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Early Life Events (early + life_event)
Selected AbstractsEarly life events and their consequences for later disease: A life history and evolutionary perspectiveAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Peter D. Gluckman Biomedical science has little considered the relevance of life history theory and evolutionary and ecological developmental biology to clinical medicine. However, the observations that early life influences can alter later disease risk,the "developmental origins of health and disease" (DOHaD) paradigm,have led to a recognition that these perspectives can inform our understanding of human biology. We propose that the DOHaD phenomenon can be considered as a subset of the broader processes of developmental plasticity by which organisms adapt to their environment during their life course. Such adaptive processes allow genotypic variation to be preserved through transient environmental changes. Cues for plasticity operate particularly during early development; they may affect a single organ or system, but generally they induce integrated adjustments in the mature phenotype, a process underpinned by epigenetic mechanisms and influenced by prediction of the mature environment. In mammals, an adverse intrauterine environment results in an integrated suite of responses, suggesting the involvement of a few key regulatory genes, that resets the developmental trajectory in expectation of poor postnatal conditions. Mismatch between the anticipated and the actual mature environment exposes the organism to risk of adverse consequences,the greater the mismatch, the greater the risk. For humans, prediction is inaccurate for many individuals because of changes in the postnatal environment toward energy-dense nutrition and low energy expenditure, contributing to the epidemic of chronic noncommunicable disease. This view of human disease from the perspectives of life history biology and evolutionary theory offers new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and intervention. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:1,19, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Early life modulators and predictors of adult synaptic plasticityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2006Katherine G. Akers Abstract Early life experience can induce long-lasting changes in brain and behaviour that are opposite in direction, such as enhancement or impairment in regulation of stress response, structural and functional integrity of the hippocampus, and learning and memory. To explore how multiple early life events jointly determine developmental outcome, we investigated the combined effects of neonatal trauma (anoxia on postnatal day 1, P1) and neonatal novelty exposure (P2,21) on adult social recognition memory (3 months of age) and synaptic plasticity in the CA1 of the rat hippocampus (4.5,8 months of age). While neonatal anoxia selectively reduced post-tetanic potentiation (PTP), neonatal novel exposure selectively increased long-term potentiation (LTP). No interaction between anoxia and novelty exposure was found on either PTP or LTP. These findings suggest that the two contrasting neonatal events have selective and distinct effects on two different forms of synaptic plasticity. At the level of behaviour, the effect of novelty exposure on LTP was associated with increased social memory, and the effect of anoxia on PTP was not accompanied by changes in social memory. Such a finding suggests a bias toward the involvement of LTP over PTP in social memory. Finally, we report a surprising finding that an early behavioural measure of emotional response to a novel environment obtained at 25 days of age can predict adult LTP measured several months later. Therefore, individual differences in emotional responses present during the juvenile stage may contribute to adult individual differences in cellular mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. [source] A comparison of early family life events amongst monozygotic twin women with lifetime anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or major depressionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 8 2007Tracey D Wade PhD Abstract Objectives: To investigate the differential profile of early family life events associated with lifetime anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and major depression (MD). Method: Only data from the monozygotic twins (n = 622) were examined from a community sample of female twins who had participated in three waves of data collection. Eating disorder and MD diagnoses were ascertained from the Eating Disorder Examination at Wave 3 and interview at Wave 2 respectively. Early family events were ascertained from self-report measures at Waves 1 and 3. Two case control designs were used, including a comparison of women: (1) who had lifetime AN, BN, MD, and controls, and (2) twin pairs discordant for either AN, BN, or MD (where the unaffected cotwin formed the control group). Results: Across the two types of designs, compared to controls, both AN and BN were associated with more comments from the family about weight and shape when growing up. AN was uniquely associated with higher levels of paternal protection while BN was associated with higher levels of parental expectations. Conclusion: While some overlap among early life events was indicated, especially related to parental conflict and criticism, there was evidence to support some degree of nonoverlap among life events associated with AN, BN, and MD. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2007 [source] Need to establish a national diagnostic capacity for foetal alcohol spectrum disordersJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 3 2009Raewyn Mutch Abstract Alcohol exposure in pregnancy can induce a broad range of physical and developmental defects in the child, collectively known as foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). In Australia, there are proven gaps in our knowledge and practice for recognising and diagnosing FASD. The challenge for the Australian health professional is agreeing on a model for diagnosing and treating FASD. The diagnostic method must be evidence based, sensitive and specific, and account for other exposures during pregnancy and early life events. Training in application of the diagnostic method needs to be readily available in metropolitan and regional Australia. The University of Washington FASD 4-digit diagnostic code fulfils all of these best practice criteria, recommending itself as the method of choice. [source] Atopy among schoolchildren in northern and southern Sweden in relation to pet ownership and early life eventsPEDIATRIC ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 1 2001L. Bråbäck Studies have suggested a higher prevalence of asthma and allergies in northern, as compared to southern, Scandinavia. The aim of this study was to evaluate regional differences in atopy in relation to pet ownership and certain early life events among schoolchildren (n = 2108) aged 10,11 years from Linköping in southern Sweden and Östersund in northern Sweden. The parents completed a questionnaire, comprising questions on home environment, heredity, socio-economic conditions, and the core questions on symptoms from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. The children were skin-prick tested to eight common inhalant allergens. Information on maternal smoking habits, gestational age, and anthropometric measures were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry. The prevalence of atopic symptoms and sensitization to pollen were similar in Östersund and in Linköping. A higher prevalence of sensitization to animal dander among children in Östersund could be linked to a higher occurrence of pets in the community. Current cat ownership was related to less sensitivity to cat allergen but only in children with an atopic heredity. Ponderal index > 30 kg/m3 was related to an increased risk of atopic sensitization, both in Linköping (adjusted odds ratio 2.1; 95% confidence interval 1.1,4.0) and in Östersund (adjusted odds ratio 2.0; 95% confidence interval 1.1,3.5). Maternal smoking during pregnancy was related to an increased risk of atopic sensitization among children in Linköping, whereas current smoking was associated with a decreased risk of sensitization in Östersund. In conclusion, we demonstrated that a high occurrence of pets in the community was associated with sensitization, whereas atopic symptoms were essentially unaffected. This study has also suggested an association between body size at birth and atopic sensitization at 10,11 years of age. [source] Strategies for early prevention of asthmaCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY REVIEWS, Issue 2004Fernando Maria De Benedictis Summary Asthma is the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease in childhood. Pathogenesis of the disease has received much attention lately as the last few decades have seen such a global rise in prevalence. There is hope to reverse this trend in prevalence by developing new preventive strategies. Here, we summarize the recent evidence for the role of early life events such as prenatal factors, infections, pollution, allergen exposure, nutrition, and discuss the implications for future strategies for asthma prevention. [source] | |||||||||||||