Your Peace-of-Mind Holiday Gifts/ An Electronic Babycalm Machine

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FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER Sacramento, California http://www.feat.org

" Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet "

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November 17, 2000

Also: * Psychologist Comes Up With An Electronic " Babycalm " Machine

* Connecticut Art And Autism At RAW

* 15 Million Watch 60 Minutes Report

* Study Indicates That Brain Wiring is Largely Inborn

Your Peace-of-Mind Holiday Gifts/ An Electronic " Babycalm " Machine

Safety Products and Services

http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Children/Safety_Products_and_Services/

[if you’re one who likes giving and receiving practical gifts, here's

something a little different you can give to the whole family: items that

reduce stress by providing safety. This directory comes from The Open

Directory Project whose stated goal is “to produce the most comprehensive

directory of the web, by relying on a vast army of volunteer editors.” (A

perfect project for the obsessed list keepers in the family). These are the

first few listings from the Safety Products and Services section so you can

get a feel for what’s there.]

Ace Toys – http://www.acetoys.com/sfstore/frontpage.html

Great selection of products to keep you children safe. We carry gates,

electrical, bathroom, kitchen and window safety items and much more.

ANZ Publications – http://www.anzpublications.com

Specialty medical and dental binders to keep children's medical treatment

records organized.

Autosafe-Nation – http://www.autosafe-nation.com

Offering product that helps in restraining child-seats and booster seats in

passenger carrying vehicles.

Baby Guard Fence – http://www.babyguardfence.com/index.html

Baby Guard manufactures and installs quality pool fences.

Babyguard – http://www.babyguard.com

Safety information and product offerings to create a child safe home

environment.

Babyproofers of Portland, LLC – http://www.baby-proofers.com

Home safety information (babyproofing) and products for children age 0-3.

BeeperKid – http://www.beeperkid.com/

Suitable for children as well as adults with Alzheimer's Disease.

The Browser Mall –

http://www.browsermall.com/baby_gifts/ChildSafety.htm

An electronic sounding and tracking system to locate a child who is lost in

a crowd. It is also useful for adult joggers as a protectivedevice.

Bubble Head – http://www.bubbleheadinc.com/

A bathtub faucet protector as well as a decorative bubble bath or liquid

soap dispenser.

Bumper Anchor – http://www.bumperanchor.com

Crib bedding with a safety feature.

Carolina Baby Safe – http://www.carolinababysafe.com

Baby proofing tips and high quality, effective products to make your home a

safer environment.

C.E.O Video – http://www.ceo-video.com/

Many types of video surveillance products to protect your loved ones and

property.

Child Guard – http://www.futureplanet.com.au

Protection device worn by both adult and child. Alarm sounds when child

moves a preset distance from adult.

Child Home Accident Prevention Service – http://www.webnow.com/chaps

Child-proofing, CPR and first aid training, home inspections as well as

helpful consultations.

* * *

Welsh Psychologist Comes Up With An Electronic " Babycalm " Machine

[From the Deutsche Press-Agentur (dpa).]

http://www.psycport.com/2000/11/16/eca/0128-0347-Science-Lullaby.

London (dpa) - A Welsh psychologist on Thursday presented to the

public an electronic lullaby machine guaranteed to calm the most frantic

baby, based on universal lullaby patterns he discovered in the course of his

research into a variety of cultures.

researched lullabies from all over the world and

discovered they have the same pattern, similar to the higher frequencies of

the heart. He based his Babycalm machine on these patterns.

" The foetal ear cannot hear below a certain frequency and so when it

hears the mother's heart, it cannot hear the “boom boom.” It hears the

equivalent of a lullaby, " said. All parents have to do is play their

baby the specially selected lullabies for 20 minutes every morning and

evening while it is still in the womb, he added.

" A baby can be really screaming, literally bright red in the face, and

within a matter of seconds of hearing the Babycalm it stops. It works with

any baby as long as it's played to it during the later stages of pregnancy -

from 16 to 27 weeks. "

The Babycalm was a by-product of research , who is based in

Abergavenny in South Wales, conducted in 1991 into the development of

language using music as a stimulus, and the key to its success is the unique

design of the musical themes, which feature musical structures identified in

lullabies found all around the world.

also believes the method may help children to develop language

skills as it stimulates the baby's receptiveness to sound frequencies. The

device comes complete with a teddy bear and carrying pouch. It goes on sale

in January and will cost 149 pounds (~$210 dollars) over the Internet on

http://www.babycalm.com Copyright 2000 dpa Deutsche Press-Agentur GmbH

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* * *

Connecticut Art And Autism At RAW

[From The Hartford Courant. By Owen McNally]

http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?fromspage=AE/genListing/genListin

g.htm & categoryid=146 & only=y & bfromind=352 & eeid=3451367 & eetype=article & render=

y & ck= & userid=206553684 & userpw=. & uh=206553684,2, & ver=2.11 <- - address ends

here. whew.

With the increased interest in " outsider art, " three Connecticut

artists diagnosed as autistic have been garnering national attention with

their work.

In a series of three solo exhibitions collectively called " Pure

Vision,'' Real Art Ways will show the works of these artists in a sequence

beginning with the opening show Saturday night. The series will be presented

in RAW's Loading Dock Gallery, in the lobby of the contemporary arts center.

The schedule features Kerri Quirk of Mansfield Saturday through Dec.

