Adipokines measured during pregnancy and at birth are associated with infant negative affect.

Background: Increased adiposity during pregnancy may be related to offspring risk for mental health disorders, although the biological mechanisms are poorly understood. One promising hypothesis is that factors secreted from adipocytes such as leptin and adiponectin may explain this association. The current study examined whether pregnancy or umbilical cord blood concentrations of leptin and/or adiponectin a) predict elevated infant negative affect at 6 months (an early life marker of risk for psychopathology); and b) help explain the association between pregnancy adiposity and increased infant negative affect.

Perinatal Western-style diet exposure associated with decreased microglial counts throughout the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus in Japanese macaques.

Perinatal exposure to a high-fat, high-sugar Western-style diet (WSD) is associated with altered neural circuitry in the melanocortin system. This association may have an underlying inflammatory component, as consumption of a WSD during pregnancy can lead to an elevated inflammatory environment. Our group previously demonstrated that prenatal WSD exposure was associated with increased markers of inflammation in the placenta and fetal hypothalamus in Japanese macaques.

Perinatal Western-style diet alters serotonergic neurons in the macaque raphe nuclei.

Introduction: The neurotransmitter serotonin is a key regulator of neurotransmission, mood, and behavior and is essential in neurodevelopment. Dysfunction in this important neurotransmitter system is connected to behavioral disorders such as depression and anxiety. We have previously shown that the developing serotonin system is sensitive to perinatal exposure to Western-style diet (WSD).

The association between heightened ADHD symptoms and cytokine and fatty acid concentrations during pregnancy.

Objective: Previous research conducted with samples of children suggest that individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have altered fatty acid concentrations and may have increased systemic inflammation. Whether these differences are also apparent in other populations of individuals with heightened ADHD symptoms (e.g.

Maternal Western-style diet reduces social engagement and increases idiosyncratic behavior in Japanese macaque offspring.

Recent evidence in humans and animals indicates an association between maternal obesity and offspring behavioral outcomes. In humans, increased maternal body mass index has been linked to an increased risk of children receiving a diagnosis of early-emerging neurodevelopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, a limited number of preclinical studies have examined associations between maternal Western-Style Diet (mWSD) exposure and offspring social behavior.

Maternal diet and obesity shape offspring central and peripheral inflammatory outcomes in juvenile non-human primates.

The obesity epidemic affects 40% of adults in the US, with approximately one-third of pregnant women classified as obese. Previous research suggests that children born to obese mothers are at increased risk for a number of health conditions. The mechanisms behind this increased risk are poorly understood.

The Influence of Maternal Metabolic State and Nutrition on Offspring Neurobehavioral Development: A Focus on Preclinical Models.

The prevalence of both obesity and neurodevelopmental disorders has increased substantially over the last several decades. Early environmental factors, including maternal nutrition and metabolic state during gestation, influence offspring neurodevelopment. Both human and preclinical models demonstrate a link between poor maternal nutrition, altered metabolic state, and risk of behavioral abnormalities in offspring.

Neuroinflammation as a risk factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a persistent, and impairing pediatric-onset neurodevelopmental condition. Its high prevalence, and recurrent controversy over its widespread identification and treatment, drive strong interest in its etiology and mechanisms. Emerging evidence for a role for neuroinflammation in ADHD pathophysiology is of great interest.

Perinatal Nutrition and Programmed Risk for Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A Focus on Animal Models.

Maternal nutrition is critically important for fetal development. Recent human studies demonstrate a strong connection between diet during pregnancy and offspring risk for neuropsychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Animal models have emerged as a crucial tool for understanding maternal nutrition's contribution to prenatal programming and the later development of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Surgery, palliative care, and the American College of Surgeons.

Since the late 1990s, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has increasingly recognized and advocated palliative care for patients and their families with serious, critical, and terminal illness under surgical care. The college has been the primary catalyst for the recognition of palliative care in the field of surgery in the U.S.

Patient-centering approaches for the surgical oncologist: palliative care, patient navigation, and distress screening.

Surgeons can more effectively meet the public's increased expectation of patient-centered care by directing attention to pain, non-pain symptoms, including depression and anxiety, in addition to the patient's personal preferences, resources, and support needs. Patient navigation and palliative care, both pioneered by surgeons, provide complementary frameworks for the screening, assessment and intervention needed to achieve enhanced patient outcomes including adherence to care, improved quality of life and patient satisfaction.

Surgical palliative care: recent trends and developments.

Palliation has been an essential, if not the primary, activity of surgery during much of its history. However, it has been only during the past decade that the modern principles and practices of palliative care developed in the nonsurgical specialties in the United States and abroad have been introduced to surgical institutions, widely varied practice settings, education, and research.

Surgical palliative care: recent trends and developments.

Palliation has been an essential, if not the primary, activity of surgery during much of its history. However, it has been only during the past decade that the modern principles and practices of palliative care developed in the nonsurgical specialties in the United States and abroad have been introduced to surgical institutions, widely varied practice settings, education, and research.

Principles and core competencies of surgical palliative care: an overview.

The concept of palliation is as old as surgery itself, perhaps so old that it has been taken for granted rather than conceptualized as a primary framework for surgical care. The experience and success of the hospice movement in the United States and abroad was followed by the extension of its basic concepts to the much larger population of patients with advanced, but not necessarily terminal, illness. This collective experience has provided the necessary background and stimulus for developing a specific set of principles and competencies applicable to surgical palliative care.

Prospective integration of cultural consideration in biomedical research for patients with advanced cancer: recommendations from an international conference on malignant bowel obstruction in palliative care.

In the setting of an international conference on malignant bowel obstruction as a model for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in palliative care, we discuss the importance of incorporating prospective cultural considerations into research design. The approach commonly used in biomedical research has traditionally valued the RCT as the ultimate "way of knowing" about how to best treat a medical condition. The foremost limitation of this approach is the lack of recognition of the impact of cultural viewpoints on research outcomes.

Surgical palliative care of advanced wounds.

The history of surgery is rich with accomplishments in wound care, a legacy that recently has been abandoned by many surgeons only to be taken up by nonsurgical providers. When dealing with advanced wounds at the end of life, such as pressure ulcers or venous stasis ulcers, goals of treatment are relief of pain, elimination of odor, and control of wound exudates and infection. Benefits and risks of surgical intervention must be discussed with the patient and family in terms of the patient's perceived prognosis, extent of tissue necrosis and infection, the rate of deterioration, and the underlying wound pathogenesis.