The hidden issue of anorexia in pregnancy

Pregnant women with anorexia are at greater risk of having a stillbirth, underweight baby or pre-term birth, yet there are no clear guidelines for how doctors should manage the condition, according to a new study. Researchers have developed recommendations and principles for multidisciplinary management of anorexia nervosa in pregnancy. These recommendations include a focus on the specialist mental health, obstetric, medical, and nutritional care required to ensure optimal outcomes for women and their infants.
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Maternal socialization, not biology, shapes child brain activity

Children of mothers with clinical depression are at three times greater risk to develop depression themselves than are their low-risk peers. Researchers are working to understand the neural underpinnings of the risk, and some studies have shown altered brain processing of reward in at-risk children as young as 6. An outstanding question remains as to whether children with a maternal history of depression have a biological predisposition to blunted neural reward responding or whether it depends more on social factors. Now, new work finds those dampened responses depended on maternal feedback, suggesting the latter.
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'Switching off' specific brain cells protects against stress

Researchers have discovered a small group of brain cells in the claustrum that controls stress-induced anxiety behaviors. Manipulating the activity of these cells also altered anxiety-related behaviors, which suggested that these claustrum cells are key to the pathogenesis of stress-related mental disorders. Furthermore, this group of cells may be considered a new target for the treatment of stress-related conditions.
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