That precursors of adult coronary artery disease, hypertension, and type II diabetes begin in childhood have been clearly established by the Bogalusa Heart Study. This unique research program has been able to follow a biracial (black/white) population over 35 years from childhood through mid-adulthood to provide perspectives on the natural history of adult heart diseases. Not only do these observations describe trajectories of cardio-metabolic risk variables leading to these diseases but provide a rationale for the need to begin prevention beginning in childhood. The trajectories of the burden of cardio-metabolic risk variables in the context of their fetal origin and chromosome telomere dynamics provide some insight into the metabolic imprinting in utero and aging process. The observed racial contrasts on cardio-metabolic risk variables implicate various biologic pathways interacting with environment contributing to the high morbidity and mortality from related diseases in our population. To address the seriousness of the onset of cardiovascular disease in youth, approaches to primordial prevention are described focussing on childhood health education as an important aspect of Preventive Cardiology.

In the 1980's, the psychiatric community first officially recognized posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a diagnosis to describe the disorder that can occur following exposure to extremely traumatic events. Since that time, it have been observed that some patients who have been exposed to trauma do not develop PTSD or only have symptoms immediately following the event, whereas others show signs of chronic PTSD. Recently, it has been hypothesized that the development of chronic PTSD results from a combination of factors, only some of which are related to exposure to trauma. Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder assembles almost 20 experts to examine the latest research on this topic. Specifically, it covers: * Several important demographic and environmental risk factors for the development of PTSD* Genetic risk factors identified through twin studies* Neurbiological risk factors of PTSD and findings from several family studies* Psychophysiological expressions of risk factors as well as neurocognitive risk factors for PTSD* Personality characteristics in individuals with a propensity to develop PTSD and risk factors for the acute biological and psychological response to trauma Complete with a summary of the latest findings that advance our knowledge of the effects of trauma, this resource it useful in identifying and treating individuals much earlier following a traumatic experience as well as in helping prevent vulnerable individuals from being exposed to traumatic events.