1991 Gulf War (GW) veterans continue to experience debilitating cognitive and mood problems more than two decades following their return from deployment. Suspected causes for these cognitive complaints include additive and/or synergistic effects of the varying combinations of exposures to chemicals in theater, including pesticides and pyridostigmine bromide (PB) pills.

This landmark study published in Lancer finds that toxic air, water, soils and workplaces kill at least 9 millon people and cost trillions of dollars every year. Pollution kills more people in India than anywhere else in the world revealed the study.

Maternal folic acid (FA) protects against developmental toxicity from certain environmental chemicals. The researchers examined combined exposures to maternal FA and pesticides in relation to autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Original Source

Natural environments, including green spaces, may have beneficial impacts on brain development. However, longitudinal evidence of an association between long-term exposure to green spaces and cognitive development (including attention) in children is limited. The researchers evaluated the association between lifelong residential exposure to green space and attention during preschool and early primary school years.

Original Source

Researchers describe long-term functional, neurodiagnostic, and psychosocial outcomes of a cohort of 12 children from Colorado diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in 2014.

Original Source

CYP1A1 gene is involved in estrogen metabolism, and previously, we have reported association of variant rs2606345 with altered anti-epileptic drugs (AED) response in North Indian women with epilepsy (WWE). The present study aims to replicate the pharmacogenetic association, perform functional characterization and study its distribution within ethnically diverse Indian population. The variant was genotyped in 351 patients to assess the pharmacogenetic association and 552 healthy individuals belonging to 24 different ethnic groups to examine the distribution in Indian population.

The molecular underpinnings of the dissociation of cognitive performance and neuropathological burden are poorly understood, and there are currently no known genetic or epigenetic determinants of the dissociation.

Original Source

The English and Romanian Adoptees study is a longitudinal, natural experiment investigation into the long-term outcomes of individuals who spent from soon after birth to up to 43 months in severe deprivation in Romanian institutions before being adopted into the UK.

Brain and cognitive development during the first 1000 days from conception are affected by multiple biomedical and socioenvironmental determinants including nutrition, health, nurturing, and stimulation. An improved understanding of the long-term influence of these factors is needed to prioritise public health investments to optimise human development.

Original Source