Gestational Age

We report on 2 unusual cases of the campomelic syndrome, the first being a fetus in whom the diagnosis was suspected in the 18th week and confirmed sonographically at 20 weeks. The second case concerns a 5 year old 46, XY girl with an exceptional longevity and a relatively favorable evolution.

OBJECTIVE: In adults, one of the major determinants of leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a predictor of age-related diseases and mortality, is cumulative psychosocial stress exposure. More recently we reported that exposure to maternal psychosocial stress during intrauterine life is associated with LTL in young adulthood. The objective of the present study was to determine how early in life this effect of stress on LTL is apparent by quantifying the association of maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy with newborn telomere length.

OBJECTIVE: In adults, one of the major determinants of leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a predictor of age-related diseases and mortality, is cumulative psychosocial stress exposure. More recently we reported that exposure to maternal psychosocial stress during intrauterine life is associated with LTL in young adulthood. The objective of the present study was to determine how early in life this effect of stress on LTL is apparent by quantifying the association of maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy with newborn telomere length.

The polygenic nature of complex psychiatric disorders suggests a common pathway that may be involved in the down-regulation of multiple genes through an epigenetic mechanism. To investigate the role of methylation in down-regulating the expression of mRNAs that may be associated with the schizophrenia phenotype, we have adopted a cell-culture model amenable to this line of investigation.

Glutamatergic signaling is regulated, in part, through differential expression of NMDA and AMPA/KA channel subunits and G protein-coupled metabotropic receptors. In human brain, region-specific expression patterns of glutamate receptor genes are maintained over the course of decades, suggesting a role for molecular mechanisms involved in long-term regulation of transcription, including methylation of lysine residues at histone N-terminal tails.

Radially oriented ensembles of neurons and their projections, termed minicolumns, are hypothesized to be the basic microcircuit of mammalian cerebral cortex. Minicolumns can be divided into a core and a peripheral neuropil space compartment. The core of minicolumns is constrained by the migratory path of pyramidal cells and their attendant radially oriented projections. Variation in minicolumnar morphometry and density is observed both within and across species.

BACKGROUND: The methylation status of the human glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 in newborns has been reported to be sensitive to prenatal maternal mood. This study investigates both the association between maternal cortisol and emotional state during pregnancy and the methylation state of the promoter region of NR3C1 gene. METHODS: We examined 83 pregnant women. Psychological data and diurnal cortisol data were assessed to evaluate maternal stress once each trimester.

Autism affects males more than females, giving rise to the idea that the influence of steroid hormones on early fetal brain development may be one important early biological risk factor.

BACKGROUND: Mothers' self-reported stroking of their infants over the first weeks of life modifies the association between prenatal depression and physiological and emotional reactivity at 7 months, consistent with animal studies of the effects of tactile stimulation. We now investigate whether the effects of maternal stroking persist to 2.5 years. Given animal and human evidence for sex differences in the effects of prenatal stress we compare associations in boys and girls.

BACKGROUND: We sought to identify and characterize predictors of poor fetal growth among variables extracted from perinatal medical records to gain insight into potential etiologic mechanisms. In this process we reevaluated a previously observed association between poor fetal growth and maternal psychiatric disease. METHODS: We evaluated 449 deliveries of >36†weeks gestation that occurred between 9/2008 and 9/2010 at the Women and Infants Hospital in Providence Rhode Island.