F ollowing on the seminal observations of Barker and associates (1), maternal hormonal and nutrient environment has been systematically implicated in effects on the developing fetus that ultimately influence susceptibility to a wide range of metabolic, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric diseases in adulthood (2, 3). There is a growing appreciation that perturbations in the maternal environment...

Juvenile female rats show maternal-like behavior toward pups. The purpose of the following experiment was to investigate whether the HPA axis, through the use of early separation manipulations that alter HPA functioning in rats, plays a role in the juvenile response to foster pups. Female rats were early deprived or maternally separated for 5 hours daily from PND 2 to 14 and compared to animal ...

Influences from the parental environment can be transmitted to offspring via parental effects and may profoundly affect the phenotype expressed in subsequent generations, for example, germination season in plants (e.g. Galloway 2001), offspring size (e.g. Naguib & Gil 2005; Taborsky 2006), natal dispersal (e.g. Tschirren et al. 2007) and egg quality (Blount et al. 2002) in several bird and fish...

AIMS To investigate the influence of analytical design on the variability of published results in studies of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). METHODS The results of a prospective case-control study, of 203 cases of SIDS, and 622 control infants are presented. All variables significant on univariate analysis were included in a multivariate model analysed in nine stages, starting with socio...

Maternal nicotine exposure has been associated with many adverse fetal and placental outcomes. Although underlying mechanisms remain elusive, recent studies have identified that augmented endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is linked to placental insufficiency. Moreover, ER function depends on proper disulfide bond formation--a partially oxygen-dependent process mediated by protein disulfide isom...

Early childhood deprivation is associated with an increased risk of attachment disorders and psychopathology. The neural consequences of exposure to stress early in life have used two major rodent models to provide important tools for translational research. Although both models have been termed maternal separation (MS), the paradigms differ in ways that clearly shift the focus of stress betwee...

Objectives To compare changes in inequalities in sudden infant death syndrome with other causes of infant mortality and stillbirth in Scotland, 1985-2008. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Scotland 1985-2008, analysed by four epochs of six years. Participants Singleton births of infants with birth weight >500 g born at 28-43 weeks’ gestation. Main outcomemeasures Sudden infant death sy...