Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine on the Developing Brain: An Authoritative Guide

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1072-1073
Author(s):  
Doug Johnson-Greene

Brain Development: Normal Processes and the Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine. Michael W. Miller (Ed.). 2006. New York: Oxford University Press, 424 pp., $98.50 (HB)The process of brain development is an essential yet often overlooked area in the neuropsychological literature. The topic has a natural appeal to those who work with children where developmental disorders predominate. However, it is often more difficult for those who work with adults to appreciate the role of developmental aberrations and their contribution to pathological processes that may seem far removed from the early developmental history of our patients. The tendency for some to deemphasize early developmental influences may stem in part from a lack of clarity about how common toxin exposures, such as alcohol and nicotine, alter normal brain development and contribute to changes in cognitive function. Increasingly, evidence of early developmental influences has emerged in a host of epigenetically-based developmental disorders and neuropathological conditions, such as schizophrenia, and these influences are also implicated in theoretical models, such as cognitive reserve.

Epigenomics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew M Shafik ◽  
Emily G Allen ◽  
Peng Jin

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a dynamic RNA modification that regulates various aspects of RNA metabolism and has been implicated in many biological processes and transitions. m6A is highly abundant in the brain; however, only recently has the role of m6A in brain development been a focus. The machinery that controls m6A is critically important for proper neurodevelopment, and the precise mechanisms by which m6A regulates these processes are starting to emerge. However, the role of m6A in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases still requires much elucidation. This review discusses and summarizes the current body of knowledge surrounding the function of the m6A modification in regulating normal brain development, neurodegenerative diseases and outlines possible future directions.


Development ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 122 (11) ◽  
pp. 3453-3465 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Stoykova ◽  
R. Fritsch ◽  
C. Walther ◽  
P. Gruss

Pax6 is a member of the Pax gene family of transcriptional regulators that exhibits a restricted spatiotemporal expression in the developing central nervous system, eye and nose. Mutations in Pax6 are responsible for inherited malformations in man, rat and mouse. To evaluate the role of Pax6 in forebrain development, we studied in detail mouse Small eye/Pax6 mutant brains. This analysis revealed severe defects in forebrain regions where Pax6 is specifically expressed. The establishment of some expression boundaries along the dorsoventral axis of the secondary prosencephalon is distorted and the specification of several ventral structures and nuclei is abolished. Specifically, the development of the hypothalamo-telencephalic transition zone and the ventral thalamus is distorted. Our detailed analysis included a comparison of the expression of Pax6, Dlx1 and several other genes during embryonic mouse brain development in wild-type and in the mutant Small eye (Sey) brain. The results from the analysis of normal brain development show that the restricted expression of Pax6 and Dlx1 at E12.5 dpc respect domains within the forebrain, consistent with the implications of the prosomeric model for the organisation of the forebrain (L. Puelles and J. L. R. Rubenstein (1993) Trends Neurosci. 16, 472–479). Furthermore, we found an early restriction of Pax6 and Dlx1 expression into presumptive histogenetic fields that correlate with the formation of distinct forebrain structures and nuclei. Our results are discussed in light of changes in adhesive properties in the Sey brain that might control segregation, assembly and cell migration of progenitors of specific forebrain regions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-770
Author(s):  
Csaba Pléh

Danziger, Kurt: Marking the mind. A history of memory . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008Farkas, Katalin: The subject’s point of view. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008MosoninéFriedJudités TolnaiMárton(szerk.): Tudomány és politika. Typotex, Budapest, 2008Iacobini, Marco: Mirroring people. The new science of how we connect with others. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2008Changeux, Jean-Pierre. Du vrai, du beau, du bien.Une nouvelle approche neuronale. Odile Jacob, PárizsGazzaniga_n


Author(s):  
Andrea Harris

The Conclusion briefly examines the current state of the New York City Ballet under the auspices of industrial billionaire David H. Koch at Lincoln Center. In so doing, it to introduces a series of questions, warranting still more exploration, about the rapid and profound evolution of the structure, funding, and role of the arts in America through the course of the twentieth century. It revisits the historiographical problem that drives Making Ballet American: the narrative that George Balanchine was the sole creative genius who finally created an “American” ballet. In contrast to that hagiography, the Conclusion reiterates the book’s major contribution: illuminating the historical construction of our received idea of American neoclassical ballet within a specific set of social, political, and cultural circumstances. The Conclusion stresses that the history of American neoclassicism must be seen as a complex narrative involving several authors and discourses and crossing national and disciplinary borders: a history in which Balanchine was not the driving force, but rather the outcome.


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