FASD in San Diego and Moscow (U01 Research Project)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current proposal is in response to RFA-AA-03-002 and is part of the consortium application, entitled "Cross-Cultural Assessment of FASD." This RFA calls for, in part, "research to better define and characterize the description of FASD" including identification of core deficits in this population. The current application meets this goal by proposing research aimed at identifying core neuropsychological and neuroanatomical features in children with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in two samples of children in two countries, the United States and Russia. Thirty years of research and practice have confirmed that (1) alcohol is a teratogen, (2) the brain is the organ most sensitive to alcohol's effects, and (3) the effects are of a continuous nature. Questions that remain pertain to whether a profile of core deficits and strengths exists, what this profile tells us about the underlying function of the brain, and whether effects can be accounted for by other environmental circumstances like living environment or general intellectual functioning. The current proposal includes both neuropsychological and brain imaging studies and is aimed at characterizing an FASD phenotype. Importantly, two distinct populations will be assessed, children in San Diego, California, and children in Moscow, Russia. The inclusion of these two populations will allow us to answer important questions relating to the role of environment, culture, and general intellectual functioning in the phenotype of FASD. Children in Moscow will primarily be ascertained from boarding schools and orphanages that house children with subnormal intellectual functioning. We have previously determined the rates of FAS in this population are very high. Children in San Diego will be ascertained from ongoing studies of FASD at the SDSU Center for Behavioral Teratology. Thus, we have the unique opportunity to examine the relationship between FASD, IQ, and living environment in large groups of children. In addition to the unique aspects mentioned above, the current application dovetails with other applications in the consortium, allowing large groups of children with FASD to be examined in several international sites using consistent measures. The opportunity for convergence of data from these multiple sites provides tremendous power to test specific hypotheses regarding the phenotype of FASD.