[Neurologic pathology in the neonatal period: relation to birth weight and gestational age]. / Patologia neurologica in epoca neonatale: relazione con il peso e l'età gestazionale.

Six Italian university centers have taken part in the Perinatal Preventive Medicine Project of the National Research Council since 1973. In this report the preliminary data on neonatal neurological disorders of 38775 single not malformed infants are presented. Neurological abnormality has been defined by the presence of at least one of the following symptoms: seizures, hypertonia, hypotonia, apneic spells. The relative frequencies of seizures vary from a minimum of 0.28% to a maximum of 0.75% in the six centers. The frequencies of the other symptoms demonstrate a greater variability among centers. Males are more affected than females. The relative frequency of neurological abnormalities is higher among babies with low birthweight, short gestational age or retarded intrauterine growth. Also, the frequency of seizures is higher among babies with low birthweight or retarded intrauterine growth while the relationship between seizures and gestational age is not clear.

Social class, prenatal care, maternal age and parity: a study of their interrelation in six Italian centres.

"Multiple Correspondence Analysis was used to describe the complex structure formed by those sociodemographic variables, whose association with the occurrence of prenatal and neonatal deaths and diseases has been most frequently stressed in literature: social class, prenatal care, maternal age and parity. The study regards 41,537 women included in a multicentre survey of perinatal preventive medicine, which was carried out, between 1973 and 1979, in six Italian centres...." It is found that "in all centres there are distinct groups of women characterized by a set of unfavourable factors closely interrelated: low social class implies lower prenatal care, higher occurrence of precocious or belated childbearing and higher number of pregnancies, often unintended." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND ITA)

Smoking habit in pregnancy and sociodemographic background in six Italian centres.

Studies carried out in foreign countries (US and UK, mainly) indicate that maternal characteristics, such as age, parity, social class, and prenatal care, are related to child's growth, mortality, and morbidity, as well as to cigarette smoking. These characteristics may act as confounding variables in the analysis of the effects of maternal smoking on babies in fetal and neonatal periods. Until now there has been a lack of information on the subject, because even the most recent available data concern women over age 14 regardless of obstetric history. This paper deals with smoking habits, before and during pregnancy, of 37,664 women included in a multicenter survey of perinatal preventive medicine (MPPI), which was performed in 6 Italian centres (Trieste, Milan, Parma, Rome, Naples, Bari) between 1973 and 1979, with the financial support of the Italian National Research Council. The results of the MPPI and other surveys are compared and the association between maternal smoking habits and sociodemographic background is investigated by multiple correspondence analysis. As to Italy, unlike UK and US, in the 1970s women of high social status show the highest prevalence of the smoking habit. Moreover, in pregnancy, the large majority gives up smoking, or at least reduces it, mainly in high socioeconomic levels, so that the proportion of pregnant women who keep on smoking over 10 cigaretts per day is very low (0.5-3.8%) and poorly related to sociodemographic factors. Therefore, it seems unlikely that these may exert serious confounding effects on the relationships between smoking in pregnancy and perinatal outcome.

Cigarette smoking in pregnancy: relationship to perinatal outcomes in six Italian centres.

In this study the relationship of maternal smoking in pregnancy to low birth weight, fetal growth retardation, preterm delivery, and perinatal deaths has been investigated in a sample of 36,544 women with their single newborns, from 6 Italian centers (Triese, Milan, Parma, Rome, Naples, Bari), where a multicenter survey of perinatal preventive medicine (MPPI) was carried out, between 1973 and 1979, with the financial support of the Consiglio Nazionale dell Ricerche. The proportions of babies weighing 2500 g or less, and of babies with birth weight, head circumference or crown-heel length below the 10th centile were similar among nonsmokers and "stopped" smoker mothers, while they increased with increasing smoking levels. As regards head circumference and crown-heel length below the 10th centile, odds ratios are essentially the same before and after adjustment for age, parity, and socioeconomic class (about 1.5 for "1-10CGT" and up to 2.5 for "11+CGT"). Only slight increases have been observed in the odds ratios concerning low birthweight below the 10th centile (about 1.5 for "1-10CGT" and up to 3.5 for "11+CGT") after adjusting for the socioeconomic demographic variables (i.e. mainly removing the favourable effect of high socioeconomic class or low parity, which more frequently characterize smoker mothers). Owing to the lower smokers' frequencies, cigarette smoking estimated attributable risks concerning low birth weight and "small for dates" babies in the MPPI centres (between 4% and 19%) are considerably lower than those estimated in studies carried out in the US or Canada. Data analyzed in the present study do not indicate any relationship between maternal smoking and preterm delivery or perinatal deaths.

Neonatal morbidity risk: a study of the relationship to birthweight and gestational age in four Italian centres.

Data collected in four Italian centres, in the framework of a multicentre survey of perinatal preventive medicine sponsored by the Italian National Research Council from 1973, have been used to evaluate the relationship among neonatal morbidity (NM), birthweight (BW) and gestational age (GA). A linear logistic model, whose structure is the same in all the centres, appeared to be appropriate to fit the observed NM relative frequencies corresponding to each cell of the two-way (BW X GA) layout. Fitted models have been used to represent NM risk as a function of GA and BW, providing a chart of neonatal morbidity risk for each centre. Although such charts show recognizable similarities (among the centres) confirming the coherence in the results attained, some differences of expected morbidity risks occur in the classes with higher GA and BW. The characteristics of the women attending, especially socio-economical level and incidence of high-risk pregnancies, which are specific for each perinatal centre, may account for some of the differences in NM risk for given GA and BW classes.

Effect of mutation in the aromatic amino acid pathway on sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Mutations in ARO1 and ARO2 genes coding for enzymes involved in the common part of the aromatic amino acid pathway completely block the sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae when in a homozygous state, whereas mutations in all the other genes of the same pathway do not. This effect is not due to the lack of any intermediate metabolite but rather to the accumulation of a metabolite preceding chorismic acid. Shikimic acid or one of its precursors was identified as the possible inhibitor. The presence of the three aromatic amino acids in the sporulation medium restores the ability to undergo meiosis. This seems not to be due to a feedback inhibition of the first enzymes of the pathway but rather to a competition between aromatic amino acids and the inhibitor on a site specific for the meiotic process. The inhibition of sporulation seems to occur at a very early step in meiosis, as indicated by the lack of premeiotic DNA synthesis in aro1 and aro2 mutants.