Genetics

Gene responsible for severe facial defects identified

Goldenhar syndrome is a rare congenital disease, affecting early fetal development. This syndrome includes malformations of varying severity, affecting different parts of the face. Its causes and modes of transmission are ...

Obstetrics & gynaecology

Maternal microbes mediate diet-derived damage

New research in The Journal of Physiology has found, using a mouse model, that microbes in the maternal intestine may contribute to impairment of the gut barrier during pregnancy.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Prenatal testosterone levels influence later response to reward

New findings led by Dr. Michael Lombardo, Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues at the University of Cambridge indicate that testosterone levels early in fetal development influence later sensitivity of brain regions related ...

Medical research

Fetuses yawn in the womb, according to new research

The 4D scans of 15 healthy fetuses, by Durham and Lancaster Universities, also suggest that yawning is a developmental process which could potentially give doctors another index of a fetus' health.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Zika study reveals how infection can cause microcephaly

Prenatal exposure to viruses capable of infecting the fetal brain, particularly in the first trimester, can cause a range of developmental defects in the baby. The Zika epidemic in Brazil during 2015–16 posed an extreme ...

Neuroscience

Astroglia zip the two halves of the brain together

Scientists have identified the cellular origins of the corpus callosum, the 200 million nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain. A study of mice and human brains published on October 11 in Cell Reports ...

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