My Healthy Body

FDA approves new autism diagnostic aid
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulty with social interaction and communication, as well as restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior. It is a common disorder, diagnosed in about one in 54 children. ASD is usually diagnosed by a clinician with expertise in the field such as a developmental pediatrician, child neurologist, or psychiatrist. The diagnostic process often involves lengthy clinical assessments or standardized testing batteries that take several hours to administer. Therefore, wait times for an ASD evaluation can be very long.

While symptoms of ASD may appear as early as 18 months, and diagnosis can be made reliably by age 2, many children do not receive the diagnosis of ASD until much later, resulting in treatment delays during a critical developmental period. A timely diagnosis is extremely important because it is needed to receive appropriate early intensive intervention services, which are more successful if started during the early developmental period. The complex referral and evaluation process accentuates healthcare inequities, with delays to diagnosis being largest in children who are nonwhite, female, live in rural areas, or have low socioeconomic status.

The endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious

Many of us have heard of some of the transmitter systems within our bodies, such as the sympathetic nervous system, which gives us our fight-or-flight response. Fewer have heard of the more recently discovered endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is amazing when you consider that the ECS is critical for almost every aspect of our moment-to-moment functioning. The ECS regulates and controls many of our most critical bodily functions such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating. The ECS is currently at the center of renewed international research and drug development.

What is the ECS?
The ECS comprises a vast network of chemical signals and cellular receptors that are densely packed throughout our brains and bodies. The "cannabinoid" receptors in the brain — the CB1 receptors — outnumber many of the other receptor types on the brain. They act like traffic cops to control the levels and activity of most of the other neurotransmitters. This is how they regulate things: by immediate feedback, turning up or down the activity of whichever system needs to be adjusted, whether that is hunger, temperature, or alertness.

Time to hire a caregiver? 3 tips to help
Hiring caregivers to come into your home can be an effective way to continue living independently despite physical or cognitive challenges. Caregivers can assist you with a wide range of tasks, such as preparing meals, managing medications, helping your bathe or dress, doing laundry or light housework, and changing bed linens.

But it’s not always easy to bring strangers into the sanctity of your home, where they see you at your most vulnerable and learn extremely personal information about you. "Some people are very modest and don’t feel comfortable with the arrangement. That can be stressful, and it can take a while before they feel better about it," notes Dr. Suzanne Salamon, associate chief of gerontology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

She recommends three ways to cope when you bring hired caregivers into your home.

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