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The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing among reproductive-age women in sub-Saharan Africa. Whether maternal body mass index (BMI) influences the risk of infant infections in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is uncertain. We used data from a birth cohort of 5344 HIV-unexposed Zimbabwean infants with available data on maternal BMI, to calculate rates of sick clinic visits for infections during the first 12 months postpartum, and adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) for each maternal BMI group. Compared to infants of mothers with normal BMI, the rate of sick clinic visits for any infection progressively rose among infants of overweight (aHR 1.05; 95%CI 0.99, 1.11) and obese women (aHR 1.15; 95%CI 1.05, 1.25). Excess clinic attendances were particularly due to skin, respiratory and ear infections. Maternal obesity may therefore influence infant infectious morbidity in LMIC over the first year after birth.

To investigate the effect of birth weight (BW) and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (mBMI) on blood pressure (BP) in adolescence. A Population-based cohort of 11,729 births in Jerusalem during 1974–1976, with archival data on maternal and birth characteristics was performed. Measurements at age 17 were assessed and linear regression models were used to evaluate the associations of birth characteristics with BP outcomes. BW was inversely associated with both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP at age 17 (SBP: B = − 0.829, p = 0.002; DBP: B = − 0.397, p = 0.033). The interaction term between BW and weight at age 17 was significant for DBP (p = 0.017) and pulse pressure (p = 0.005). mBMI yielded significant positive associations with BP, independent of BW. Our findings indicate that there are at least two distinct pathways linking early life characteristics with subsequent BP: Intrauterine growth, as reflected by BW and other genetic or environmental factors, reflected by mBMI and maternal education, contribute to offspring adolescent BP. These results warrant replication in other birth cohorts and underline the need to explore specific mechanisms that account for these associations.

Spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) is an excellent imaging modality for observing the fetal heart. High-quality STIC volume data are needed for an antenatal anatomic survey to diagnose congenital heart disease. We aimed to clarify the causes of unsuccessful STIC volume data acquisition and describe a more accurate, efficient STIC examination. This cross-sectional study of 1124 women with fetuses assessed risk factors for unsuccessful acquisition of STIC volume data. Logistic regression analysis quantified the relation between unsuccessful acquisition and clinical variables, including maternal body mass index (BMI), shadowing artifacts due to unexpected fetal limb movement (SAU), estimated fetal weight (EFW), gestational age (GA), use of volume rendering images in four-dimensional ultrasonography (4D-US), fetal heart rate (FHR), maternal age, anterior placenta, and prior lower abdominal surgery. STIC volume data acquisition was unsuccessful in 210 of 1124 (18.6%) cases. SAU, BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2, not using volume rendering images in 4D-US, EFW ≥ 1300 g, and anterior placenta were independent risk factors for unsuccessful STIC data acquisition. Avoiding SAU was the most important factor for accurate, efficient STIC evaluations for diagnosing congenital heart disease antenatally. The risk was not explained by lack of sonographer proficiency. Volume rendering images in 4D-US is a promising approach to successful acquisition of STIC volume data.

There is controversy as to whether maternal body mass index (BMI) influences the contractility of human myometrium in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine spontaneous contractile activity of human pregnant myometrium in vitro, with respect to maternal BMI. Myometrial tissue specimens were obtained at cesarean delivery from 74 women with BMI values ranging from 19 to 50.1 kg m–2. By recording in vitro from eight strips per donor (590 strips in total), several parameters of spontaneous contractile activity were monitored. The relationship between BMI and contractility was evaluated using linear regression analysis. There was a significant correlation between maximum amplitude (P=0.007) and mean contractile force (P=0.001) with increasing BMI. However, the time to onset of contractions (P=0.009), and time taken to reach maximal amplitude (P=0.020) also increased with increasing BMI. No significant correlation was observed with BMI for other parameters studied. The mean maximum amplitude value for spontaneous contractions was 37±1 mN, the mean contractile force for spontaneous contractions was 4.1±0.1 mN, the average time to the first spontaneous contraction was 11.3±0.6 min and the average frequency of contractions was 6.5±0.2 per hour. These results suggest that the time to onset of contractions is increased with increasing maternal BMI, but that the force developed is greater. In all other respects, human uterine contractility is unaffected by increasing BMI. These findings underline the complexity of regulation of uterine contractility in labor with elevated maternal BMI.

