Minor physical anomalies
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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. Ususlly using the Waldrop scale, or a modified version of it. Ismail et al say: "The minor physical anomalies in that instrument originated from an unpublished study by Goldfarb and Botstein, who used those minor physical anomalies to distinguish schizophrenic from normal children" (1998; p 1696). The scale is being added to and refined - see the works of M Trixler.Cleft palates (and thus high arched palates) can be V-shaped or U shaped (Habel et al 2005l p238) (and a 'vaulted' palate may be a sign of need of intubation as a baby: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:Mc8yzVoTpKwJ:www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1746-160X-1-9-S2.pdf+%22identification+of+LBW+and+neonatally%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=au). ) Schizophrenia research has made use of V and U shaped diagnosis.
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