introduction: environmental pollution with heavy metals such as mercury is a major health problem. growing studies on the field have shown the deleterious effects of mercury on human and nonhuman nervous system, especially in infants, however the effects of prenatal exposure to mercuricchloride on cortical development are not yet well understood. the aim of this study was to investigate the eff...

Prenatal life encompasses a critical phase of human brain development, but neurodevelopmental consequences of normative differences in prenatal growth among full-term pregnancies remain largely uncharted. Here, we combine the power of a within-monozygotic twin study design with longitudinal neuroimaging methods that parse dissociable components of structural brain development between ages 3 and...

Any discussion of the developmental outcomes and intervention needs of children whose parents abuse alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs (ATOD) must consider the development of the whole child in the context of prenatal and postnatal environments which are often filled with developmental risks. The discussions to date concerning the effects which maternal abuse of ATOD may have on the developme...

Experimental animal models have demonstrated that one of the primary consequences of prenatal stress is increased fear and anxiety in the offspring. Few prospective human studies have evaluated the consequences of prenatal stress on anxiety during preadolescence. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the consequences of prenatal exposure to both maternal biological stress signals an...