Zika virus can cause immune and brain abnormalities in asymptomatic pig offspring

Zika virus infection in the womb produces altered immune responses and sex-specific brain abnormalities in apparently healthy pig offspring, according to a study published november 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Uladzimir Karniychuk of the University of Saskatchewan, and colleagues. As noted by the authors, the findings could point to new strategies to prevent and alleviate the long-term […]

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Cannabis during pregnancy bumps psychosis risk in offspring

Pregnant women who use cannabis may slightly increase the risk their unborn child will develop psychosis later in life, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis. “Our research shows that prenatal marijuana exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy is associated with a small increase in psychosis proneness during middle childhood or about age 10,” said Jeremy Fine, an […]

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Father’s diet could affect the long-term health of his offspring

New research has shown that a lack of protein in a father’s diet affects sperm quality which can have a direct impact on the long-term health of their offspring. The study—’Paternal diet programs offspring health through sperm- and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice’—carried out at the University of Nottingham fed male mice a poor quality diet which resulted in their […]

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Intergenerational trauma evident in offspring caring for Holocaust survivor parents

More than 70 years since the end of World War II, there are still signs of intergenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma that are manifested in the way adult offspring of Holocaust survivors care for their elderly parents, according to a new study by researchers at Bar-Ilan University. To this day scholars debate whether intergenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma indeed exists. […]

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