A cross-cultural study on surrogate mother's empathy and maternal-foetal attachment.

Background: Traditional and gestational surrogate mothers assist infertile couples by carrying their children. In 2005, a meta-analysis on surrogacy was conducted but no study had examined empathy and maternal-foetal attachment of surrogate mothers. Assessments of surrogate mothers show no sign of psychopathology, but one study showed differences on several MMPI-2 scales compared to a normative sample: surrogate mothers identified with stereotypically masculine traits such as assertiveness and competition.

Prenatal exposure to cypermethrin modulates rat NK cell cytotoxic functions.

The synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, cypermethrin, was given during gestation to pregnant rats by gavage in corn oil. Peripheral blood and spleen cytotoxic activity of dams and their offspring were then evaluated at different times (30, 60, 90, 120 days) after birth. Pups showed a significant increase in peripheral blood natural killer (NK) and antibody-dependent (ADCC) cytotoxic activity paralleled with a similar increase in the percentage of NK-RP1+ cells and decreased activity in the spleen.