We investigated maternal body size and environmental effects on the oocyte size of the Atlantic sardine, Sardina pilchardus, a marine pelagophil, using a novel, oocyte stage-specific approach which takes into account the spawning lag. In particular, we focused on anatomical constraints imposed by the maternal body cavity to the growth of the ovary and its oocytes during the course of vitellogenesis (VIT) and oocyte maturation (OM). We analyzed variability in oocyte size in VIT and OM ovaries as a factor of maternal size, ambient temperature (SST) and preservation medium (formalin vs. ethanol) using the spawning lag of recent and imminent spawners, respectively, as a covariate. We showed that oocyte size correlates with maternal size in OM ovaries but not in VIT ovaries. More specifically, 10 cm difference in maternal body length corresponds to 0.112 mm2 (or 12 %) difference in the cross section of fully hydrated oocytes just previous to ovulation. On the other hand there was no inverse relationship between OM oocyte size at spawning and batch fecundity. Ambient SST was not an important determinant of hydrated oocyte size since the same 12 % difference in oocyte size was estimated for the entire SST range of the study. We suggest that these stage-specific differences in the effect of maternal size on oocyte size are due to a functional relationship between the abdominal volume and ovarian size.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different doses of mercury on fetal cerebrum. Twenty adult female rats were divided in four groups. All animals became pregnant by natural mating. Mercuric oxide was induced in three groups by different doses at ten terminal days of pregnancy. After parturition, the cerebrum was collected from the offspring of all rats and the weight of the neonates and mothers was measured. Various histological parameters were determined using histological techniques. Results revealed a decrease in neonatal and maternal body weight after parturition compared to control. The thicknesses of the gray and white matter showed a decrease in all test groups. The number of cells in gray matter and white matter reduced in all test groups. The maternal body weight of group T3, the number of cells in gray matter of group T3 and the number of cells in white matter of group T2 and T3 decreased significantly (p

The classic model of Smith and Fretwell predicts that the optimal egg size will vary according to the shape of the relationship between offspring size and offspring fitness, which may vary among environments. Adaptive significance of intrapopulation egg size variation was examined using Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis). The species has an annual and migratory life history. Fish under controlled rearing conditions become sexually mature with a trend that smaller females produced larger eggs later in the season. Observed egg size variation was explained by the maternal specific growth rate, which was composed of maternal body size and growing period. Hatchlings from larger eggs had a larger notochord length, larger yolk-sac and grew faster. Such offspring traits provide general advantages of increased larval size, which confer competitive ability for assuring early survivorship. In conclusion, egg size plasticity in Ayu suggests higher offspring fitness through enhancement of their accessibility to food.

Owing to the lack of evidence supporting the use of uterine fundal pressure maneuver in vaginal delivery, the role of the maneuver is undetermined and remains controversial. The aim of this study was to identify the prone factor of the use of uterine fundal pressure maneuver and to evaluate its obstetrical outcomes. All vaginal delivery records between 1 January 2005 and 30 April 2006 were evaluated. Maternal and neonatal variables and obstetrical complications were analyzed for subjects underwent uterine fundal pressure maneuver. Six hundred sixty-one vaginal deliveries were evaluated. Fundal pressure maneuver was performed in 39 cases (5.9%, 95% CI 4.4–7.1). Primiparity (76.9 vs. 53.3%; odds ratio 2.92, 95% CI 1.36–6.25, P = 0.004), larger maternal body weight gain during pregnancy (11.16 ± 0.4 kg vs. 10.05 ± 0.16 kg, P = 0.013), and longer duration of labor (922.3 ± 111.7 vs. 566.6 ± 18.3 min, P = 0.003) were prone risk factors for the use of uterine fundal pressure maneuver at vaginal delivery. One case of shoulder dystocia following uterine fundal pressure maneuver was reported (2.5 vs. 0%). Episiotomy (76.9 vs. 44.9%, P

