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" Abnormalities in the brain may increase infants&amp;#039; vulnerability to sudden infant death syndrome (Sids), or cot death, a new study has found.  Government statistics found that 300 babies under the age of one died last year of this syndrome.  Although steps have been identified which can reduce the chances of cot death, such as babies sleeping on their backs instead of fronts, the reasons behind why it occurs have remained a mystery.  But researchers at the Children&amp;#039;s Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School believe that there may be a biological basis for deaths occurring in this way.  Their study analysed brain autopsy specimens from 31 infants who had died from Sids and from ten who had died acutely from other causes.  Examination of the lowest part of the brainstem, the medulla oblongata, revealed abnormalities in nerve cells that make and use serotonin.  The chemical is one of over 100 in the brain that transmits messages from one nerve cell to another.  &amp;quot;We provide strong evidence that Sids is a biological problem, and that the brainstem serotonin system is a good place to focus continued research efforts,&amp;quot; said lead researcher Dr David Paterson.  This system is thought to co-ordinate breathing, blood pressure and sensitivity to blood pressure during sleep.  Babies sleeping face down re-breathe carbon dioxide and therefore less oxygen. Most babies are able to detect this as the rise in carbon dioxide activates nerve cells in the brainstem, causing them to move their heads.  But the researchers believe that in babies who died from Sids, defects in the serotonin system may impair these reflexes.  As a result of their findings the researchers hope to develop a test to identify at-risk infants.  They also believe that it may be possible to create a treatment to protect infants with abnormalities in their brainstem serotonin system.  More research is to be undertaken to explain what causes the abnormalities and how they can be prevented. \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a14435/cot-death-due-to-brain-defects/>