The risk tolerance and decision-making processes of Australian women regarding medication trials in pregnancy.

Background: Pregnant women have historically been excluded from participation in medication trials, in part due to the perceived risks of drug exposure to mothers and fetuses. However, little is known about pregnant women's attitudes toward risk and participation in such trials.

Aims: To address this knowledge gap and to identify factors that influence trial participation.

Effect of maternal prebiotic supplementation on human milk immunological composition: Insights from the SYMBA study.

Background: Immunomodulatory proteins in human milk (HM) can shape infant immune development. However, strategies to modulate their levels are currently unknown. This study investigated whether maternal prebiotic supplementation alters the levels of immunomodulatory proteins in HM.

Effects of pregnancy and lactation prebiotics supplementation on infant allergic disease: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Ingestion of prebiotics during pregnancy and lactation may have immunomodulatory benefits for the developing fetal and infant immune system and provide a potential dietary strategy to reduce the risk of allergic diseases.

Objective: We sought to determine whether maternal supplementation with dietary prebiotics reduces the risk of allergic outcomes in infants with hereditary risk.

Methods: We undertook a double-blind randomized controlled trial in which pregnant women were allocated to consume prebiotics (14.

Pharmacological blockade of the interleukin-1 receptor suppressed Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide-induced neuroinflammation in preterm fetal sheep.

Background: Intraamniotic inflammation is associated with preterm birth, especially in cases occurring before 32 weeks' gestation, and is causally linked with an increased risk for neonatal mortality and morbidity. Targeted anti-inflammatory interventions may assist in improving the outcomes for pregnancies impacted by intrauterine inflammation. Interleukin-1 is a central upstream mediator of inflammation.

Characterisation of Mid-Gestation Amniotic Fluid Cytokine and Bacterial DNA Profiles in Relation to Pregnancy Outcome in a Small Australian Cohort.

A well-established association exists between intrauterine bacteria and preterm birth. This study aimed to explore this further through documenting bacterial and cytokine profiles in Australian mid-gestation amniotic fluid samples from preterm and term births. Samples were collected during amniocenteses.

Associations between Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates and Features of the Metabolic Syndrome in Males from Childhood into Adulthood.

Phthalate metabolites are detectable within the majority of the population. Evidence suggests that a prenatal exposure to phthalates may be associated with the subsequent risks of obesity and elevated blood pressure. We hypothesised that a prenatal exposure to phthalates would lead to an increase in adverse cardiometabolic parameters through childhood and adulthood.

Longitudinal effects of prenatal exposure to plastic-derived chemicals and their metabolites on asthma and lung function from childhood into adulthood.

Background And Objective: Environmental exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), chemicals used in the production of plastics, may increase risk for asthma and allergies. However, little is known about the long-term effects of early life exposure to these compounds. We investigated if prenatal exposure to these compounds was associated with asthma, allergy and lung function outcomes from early childhood into adulthood in a cohort study.

Asthma and allergies in a cohort of adolescents conceived with ART.

Research Question: Are asthma and allergies more common in adolescents conceived with assisted reproductive technologies (ART) compared with adolescents conceived without?

Design: The Growing Up Healthy Study (GUHS) is a prospective cohort study including ART-conceived offspring born between 1991 and 2001 in Perth, Australia. Their long-term health outcomes, including asthma and allergy parameters, were compared with those of their counterparts conceived without ART from the Raine Study Generation 2 (Gen2), born in 1989-1991. At age 14, 152 GUHS and 1845 Gen2 participants completed the following assessments: the International Studies of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, spirometry, methacholine challenge testing and skin prick testing (SPT).

Randomised controlled trial of nebulised gentamicin in children with bronchiectasis.

Aim: Following trials of inhaled antibiotics in adults, this study investigates the efficacy of nebulised gentamicin to improve respiratory function in children with bronchiectasis.

Methods: This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of 12-week nebulised placebo/gentamicin, 6-week washout, 12-week gentamicin/placebo. Participants were children (5-15 years) with bronchiectasis, chronic infection (any pathogen), and able to perform spirometry from a hospital bronchiectasis clinic.

Asthma and allergies in offspring conceived by ART: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Currently, 1 in 25 children born in Australia are conceived through ARTs such as IVF and ICSI. Worldwide over 8 million children have been born after ART. There is evidence that these children are at an increased risk of congenital malformations, preterm birth, low birth weight and neonatal morbidity.

Associations between Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates and Timing of Menarche and Growth and Adiposity into Adulthood: A Twenty-Years Birth Cohort Study.

Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties and potentially obesogenic effects. We hypothesised that antenatal phthalate exposure may influence growth and adiposity patterns in girls through childhood into adolescence. Among 1342 Raine Study singleton females, 462 had maternal serum and at least one outcome available up to 20 years of age.

Prenatal Testosterone Associates With Blood Pressure in Young Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study.

[Figure: see text].