Most small mammals support the nutritional requirements of milk production by increasing food intake. However, when nutrient intake is low, maternal body reserves may be mobilized to maintain adequate milk output. We examined patterns of body composition, including dry matter, fat, protein, and mineral content in big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, during lactation. Concentrations of fat and phosphorus were markedly lower in lactating mothers during week three of lactation than during the first two weeks, but these constituents rebounded to previous levels in the fourth and fifth week. Rapid recovery from fat depletion suggests that females are able to adjust to changes in demands for energy. The decrease in phosphorus during mid-lactation suggests bone demineralization, but an interspecific comparison of adult concentrations of minerals prevalent in bone suggests that mineral concentrations may never reach critically low levels in reproductively active females.

Yvonne Underhill-Sem from her place-based perspective of the Pacific Islands argues that as we think more about place, so too we must think more about bodies. She proposes that what is needed is a theoretical position that allows bodies and places to be both grounded and materially pinchable, but also to be fluid and discursively constituted. Development (2002) 45, 54–59. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110318

Since cephalopelvic disproportion inevitably leads to cesarean section it seems to be mandatory to identify patients with an absolute discrepancy between the size of the fetus and the birth canal in order to avoid unnecessary trials of labour. In a case control study, comparing a group of patients who delivered by cesarean section because of cephalopelvic disproportion with an age matched control group, routinely assessed pelvic measurements and measurements of the newborn were correlated to cephalopelvic disproportion. Multivariate linear regression was applied to each group to determine, which of the maternal and fetal factors had the strongest influence on the mode of delivery. In the study group external conjugate showed the strongest positive relation to maternal body height (P

Administration of dexamethasone to mothers at risk of having children with CAH due to 21-OH deficiency is effective in suppressing fetal adrenals and preventing masculinisation of female external genitalia. Treatment should be started early, before the 7th week of gestation and should be administered as 2 or 3 divided doses. Compliance to treatment and efficacy of fetal adrenal suppression should also be carefully evaluated. The study presented here favours a daily dose of dexamethasone related to maternal size, i.e. 20–25 μg of dexamethasone per kg of maternal body weight at the time of onset of treatment. Mode of prenatal diagnosis would depend on the family and the facilities available locally.

Correction to: International Journal of Obesity (2010) 34, 1371–1380; doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.66; published online 6 April 2010 After the publication of the article, the authors noticed a couple of minor errors in Table 2 , in Fetal characteristics section. The correct table is reproduced below. The authors would like to apologize for this mistake.

Maternal Body Image Perception of Overweight and Healthy Children from Low-Socioeconomic Levels in Chile: P038

One might begin simply by examining the relation between the infant and its mother's body. In fact, Lacan speaks of the body of the mother in only a few places in the seminars on "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" (1959-60). He does so in the context of one of his discussions of"the thing" (Das Ding) and again in a discussion of the problem of sublimation. In both of these instances his reference to the maternal body is in fact a reference to Melanie Klein and the similarities between what Melanie Klein calls the maternal body and Lacan calls the thing: "The Kleinian articulation consists in this: to have put in the central place of Das Ding the mythic body of the mother1; or, again, "where I speak of the thing the Kleinian doctrine essentially puts the body of the mother" (seminar of 1/27/60, p. 3). It was in the "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" that Lacan first began to elaborate the notion of Das Ding as his version of what is more usually referred to as the lost object in Freud. There is, then, a rough parallelism between the maternal body (Klein), the thing (Lacan), and the lost object (Freud). What I propose to do in this paper, after Lacan, is to situate the lost object within the Freudian texts and to explain something of the relation between the lost object and desire. This is at once one of the most central, most difficult, and most fully elaborated points in Lacan's teaching. I will try to shed some light on a single point: According to Lacan there is no object of desire in reality: that "object" is "lost," and because it is, reality is significant for human beings. In the early seminars in "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis" Lacan repeatedly draws his auditors' attention to the Project for a Scientific Psychology and, particularly, to those texts where Freud gives his account of the radically conflictional nature of the processes, forces, and systems in which human desire comes to be constituted. "What," Lacan asks, "is this figure which is brought to us by Freud in the opposition principle of reality, principle of

