The haunting images of Romanian orphans staring blankly through the bars of their cots was one of the most disturbing legacies of Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime.
However new research suggests the youngsters were not only psychologically traumatised by their ordeal but also suffered serious brain damage.
A 12 year study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital in the US found that the brains of the orphans stopped developing properly after they were abandoned in the Bucharest institutions.
Their ‘white matter’ – the part of the brain which helps neurons communicate – was significantly damaged by their ordeal leading to poor language skills and decreased mental ability.
However the researchers discovered that those children fortunate enough to find loving foster homes were able to regrow the missing connections and restore lost function.
[For more of this story, written by Sarah Knapton, go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...omanian-orphans.html]
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