The relationship between prenatal exposure to methyl mercury and neurologic and developmental abnormalities was ascertained among 234 Cree Indian children aged 12 to 30 months from four northern Quebec communities. A pediatric neurologist, "blinded" to the children's level of exposure, assessed neurologic, physical, mental, and psychosocial development. Methyl mercury exposure was estimated from maternal hair segments representing the period of pregnancy. Abnormality of the tendon reflexes, observed in 13 boys (11 per cent) and in 14 girls (12 per cent), was positively associated with methyl mercury exposure only in boys and there was no consistent dose-response relationship. Other neurologic disorders were less prevalent and none was positively associated with exposure; indeed, incoordination was negatively associated with exposure in girls. The mild, isolated neurologic abnormalities found after prenatal exposure to methyl mercury in northern Quebec were different from the effects of prenatal exposure described in other areas, and their clinical importance can be determined only by continued medical surveillance.
Following a 1-week baseline, 19 normal boys (mean age 9.8 ±1.8 years)
ingested either caffeine (5 mg/kg) or placebo twice a day for a 2-week period per condition
in a double-blind crossover study (total study duration of 5 weeks) to study the behavioral,
autonomic and side effects of caffeine. Mothers of the whole sample and children who were
low caffeine users could distinguish between drug conditions by side effects. Caffeine
increased autonomic reactivity of low users only. Behavioral and autonomic results were
ambiguous for high users indicating possible caffeine withdrawal symptoms. While ‘caffeinism’
may occur in children, either self-selection and/or tolerance may prevent its occurrence
in naturally selected diets.
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