Latest developments in stress include the following …

9/11 babies face post-traumatic stress disorder
Pregnant women in or near the World Trade Centre during the September 11 terrorist attacks may have passed on future mental or physical illness to their unborn children. Researchers have found an important marker for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the saliva of babies less than one-year-old who were born after the attacks. The hormonal ripple effect was worst among children who were in the last three months of gestation. Researchers believe this is the strongest evidence yet for very early risk factors for the development of stress problems in adult life. Rachel Yehuda, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, the lead investigator, said the findings "suggest a larger role for very early environmental, genetic or genetic-environmental interactions than previously thought." The babies in the study will now be closely monitored for physical and mental health. Better understanding of how low levels of cortisol are linked to disorders might help to develop treatments.