Prenatal maternal psychopathology and stress and offspring HPA axis function at 6 years.

OBJECTIVE: Intrauterine exposures such as maternal psychopathology and stress are known to influence the physical and mental health of the offspring. One of the proposed pathways underlying these associations is dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity in the offspring. This study examined the relation of perinatal maternal symptoms of psychopathology and stress with offspring HPA axis activity at 6 years as measured by hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations. METHODS: The study was part of the population-based Generation R Study, a prospective population-based cohort from fetal life onwards. 2546 children and their mothers formed the study population. Perinatal maternal psychopathology and stress were assessed by questionnaires in the second and third trimester. Principal components for both psychopathology and stress were created to reduce the number of explanatory variables. Child hair samples for cortisol and cortisone measurements were collected at the age of 6. Linear regression analysis, adjusted for covariates, was used to examine associations between maternal psychopathology and stress and child hair cortisol and cortisone levels. RESULTS: The maternal psychopathology principal component was associated with higher child hair cortisone (adjusted B = 0.24, 95%CI 0.08;0.40, p-value < 0.01). Effect estimates of the individual dimensions ranged from 0.97 (95%CI 0.21;1.73, p-value = 0.01) for interpersonal sensitivity to 1.67 (95%CI 0.86;2.47, p-value < 0.01) for paranoid ideation. In addition, children exposed to intrauterine stress, as measured by the principal component, had higher hair cortisone levels (adjusted B = 0.54, 95%CI 0.21;0.88, p-value < 0.01). Exposure to maternal psychopathology and stress was not associated with offspring hair cortisol. Stratification by child sex resulted in associations between maternal symptoms of psychopathology during pregnancy and child hair cortisone levels in boys and associations between maternal symptoms of stress during pregnancy and child hair cortisone levels in girls. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that maternal psychopathology and stress during pregnancy are associated with long-term HPA axis activity of the offspring. The association of maternal psychopathology and stress during pregnancy with offspring hair cortisone levels is a novel finding. Future studies should examine whether these psychophysiological differences between exposed and non-exposed children underlie offspring morbidity associated with maternal psychopathology and stress during pregnancy.

Endorsement of ICMJE's Clinical Trial Registration Policy: a survey among journal editors.

BACKGROUND: Since 2005, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requires researchers to prospectively register their clinical trials in a publicly accessible trial registry. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement has supported this policy since 2010. We aimed to evaluate to what extent biomedical journals have incorporated ICMJE's clinical trial registration policy into their editorial and peer review process. METHODS: We searched journals' instructions to authors and performed an internet survey among all journals publishing reports of randomised controlled trials that follow ICMJE's Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (n = 695), and/or that endorse the CONSORT statement (n = 404) accessed in January 2011. Survey invitations were sent to the email addresses of the editorial offices and/or editors-in-chief of included journals in June 2011. RESULTS: For 757 ICMJE and/or CONSORT journals, we identified that they published RCT reports. We could assess the instructions to authors of 747 of these; 384 (51%) included a statement of requiring trial registration, and 33 (4%) recommended this. We invited 692 editorial offices for our survey; 253 (37%) responded, of which 50% indicated that trial registration was required; 18% cross-checked submitted papers against registered records to identify discrepancies; 67% would consider retrospectively registered studies for publication. Survey responses and specifications in instructions to authors were often discordant. CONCLUSION: At least half of the responding journals did not adhere to ICMJE's trial registration policy. Registration should be further promoted among authors, editors and peer reviewers.

Powdery Mildew Caused by Leveillula taurica on Glossy Leaf Genotypes of Onion in Idaho.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) plants growing in a breeding nursery in Canyon County, Idaho were observed with leaf symptoms of powdery mildew in August and September, 1994. The affected leaves showed roughly circular, 10- to 15-mm-diameter, powdery, white-to-grayish white patches with irregular margins. The leaf area under the fungal growth turned chlorotic and later necrotic. Occasionally, lesions coalesced, covering larger areas of the leaf surface. Symptoms were seen on mature and young leaves. Of 620 lines examined, only the 10 lines which had glossy leaves (no or low levels of cuticular wax) displayed symptoms of powdery mildew. Microscopic examination revealed that the white, powdery growth on the lesions consisted entirely of conidiophores and conidia. Conidiophores emerged through stomata, singly or in groups of two or three, were branched, and bore either terminal, pyriform (59 to 68 × 16 to 19 µm), apically pointed (lanceolate) primary conidia or cylindrical (57 to 62 × 18 to 20 µm) secondary conidia. On the basis of the presence of endophytic mycelium, morphological characteristics of the conidiophores, and the dimorphic conidia the fungus was identified as Leveillula taurica (Lev.) G. Arnaud (1) (anamorph = Oidiopsis sicula Scalia). The teleomorph of this fungus was not observed. Greenhouse inoculations were made onto leaves of three 8-week-old plants of a glossy leaf onion genotype (94P240) and three 6-week-old plants of tomato (cv. Payette) grown in pots. Conidia from sporulating lesions on onion leaves were brushed onto the leaves, and the inoculated plants were covered with a plastic bag for 72 h to maintain high humidity. Inoculated leaves on both hosts developed chlorotic lesions with sporulation of L. taurica after 14 days at 25 to 28°C. Noninoculated onion and tomato plants (one of each) did not develop powdery mildew symptoms. This selective susceptibility of onion genotypes with glossy leaves to L. taurica warrants careful consideration by onion breeding programs in utilizing such germ plasm as a potential source for other desirable characters such as nonpreference to thrips. To our knowledge, this is the first report of powdery mildew of onion caused by L. taurica in Idaho. This disease has been reported on onions in California (3) and Washington (2). However, it has not been observed in commercial onion crops in Idaho, even though the cultivars involved apparently vary as to the amount of cuticular wax on their foliage. References: (1) H. J. Boesewinkel. Bot. Rev. 46:167, 1980. (2) L. J. du Toit et al. Online publication. DOI: 10.1094/PHP-2004-1129-01-HN. Plant Health Progress, 2004. (3) F. F. Laemmlen and R. M. Endo. Plant Dis. 69:451, 1985.

Neurodevelopmental outcome of hypoglycaemia in healthy, large for gestational age, term newborns.

AIMS: To evaluate the effects of transient hypoglycaemia on the first day of life in 75 healthy term large for gestational age (LGA) infants, born to non-diabetic mothers, on their neurodevelopmental outcome at the age of 4 years. METHODS: Screening for hypoglycaemia was performed 1, 3, and 5 hours after birth, and continued if blood glucose levels were low. Treatment with intravenous glucose for hypoglycaemia was started if hypoglycaemia was severe or symptomatic. Patients' development and behaviour was examined at the age of 4 years by the Denver Developmental Scale, a non-verbal intelligence test, and the Child Behaviour Check List. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between children with neonatal normoglycaemia (n = 15) and hypoglycaemia (plasma glucose <2.2 mmol/l 1 hour after birth, or <2.5 mmol/l subsequently; n = 60) in Denver developmental scale scores and child behaviour checklist scores. Although total IQ did not differ between hypoglycaemic and normoglycaemic children, one subscale (reasoning) did (mean difference 9.3, 95% CI 1.3 to 17.2). The correlation between reasoning IQ and neonatal blood glucose levels was weak and not statistically significant. When other definitions for hypoglycaemia were applied, the difference in reasoning IQ was not found. There were no differences in any of the test scores between hypoglycaemic children who had and who had not been treated with intravenous glucose. CONCLUSION: Transient mild hypoglycaemia in healthy, term LGA newborns does not appear to be harmful to psychomotor development at the age of 4 years.