New Link to ADHD, Call for Health Care Funding, and More: This Week Across the ADD/ADHD Spectrum

Pesticide Exposure Examined for Environmental Link to ADHD

Researchers from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have found a link between exposure to organophosphate (found in pesticides) and an increased risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) symptoms in children. The level of pesticide exposure typically found in U.S. children may pose a risk for an ADD/ADHD diagnosis, the study's authors concluded. [Source: Medical News Today]

NAMI Calls for Medicaid Spending Renewal: Why You Should Care and How You Can Help

The American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act (HR 4213) includes dozens of "must pass" provisions that will extend expiring tax breaks and unemployment benefits, avoid deep cuts in physician payment rates covered by Medicare, and provide assistance to states help reduce cuts in education spending. But what about federal funding for state-run Medicaid programs? The amount of federal dollars each state receives as a part of the government's federal Medicaid match rate (FMAP) program is up for renewal, but the House bill passed without extending the funds. Now, it’s up to the Senate to vote -- and it’s the last chance to make sure FMAP measure gets passed to preserve state funding for Medicaid. The National Alliance on Medical Illness (NAMI) lets you know what you can do. [Source: NAMI]

A Protein to Relieve Anxiety

A new treatment may be in the works for those who suffer anxiety, but it's still in the laboratory phase. Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine have found that administering a specific protein, brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF, helps create a memory of safety in lab rats. Previously, rats only displayed these feelings of reassurance through a process of training their responses to stress exposure. [Source: Science Daily]

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