Summary
The Institute of Medicine updated guidelines for gestational weight gain in 2009, with no special recommendations for gestational diabetes. Our objectives were to describe the prevalence of ...weight gain adequacy and their association with adverse pregnancy outcomes in gestational diabetes. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, COCHRANE and SCOPUS. We calculated the pooled prevalence of gain adequacy and relative risks for pregnancy outcomes within Institute of Medicine categories. Thirty‐three studies/s (88,599 women) were included. Thirty‐one studies provided data on the prevalence of weight gain adequacy; it was adequate in 34% (95% CI: 29–39%) of women, insufficient in 30% (95% CI: 27–34%) and excessive in 37% (95% CI: 33–41%). Excessive gain was associated with increased risks of pharmacological treatment, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, caesarean section, large for gestational age and macrosomic babies, compared to adequate or non‐excessive gain. Weight gain below the guidance had a protective effect on large babies (RR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.56–0.90) and macrosomia (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.40–0.83), and did not increase the risk of small babies (RR 1.40; 95% CI 0.86–2.27). Less than recommended weight gain would be beneficial, while effective prevention of excessive gain is of utmost importance, in gestational diabetes pregnancies. Nevertheless, no ideal range for weight gain could be established.
Random samples of nurses in two states which differed in abortion statutes were sent questionnaires. Content areas included experience with 12 specific nursing activities associated with abortion, ...willingness to participate in the same activities, and extent of agreement with statements related to abortion. Attitudes toward abortion were inferred from the willingness-to-participate items and from the agreement section. These two measures correlated highly suggesting a common underlying dimension. However, the two samples differed significantly in extent of agreement but did not differ in willingness to participate. These results were interpreted as supporting the position that attitudes derived from items using situational contexts might bear a better relationship to behavior. The findings also suggest that abortion facilities can probably be staffed without violating personal preferences since so many expressed willingness to participate in at least some of the activities. Comparison across the two samples suggest that increased experience or even the potential for experience with abortion patients tended to increase the favorableness of attitudes toward this issue.
Contends that the continuing production and use of quickly devised and unproven behavioral measurement instruments introduces undesirable ambiguity into the measurement process, which makes it ...difficult to compare the results of different studies and to test theoretical propositions fairly. This problem could be alleviated by greater use and refinement of available instruments. The location and evaluation of available measures are discussed, and a 10-page annotated bibliography of compendia is presented to aid in the process. (45 ref)
Overconsumption of high-fat diets (HFDs) can critically affect synaptic and cognitive functions within telencephalic structures such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The underlying mechanisms, ...however, remain largely unknown. Here we show that adolescence is a sensitive period for the emergence of prefrontal cognitive deficits in response to HFD. We establish that the synaptic modulator reelin (RELN) is a critical mediator of this vulnerability because (1) periadolescent HFD (pHFD) selectively downregulates prefrontal RELN
cells and (2) augmenting mPFC RELN levels using transgenesis or prefrontal pharmacology prevents the pHFD-induced prefrontal cognitive deficits. We further identify N-methyl-d-aspartate-dependent long-term depression (NMDA-LTD) at prefrontal excitatory synapses as a synaptic signature of this association because pHFD abolishes NMDA-LTD, a function that is restored by RELN overexpression. We believe this study provides the first mechanistic insight into the vulnerability of the adolescent mPFC towards nutritional stress, such as HFDs. Our findings have primary relevance to obese individuals who are at an increased risk of developing neurological cognitive comorbidities, and may extend to multiple neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders in which RELN deficiency is a common feature.
