Is low literacy a risk factor for symptoms of depression in postpartum women?

Objective: To determine if postpartum women with limited literacy are at higher risk for depression symptoms than women with adequate literacy.

Study Design: We interviewed women during their postpartum hospitalization following delivery of a healthy infant to collect baseline demographic data and assess literacy skills. We contacted these women by phone 6-10 weeks postpartum and administered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), using scores > or = 9 to indicate symptoms of postpartum depression.

Tubuloglomerular feedback activity after glomerular immune injury.

Tubuloglomerular feedback responses were examined in control euvolemic and glomerulonephritic rats 4 wk after administration of antiglomerular basement membrane antibody (AGBM). Single-nephron glomerular filtration rate (SNGFR) was reduced approximately 30% in AGBM rats. Tubuloglomerular feedback responses were also tested with both artificial and native tubular fluid.

The influence of concomitant experimental hypertension and glomerulonephritis.

Utilizing the two kidney-one clip Goldblatt model (CH), we have examined the influence of hypertension upon the course of antiglomerular basement membrane antibody-induced glomerulonephritis (GN) over a period of 10 to 14 weeks after induction of CH and GN, utilizing evaluations in the awake rat by renal micropuncture of the unclipped kidney and morphologic analysis (control [C], GN, CH, and GN+CH). Metabolic studies revealed that GN and GN+CH rats developed proteinuria, elevations in serum creatinine and blood pressure (P less than 0.05).

An evaluation of the development of experimental membranous nephropathy.

Heymann nephritis is a rat model of glomerulonephritis with morphologic manifestations of human membranous nephropathy. This model is generated by immunizing rats with Fx1A antigen. Passive Heymann's nephritis (PHN) can be produced by the administration of anti-Fx1A antibody (anti-Fx1A Ab) (with abnormal proteinuria appearing in 5 days).

Analysis of renal function in the two-kidney Goldblatt model.

We analyzed the renal functional responses in all rats 4-6 wk after application of a clip to one renal artery and maintained on either a normal NaCl-intake or a NaCl-depletion protocol utilizing both clearance methods and micropuncture evaluations of glomerular hemodynamics. Although mean arterial pressure (MAP) rose significantly, the response was quite variable and the frequency and degree of hypertension independent of NaCl dietary protocol (142 +/- 7 vs. 137 +/- 6 mmHg, NS).