Background: Pregnancy malaria has a negative impact on fetal outcome. It is uncertain whether infections in early pregnancy have a clinical impact by impeding the development of the placental vasculature.
Methods: Tanzanian women (n = 138) were closely monitored during pregnancy. Placentas collected at birth were investigated using stereology to establish the characteristics of placental villi and vessels. Placental vasculature measures were compared between women infected with malaria and controls.
Results: Compared with controls, placentas from women infected with malaria before a gestational age (GA) of 15 weeks had a decreased volume of transport villi (mean decrease [standard deviation], 12.45 [5.39] cm3; P = .02), an increased diffusion distance in diffusion vessels (mean increase, 3.33 [1.27] µm; P = .01), and a compensatory increase in diffusion vessel surface area (mean increase, 1.81 [0.74 m2]; P = .02). In women who had malaria before a GA of 15 weeks diffusion vessel surface area and transport vessel length distance were positive predictors for birth weight (multilinear regression: P = .007 and P = .055 for diffusion surface area and transport length, respectively) and GA at delivery (P = .005 and P = .04).
Conclusions: Malaria infection in early pregnancy impedes placental vascular development. The resulting phenotypic changes, which can be detected at delivery, are associated with birth weight and gestational length.
Clinical Trials Registration: NCT02191683.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiy735 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
UCD Perinatal Research Centre, School of Medicine, National Maternity Hospital, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Background: The warm chain of support is the continuous enabling environment from the mother's first contact with healthcare professionals during early pregnancy, birth and immediate post-partum period, her transition from healthcare facility to home, through to work and the community at large. A breastfeeding-friendly city should be able to support a breastfeeding journey across the warm chain.
Objective: To determine breastfeeding women's perspective of an ideal breastfeeding-friendly city.
Eur J Epidemiol
January 2025
Department of Occupational Safety and Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, No. 100, Section 1, Economic and Trade Road, Beitun District, Taichung, 406040, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Although several environmental factors may increase the risk of nervous system anomalies, the association between exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM) and nervous system anomalies is not completely understood. This study aimed to examine the association between expoure to PM and nervous system anomalies, including specific phenotypes during preconception and early pregnancy and determine the crucial time windows.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Reprod
January 2025
Division of Reproductive Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO USA.
The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) system is vital to placental development, formation, and function. Alterations in this system in the placenta have been associated with altered fetal growth. However, changes in placental mTOR signaling across gestation are poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Reprod Immunol
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine and Offspring Health, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Institute of Women, Children and Reproductive Health, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Background: Alterations in lipid metabolism were reported to impact human fertility; however, there is limited evidence on the association of lipid metabolism with embryo implantation as well as the etiology of recurrent implantation failure (RIF), especially regarding arachidonic acid metabolism.
Methods: Experimental verification research (16 RIF patients and 30 control patients) based on GEO database analysis (24 RIF patients and 24 control patients). The methods in bioinformatics included differential gene screening, functional enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction network, cluster analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis, and so forth.
Unlabelled: It is currently estimated that every 15 minutes an infant is born with opioid use disorder and undergoes intense early life trauma due to opioid withdrawal. Clinical research on the long-term consequences of gestational opioid exposure reports increased rates of social, conduct, and emotional disorders in these children. Here, we investigate the impact of perinatal opioid exposure (POE) on behaviors associated with anhedonia and stress in male and female Sprague Dawley rats.
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