Perfil prenatal en mujeres que reciben atención médica en los Equipos Comunitarios de Salud San Simón, Potrero, Quebradas y Carrizal del Municipio de San Simón, departamento de Morazán

El embarazo es un proceso que debe transcurrir con toda normalidad y sin ningún riesgo en toda mujer en edad fértil. El control prenatal constituye uno de los eventos más importantes para la salud materno fetal. El objetivo de la investigación es determinar el perfil prenatal en mujeres que reciben atención médica en los Equipos Comunitarios de Salud San Simón, Potrero, Quebrada y Carrizal del municipio de San Simón, departamento de Morazán. La metodología empleada fue de tipo prospectivo, transversal, descriptiva, de campo, bibliográfica y de laboratorio, se hizo uso de técnicas documentales y técnicas de laboratorio. Se trabajó con una muestra de 81 embarazadas a quienes se les realizó pruebas de sangre y examen general de orina. Resultados: El examen general de orina presentó mayor porcentaje de alteraciones sugestivas a patologías con un 17.6% en el ECOS San Simón, 25.0% ECOS Potreros, 12.5% en ECOS Quebradas y 27.1% en ECOS Carrizal. El hematócrito y hemoglobina presentaron 11.8% de alteración en el ECOS San Simón, 25.0% en ECOS Potrero, 6.2% en ECOS Carrizal y en ECOS Quebrada no hubo alteración. Se descarta la presencia de incompatibilidad sanguínea materno fetal, VIH, sífilis y diabetes gestacional. Se obtuvo un 14.8% de embarazadas con abortos previos. Conclusiones: A partir de la información presentada en los datos descriptivos y la prueba de hipótesis aplicada, estadísticamente se concluyó que: La prueba que presentó mayor efecto en la alteración del perfil prenatal con sugestividad a patología en las embarazadas es el examen general de orina, seguido de las pruebas de Hematócrito-Hemoglobina.

Asociaciones entre el crecimiento prenatal y la antropometría materna en el Uruguay

Introducción: No se conoce la influencia combinada del índice de masa corporal pregestacional (IMC-PG) y de la ganancia de peso gestacional (GPG) sobre el peso al nacer extremo (<3000 gy ≥4000 g) en el Uruguay. Objetivos: Determinar la prevalencia de diferentes categorías de IMC-PG y de GPG y luego conocer sus riesgos independientes y combinados sobre el peso al nacer <3000 go con retardo de crecimiento intrauterino (RCIU) y ≥ 4000 g (macrosomía) en una muestra nacional de madres y recién nacidos. Métodos: Estudio de cohorte con datos prospectivos de 23.832 embarazadas donde se clasificó el estado nutricional pregestacional según IMC-PG del patrón de Estados Unidos. La GPG se clasificó de acuerdo a una propuesta de Dinamarca. Se determinaron los riesgos independientes y combinados de las distintas categorías de IMC-PG y de GPG con RCIU y macrosomía utilizando el riesgo relativo (RR). Resultados: Los RR de RCIU y macrosomía resultaron estadísticamente significativos en su asociación independiente con IMC-PG y GPG. En embarazadas con bajo IMC-PG se apreció un alto riesgo de RCIU y en embarazadas con elevado IMC-PG (sobrepeso u obesidad) un alto riesgo de macrosomía. También en el análisis de la influencia combinada se mantuvieron las importantes asociaciones de IMC-PG y GPG. Conclusiones: Existe un efecto independiente y combinado de las variables maternas sobre los resultados perinatales. Se sugiere comparar estos resultados, que utilizaron categorías de IMC-PG del patrón de Estados Unidos y categorías de GPG provenientes de Dinamarca, con otros patrones.

Maternal decision on obtaining prenatal care: a study in Brazil

Objective: to address the social aspects of pregnancy and the views of pregnant women regarding prenatal assistance in Brazil. Design: this qualitative study was focused on describing the Social Representations of prenatal care held by pregnant women. The discourse of the collective subject (DCS) framework was used to analyse the data collected, within the theoretical background of social representations, as proposed and developed by Serge Moscovici. Participants and setting: 21 pregnant women who were users of the publicly funded Brazilian unified health-care system and resided in the area served by its family health programme in a low- to middle-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of Campo Grande, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in southwestern Brazil. Data were collected by conducting in-depth, face-to-face interviews from January to October 2006. Findings: all participants were married. Formal education of the participants was less than five years in four cases, between five and eight years in six cases, and greater than 11 years in 10 cases. Nine participants had informal jobs and earned up to US$ 200 per month, four paricipants had administrative jobs and earned over US$ 500 per month, and eight participants did not work. No specific racial/ethnic background predominated. Lack of adherence to prenatal care allowed for the identification of two DCS themes: `organisation of prenatal care services` and `lifestyle features`. Key conclusions: the respondents were found to have negative feelings about pregnancy which manifest as many fears, including the fear of harming their children`s health, of being punished during labour, and of being reprimanded by health-care professionals for overlooking their prenatal care, in addition to the insecurity felt towards the infant and self. Implications for practice: the findings reveal that communication between pregnant women and healthcare professionals has been ineffective and that prenatal care has not been effective for the group interviewed-features that are likely to be found among other low- to middle-income groups living elsewhere in Brazil. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low prenatal vitamin D alters morphology, cell density and gene expression in adult rat brain: Correlations with schizophrenia

Statement of the study: Based on data from ecological and analytic epidemiological studies, we have proposed that low prenatal vitamin D is a candidate risk-modifying factor for schizophrenia. Previously, we demonstrated that low prenatal vitamin D adversely affected brain development in neonatal rats (Eyles et al, 2003). Here we examine the impact of both prenatal and early life hypovitaminosis D on various outcomes in the adult rat brain. Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were made vitamin D deficient via the use of a special diet (Dyets CA) and lighting conditions that excluded UVB radiation. Animals were kept under these conditions for 6 weeks then mated with males kept under normal conditions. Vitamin deplete dams were kept under these conditions during pregnancy. Offspring from two test groups were examined. Offspring were either reared with dams repleted with vitamin D at birth or remained under deplete conditions till weaning. Both test groups were weaned under normal vitamin D conditions and remained so till testing at adulthood. We compared the brains of adult offspring kept under both test conditions with animals from control environments. Summary of results: We found a significant persistent dose-related increase in lateral ventricle volume and alterations in anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortical cell densities (consistent with the known prodifferentiation properties of this steroid). In both test groups we observed a reduced expression of NGF as well as a down-regulation of transcripts coding for GABAA alpha 4 receptor and two neuronal structural elements; MAP2 and Neurofilament L. Conclusion: These findings provide further evidence that vitamin D is involved in brain development. An increase in prefrontal cortical cell density, a reduction neuronal structural elements and persistent ventriculomegaly are all common anatomical findings in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. The specific reduction in transcripts for neuronal structural proteins but not GFAP is also in accordance with the proposal that frontal cortical architecture in schizophrenia reflects a reduction in connectivity rather than a reduction in glial processes(Goldman-Rakic and Selemon, 1997). These findings confirm the biological plausibility of early life hypovitaminosis D as a risk factor for schizophrenia.

Investigating 22q11.2 Deletion and Other Chromosomal Aberrations in Fetuses With Heart Defects Detected by Prenatal Echocardiography

