Teenagers' brains affected by preterm birth

Why being preterm could impair memory, learning

2012-11-14

(Press-News.org) New research at the University of Adelaide has demonstrated that teenagers born prematurely may suffer brain development problems that directly affect their memory and learning abilities.

The research, conducted by Dr Julia Pitcher and Dr Michael Ridding from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute, shows reduced 'plasticity' in the brains of teenagers who were born preterm (at or before 37 weeks gestation).

The results of the research are published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Plasticity in the brain is vital for learning and memory throughout life," Dr Pitcher says. "It enables the brain to reorganize itself, responding to changes in environment, behavior and stimuli by modifying the number and strength of connections between neurons and different brain areas. Plasticity is also important for recovery from brain damage.

"We know from past research that preterm-born children often experience motor, cognitive and learning difficulties. The growth of the brain is rapid between 20 and 37 weeks gestation, and being born even mildly preterm appears to subtly but significantly alter brain microstructure, neural connectivity and neurochemistry.

"However, the mechanisms that link this altered brain physiology with behavioral outcomes - such as memory and learning problems - have remained unknown," Dr Pitcher says.

The researchers compared preterm adolescents with those born at term, and also with term-born adults. They used a non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation technique, inducing responses from the brain to obtain a measure of its plasticity. Levels of cortisol, normally produced in response to stress, were also measured to better understand the chemical and hormonal differences between the groups.

"Teenagers born preterm clearly showed reduced neuroplasticity in response to brain stimulation," Dr Pitcher says. "Surprisingly, even very modest preterm birth was associated with a reduced brain response. On the other hand, term-born teenagers were highly 'plastic' compared with adults and the preterm teens.

"Preterm teens also had low levels of cortisol in their saliva, which was highly predictive of this reduced brain responsiveness. People often associate increased cortisol with stress, but cortisol fluctuates up and down normally over each 24-hour period and this plays a critical role in learning, the consolidation of new knowledge into memory and the later retrieval of those memories. This might be important for the development of a possible therapy to overcome the neuroplasticity problem," she says.

### The publication of these research results coincides with the Robinson Institute's Great Expectations for Life campaign, an awareness and fundraising campaign to support research into preterm birth. For more information visit the website: www.greatexpectationsforlife.org

Saturday 17 November is World Prematurity Day.

Media contact:

Dr Julia Pitcher
M.S. McLeod Research Fellow
Robinson Institute
The University of Adelaide
Phone: +61 8 8313 1301
julia.pitcher@adelaide.edu.au END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Life-saving role of heart attack centers confirmed in new study

2012-11-14

Recent studies questioning the role of specialist heart attack centres produced misleading results because doctors tend to send the sickest patients to have the best care, according to new research. Many heart attack patients in the UK are sent to a specialist centre for primary angioplasty - a surgical procedure to reopen the blocked artery. Randomised trials have found that angioplasty is much more successful than drug treatment alone, but research based on "real-world" data suggest that patients given an angioplasty don't tend to do better. Now researchers at Imperial ...

Hormone affects distance men keep from unknown women they find attractive

2012-11-14

Washington, DC — Men in committed relationships choose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive when given the hormone oxytocin, according to new research in the November 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest oxytocin may help promote fidelity within monogamous relationships. Oxytocin plays a vital role in triggering childbirth and facilitating nursing. The hormone, which is produced in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, is also involved in the formation of social bonds. In humans and other ...

Western media coverage of female genital surgeries in Africa called 'hyperbolic' and 'one sided'

2012-11-14

Despite widespread condemnation of female genital surgeries as a form of mutilation and a violation of human rights, an international advisory group argues that the practice is poorly understood and unfairly characterized. In a public policy statement in the Hastings Center Report, the Public Policy Advisory Network on Female Genital Surgeries in Africa, a group that includes doctors, anthropologists, legal scholars, and feminists, argues that media coverage of the practice is hyperbolic and one sided, "painting the now familiar portrait of African female genital surgeries ...

Farm injury risks increase with age

2012-11-14

Older North American farmers work fewer hours than their younger peers but spend more time operating heavy machinery and equipment—raising their risk of serious injury, according to new research from the University of Alberta. A survey of 2,751 Saskatchewan farmers showed that as farmers age they turn to less physically strenuous work such as operating machinery. Farmers aged 45 to 64 years spent six to eight more days a year operating tractors and combines than farmers 20 years their junior—a situation that puts older farmers at risk, say the study authors. "It's important ...

Study demonstrates that earlier end of life care discussions are linked to less aggressive care in final days of life

2012-11-14

In this News Digest: Summary of a study being published online November 13, 2012 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, reporting that earlier discussions about end of life (EOL) care preferences are strongly associated with less aggressive care in the last days of life and increased use of hospice care for patients with advanced cancer. EOL care discussions that took place before the last 30 days of life resulted in less frequent use of chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life and lower use of acute or ICU care in the last 30 days of life, which are both known to ...

Warming temperatures will change Greenland's face

2012-11-14

Global climate models abound. What is harder to pin down, however, is how a warmer global temperature might affect any specific region on Earth. Dr. Marco Tedesco, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at The City College of New York, and a colleague have made the global local. Using a regional climate model and the output of three global climate models, they predict how different greenhouse gas scenarios would change the face of Greenland over the next century and how this would impact sea level rise. The resulting fine-scale model gives a high-resolution ...

Fast food menu options double; calorie counts remain high

2012-11-14

With grilled chicken, salads and oatmeal now on fast food menus, you might think fast food has become healthier. And indeed, there has been greater attention in the media and legislatively, paid to the healthfulness of fast food. But a close look at the industry has found that calorie counts have changed little, while the number of food items has doubled. A study led by Katherine W. Bauer, assistant professor in Temple University's Department of Public Health and Center for Obesity Research and Education, found that the average calorie content of foods offered by eight ...

Study finds high exposure to food-borne toxins

2012-11-14

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In a sobering study published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers at UC Davis and UCLA measured food-borne toxin exposure in children and adults by pinpointing foods with high levels of toxic compounds and determining how much of these foods were consumed. The researchers found that family members in the study, and preschool children in particular, are at high risk for exposure to arsenic, dieldrin, DDE (a DDT metabolite), dioxins and acrylamide. These compounds have been linked to cancer, developmental disabilities, birth defects and ...

Fantasy-reality confusion a primary cause of childhood nighttime fears

2012-11-14

From monsters under the bed to bogeymen in the closet, most children experience nighttime fears at some point in their development. And while most grow out of them without any professional intervention, others contend with persistent and extended periods of these fears, with a risk of developing anxiety problems later in life. As part of a large-scale project on nighttime fears funded by the Israeli Science Foundation, Prof. Avi Sadeh of Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences is exploring how these fears fit into the normal developmental process — and ...

Injectable sponge delivers drugs, cells, and structure

2012-11-14

Cambridge, Mass. – November 13, 2012 – Bioengineers at Harvard have developed a gel-based sponge that can be molded to any shape, loaded with drugs or stem cells, compressed to a fraction of its size, and delivered via injection. Once inside the body, it pops back to its original shape and gradually releases its cargo, before safely degrading. The biocompatible technology, revealed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, amounts to a prefabricated healing kit for a range of minimally invasive therapeutic applications, including regenerative medicine. "What ...

Teenagers' brains affected by preterm birth

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: