Enhanced susceptibility of CA3 hippocampus to prenatal nicotine exposure.

The brain is highly susceptible to adverse effects of drugs of abuse during early phases of life. Prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE), a preventable cause of gestational and infant mortality, can alter neuron wiring and induce sustained deficits in attention and learning. Here, a rat model of PNE (embryonic days 7-21) was used to examine the maturing hippocampus, which encodes new memories and processes emotional memory. Components of synaptic signaling were evaluated at postnatal day 14 (P14), a period of prolific synaptogenesis in rats, to determine if glutamatergic transmission-associated molecules are regulated in subregions of hippocampus as early as P14. PNE resulted in reduced expression of GluN2B, GluA2 and CaMKIIα, but elevated SNAP25 proteins specifically in the CA3 but not CA1. Only CaMKIIα was regulated in dentate gyrus at this age. These results suggest that glutamatergic and synaptic dysregulation of learning and memory may occur in hippocampus in a temporally and subregionally specific manner.

Pregnancy, obstetric and neonatal outcomes in HIV positive Nigerian women.

While the effect of HIV infection on some maternal outcomes is well established, for some others there is conflicting information on possible association with HIV. In this study we investigated pregnancy and neonatal outcome of HIV positive women in large HIV treatment centre over a period of 84 months. They were managed according to the Nigerian PMTCT protocol. Adverse obstetric and neonatal outcome were observed in 48.3% HIV positives compared 30.3% to the negatives (OR: 2.08; CI: 1.84-2.34). Low birth weight ( OR:2.95; CI:1.95-3.1), preterm delivery (OR:2.05; CI:1.3-3.1), perinatal death (OR:1.9;CI:1.3-3.2), and spontaneous abortion (OR:1.37; CI:1.1-2.3) were factors found to be independently associated with HIV. Low CD4 count (OR: 2.45; CI: 1.34- 4.56) and opportunistic infections (OR: 2.11; CI: 1.56-3.45) were to be associated with adverse obstetric and neonatal outcome. This study confirms the association of HIV, severe immunosuppression and opportunistic infection and adverse obstetric and neonatal outcome.

The burden of anaemia and associated factors in HIV positive Nigerian women.

BACKGROUND: Anaemia is the most common complication of pregnancy and a predictor of poor maternal and foetal outcomes. HIV infection is now recognized as one of the major contributors to anaemia in pregnancy. It is therefore important to determine the burden and risk factors of anaemia in maternal HIV infection in others to plan effective prevention strategies as well as optimize management outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and risk factors of anaemia in pregnant HIV positive Nigerians. METHODS: The prevalence and possible risk factors of anaemia were investigated in HIV positive pregnant Nigerian women at a large HIV treatment clinic in southwestern Nigeria using a cross-sectional design between January 2006 and December 2011. RESULTS: Nine hundred and eighty-five (42.5 %) women of 2,318 HIV positive pregnant women seen during the period were anaemic by WHO standard defined by haemoglobin <11 g/dl. Majority were of mild to moderate severity (97.9 %). Short inter birth interval (p = 0.002), presence of opportunistic infections (OIs), (p = 0.001), use of zidovudine containing regimen (p = 0.0005) and CD4 cell count <200 cells/mm(3) (p = 0.001) were found to be independently associated with anaemia in HIV positive pregnant women after controlling for confounding variables. CONCLUSION: Anaemia was found to be high at 42.5 % among the HIV positive women studied and was found to be independently associated with short inter birth interval, presence of OIs, advanced HIV disease and use of zidovudine containing HAART regimen.