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect and the leading cause of mortality in the first year of life. In fetuses with a heart defect, chromosomal abnormalities are very frequent. Besides aneuploidy, 22q11.2 deletion is one of the most recognizable chromosomal abnormalities causing CHD. The frequency of this abnormality varies in nonselected populations. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of the 22q11.2 deletion and other chromosomal alterations in a Brazilian sample of fetuses with structural cardiac anomalies detected by fetal echocardiography. In a prospective study, 68 fetuses with a heart defect were evaluated. Prenatal detection of cardiac abnormalities led to identification of aneuploidy or structural chromosomal anomaly in 35.3% of these cases. None of the fetuses with apparently normal karyotypes had a 22q11.2 deletion. The heart defects most frequently associated with chromosomal abnormalities were atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), ventricular septal defect (VSD), and tetralogy of Fallot. Autosomal trisomies 18 and 21 were the most common chromosomal abnormalities. The study results support the strong association of chromosome alterations and cardiac malformation, especially in AVSD and VSD, for which a chromosome investigation is indicated. In fetuses with an isolated conotruncal cardiopathy, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to investigate a 22q11.2 deletion is not indicated.

Prenatal diagnosis of posterior mediastinal lymphangioma by two- and three-dimensional ultrasonography

Lymphangioma is a rare benign tumor characterized by proliferating lymph vessels and composed of large cyst spaces with endothelium-lined channels of varying dimensions. The incidence of lymphangioma is approximately one in 6000 pregnancies. Less than 1 % of lymphangiomas are purely mediastinal. The great majority of cases are of cystic lymphangioma, but very rarely there is a mixed lesion consisting of multiple cysts of dilated capillary and lymph vessels. We report a case of posterior mediastinal lymphangioma diagnosed at 28 weeks` gestation, in which three-dimensional ultrasonography was helpful in determining the precise location of the tumor. A Cesarean section was performed at 39 weeks and the tumor was resected on the 5(th) day postdelivery; histological examination revealed a mixed cystic lymphangioma. Copyright (C) 2008 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Balance between early life tolerance and sensitization in allergy: dependence on the timing and intensity of prenatal and postnatal allergen exposure of the mother

P>Allergens can be maternally transferred to the fetus or neonate, though it is uncertain how this initial allergen exposure may impact the development of allergy responses. To evaluate the roles of timing and level of maternal allergen exposure in the early life sensitization of progeny, female BALB/c mice were given ovalbumin (OVA) orally during pregnancy, lactation or weekly at each stage to investigate the immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody production and cellular responsiveness of their offspring. Exposure to OVA during pregnancy was also evaluated in OVA-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) transgenic (DO11.10) mice. The effect of prenatal antigen exposure on offspring sensitization was dependent on antigen intake, with low-dose OVA inducing tolerance followed by neonatal immunization that was sustained even when pups were immunized when 3 weeks old. These offspring received high levels of transforming growth factor-beta via breastfeeding. High-dose exposure during the first week of pregnancy or perinatal period induced transient inhibition of IgE production following neonatal immunization; although for later immunization IgE production was enhanced in these offspring. Postnatal maternal antigen exposure provided OVA transference via breastfeeding, which consequently induced increased offspring susceptibility to IgE antibody production according to week post-birth. The effect of low-dose maternal exposure during pregnancy was further evaluated using OVA transgenic TCR dams as a model. These progeny presented pronounced entry of CD4(+) T cells into the S phase of the cell cycle with a skewed T helper type 2 response early in life, revealing the occurrence of allergen priming in utero. The balance between tolerance and sensitization depended on the amount and timing of maternal allergen intake during pregnancy.

Prenatal diagnosis and natural history of fetuses presenting with pleural effusion

Objective To describe the natural history of fetuses presenting with pleural effusion. Methods Between January 2005 and December 2009 all fetuses diagnosed with pleural effusion were followed up. Fetuses were divided into three groups: I, isolated pleural effusion; II, associated structural anomalies but normal karyotype; and III, chromosomal anomalies. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the association between prenatal ultrasound findings and perinatal death. Results Fifty-six fetuses were included in the study. Associated structural or chromosomal anomalies occurred in 75.0% (42/56) of cases. Bilateral pleural effusion and fetal hydrops were associated with each other (p < 0.01) and with perinatal death (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that only the presence of associated abnormalities was a statistical determinant of perinatal death (OR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.48-5.64; p < 0.01). Conclusion Fetal pleural effusion is often associated with other abnormalities, and this association has poor perinatal outcome. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.