Differences in withdrawal symptoms, microglia activity, and cognitive functioning in rats exposed to continuous low-dose heroin in-utero.

Introduction: Opioid use during pregnancy and subsequent neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) have been associated with poor developmental outcomes including cognitive functioning. Less is known about the underlying molecular effects of prenatal opioid exposure and subsequent withdrawal; however, given the recent increase in NOWS cases, there is a pressing need to better understand these effects, which may partially explain cognitive deficits that have been observed in both preclinical NOWS models and patients with NOWS. This study evaluated the effects of prenatal heroin exposure and subsequent precipitated withdrawal symptoms on microglial reactivity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), dorsal hippocampus (HC), and ventral tegmental area (VTA) in rat neonates, as well as cognitive functioning at three developmental time points using the Morris Water Maze (MWM) task.

What can a meta-analysis tell us about traditional birth attendant training and pregnancy outcomes?

Objective: to summarise the available published and unpublished studies on traditional birth attendant (TBA) training effectiveness.

Design: a meta-analysis.

Study Sample: sixty studies (n=60) spanning 1971-1999 from 24 countries and three regions.