Test Tube Babies Shed Light on Nature Versus Nurture

ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 3 February 2009 | Sara Coelho

[neverdem]

Enlarge Image

Human nature. Children born via IVF may hold clues to what makes us who we are.

Credit: Jupiter Images

It's perhaps the most controversial question in biology: Are we shaped by our genes or by our environment? The debate extends even to the womb, where the chemistry of the fetal environment may play as much of a role in our development as the genes we inherit from our parents.

Now, scientists believe they have found a clever way to disentangle the effects of genes and environment in the womb. The solution is to look at babies conceived in a lab by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and carried during pregnancy by women who are genetically unrelated to them.

The team, led by Frances Rice, a psychologist now at University College London, focused on two traits usually associated with smoking during pregnancy: low birth weight and antisocial behavior. Experts believe that carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke can lead to low birth weight, but they are divided over whether genes or prenatal environment contribute to temper tantrums and disobedience. The researchers looked at the medical records of nearly 800 children born in the United Kingdom between 1994 and 2002 and conceived with IVF. About a quarter of them were not genetically related to their mothers, and 6% of all the mothers smoked during pregnancy.

Regardless of whether the mother was related to her child, smokers' babies were 11.4% lighter at birth than the children of nonsmoking moms, the team reports online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings agree with studies showing that birth weight is dependent on the chemical environment in the womb, Rice says.

To test the contribution of nature and nurture to antisocial behavior, the team asked the parents to fill out a questionnaire about their children's moods and personality traits. The average child scored a 1.86 (out of 10, where 10 is the most misbehaved), which is similar to the national average. But those born to smoking mothers scored an average of 2.40. When the researchers compared children born to genetically related vs. genetically unrelated smoking moms, they found that related children scored an average of 2.54 on the antisocial questionnaire versus 1.77 for unrelated children. That means that tantrums, fighting, and lying are more likely the result of genes than a smoky womb environment, according to the study.

The authors "are to be commended for the use of a novel design" to tell the difference between the effects of pregnancy environment and genetics on offspring health and development, says Lauren Wakschlag, a psychiatrist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. But she cautions that the sample of smoking mothers is probably too small to make solid interpretations from the results.

[neverdem]

Disentangling prenatal and inherited influences in humans with an experimental design

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Just how long was the test tube?

Bada bing. Thanks . I'll be here all night.

[verklaring]

The solution is to look at babies conceived in a lab by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and carried during pregnancy by women who are genetically unrelated to them.

These breeding experiments, regard the conception and birth of a human being as simply an interesting chemical process.

It is vile, wicked , depraved, perverse, evil ......

[Bigg Red]

To test the contribution of nature and nurture to antisocial behavior, the team asked the parents to fill out a questionnaire about their children’s moods and personality traits.

&&
Oh, good grief! That’s a truly reliable measure. /s

[KoRn]

"That means that tantrums, fighting, and lying are more likely the result of genes than a smoky womb environment, according to the study."

A "smokey womb" couldn't ever be a good thing. lol

I wonder if smoke rolled out when she spread her legs.

[neverdem]

These breeding experiments, regard the conception and birth of a human being as simply an interesting chemical process.

It is vile, wicked , depraved, perverse, evil ......

Would you object if there was only a single fertilized oocyte used for each IVF procedure, and all single fertilized oocytes were similarly attempted for singleton pregnancies? I wouldn't object if they did it that way, i.e. they attempted to keep for a full term pregnancy each single fertilized oocyte. They do consider being pregnant with twins or more as having higher risk. That's the rationale for selective reduction in killing what are human embryos in IVF pregnancies.

IVF is here. It's water under the bridge like atomic bombs. We shouldn't avoid any insight that can be gained from the Nature Versus Nurture argument, IMHO.

[freeangel]

saving

[libbylu]

When my first was born, had a major temper tantrum at 2 days, the nurse told me she was stubborn and I would have to learn to leave her in the crib. When she was around 3 and until I had a facts of life talk with her,she started asking me “when do I get to be the boss”, but I knew when she was 2 days she had her genes and there was only so much I could do with them. She is a good one.

[momincombatboots]

I know your pain, LOL. It was shocking because it was my second baby that was strong- willed. My first was and still is easy breezy. The first night, she was a very different child and it never changed. People will laugh at you and I and say it is not possible, but we both knew within a couple of days how this was heading.
I was reading Dr. Dobson’s “Strong Willed Child” when she was three and I had to check off all of the strong willed child indicators. She is almost 13 and we are heading into uncharted puberty waters. She is a great child, but we still go toe to toe. Drill Sargent confrontation does not work with her, just quiet insistence. And never, ever give up an inch with her or you are toast. I actually feel sorry for her friends and her brother. She has learned the art of manipulation well.

[libbylu]

It is amazing isn’t it? Mine is now 24. Her gifted teacher recommended a book that helped me, but her father lost it and she manipulated him big time, last year HS. I almost moved out. She has since told him he was wrong. She really did crave the discipline.
In 2004 we voted together, then held Bush signs at the red light. Now she is married to a liberal with a masters,and working on finishing college. She will never let him have a bigger degree than her,lol. Best of luck, yours will be fine. Her pediatrician when she was under 2 told me ...”ah, the determination” as she sat on the floor with my daughter while she had a world class temper tantrum.