One hundred, and eighty four pregnant women in third trimester and their offsprings were studied to find out the effects of maternal body size and nutritional intakes on fetal growth. These mothers were subjected for anthropometric measurements (weight, height and weight for height ratio index) and surve for dietary intakes. The offsprings were assessed for inirauterine growth (weight, crown-heel length and head circumference). Both maternal weight for height ratio index and the dietary intakes were found to influence fetal growth. The fetal growth was significantly retarded, in women with weight for height ratio index 3000 g, crown-heel length >49.0 cm and head circumference > 33.5 cm).

Brood size and chemical composition (carbon, nitrogen, and ash) of Pareuchaeta norvegica in Loch Etive, Scotland have been determined. From 23 to 37 eggs were found in each egg mass (mean=30 eggs). The eggs are oval; the mean size of the longer axis is 438 μm. Variation in egg mass (as dry weight) is related to increase in dry weight of the maternal body. an increase of 1 mg in maternal body dry weight produces an increase of 0.03 mg dry weight in the egg mass. Carbon content increases with increasing body dry weight both in pre-spawning and spent females, but nitrogen content decreases with increasing body weight. Thus, the carbon:nitrogen ratio increases with increasing body dry weight. The carbon content of an egg mass ranges from 61.4 to 65.3%, and nitrogen content from 9.6 to 13.2% of the total dry weight. Some examples of partitioning of chemical components of the maternal body into the egg mass are also described.

Maternal and cord blood glucose levels in diabetic multiparous Nigerian women were compared in relation to variable parameters such as birth weight, maternal body mass index (BMI), age and number of births, in order to ascertain the effect of diabetes on parity among women of pure Negro race. Pregnant women of pure Negro origin who were native to Nigeria or other African countries were selected for the study. The subjects were age-matched into three age groups of 20-24, 25-35, and 36 or over years, respectively and then were further divided into diabetics and non-diabetics following a 75 g OGTT. Umbilical cord blood and maternal blood samples were collected immediately after each delivery. The amount of glucose in blood was determined by means of Dextrostix reagent strips read in a glucometer. Birth weight, umbilical cord blood glucose and maternal blood glucose increased slightly with increasing age in the diabetics. There was no effect of age on umbilical cord and maternal blood glucose levels in non-diabetics. Maternal BMI also increased with age in the diabetics whereas it increased only slightly but not significantly at the age of 36 years and over in the non-diabetics. However, there was a slight increase in birth weight with increasing age among the non-diabetics. The correlation coefficients (r) of the relationship between maternal blood glucose and baby weight were +0.905 for the diabetic and +0.155 for non-diabetic groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

From the above paper we may draw the following conclusions: 1. The possibility of fecundation of several eggs of one female by two different sires during one rutting period has been methodically ascertained. 2. Heterogeneous foetuses derived from such successful double mating, i.e. developing simultaneously, may manifest their respective colour as well as that of their offspring in total independence from each other. 3. If there exists an essential difference in the weight of rabbits from two different breeds, the difference may manifest itself even when the heterogeneous rabbits develop simultaneously in one doe. On the other hand, the presence of foetuses of different breeds in one mother may cause an essential positive influence on the weight of new-borns belonging to either type. This positive influence can, however, not be detected in the first filial generation from such enlarged specimens. 4. The increase of weight of new-borns from double mating ought to be considered as modification in the sense given by Baur. It is possibly due to the introduction of certain substances characteristic of foetuses of one type, into the surroundings, or even into the interior of those of the other type.

