Publications by authors named "C D Molteno"
Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) include a range of neurocognitive and behavioral impairments resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Among the PAE-related cognitive deficits, number processing is particularly affected. This study examines alterations in number processing networks and whether changes in functional connectivity mediate the adverse effects of PAE on arithmetic performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are the most common preventable cause of birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders worldwide. The placenta is the crucial interface between mother and fetus. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been shown to alter placental structure and expression of genes in bulk placental tissue samples, but prior studies have not examined effects on placental cell-type composition or taken cell-type into consideration in transcriptome analyses.
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- Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) affects maternal and infant iron levels, potentially due to inflammation-related changes in placental gene expression.
- A study in Cape Town involved interviewing 126 heavy-drinking women and 80 control women, measuring various factors including hemoglobin and ferritin levels, and conducting RNA sequencing on placental samples.
- Findings indicated that PAE was linked to changes in iron metabolism and inflammation gene expression, which may help explain the negative impacts of drinking during pregnancy on iron homeostasis.
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) causes growth restriction that worsens in the first year of life. However, the roles of postnatal nutrition in fetal alcohol growth restriction and the impact of postnatal alcohol exposure via breastmilk on growth remain unknown. We aimed to compare infant feeding practices during the first 6.
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- - Successful programs in South Africa have significantly reduced the rate of infant HIV infection from 8% in 2008 to less than 1% in 2018/2019, increasing the number of HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU) children, although their neurodevelopmental outcomes are not as strong compared to unexposed children.
- - The study focused on 120 infants, including 79 HEU babies, to assess the impact of maternal HIV and antiretroviral treatment (ART) on brain development, specifically examining differences in subcortical brain regions via imaging.
- - Results indicated that HEU infants had smaller volumes in certain brain areas, particularly the left putamen and caudate