34 research outputs found
Maternal dieting behaviour before pregnancy and its relation to the incidence of preterm delivery
No full textThe effect of parity on the duration of gestation in term pregnancies and its association with 11 beta HSD-1, COC-2 and PGDH protein levels in the placenta and fetal membranes
No full textRelationships between maternal body composition prior to conception and duration of gestation
No full text
The late gestation increase in circulating ACTH and cortisol in the fetal sheep is suppressed by intracerebroventricular infusion of recombinant ovine leptin
No full textThe obese gene product leptin, originally characterised as an adipocyte hormone coordinating the behavioural and neuroendocrine responses to starvation, is expressed in fetal adipocytes and placental trophoblast cells and is present in the fetal circulation. Concentrations of leptin in fetal blood correlate with fetal bodyweight and fat mass. In post-natal life, leptin conveys information about calorie intake and the state of adipose tissue energy stores, and plasma leptin levels are generally inversely correlated with hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) activity. Late fetal life is characterised by increasing HPA activity that prepares the fetus for extrauterine life and initiates the endocrine cascade leading to parturition. We have investigated the hypothesis that leptin in the fetal circulation can inhibit the fetal HPA axis, thereby providing a mechanism by which the fetus can determine the fine timing of parturition as long as it is adequately nourished and growing appropriately. Here we show that a 5-day intracerebroventricular infusion of leptin to the sheep fetus in late gestation inhibits the pre-parturient rise in ACTH and cortisol concentrations, and that this seems to be a centrally mediated effect
Geography and Longue Durée Historical Processes
No full textThe text refers to modern historical geography and its approaches within research on Latin America. The author summarizes main trends in the development of the discipline in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, paying particular attention to their general intellectual and political context. Italian micro history and Mexican local studies are mentioned as important inspirations shaping his approach. Institutional context of a Polish university institution in the difficult period of the 80. and the beginning of the 90. is discussed as well. Referring to his own experiences of archive and field research concerning several Mexican regions, Las Huastecas and Bajo Papaloapan among them, the author confirms diversity of processes of settlement and spatial development within Latin American regions. He compares Mesoamerican and Andean- American general patterns where prehispanic structures interacted with those imposed by the Spaniards, to the ones developed in areas where there were no stable settlements before the process of colonization began and where the feature of frontier created much different settlements patters. In spite of recognition of general settlement patterns the author stresses the importance of microhistory and the need of applying geographical and historical research perspective of long duration processes taking place at the local level
Administration of extra-amniotic arachidonic acid and the suppression of uterine prostaglandin synthesis during pregnancy in the rhesus monkey
No full textAfter extra-amniotic treatment of pregnant rhesus monkeys premature parturition was induced in 4 given 2.5 mg PGE-2; none of the 4 monkeys given 100 mg arachidonic acid were affected. The concentrations of PGE, PGF or 13,14-dihydro-15-oxo-PGF did not change after arachidonic acid treatment, but all increased after PGE-2. It is suggested that the availability of substrate, arachidonic acid, is not a major factor governing the control of PG synthesis but that the latter is suppressed during pregnancy
