Word: fetal
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Precisely how PAHs might harm the developing brain is unclear, though more than one mechanism may be at work. "We know from many studies that the developing fetal brain is particularly vulnerable to neurotoxic chemicals," says Perera. "One of the reasons is that it is rapidly developing. The defense mechanisms present in the adult are not present in the fetus: these include detoxification and repair enzymes." Exposure to pollution could cause direct genetic damage or epigenetic changes, which are changes in how genes are expressed...
...pointed out, no one has offered an adequate evolutionary explanation for the relatively recent development of exclusive homosexuality among humans. In January, the journal Evolution and Human Behavior published a paper exploring the idea that certain alleles increase the likelihood of homosexuality by blocking the effect of androgens during fetal development. Having all those alleles hampers the masculinization of some parts of the brain that affect personality, making you gay, the theory goes. Brothers of gay men who have only some of the alleles would turn out straight but less aggressive than typical guys. And because those brothers exhibit less...
...enough of the antibiotic to be effective. Kidney function is so revved up during pregnancy that even in high doses, amoxicillin is excreted before it can work its magic. Think of it as trying to fill a bathtub with the drain open, suggests Jason Umans, an internist and maternal-fetal pharmacologist at Georgetown University. "In emergencies, you always hear, 'Treat the pregnant women first!'" he says. "The joke should be 'Yeah, how?'" (See how the FDA classifies drugs and their effects on pregnancy...
Failing to adhere to the IOM's recommendations could increase health risks for both mother and child, Rasmussen says. Women who do not gain enough weight during pregnancy face an increased risk of stunted fetal growth and preterm delivery. But more commonly, women put on too many extra pounds: approximately 40% of normal-weight and 60% of overweight women gained excessive weight during pregnancy, according to a study published in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; one-fourth of obese women gained more than 35 pounds, the recommended limit for women of healthy weight. (Watch TIME...
...laws, which require that women be shown an ultrasound of the fetus before going ahead with an abortion. The Missouri Senate just passed a bill that would require doctors to talk about a fetus' development and its ability to feel pain. Opponents of "informed consent" laws that talk about fetal pain warn that doing so just causes the woman pain, and call it emotional blackmail. But there is no denying that the battleground has shifted. (Read "The Grass-Roots Abortion...