Cognitive outcome of offspring from dexamethasone-treated pregnancies at risk for congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency.

Objectives: To test whether dexamethasone (DEX) treatment in pregnancies at risk for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) impairs cognitive functioning in the offspring.

Design: Observational follow-up of prenatally DEX-exposed offspring and controls.

Methods: Study 1 included 140 children aged 512 years: 67 DEX-exposed (long-term: eight CAH girls) and 73 unexposed (with 15 CAH girls).

Correlates of intellectual ability with morphology of the hippocampus and amygdala in healthy adults.

Several prior imaging studies of healthy adults have correlated volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala with measures of general intelligence (IQ), with variable results. In this study, we assessed correlations between volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala and full-scale IQ scores (FSIQ) using a method of image analysis that permits detailed regional mapping of this correlation throughout the surface contour of these brain structures. We delineated the hippocampus and amygdala in high-resolution magnetic resonance images of the brain from 34 healthy individuals.

Mitochondrial DNA abnormalities and autistic spectrum disorders.

Objectives: To further characterize mtDNA defects associated with autistic features, especially the A3243G mtDNA mutation and mtDNA depletion.Study design Five patients with autistic spectrum disorders and family histories of mitochondrial DNA diseases were studied. We performed mtDNA analysis in all patients and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in three.