “foster children” that makes me go  .

Perhaps it is because I have read about the HIV drug trials in foster kids in New York  which prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to address Congress with concerns here .

This brain imaging study will take place later this year at an unknown date at University of Washington I-Labs  and already is being marketed to the public.

It will use MEG technology. MEG is magnetoencephalography. There are no known risks associated with magnetic source imaging. The procedure is a passive recording technique which does not subject the person to magnetic fields or radiation of any kind.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)  is a non-invasive technique for localizing and characterizing the electrical activity of the central nervous system. MEG detects the magnetic field generated by the longitudinal neuronal current flow of the brain. By detecting this magnetic field, MEG enables physicians and scientists to measure the activity of the brain in real time. The information provided by MEG is entirely different from that provided by Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging. CT and MR imaging provide structural/anatomical information, whereas MEG provides functional mapping information. Also, brain imaging technologies that measure blood flow do not give direct information about brain function and electroencephalography (EEG), which shares MEG’s fine temporal resolution, cannot accurately localize sources without a highly invasive, risky procedure. With MEG, scientists can observe the brain “in action,” without any of the risks associated with other imaging techniques.

• A hope that there is proper, prudent, comprehensive informed consent given to the legal guardians. In the state of Washington, they use the “reasonable patient standard or what would the average patient need to know in order to be an informed participant in the decision? This standard focuses on considering what a patient would need to know in order to understand the decision at hand.
• A hope that there are clear-cut goals. Right now, their goal is stated very broadly. It seems exploratory with seeing if “anything should be done” to mitigate “the effect”. Are they looking for more proof to reduce the number of caregivers that abused and neglected kids live with while in foster care? Are they wanting to target a specific type of treatment for children? It is currently unclear.
• What assumptions will they make on where the abuse and neglect is coming from (will they recognize that abuse and neglect can also occur in the foster care system?)
• How will they differentiate caregiver effect on the brain from abuse or neglect?
• Also the vast majority of children that move through the foster care system are returned to their parents, so will this differentiate the stress effects of being (wrongfully) yanked from a loving home with the stress effects of  abuse and neglect?
• Will they differentiate at all between legally-free kids and kids possibly set to reunite with their families? A rough foster care estimate (from 2009) according to a private foster-care provider was 10,353 children placed in foster care or relative care. There are 6,400 children in licensed foster care in Washington State at any given time with over 500 children in Washington State that are legally free and waiting to be adopted.

UW brain scientists to study foster children
[Seattle Times 4/17/11 by Kevin Graman]