Several compelling aruguments have been advanced in support of expanding the use of "behavioral teratology" evaluations as routine components of toxicologic screening procedures. As a basis for development of effective behavioral teratology screening approaches, a conceptual framework is presented which interrelates: (1) changes in relative functional brain capacity with age, (2) possible times...

Teratology is the science that studies the causes, mechanisms, and patterns of abnormal development. The authors present an updated overview of the most important milestones and stages of the development of modern teratology. Development of knowledge and society led to the recognition that causes of congenital developmental disorders (CDDs) might be caused by various mechanical effects, foetal ...

Knowledge about human behavioral teratology/toxicology must necessarily be limited by the methods that can ethically be used. Research in the field is an enterprise calling for tolerance for uncertainty if not chaos. Among the main points of this paper are: (a) Kaufman's criticisms of research on low blood-lead level (BLL) and children's IQ are generally valid and apply to virtually all human n...

In a recent exhibit at the New York Academy of Medicine, I examined the evolution ofteratology (i.e., the study of perceived abnormalities in the natural world, both real and imagined) through the eyes of physicians and philosophers. Based on the exhibit, this paper describes the major interpretations of teratology from Antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century. The term "monster," which i...

The beta-binomial model is widely used for analyzing teratological data involving littermates. Recent developments in statistical analyses of teratological data are briefly reviewed with emphasis on the model. For statistical inference of the parameters in the beta-binomial distribution, separation of the likelihood introduces an likelihood inference. This leads to reducing biases of estimators...

The fact that food can produce adverse effects on behavior has long been known, but efforts to systematically evaluate foods and other chemicals for such effects are a more recent pursuit. The fields that have evolved to assess these effects have come to be termed behavioral toxicology when effects on mature organisms are examined’ and behavioral teratology when the effects on developing organi...