Exposure to adverse environments in the pre and post-natal phase can determine individual vulnerability to the onset of cognitive disabilities, also associated with psychiatric pathologies.
These can occur early (from birth to adolescence) or during aging, reducing the expectation and quality of life.
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the National Health Institute in Italy) studies the early biological determinants of health and disease with particular reference to both genetic and epigenetic risk factors, that is, associated with the direct effects of the environment on the genome. These studies make use of a multidisciplinary approach with a pre-clinical (animal models), clinical (population cohorts followed over time) and epidemiological approaches, also to identify intervention strategies, including healthy lifestyles.