The literature on bryozoan reproduction contains varying accounts of the origin and structure of the “hyperstomial” type of brood chamber (ooecium). Because of the widespread occurrence of hyperstomial ooecia in eurystome bryozoans and the discrepancies in previous descriptions of ooecial structure, a reexamination of this problem was initiated. Results of a light microscopic study of Bugula neritina indicate that the ooecium is composed of two parts, between which the embryo is brooded: an outer double-walled calcified ooecial fold and inner membranous ooecial vesicle. The ooecial fold represents a kenozooid derived from the autozooid immediately distal to the maternal autozooid, and is separated from its progenitor by a communication pore. The ooecial vesicle, however, is a simple evagination of the maternal body wall. Therefore, three separate individuals function in formation of the brood chamber: the maternal autozooid, the distal autozooid, and a kenozooid. Confirmation that the epithelium of the vesicle adjacent to the embryo is hypertrophied, and the additional observation that funicular tissue is associated with these epithelial cells support the hypothesis that the maternal autozooid functions in extra-embryonic nutrition of the embryo.

Strontium-90, entering the maternal body of rats, passes to the fetus through the placenta. This phenomenon intensifies with the development of ossification processes in the embryo and is in direct proportion to the embryo's weight. It decreases with the progress of time lapse following the isotope administration. Radiation doses received by the embryo during intrauterine development are sufficiently high to be fraught with the hazard of essential developmental disturbances.

The article describes the author's experiments with artificial induction in lower monkeys (Papio hamadryas) of a hemolytic disease of newborn. The experiments were made on monkey couples — sires and dams — incompatible in the isoantigenic respect. An increase in the immunologic incompatibility between the fetus and the maternal body was achieved by immunization of females with blood erythrocytes from the males with which they had been mated. The possibility of induction of hemolytic disease of newborn in lower monkeys has been proved for the first time.

The effect of changes in maternal ECF and dietary Na+ intake on fetal PRA and urine Na+ was measured in 43 near-term fetal lambs. Fetal and maternal blood and urine Na+, K+, Osm and PRA was measured in 12 fetuses after a maternal intake of “normal” sheep chow. Similar studies were made in 12 fetuses after a maternal low Na+ diet and in 19 fetuses after a maternal diet supplemented with 10 gm Na+ plus daily IM DOCA. These data demonstrate that control fetal PRA is higher than that in the ewe. Maternal low Na+ intake resulted in a significant increase in PRA and a decrease in UNa in the fetus as well as the ewe. Simultaneous measurement of uterine vein renin revealed no maternal - fetus gradient. Ewes on a low Na+ diet for 3 days subsequently expanded for 3 days with DOCA and added salt, resulted in a decrease in fetal as well as maternal PRA. These data indicate that fetal renin activity is fetal in origin and is in part responsive to maternal changes in ECF and dietary Na+. This response might serve to protect the fetus from exaggerated changes in maternal body composition.

The accurate measurement of maternal prepregnancy weight is critical since it is used to calculate gestational weight gain and to study the relationship between maternal body size, gestational weight gain, and infant birthweight. The prepregnancy weights recorded in prenatal records are usually historical information obtained by patient interview. The accuracy of this recall information is questionable. This study compares the accuracy of the historical prepregnancy weight, reported by a group of 66 young women ranging in age from 13 years to 17 years 7 months, to the actual prepregnancy weight recorded in the medical record by health professionals 6 months before to 2 weeks after the last menstrual period (LMP). Information concerning historical and actual prepregnancy weight was obtained by review of 140 medical records. Simple correlations and linear regression analysis were used to determine a correlation between historical and actual prepregnancy weight of 0.97. The significance of this correlation was not altered by controlling for maternal age, site of prenatal care, number of prenatal visits prior to LMP, or proximity of the last visit to the LHP. A tendency for heavy girls to underestimate their prepregnancy weight was noted. These findings suggest that as a group, adolescents in Rochester, New York who have an identifiable source of medical care, are able to accurately estimate their prepregnancy weight.