Neuroscience of Survival and Health Diplomacy: The New Global Scientific Treaty on Gestational Protection
On the occasion of the recent institutional presentation organized by PSAF at the European Parliament headquarters in Strasbourg, the scientific community welcomed with great interest the evolution of a cutting-edge research project redefining the impact of trauma during pregnancy. This scientific journey has been consolidated through two fundamental publications that connect knowledge across Africa, Europe, and the international landscape, elevating clinical research into a tool for global political advocacy.
The first study, entitled “Neuroscience and New Research Perspectives on Violence as a Risk Factor in Pregnancy” (2024), laid the foundation by analyzing violence as a risk factor for fetal brain development and the related neuro-psycho-postural alterations. This was followed by a recent scientific in-depth study published in the prestigious journal Archive of Psychology, Neurology and Psychiatry (published by Vita e Pensiero – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), entitled: “Violence in Pregnancy: Effects on the Frontal Lobe and Neurophysiological Consequences on the Woman and the Unborn Child.”
This body of research represents the
pinnacle of a multidisciplinary and equal collaboration among highly
prominent figures within the global scientific elite. The work is led
by Prof. Dr. Hamida Ouled Slimane, a global leader and one of the
world’s most influential figures in the field of Scientific
Diplomacy. Dr. Slimane, Medical Scientific Director and Clinical and
Forensic Neuroscientist at the University of Yaoundé I, also holds
the prestigious roles of President of PSAF France and Vice President
of PSAF International, embodying the excellence of research that
becomes an international ambassador for human rights and health. In
this mission, she is joined in a synergistic and equal partnership by
Prof. Dr. Raffaele Zinno, Forensic Physician and President of PSAF
International, and Prof. Dr. Gaetano Agliata, Posturologist and
President of AIPU.
The synergy among these experts has made it possible to document how chronic traumatic stress acts directly on the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) of both the mother and the unborn child, transforming a social phenomenon into measurable clinical and neurobiological evidence. The integration of forensic medicine, clinical posturology, and forensic neuroscience forms the foundation of this project, which aims to move beyond academic boundaries toward true scientific diplomacy.
The team’s shared objective is to create a continuous bridge of knowledge between Africa, Europe, and the rest of the world, enabling the development of universal protection protocols. This commitment is currently being advanced through a doctoral research project conducted under the academic supervision of Prof. Dr. Adrien Edouard Mvessomba, aimed at implementing primary prevention strategies to safeguard neurophysiological integrity on a global scale.
Through this unified vision, science positions itself as a universal language to ensure the health of future generations, consolidating a model of integrated medicine capable of responding to the most complex challenges of our time.
VIOLENCE IN PREGNANCY: EFFECTS ON THE FRONTAL LOBE AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES ON THE WOMAN AND THE UNBORN CHILD
2025 Vita e Pensiero / Pubblicazioni dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Hamida Ouled Slimane1, Raffaele Zinno2, Gaetano Agliata3
Keywords: Violence in Pregnancy, Prefrontal Cortex, Epigenetic Programming, HPA Axis, Neurotoxicity, Neural Development, Neuropsychiatric Vulnerability, Neuro-Pos turology. e-ISSN: 3103-2230 DOI: 10.26350/112233_000010 Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
ABSTRACT
This article presents a narrative review aimed at exploring the identification between vi olence in pregnancy (Intimate Partner Violence - IPV) and the specific neurological and neurophysiological alterations in the mother-fetus dyad. The analysis is centered in the field of Translational Neuroscience and Behavioral Neurology which focus on the mechanisms through which chronic traumatic stress is associated with the degeneration of cerebral tissue. The review places particular emphasis on the maternal Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). Through chronic hyperactivation of the HPA axis, exposure to violence is linked to neuro toxic processes that may structurally and functionally compromise the PFC, with deficits in higher executive functions, emotional regulation and self-regulation capacity. The interven tion proposes to highlight how violence suffered by women in pregnancy can affect children even before they are born and that it can be the cause of changes in the mother’s stress re sponse systems, increasing levels of the hormone cortisol, which in turn could increase cor tisol levels in the fetus, determining cognitive and neurological alterations. However, from a fetal perspective, the article examines how excess maternal glucocorticoids and inflam mation are activated and act as powerful environmental signals for epigenetic programming in the developing brain, dysregulating myelination production and synaptic connectivity in crucial neural circuits, including dopaminergic and noradrenergic ones.
These neurobiological alterations are closely linked to neuro-psycho-postural manifesta tions, such as visual axis disturbances (convergence insufficiency) and structural changes in the spinal column (scoliosis), which serve as physical markers of the underlying ges tational trauma. Therefore, the results of neuroscientific literature indicate that these biological modi f ications constitute the basis for greater neuropsychiatric vulnerability (anxiety, mood disorders, dysregulation) in the long term in the child. In conclusion, the study highlights the urgent necessity to develop neuropsychological and rehabilitative interventions that aim directly to support maternal neural functionality and to interrupt the transgenerational transmission of damage at the neurological level.
 |
| Prof. Dr. Hamida Ouled Slimane |
 |
| Prof.Dr.Gaertano Agliata |
 |
| Prof. Dr. Raffaele Zinno |
 |
| Prof Dott.Adrien Edouard Mvessomba |
Commenti
Posta un commento