Mother's stress during pregnancy affects baby's brain
New York: Confirming a long-held belief that stress during pregnancy is bad for the unborn kid, a new study has found that remaining stress-free during this period helps the brain development of the baby.
A mother's stress during pregnancy changes neural connectivity in the brain of her unborn child, according to the study presented at a meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
"We have demonstrated what has long been theorised, but not yet observed in a human, which is that the stress of a mother during her pregnancy is reflected in connectional properties of her child's developing brain," said one of the researchers Moriah Thomason of Wayne State University in the US.
Research in newborns and older children to understand prenatal influences has been confounded by the postnatal environment, Thomason explained.
But recent advancements in foetal imaging allowed the researchers to gain insight into a critical time period in brain development never previously accessible.
Using foetal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they examined functional connectivity in 47 human foetuses scanned between the 30th and 37th week of gestation.
The researchers recruited the participating mothers from a low-resource and high-stress urban setting, with many reporting high-levels of depression, anxiety, worry and stress.
They found that mothers reporting high stress had foetuses with a reduced efficiency in how their neural functional systems are organised.
The data suggests that the brain does not develop in a sequence from the simplest systems to more complex high-order systems, but perhaps instead first develops the areas that will be most critical in bridging across systems.
The researchers found that the cerebellum played a central role in the observed effects, suggesting it may be especially vulnerable to the effects of prenatal or early life stress.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Mother's wish': Ex-Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh ties knot with party colleague at 60
Kolkata, Apr 18 (PTI): Former West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh tied the knot with party colleague Rinku Majumdar in an intimate ceremony on Friday.
Dressed in traditional Bengali wedding attire with a 'topor' on his head, Ghosh, along with his wife, appeared before the press following the rituals and sought people's blessings.
"I thank everyone for their good wishes. I also thank Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has wished me. My personal life will have no bearing on my political career," he told reporters waiting outside his residence in New Town near Kolkata.
Ghosh, 60, said that he decided to get married to fulfil his mother's wish.
While he has been a bachelor till now, this is Majumdar's second marriage, and she has a son from the earlier one.
Ghosh, known for his one-liners and quirky takes, has been a member of the RSS since his youth, and has served it in various roles across the country before becoming the state BJP president in 2015.
As the state president, he is credited with establishing the BJP as the main opposition party in West Bengal, replacing the Left.
The couple met in 2021 during morning walks at the Eco Park, and the relationship grew over time, people close to them said.
It was during an IPL match at the Eden Gardens earlier this month that they decided to formalise the relationship, they said.
The marriage proposal had come from the bride's side.
"I am very happy and proud that he accepted my proposal, though he was not keen in the beginning," said 51-year-old Majumdar.
Senior BJP leaders, including the party's state president Sukanta Majumdar, visited Ghosh's residence throughout the day to wish him.
The chief minister also sent two flower bouquets and a letter to Ghosh in the afternoon, wishing him for his new innings.
However, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was conspicuous by his silence.
"I will not comment on it," he told a local news channel when asked about the wedding.
It was learnt that the wedding rituals were conducted as per Vedic traditions. Only close relatives of the couple were present.
Ghosh said that on Saturday, he will visit Kharagpur, which he had represented in the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024.
He is also likely to attend a political programme in Dumdum, party sources said.
Asked about his honeymoon plans, he said, "It will happen somewhere in the country."
Several TMC leaders also congratulated Ghosh on his wedding.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh in a post on X said, "Since they regularly went for morning walks to Eco Park, since their acquaintance began there and eventually blossomed into a union, and since that beautiful Eco Park is the creation of Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister's role in this union is truly undeniable."
The BJP leader is expected to play a crucial role in the party's campaign for the assembly elections in the state next year.
