Some of this developmental risk as in the case of placental infarction, maternal anemia and cardiac problems may cause intrauterine hypoxia, umbilical cord occlusion or cord prolapse may cause ischemia, resulting in cerebral injury, the prefrontal cortex in the fetus and neonate is highly susceptible to damage as a result of oxygen deprivation which has been shown to contribute to executive dysfunction, ADHD, and may affect personality traits associated with both eating disorders and comorbid disorders such as impulsivity, mental rigidity and obsessionality. The problem of perinatal brain injury, in terms of the costs to society and to the affected individuals and their families, is extraordinary. (Yafeng Dong, PhD)
Symptom of starvation: Evidence suggests that the symptoms of eating disorders are actually symptoms of the starvation itself, not of a mental disorder. In a study involving thirty-six healthy young men that were subjected to semi-starvation, the men soon began displaying symptoms commonly found in patients with eating disorders. In this study, the healthy men ate approximately half of what they had become accustomed to eating and soon began developing symptoms and thought patterns (preoccupation with food and eating, ritualistic eating, impaired cognitive ability, other physiological changes such as decreased body temperature) that are characteristic symptoms of anorexia nervosa. The men used in the study also developed hoarding and obsessive collecting behaviors, even though they had no use for the items, which revealed a possible connection between eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Unfortunately, their size is limited--too limited to hold the RP1L1 gene. Therefore, a non-viral approach would need to be developed for gene therapy to treat OMD. Since RP1 has the same size problem, a gene therapy for RP could have a spillover effect for OMD. A stem-cell approach might entail taking stem cells from the patient, editing the mutation with CRISR, and inserting the stem cells in the eye. However, as of 2014, researchers did not yet know if retinal stem cell surgery would work. Prevalence
Prevalence is unknown, but seems to be elevated in Asian populations, given that most OMD studies are of Japanese and Korean subjects. Given that Stargardts, the most common macular dystrophy, has a prevalence of 1 in 10,000 in the US,  the prevalence of OMD is likely well below 1 in 100,000. == References ==