Barriers to prenatal care and poor pregnancy outcomes among women with syphilis in the Russian Federation.

We studied predictors of no prenatal care (PNC) and influence of no PNC on pregnancy outcome in a multisite study of 1071 women with syphilis in Russia. We assessed PNC utilization, HIV testing, syphilis treatment, and pregnancy outcome. We found that 37% of women with syphilis received no PNC, and 1% was HIV infected. Lacking official residency status was independently related to no PNC (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 8.1; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 5.3-12.3). Among women with inadequately treated current syphilis, those without PNC were more likely to have a stillborn infant than those with PNC (25% vs. 3%, odds ratio [OR] 9.5, 95% CI 4.0-23.5). Women with adequately treated current syphilis and no PNC were more likely to deliver a low birth weight (OR 3.8; 95% CI 1.8-8.1) or preterm infant (OR 3.9; 95%CI 1.8-8.7). Women with previous or current syphilis and no PNC were significantly more likely to abandon their infants.

Ionic channels of the vacuolar membrane of higher plants.

The vacuole is the major storing compartment of the plant cell. There are two different H(+)-translocating pumps generating transmembrane pH gradients and several types of calcium, anion and potassium channels. The fast-activating vacuolar (FV) current dominates at the physiological level of cytoplasmic Ca2+. An increase in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration causes a decrease in the activity of FV channels and a shift of the membrane potential to more negative values. In this case voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels capable of mediating the vacuolar Ca2+ release can be activated. Moreover, an increase in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration activated vacuolar K+ channels described in the vacuolar membrane of stomatal guard cells. A role of slow-activating channels in the Ca(2+)-induced Ca2+ release is rather improbable.