Maternal Prenatal Positive Affect, Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms and Birth Outcomes: The PREDO Study.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether maternal prenatal emotions are associated with gestational length and birth weight in the large PREDO Study with multiple measurement points of emotions during gestation. METHODS: Altogether 3376 pregnant women self-assessed their positive affect (PA, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) and depressive (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D) and anxiety (Spielberger State Anxiety Scale, STAI) symptoms up to 14 times during gestation. Birth characteristics were derived from the National Birth Register and from medical records. RESULTS: One standard deviation (SD) unit higher PA during the third pregnancy trimester was associated with a 0.05 SD unit longer gestational length, whereas one SD unit higher CES-D and STAI scores during the third trimester were associated with 0.04-0.05 SD unit shorter gestational lengths (P-values ≤ 0.02), corresponding to only 0.1-0.2% of the variation in gestational length. Higher PA during the third trimester was associated with a significantly decreased risk for preterm (< 37 weeks) delivery (for each SD unit higher positive affect, odds ratio was 0.8-fold (P = 0.02). Mothers with preterm delivery showed a decline in PA and an increase in CES-D and STAI during eight weeks prior to delivery. Post-term birth (≥ 42 weeks), birth weight and fetal growth were not associated with maternal prenatal emotions. CONCLUSIONS: This study with 14 measurements of maternal emotions during pregnancy show modest effects of prenatal emotions during the third pregnancy trimester, particularly in the weeks close to delivery, on gestational length. From the clinical perspective, the effects were negligible. No associations were detected between prenatal emotions and birth weight.

Semliki Forest virus vectors expressing transforming growth factor beta inhibit experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in Balb/c mice.

Cytokine immunomodulation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for multiple sclerosis, has remained a formidable treatment option, but access into the CNS is hampered due to the impermeability of the blood-brain barrier. In this report, we describe the construction and characterization of CNS-homing gene delivery/therapy vectors based on avirulent Semliki Forest virus (SFV) expressing either native or mutant transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta1). Biological activity of the expressed inserts was demonstrated by PAI-1 promoter driven luciferase production in mink cells and TGF-beta1 mRNA was demonstrated in the CNS of virus treated mice by in situ hybridization and RT-PCR. Both vectors, when given intraperitoneally to EAE mice significantly reduced disease severity compared to untreated mice. Our results imply that immunomodulation by neurotropic viral vectors may offer a promising treatment strategy for autoimmune CNS disorders.