The relationship between oxytocin blood concentrations and antidepressants over pregnancy and the postpartum.

Antidepressant treatment of perinatal depression is increasingly common and accepted in clinical guidelines. It has been suggested that serotonergic antidepressants may effect changes in the oxytocinergic system, including oxytocin levels, and that this may be one of the beneficial mechanisms of action for these drugs. Furthermore, oxytocin has been associated with the quality of the parent-child relationship, which may be important in treatment of perinatal depression.

The influence of prenatal exposure to phthalates on subsequent male growth and body composition in adolescence.

Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental chemicals with predominantly anti-androgenic, and potentially obesogenic effects. We hypothesised that antenatal phthalate exposure may influence subsequent boy's growth and body composition through childhood and adolescence. Among 1399 singleton males from the Raine Study, 410 had maternal serum and at least one height, BMI or DEXA outcome available after birth and up to 20 years of age.

A specific bacterial DNA signature in the vagina of Australian women in midpregnancy predicts high risk of spontaneous preterm birth (the Predict1000 study).

Background: Intrauterine infection accounts for a quarter of the cases of spontaneous preterm birth; however, at present, it is not possible to efficiently identify pregnant women at risk to deliver preventative treatments.

Objective: This study aimed to establish a vaginal microbial DNA test for Australian women in midpregnancy that will identify those at increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth.

Study Design: A total of 1000 women with singleton pregnancies were recruited in Perth, Australia.

Targeting Toll-like receptor-4 to tackle preterm birth and fetal inflammatory injury.

Every year, 15 million pregnancies end prematurely, resulting in more than 1 million infant deaths and long-term health consequences for many children. The physiological processes of labour and birth involve essential roles for immune cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines in gestational tissues. There is compelling evidence that the mechanisms underlying spontaneous preterm birth are initiated when a premature and excessive inflammatory response is triggered by infection or other causes.

Use of stored serum in the study of time trends and geographical differences in exposure of pregnant women to phthalates.

Background: Exposure to some phthalate diesters has been associated with adverse reproductive health outcomes in both rodents and humans indicative of anti-androgenic effects. Exposure during sensitive periods of development, such as prenatally, is of particular concern.

Objectives: We wished to investigate whether phthalate metabolites measured in maternal serum samples from historical birth cohorts can be used to assess prenatal exposure.

Placental and intra-amniotic inflammation are associated with altered fetal immune responses at birth.

Introduction: High-grade placental inflammation is associated with preterm birth and poor neonatal outcomes. Recent reports suggest that low-grade placental inflammation is common in uncomplicated pregnancies. The relationship between placental inflammation and innate immune anti-microbial responses is unknown.

The Not-so-Sterile Womb: Evidence That the Human Fetus Is Exposed to Bacteria Prior to Birth.

The human microbiome includes trillions of bacteria, many of which play a vital role in host physiology. Numerous studies have now detected bacterial DNA in first-pass meconium and amniotic fluid samples, suggesting that the human microbiome may commence . However, these data have remained contentious due to underlying contamination issues.

Murine exposure to gold nanoparticles during early pregnancy promotes abortion by inhibiting ectodermal differentiation.

Background: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely studied for biomedical applications, although their safety and potential toxicity in pregnancy remains unknown. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of AuNPs maternal exposure at different gestational ages on fetal survival and development, as well as the potential mechanism of AuNPs affecting embryos and fetuses.

Methods: Thirty nm polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated AuNPs (A30) were administered to pregnant mice via intravenous injection (5 μg Au/g body weight) over three days at either early or late pregnancy.

The Relationship Between Pregnancy Exposure to Antidepressant and Atypical Antipsychotic Medications and Placental Weight and Birth Weight Ratio: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Psychotropic medication use in pregnancy has been associated with altered fetal growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between placental weight and placental weight-to-birth weight (PBW) ratio, as a potential marker of placental efficiency, and medication use in a cohort of women with severe mental illness in pregnancy.

Methods: A retrospective database analysis was carried out on a cohort of pregnant women with severe mental illness (242 singleton pregnancies) and grouped according to their psychotropic medication use.

Relationship between umbilical cord sex hormone binding globulin, sex steroids, and age at menarche: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To study the role of the prenatal environment in regulating reproductive development by measuring the prospective association between umbilical cord concentrations of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG; principal regulator of sex steroid activity), bioavailable sex steroids, and age at menarche.

Design: Prospective population-based cohort.

Setting: Not applicable.

Intracellular speciation of gold nanorods alters the conformational dynamics of genomic DNA.

Gold nanorods are one of the most widely explored inorganic materials in nanomedicine for diagnostics, therapeutics and sensing. It has been shown that gold nanorods are not cytotoxic and localize within cytoplasmic vesicles following endocytosis, with no nuclear localization, but other studies have reported alterations in gene expression profiles in cells following exposure to gold nanorods, via unknown mechanisms. In this work we describe a pathway that can contribute to this phenomenon.