Effects of Maternal Mental Health on Engagement in Favorable Health Practices During Pregnancy.

Introduction: A woman's health practices during pregnancy are associated with maternal and neonatal outcomes. Yet limited research has examined predictors of a woman's engagement in favorable health practices, particularly in pregnant women at greatest risk for adverse outcomes. We examined the role of mental health on engagement in favorable health practices during pregnancy in a sample of pregnant, low-income, predominantly African American women.

Estrogenic regulation of dopaminergic neurons in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch.

Steroid-induced changes in dopaminergic activity underlie many correlations between gonadal hormones and social behaviors. However, the effects of steroid hormones on the various behaviorally relevant dopamine cell groups remain unclear, and ecologically relevant species differences remain virtually unexplored. We examined the effects of estradiol (E2) manipulations on dopamine (DA) neurons of male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), focusing on numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells in the A8-A15 cell groups, and on TH colocalization with Fos, conducted in the early A.