Tocmai a fost dat publicitatii un studiu facut pe orfanii din Romania. Vad ca nimeni n-as scris despre asta, asa ca ma grabesc s-o fac eu.

Zilele astea aflam mai multe despre copilul facut de Guvernator Schwarzenegger cu o fata-n casa sau de cel prapadit pe cale bucala de DSK cu o camerista africana.

Evident, dac-as fi undeva pe stanga, as vedea in povestea cu negresa iubita-n gura cu de-a sila este o metafora superba pentru ce face IMF / FMI cu tarile in curs de dezvoltare cum sunt cele africane, cat si cu cele in curul dezvoltarii, cum suntem noi. Dac-as fi undeva pe dreapta, as zice ca faptul ca acea camerista l-a identificat intr-un police line-up nu-nseamna chiar asa de mult pe cat par sa creada copacii neinstruiti: exista o gramada de studii care demonstreaza ca oamenii faimosi au sanse mai mari de a fi “recunoscuti” nu pentru ca participa in crime, ci pentru ca apar la TV si in ziare.

Dar asta nu ma intereseaza pe cat de mult ma intereseaza studiul realizat de Children's Hospital Boston si Tulane University si publicat in Molecular Psych. Direct de la sursa:

Children with greater exposure to institutional care had significantly shorter relative telomere length in middle childhood. (Gender modified this main effect.) The percentage of time in institutional care at baseline significantly predicted telomere length in females, whereas the percentage of institutional care at 54 months was strongly predictive of telomere length in males. This is the first study to demonstrate an association between telomere length and institutionalization, the first study to find an association between adversity and telomere length in children, and contributes to the growing literature linking telomere length and early adversity.

..si PiaR-u’:

"The telomere is designed to protect the chromosome, so accelerating how early in life telomeres lose length correlates with shortened life span," says Charles Nelson, PhD, director of the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Children's and principal investigator of BEIP. "Children institutionalized early in life have shortened telomeres, which may lead to health consequences downstream, including premature aging."

The actual biological significance of these findings is unknown, but the researchers note that studies in adults have associated shorter telomere length with cognitive defects and with increased rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The BEIP study contributes to a growing body of research linking early adversity with early shortening of telomeres. In 2004, Elizabeth Blackburn (who received a Nobel prize in 2009 for co-discovering telomeres) and Elisa Epel, both at the University of California at San Francisco, reported that women who took care of children with chronic illnesses had shorter telomeres -- the equivalent of having lost 9 to 17 years of life. Other studies have found shorter telomere length in adults who experienced adversity, abuse or serious illness in childhood.

The BEIP study also found a gender difference. In girls, the amount of time spent in the institution before the baseline assessment (done at an average of 22 months of age) was the strongest predictor of telomere shortening during middle childhood; in boys, the cumulative amount of institutional care at the 54-month assessment was the stronger predictor.

"One question we are currently studying is whether telomere length can recover as a child spends more time in foster care, or whether the shortening we observed reflects a permanent change," says Nelson.

The Romanian orphanages, which mostly house children who were abandoned, not orphaned, are infamous for severe child neglect. They are a legacy of the 1960s, when Romania's Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu taxed all families that had fewer than five children. When families began having children they could not afford, Ceausescu built child placement centers. By 1989, when Ceausescu's government fell, more than 170,000 Romanian children were living in state-run institutions.

Vezi si alte articole despre orfani apasand pe tag-ul respectiv, cum ar fi reinceperea adoptiilor si romani peste hotare II.

Sources / More info: prn-studiu, sd-molec, nat-molec, wiki-telomere, gov-cltrl, lat-arnold, tlg-dsk, yt