About this Research Topic
This Research Topic aims to add knowledge to the study of the composite network of direct and indirect environmental effects on neuropsychological health in youth. Different and intricate environmental dimensions, including the maternal environment, the physical and chemical environment (e.g., from exposure to specific pollutants to exposure to multiple, possibly interacting substances), the socioeconomic environment (e.g., education, social support, stress, work environment, and access to health care), and the living environment (e.g., maternal and fetal diet, housing conditions, green space, and exposure to noise and light) fall among the modifiable factors under the exposome still being studied.
The main goals of this Research Topic are:
- Assess exposure in early life to diet, and how this contributes to modulating the risk of neuropsychological diseases;
- Explore new environmental health hazards and exposure dimensions (e.g., new pollutants or known pollutants with new health effects, mixtures of pollutants, key aspects of the changing urban and rural environment);
- Propose innovative tools to assess the exposome (e.g., through personal digital devices and guided analysis and integration of multiple sources of environmental data with advanced biostatistics, machine learning, bioinformatics, and computer science tools);
- Study the interaction between multiple environmental factors, between the three dimensions of the exposome (general outdoor environment, specific outdoor environment, and indoor environment) or between the exposome and genetic background and how such interactions may influence neuropsychological health and disease;
- Develop new study designs and analytical methods to assess the effects of environment and exposure on health, including new statistical and computational methods to address the complexity of the interaction between environmental factors, exposure dimensions, and human neuropsychological phenotype.
Original articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, mini-reviews, and clinical trial articles providing additional knowledge on the topic "Influence of Diet and Maternal Environment on Neuropsychological Development Early in Life" will be welcome.
Keywords: Diet, Environment, Air pollutants, Neurodevelopment, Children, Early Life, Neurodevelopmental disorders, Communication Disorders; Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.