Research news and commentary #8 for 2015

Down Syndrome Research Across the Lifespan: A Q and A with (NICHD) Experts
(US) National institute of Child Health and Human Development, 27th October 2015
Thanks to medical advances and other progress, people with Down syndrome are living longer than ever. What do families, communities, and people with Down syndrome need to consider now?

Predicting Obstructive Sleep Apnea in People with Down Syndrome
Skotko et al, poster American Society of Human Genetics conference, 7-8th October 2015, Baltimore

Study led by Temple researchers reveals new link between Down syndrome and Alzheimer's

Temple University (Philadelphia), 2nd November 2015

... In the field of Down syndrome research, the new findings are groundbreaking, and ...  the work could soon lead to the development of a specific GSAP-targeted therapy that is capable of safely mitigating dementia in Down syndrome. Previous γ-secretase inhibiting drugs failed in patients because of their high intrinsic toxicity ...

People with Down syndrome experience higher incidence of depression than other people with learning disabilities according to findings of systematic review

Learning Disabilities Elf, 30th September 2015
... These gaps in understanding can be a barrier to effective diagnosis and treatment. Studies that further our understanding of the prevalence and presentation of mental health problems have the potential to support clinicians to identify and treat mental health problems more effectively in this population.

The purpose of this study was to examine, through a process of systematic review, both the frequency and the nature of depression in the population of people with Down syndrome ...

Growth Charts for Children With Down Syndrome

Bernadette S Zemel et al, Pediatrics, Vol 136, No 5, November 2015

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have lower birth weights and grow more slowly than children without DS. Advances in and increased access to medical care have improved the health and well-being of individuals with DS; however, it is unknown whether their growth has also improved. Our objective was to develop new growth charts for children with DS and compare them to older charts from the United States and more contemporary charts from the United Kingdom ...

• The full text of the research report is free to download as a .pdf file. High resolution images of the graphs are available online under the 'figures and data' tab here.

Global AD-DS Grantee Publishes Research
Global Down Syndrome Foundation, 29th September 2015
Global is dedicated to supporting research focused on the important relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. To this end, Global has co-organized and co-funded the Down Syndrome-Alzheimer’s Disease Investigator Program with the Crnic Institute and the national Alzheimer’s Association.

In 2013, Karen T. Chang, PhD, received one of the grants and was awarded $300,000 to study the functional protein interactions in Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome ...

Using research to change disability policy

Lizzie Grossman, The Justice, 12th October 2015

Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities are a very marginalized population in the world. Many U.S. states in the early 20th century prohibited women with IDD from marrying and procreating. Although they have had the legal right to reproduce since the 1970’s, there is still very little information known about mothers living with IDD or their children ...