The purpose of this application is to develop a Consortium for the """"""""Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders"""""""" (CIFASD). The CIFASD will coordinate basic, behavioral, and clinical investigators in a multidisciplinary research project to better inform approaches aimed at developing effective intervention and treatment approaches for FASD. It will involve the input and contributions from basic researchers, behavioral scientists, and clinical investigators with the willingness to utilize novel and cutting edge techniques, not to simply replicate previous or ongoing work, but rather to move the field forward in a rigorous fashion. The first step is to definitively outline a diagnostic schema so that the full range of effects from prenatal exposure to large or moderate amounts of alcohol can be determined. While an abundance of evidence exists on the outcomes following prenatal alcohol exposure, one of the hindrances to developing a full set of criteria for diagnosing FASD has been the lack of adequate numbers of subjects at any single research site. This consortium will integrate researchers from a number of sites, including several international locations, to share common protocols, so that a large number of individuals can be assessed using similar procedures. These sites will interface with cores providing expertise in dysmorphology, behavioral assessment, and brain imaging. We will intergrate the data collected at the various sites in the various domains (dysmorphology, behavior, brain) to develop a comprehensive assessment battery. At the same time, we will develop state of the art methodology to better define the diagnosis and the full range of effects resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. This consortium will also include basic science components, whose long-range goals are aimed at developing effective interventions. The basic science components will inform the clinical components and vice versa. All projects and cores will interface with the Administrative Core and the Informatics Core to provide for the flow of information between the various PIs involved in this consortium. The purpose of this consortium is to provide the answers to much needed questions as it relates to the full spectrum of consequences resulting from prenatal alcohol.
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