Children of older fathers carry an increased risk for developing autism and other disorders. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we investigated the correlation of sperm DNA methylation with paternal age and its impact on the epigenome of the offspring. Methylation levels of nine candidate genes and LINE-1 repeats were quantified by bisulfite pyrosequencing in sperm DNA of 162 donors and 19...

Exposure to maternal malnutrition impairs postnatal health. Acute nutritional stress is less clearly implicated in intrauterine programming. We studied the effects of stressing pregnant mothers on perinatal growth and adult glucose homeostasis. We compared one group ("stressed", mothers fasted for 16 hours) with controls ("unstressed"). We found that fasting stress had adverse effects on the we...

background: singleton pregnancy with a live birth beyond 37 weeks of gestation is the ultimate goal of any assisted reproductive technology. however, singletons conceived after art are found to have a poor perinatal outcome in comparison to naturally conceived singletons. it was hypothesized that the outcome of singleton conceived after transfer of two or more embryos may be dependent on the sh...

background the hippocampus is responsible for memory. a diet full of antioxidants improves brain damage and cognitive function. regard the antioxidant effects of zingiber officinalis (ginger) and its flavonoids components. objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the extract of ginger on memory by using hippocampus tissue of the male offspring of rats. materials and method...

IMPORTANCE Between 1978 and 2010, approximately 5 million infants were born after in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. Yet limited information on neurodevelopment after IVF exists, especially after the first year of life. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between use of any IVF and different IVF procedures and the risk of autistic disorder and mental retardation in the offspring. DES...