Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in collaboration with colleagues from the University of California Irvine, Oregon Health and Science University and the University of North Carolina in the USA have shown that increased levels of inflammatory markers during pregnancy can lead to changes in fetal brain development which, in turn, may increase the child's risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The incidence of impaired impulse control – the cardinal symptom of these disorders – appears to be particularly affected by this increase in maternal inflammation. Results from this study have been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry*.