In the late 1950s thalidomide was synthesized and independently introduced in Germany, Great Britain and Japan as a potent sedative drug with few negative side-effects. In 1961 reports came from Germany, Australia and Great Britain (Kosenow and Pfeiffer 1961, MsBride 1961, Wiedeman 1961, Lenz 1962, Smithells 1962) that children were being born with serious malformations that might be associated...

Oxidative stress induced by maternal diabetes plays an important role in the development of cardiac malformations. Zinc (Zn) supplementation of animals and humans has been shown to ameliorate oxidative stress induced by diabetic cardiomyopathy. However, the role of Zn in the prevention of oxidative stress induced by diabetic cardiac embryopathy remains unknown. We analyzed the preventive role o...

Many different malformations of the central nervous system can now be produced in the offspring of animals exposed during pregnancy to x rays, drugs, and dietetic deficiency or excess of vitamins, but proof of environmental causation of analogous human conditions is understandably scarce. Occasional neural, somatic, or gonadal maldevelopment has been reported after the administration to pregnan...

Thromb Haemost 2006; 95: 922–3 Warfarin and other coumarin derivatives acting as vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are teratogenic and may induce the well-defined coumarin or warfarin embryopathy. There is no doubt about the developmental toxic potency of this drug group. However, as with many other drugs it took years or decades to find out more precisely when and how and to what extent a suspected ...

Methotrexate and aminopterin are folic acid antagonists that inhibit dihydrofolate reductase, resulting in a block in the synthesis of thymidine and inhibition of DNA synthesis. Methotrexate has been used for the treatment of malignancy, rheumatic disorders, and psoriasis and termination of intrauterine pregnancy. Recently, methotrexate has become a standard treatment for ectopic pregnancy. The...

The use of anticoagulants in pregnant women is problematic. Many anticoagulants cross the placenta and have the potential to be fetopathic as well as to anticoagulate the fetus. In the early 1980s, a paper by Hall et al. (1) suggested that adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as warfarin embryopathy, an increased risk of miscarriages, anticoagulation of the fetus, and possibly other abnormalities w...

A clinical report is presented of Fusion of maxillary primary central incisors associated with a dental disturbance in the corresponding area of the permanent dentition in a child with other nondentdl malformations. Fusion is the union of two normally separated tooth germs. It may be complete with the formation of one abnormally large tooth, or incomplete with the union of crowns or union of ro...

Immunodeficiency diseases in children can have significant oral manifestations. Oral changes appear to depend on the nature of the host defect. Children with IgA deficiency and hypogammaglobulinemia do not demonstrate severe oral pathology or abnormalities in craniofacial development. Phagocytic ell defects are associated with mucosal esions or rapidly progressive forms of periodontal disease. ...