http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical found in household plastics. Previous studies on rodents show that BPA exposure is associated with problems with brain and behavioral development. There is evidence that, in human children, exposure to BPA adversely affects neurological development and emotional regulation and leads to increased aggression. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Frances Champagne and her team at Columbia University in New York reveal that mice exposed to BPA when in the womb experience sex-based epigenetic changes that affect brain tissue development and sex-specific behaviors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-bpa-affects-sex-based-behavior-mice.html Health Tue, 28 May 2013 16:50:02 EST news288977996 Food and environment can chemically alter your gene function and scientists have identified a gene that is consistently altered in obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-scientists-gene-obese-individuals.html Genetics Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:42:17 EST news283084872 (Medical Xpress)—A new study in a mouse model has shown that neuropsychiatric disorders in adults were more likely to develop if the mice had suffered immune challenges before birth and stresses after birth. The study also demonstrated that there are interactions between environmental factors that increase the likelihood of brain disorders developing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-combination-stresses-brain-disorders.html Medical research Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:45:33 EST news281339107 Exposing pregnant mice to low doses of the chemical tributyltin (TBT) – which was used in marine antifouling paints and is used as an antifungal agent in some paints, certain plastics and a variety of consumer products – can lead to obesity for multiple generations without subsequent exposure, a UC Irvine study has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fetal-exposure-tributyltin-linked-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:42:02 EST news278268114 Exposing pregnant mice to low doses of the chemical tributyltin – which is used in marine hull paint and PVC plastic – can lead to obesity for multiple generations without subsequent exposure, a UC Irvine study has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fetal-exposure-pvc-plastic-chemical.html Health Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:08 EST news277404251 (Medical Xpress)—Yellow coat color mice in Cheryl Rosenfeld's lab are not fortunate sons and daughters.Conventional knowledge says these mice will likely live fatter, more diseased lives than their black, brown and mottled (tiger-striped) siblings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-previous-bpa.html Medical research Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:23:46 EST news276359010 Mice with a condition that serves as a laboratory model for Down syndrome perform better on memory and learning tasks as adults if they were treated before birth with neuroprotective peptides, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-prenatal-intervention-deficit-mice.html Medical research Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:09:51 EST news273488980 A brief kick to the immune system of a pregnant mouse can cause persistent changes in the brains of the offspring, according to new research from the University of California, Davis, Center for Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-immune-pregnant-mice-affects-offspring.html Medical research Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:35:51 EST news270462929 A new report involving mice suggests that a relationship exists between maternal metabolic or psychological stress and the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in her offspring. What's more, the report shows that if the stress cannot be reduced or eliminated, manipulating the neuropeptide Y (NPY) system in visceral fat may prevent maternal stress-induced obesity from occurring in the next generation. This discovery is reported in the August 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-stress-pregnancy-abdominal-obesity-mice.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:52:19 EST news262950696 Pregnant mice exposed to high levels of air pollution gave birth to offspring with a significantly higher rate of obesity and insulin resistance in adulthood than those that were not exposed to air pollution. This effect seemed especially prevalent in male mice, which were heavier regardless of diet. These findings, published online in the FASEB Journal, suggests a link between diesel exhaust exposure in utero and bulging waistlines in adulthood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-utero-exposure-diesel-exhaust-factor.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:46:24 EST news261920770 Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical found in many common plastic household items, can cause numerous genes in the uterus to respond differently to estrogen in adulthood, according to a study using a mouse model. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-bpa-exposure-pregnant-mice-gene.html Health Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:00:08 EST news259925034 A pregnant woman's blood stream contains not only her own cells, but a small number of her child's, as well, and some of them remain in her internal organs long after the baby is born. Understanding the origin and identity of these cells is vital to understanding their potential effects on a mother's long-term health. For example, fetal cells have been found at tumor sites in mothers, but it is unknown whether the cells are helping to destroy the tumor or to speed its growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-fetal-cells-migrate-maternal-pregnancy.html Medical research Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:00:41 EST news258217179 (HealthDay) -- Your DNA might help dictate how your skin changes with age, one expert says. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-genes-key-aging-skin.html Genetics Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:50:30 EST news251142626 Female mouse fetuses exposed to very high doses of a common industrial chemical that makes plastics more pliable develop significant reproductive alterations and precancerous lesions as they grow up, according to a new toxicology study conducted at Brown University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-highly-exposed-phthalates-fetuses-female.html Medical research Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:10:46 EST news251122237 Bisphenol A (BPA), a common component of plastic used in many consumer products, has recently become infamous -- and banned in some places -- because it can mimic natural estrogen in the body. A new study by Brown University toxicologists, however, finds that male mice whose mothers were exposed even to high doses of BPA while pregnant developed no signs of harm to their testes as adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-mice-bpa-utero.html Medical research Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:42:54 EST news235910555 Individuals with cancer often do not die as a result of their initial tumor but as a result of tumors at distant sites that are derived from the initial tumor. Pregnancy is a condition that seems to be permissive for tumor dissemination, as breast tumors arising during pregnancy display a tendency for early spread to distant sites (metastasis). Research in mice, led by Ivan Stamenkovic, at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, has now uncovered a possible reason for this. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-immune-cells-link-pregnancy-tumor.html Cancer Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:01:40 EST news226584084