The impact a Mediterranean Diet in the third trimester of pregnancy has on neonatal body fat percentage.

Maternal diet during pregnancy has long been recognised as an important determinant of neonatal outcomes and child development. Infant body composition is a potentially modifiable risk factor for predicting future health and metabolic disease. Utilising the Mediterranean Diet Score, this study focused on how different levels of Mediterranean Diet adherence (MDA) in pregnancy influence body fat percentage of the infant. Information on 458 pregnant women in their third trimester of pregnancy and their infants was obtained from The ORIGINS Project. The data included MDA score, body composition measurements using infant air displacement plethysmography (PEA POD), pregnancy, and birth information. Infants born to mothers with high MDA had a body fat percentage of 11.3%, whereas infants born to mothers with low MDA had a higher body fat percentage of 13.3% (p = 0.010). When adjusted for pre-pregnancy body mass index and infant sex, a significant result remained between high vs. low MDA and infant fat mass (FM) (2.5% less FM p = 0.016). This study suggests that high MDA in pregnancy was associated with a reduced body fat percentage in the newborn. Future studies are needed to understand whether small but significant changes in FM persist throughout childhood.

Expiratory flow limitation and breathing strategies in overweight adolescents during submaximal exercise.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether ventilatory factors limit exercise in overweight and obese children during a 6-min step test and to compare ventilatory responses during this test with those of healthy weight children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, prospective comparative study. SUBJECTS: Twenty-six overweight/obese subjects and 25 healthy weight subjects with no known respiratory illness. MEASUREMENTS: Various fatness and fat distribution parameters (using air displacement plethysmography and anthropometry), pulmonary function tests, breath-by-breath gas analysis during exercise, perceived exertion. RESULTS: Young people who are overweight or obese are more likely to experience expiratory flow limitation (expFL) during submaximal exercise compared with their healthy weight peers [OR 7.2 (1.4, 37.3), P=0.019]. Subjects who had lower lung volumes at rest were even more likely to experience exercise-induced expFLs [OR 8.35 (1.4-49.3)]. Both groups displayed similar breathing strategies during submaximal exercise. CONCLUSION: Young people who are overweight/obese are more likely to display expFL during submaximal exercise compared with children of healthy weight . Use of compensatory breathing strategies appeared to enable overweight children to avoid the experience of breathlessness at this intensity of exercise.

Effects of prior apparatus experience and novelty of testing environment on locomotor activity following MK-801.

Robust increases in locomotor activity are observed following administration of dizocilpine maleate (MK-801). The present study investigated the effects of prior apparatus experience and manipulation of the testing environment on locomotor activity following peripheral MK-801. Gerbils were given zero or nine sessions of apparatus exposure prior to testing with MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg ip) or saline. Sessions were 10 min in duration and separated by 24 h. As previously reported, naive animals treated with MK-801 were significantly more active relative to controls. Exposure to the apparatus for nine sessions resulted in a significant reduction in MK-801-induced activity, but did not alter the activity levels of control animals. To evaluate the effect of changes to the testing environment, animals previously evaluated in the familiar condition were retested in the identical apparatus relocated to a novel experimental room. MK-801-treated animals exhibited a significant increase in activity when tested in this novel environment while the locomotor activity of control gerbils was not significantly altered. The results illustrate the importance of repetitive testing and environmental changes as moderating variables in studies that evaluate locomotor activity. These data also indicate that the effects of MK-801 on activity are sensitive to prior experience with the apparatus and the novelty of the testing environment.

Bilirubin as an inhibitor of cartilage metabolism: effect on avian chondrocyte proliferation in cell culture.

Elevated levels of bilirubin and other tetrapyrroles are common to a number of chronic hematologic and liver diseases that can result in growth failure. This report establishes a cellular model system for the study of these endogenous growth inhibitors. Primary chondrocyte cultures were prepared from embryonic chick cartilage; cells were incubated (0.3 X 10(5) cells per plate) in tissue culture medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) with or without added bilirubin, 0.01-0.10 mM. Bilirubin caused profound, dose-dependent inhibition of chondrocyte proliferation: after 7 days, control incubations contained 11.45 +/- 2.0 X 10(5) cells per plate versus 4.92 +/- 0.55 X 10(5) cells per plate for wells with added 0.01 mM bilirubin and 1.76 +/- 0.30 X 10(5) for cultures with added 0.05 mM bilirubin. In chondrocytes cultured for 3 days, the addition of 0.05 mM bilirubin was associated with inhibition of [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA (47 +/- 5% of control), [3H]uridine incorporation into RNA (11 +/- 0.05% of control), and [14C]leucine incorporation into proteins (16 +/- 1% of control). The inhibition of chondrocyte proliferation induced by a range of bilirubin concentrations (0.01-0.10 mM) was in no way attenuated by the addition of physiologic concentrations of albumin (4 g/dl). After 3 days in media containing bilirubin or heme (at equimolar concentrations), chondrocytes were subsequently incubated in FBS alone for an additional 3 days; only partial reversal of the bilirubin (or heme)-induced inhibition was then observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The prevalence of human isolates of Salmonella subspecies II in southern Africa.

The Salmonella Reference Centre in Johannesburg received 14059 strains of human origin between 1979 and 1984. A significant proportion (6.3%) proved to belong to subspecies II. The majority were cultured from faecal material, usually associated with symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract. They comprised 884 isolates, represented by 203 serotypes, of which 45 were new serotypes. The poor hygienic conditions found in many rural areas, together with possible contamination of food and water by wild animals, may contribute to the greater frequency of human S.II infections and the widespread occurrence of unusual serotypes in man in this geographic region.

Wound colonization by Ewingella americana.

Ewingella americana was recovered from a wound on the left leg of a 46-year-old male after a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula. Compared with the reported characteristics of 44 American strains, this strain was shown to belong to biogroup 1. The isolation of this bacterium in South Africa confirms its wide geographical distribution in clinical specimens. Colonization was not associated with clinical deterioration.