ment can have a powerful influence on stress levels of the offspring later in life as a result of lasting epigenetic modifications. According to work published in The Joural of Neuroscience, it now seems that just as gene expression can be altered during development, it can also be altered later in life to reverse these modifications. Stress responses are mediated by regulation of the hypothala...

Osteoporotic fracture has a major impact upon health, both in terms of acute and long term disability and economic cost. Peak bone mass, achieved in early adulthood, is a major determinant of osteoporosis risk in later life. Poor early growth predicts reduced bone mass, and so risk of fracture in later life. Maternal lifestyle, body build and 25(OH) vitamin D status predict offspring bone mass....

Primiparous female rats subjected to foot shock and/or immobilization stress were tested for maternal behaviour (MB) by determining the pup retrieval rate (PRR) for 5 minutes. On the third day after parturition PRR significantly decreased when foot shock was given and the fall was more pronounced after immobilization both with and without foot shock. The animals exhibited enhanced MB on the 12t...

BACKGROUND There is debate as to whether maternal tobacco use in pregnancy is related to offspring behaviour later on. We tested this association examining multiple aspects of children's behaviour at age 5 and accounting for parental smoking outside of pregnancy, as well as child and family characteristics. METHODS Data come from a prospective community based birth cohort study (EDEN; n=1113 ...

Breeding for behavioural traits may improve pig welfare and breeding high production decrease welfare. Maternal behaviours important piglet includes savaging, crushing nursing. Behaviours of importance pigs slaughter feeding behaviour, tail biting aggressive behaviour. These are complex large amounts data needed accurate genetic evaluation selection.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a parenting programme, offered universally in primary care, can prevent behavioural problems in children and improve parenting and maternal mental health. DESIGN Cluster randomised trial. SETTING 40 primary care nursing centres (clusters) in Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS 733 English speaking mothers of 8 month old children sequentially recruited from wel...

Social behaviour in the form of parental care is widespread among insects but the evolutionary histories of these traits are poorly known due to the lack of detailed life history data and reliable phylogenies. Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) provide some of the best studied examples of parental care in insects in which maternal care involving egg guarding occurs frequently. The Membracinae...