Autism is a severe developmental disorder, whose pathogenetic underpinnings are still largely unknown. Temporocortical gray matter from six matched patient-control pairs was used to perform ...post-mortem biochemical and genetic studies of the mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier (AGC), which participates in the aspartate/malate reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide shuttle and is physiologically activated by calcium (Ca(2+)). AGC transport rates were significantly higher in tissue homogenates from all six patients, including those with no history of seizures and with normal electroencephalograms prior to death. This increase was consistently blunted by the Ca(2+) chelator ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid; neocortical Ca(2+) levels were significantly higher in all six patients; no difference in AGC transport rates was found in isolated mitochondria from patients and controls following removal of the Ca(2+)-containing postmitochondrial supernatant. Expression of AGC1, the predominant AGC isoform in brain, and cytochrome c oxidase activity were both increased in autistic patients, indicating an activation of mitochondrial metabolism. Furthermore, oxidized mitochondrial proteins were markedly increased in four of the six patients. Variants of the AGC1-encoding SLC25A12 gene were neither correlated with AGC activation nor associated with autism-spectrum disorders in 309 simplex and 17 multiplex families, whereas some unaffected siblings may carry a protective gene variant. Therefore, excessive Ca(2+) levels are responsible for boosting AGC activity, mitochondrial metabolism and, to a more variable degree, oxidative stress in autistic brains. AGC and altered Ca(2+) homeostasis play a key interactive role in the cascade of signaling events leading to autism: their modulation could provide new preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Data from 457 Michigan nurses concerning willingness to participate in specific nursing activities associated with abortion suggest that abortion facilities can be staffed without violating ...preferences of individual nurses. Inservice programs to offset experiential and educational deficiencies are recommended.
A frequently cited reason for opposing the provision of contraception to adolescents is the belief that it will result in greatly increased sexual activity among adolescents. The basis for this ...belief was examined by interviewing 213 teenage women both before and one year after receiving oral contraception from a clinic. During the year, mean number of current sex partners remained at 1.1, while mean frequency of coitus increased moderately from 4.3 to 6.8 times per month. The majority of the young women consistently used the pills throughout the year, and the majority of those who discontinued the oral contraception for a time during the year either replaced it with alternative birth control or were sexually inactive. The study results, taken in conjunction with other research, support the conclusion that providing adolescents with effective contraception will not markedly affect their sexual behavior.
Obesity is a world-wide crisis with profound healthcare and socio-economic implications and it is now clear that the central nervous system (CNS) is a target for the complications of metabolic ...disorders like obesity. In addition to decreases in physical activity and sedentary lifestyles, diet is proposed to be an important contributor to the etiology and progression of obesity. Unfortunately, there are gaps in our knowledge base related to how dietary choices impact the structural and functional integrity of the CNS. For example, while chronic consumption of hypercaloric diets (increased sugars and fat) contribute to increases in body weight and adiposity characteristic of metabolic disorders, the mechanistic basis for neurocognitive deficits in obesity remains to be determined. In addition, studies indicate that acute consumption of hypercaloric diets impairs performance in a wide variety of cognitive domains, even in normal non-obese control subjects. These results from the clinical and basic science literature indicate that diet can have rapid, as well as long lasting effects on cognitive function. This review summarizes our symposium at the 2017 Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) meeting that discussed these effects of diet on cognition. Collectively, this review highlights the need for integrated and comprehensive approaches to more fully determine how diet impacts behavior and cognition under physiological conditions and in metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity.
•Acute intake of hypercaloric diets impairs cognition, even in healthy subjects•High sucrose consumption elicits neuropathological changes in the hippocampus•Fructose ingestion activates brain regions involved in attention and reward•High fat diet decreases impulse control and striatal D2 receptor expression•Brain insulin resistance is a mechanistic link between obesity and dementia
In classical interferometric null test measurements, the measurement and reference beam path should be the same. A difference in the beam paths results in the so called retrace error. One very common ...approach to avoid retrace errors is to adapt the measurement wavefront to the reference wavefront with a computer generated hologram (CGH), which is costly and time consuming. A much more flexible approach is to do non nulltest measurement in combination with mathematical treatment of retrace errors. Most of such methods are based on iterative optimization or calibration of the nominal optical design of the interferometer. While this may be a convenient solution in the context of research, the more common use may be limited due to the need of the optical design of all interferometer components. In many cases, the optical designs of standard off the shelf optical assemblies are not available or disclosed by the manufacturer. This is especially true for transmission spheres of interferometers. We introduce the so called Black Box Model (BBM), used in the well known Tilted Wave Interferometry (TWI), as a mathematical model to account for retrace errors in interferometry. The Black Box Model is based on point characteristic functions which are adapted to the result and behavior of a real interferometer by calibration. With an extended calibration method, the need of a specific optical design of the interferometer is no longer necessary. Thus the method is attractive for a wide field of use in interferometry with standard off the shelf components.
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