Prenatal glucocorticoids and maternal smoking during pregnancy independently program adult nicotine dependence in daughters: a 40-year prospective study.

Background: Maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) is an independent risk factor for offspring nicotine dependence (ND), but mechanisms remain unknown. We investigated prenatal glucocorticoid (cortisol) and androgen (testosterone) associations with offspring ND over 40 years and the possibility that prenatal glucocorticoids and androgens would mediate links between MSDP and offspring ND.

Methods: Participants were 1086 mother-adult offspring pairs (59% female) from the New England Family Study, a 40-year longitudinal follow-up of the Collaborative Perinatal Project.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and neonatal behavior: a large-scale community study.

Objective: To investigate the influence of prospectively measured smoking during pregnancy on aspects of neonatal behavior in a large community sample.

Methods: Participants were mothers and infants from the Providence, Rhode Island, cohort of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project enrolled between 1960 and 1966. Mothers with pregnancy/medical complications and infants with medical complications and/or born premature or of low birth weight were excluded.

Parental smoking and adolescent smoking initiation: an intergenerational perspective on tobacco control.

Objective: Adolescence is an important period of risk for the development of lifelong smoking behaviors. Compelling, although inconsistent, evidence suggests a relationship between parental smoking and the risk of smoking initiation during adolescence. This study investigates unresolved issues concerning the strength and nature of the association between parent smoking and offspring smoking initiation.

Childhood cognitive performance and risk of generalized anxiety disorder.

Background: Perception of control over one's environment, particularly when faced with an ambiguous situation, has been identified as a critical cognitive process involved in worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Similarly, it is thought that individuals with lower cognitive skills feel less in control, and do not cope as well as individuals with higher cognitive skills. This study tests the hypothesis that individuals with higher cognitive skills are less likely to develop a lifetime diagnosis of GAD, and considers onset in three developmental periods: childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

Long-term stability of maternal prenatal steroid hormones from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project: still valid after all these years.

Large epidemiological samples, including the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP), in which blood/serum was collected during pregnancy and offspring followed longitudinally, offer the unique opportunity to examine neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying prenatal "programming" of adult health and disease. However, in order to conduct longitudinal analyses, it is critical to determine the validity of maternal prenatal samples stored over long periods. We investigated the validity of cortisol, testosterone, and their binding globulins (corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG)) in maternal prenatal serum from the NCPP after over 40 years of storage.

Hershey Medical Center Technical Workshop Report: optimizing the design and interpretation of epidemiologic studies for assessing neurodevelopmental effects from in utero chemical exposure.

Neurodevelopmental disabilities affect 3-8% of the 4 million babies born each year in the U.S. alone, with known etiology for less than 25% of those disabilities.

Neonatal blood pressure and salt taste responsiveness.

To test the association between neonatal blood pressure (BP) and salt taste response, 283 healthy hospitalized neonates were administered small drops (0.06 mL) of water and 0.1 molar (mol/L) and 0.