12, Ricky Hagedorn (his " 1976 Chevy Estate Wagon, " enamel model

paint-on-wood shingle, 1979, is shown above) of Watertown Dec. 16 through

Jan. 9 and Platt, also of Watertown, Jan. 13 through Feb. 11.

Each opening will be marked by a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Curators

Margaret Bodell and Greene will attend.

Quirk's colored-pencil drawings of fruit, vegetables and flowers stand

out for their brilliant colors and layered patches.

Hagedorn paints cars and airplanes on wood shingles using enamel and

acrylic paint. He annotates his works with his own hieroglyphic system.

Using his personal form of notation in a reference book, he records his

commentary on the environment around him at the time his works are created.

In another key, ritualisic part of his artistic process, he has visitors

pose in various positions with one of his artworks in-progress. He records

these " art poses " with his instamatic camera.

Platt uses pen and ink to render precise images of mansions and

jewelry design. He draws one mansion a day, which he says serves as a home

for a doctor, a lawyer or a psychiatrist.

RAW is at 56 Arbor St., Hartford. Loading Dock Gallery hours: Tuesday

through Sunday, 2 to 8 p.m. Admission: free. Information: .

* * *

15 Million Watch 60 Minutes Report

According to CBS 60 Minutes, the recent segment dealing with MMR

Vaccine and Autism was watched by roughly 15 million people. It was the

highest rated news magazine for the week. “Thank you all for watching,” says

Rick Rollens, “and for discussing the implications of the content of the

piece among friends and neighbors.” More coverage on the issues of autism

and vaccines to come.

* * *

Study Indicates That Brain Wiring is Largely Inborn

http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/duke-sit111300.html

Durham, N.C. - Neurobiologists at Duke University Medical Center

mapping the developing visual systems of newborn ferrets have discovered

evidence challenging the long-held view that the brain's circuitry is

largely wired by experience. Rather, they contend, much of the circuitry is

inborn, with experience acting merely to preserve and enhance existing

connections.

The finding, published in the Nov. 17 Science, calls into question a

fundamental tenet of brain development that early sensory stimulation is

critical to the basic wiring of the brain.

Reporting the studies are graduate student Crowley and

Medical Institute investigator Lawrence Katz. Besides

Medical Institute, their work also was supported by the National Institutes

of Health.

Crowley and Katz studied newborn ferrets because the animals' visual

wiring is the equivalent of that of other mammals still in the fetal stage.

The researchers' objective was to detect " ocular dominance columns " in a

visual area of the brain called the visual cortex. The presence of these

alternating stripe-like columns of nerve fibers constitutes evidence that

the visual system has established a basic component of the adult visual

circuit, forming groups of nerve cells in the visual cortex that respond to

input from one eye or the other.

The scientists used an innovative surgical technique that allowed them

to inject tracer dye more precisely in order to reveal the neural

connections from the eye within the cortex. They first reported use of the

tracer technique to reveal ocular dominance columns in adult ferrets in a

December 1999 article in Nature Neuroscience.

The latest studies clearly revealed the presence of columns in the

newborn animals' brains earlier than ever suspected, Katz said, and the

scientists' measurements showed that in size, spacing and arrangement the

columns closely resembled those previously found in adult animals.

Importantly, when the researchers traced the columns in newborn

ferrets that received visual information from only one eye, those animals

still showed normal development of the columns. This finding confirmed that

the columns did not require information from the eyes to develop normally.

" For about three decades, ocular dominance columns have served as

something of a Rosetta Stone for understanding how brain circuits are wired,

and in particular for understanding the role of neural activity and

experience in constructing them, " said Katz. " The prevailing idea has been

that activity is critical for establishing brain circuits.

" Until now, the concept has been that neural connections in young

animals were not specified very accurately, and that experience and

environment were needed to refine initially crude connections, by a process

of elimination, into the adult pattern, " Katz said.

" The critical finding in our study was that this is not the case.

Rather, we found that these columns were present as early as we looked for

them, and they are basically as well formed as structures in an adult.

" This finding, in a way, addresses the whole question of nature versus

nurture, " said Katz. " It questions the notion that the young animal and its

neural connections are either a 'blank slate' or a poorly specified version

of the adult's. Rather, our findings suggest that the brain of an animal or

human starts life with a pretty good idea of what to expect that it

possesses an initial template of circuitry representing a 'best-guess' of

what experiences the animal will encounter. If normal experience ensues,

this template is preserved and enhanced. But if the animal encounters

something different during a critical period immediately after birth,

there's some possibility of altering these connections. "

Added Crowley, " The assumption that activity was important in

initially constructing these circuits was based on good data from animals on

the remodeling of circuits by visual experience during the critical period.

These data led investigators to believe that the influences on wiring

connections during this later period were the same ones that wired them

during establishment of the circuitry. It was a good guess, but not

necessarily a correct one. "

According to Katz, the findings emphasize the importance of current

scientific efforts to discover the intricate molecular cues that guide the

initial wiring of the brain.

" While until now many scientists had searched for the mechanism by

which activity drives neuronal competition to form certain brain structures,

we're now offering evidence that it may not be competition at all. Rather,

neurons in developing animals may initially form connections based on

molecular labels. We believe that the search for these guidance molecules is

critical to understanding the initial stages of brain wiring. "

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