Minor physical anomalies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it. Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (November 2006)

Minor physical anomalies (MPAs) are relatively minor (typically painless and, in themselves, harmless) congenital physical abnormalities consisting of features such as low-seated ears, adherent ear lobes, and a furrowed tongue. While MPAs may have a genetic basis, they might also be caused by factors in the fetal environment: anoxia, bleeding, or infection. MPAs have been linked to disorders of pregnancy and are thought by some to be a marker for insults to the fetal neural development towards the end of the first trimester. Thus, in the neurodevelopmental literature, they are seen as indirect indications of inferferences with brain development. In studies of children and adolescents with conduct problems, such markers have been linked to some extent to impulsivity and aggressiveness.

MPAs have been studied in schizophrenia. One study found that 60% of its schizophrenic sample and 38% of their siblings had 6 or more minor physical anomalies (especially in the craniofacial area), while only 5% of the control group showed that many.^[1]

[edit] Reference

1. ^ Ismail, B I, Cantor-Graso, E, and McNeil, T P (1998). "Minor Physical Anomalies in Schizophrenic Patients and their Siblings," American Journal of Psychiatry, 155:1695-1702

[edit] Further reading

• Habel, A, Elhadt, N, Sommerlad, B, Powell, J (2005) 'Delayed detection of cleft palate: an audit of newborn examination', Archive of Diseases in Childhood, 91, p238.

Psychiatry, V 155, Iss 12.

• Raine, A. (2002). Annotation: The role of prefrontal deficits, low autonomic arousal, and early health factors in the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(4), 417-434.