Pregnancy-Related Weight and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms: Do the Relationships Differ by Race/Ethnicity?

Background: There are significant racial/ethnic disparities in the prevalence of postpartum depression. Prior research in the general population suggests that weight status is related to depression and that this relationship varies by race/ethnicity. However, few studies have investigated whether race/ethnicity moderates the relationship between pregnancy-related weight and postpartum depressive symptoms (PPDS). The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between pregnancy-related weight and maternal PPDS overall and by race/ethnicity. Materials and Methods: This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 6950). Ordinary least-squares and logistic regression was used to examine whether pregnancy-related weight, including preconception weight status and gestational weight gain (GWG), was associated with PPDS measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Stratified analyses were used to assess whether these relationships varied by race/ethnicity. Results: Preconception obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m2) was associated with higher levels of PPDS (ß = 0.601, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.149-1.053). GWG adequacy was not associated with PPDS. Among non-Hispanic (NH) whites, preconception obesity was positively associated with PPDS (ß = 1.016, 95% CI, 0.448-1.584). In contrast, among Hispanics, preconception overweight (25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI <30 kg/m2) was associated with lower levels of PPDS (ß = -0.887, 95% CI, -1.580 to -0.195). There were no statistically significant relationships between pregnancy-related weight and PPDS among NH black or Asian women, but both groups were significantly more likely than NH whites to report PPDS. Conclusion: Whether and how pregnancy-related weight is associated with PPDS varies by race/ethnicity. Addressing preconception weight could help reduce overall levels of PPDS among NH whites but would likely fail to mitigate racial/ethnic disparities in postpartum mental health.

Bilateral bony fusion around the supraspinatus muscle inducing muscle hypoplasia and shoulder pain.

We describe the case of a 30-year-old man who developed chronic bilateral shoulder pain that relapsed and remitted over the course of 1 year. The patient was diagnosed with congenital shoulder fusion anomalies. The right shoulder showed anomalous accessory articulation between the distal third of the clavicle and the acromion along with normal articulation of the shoulder on CT. At the left shoulder, bony fusions were present between the distal portion of the clavicle, the acromion, and the coracoid process, and between the coracoid process, upper portion of the glenoid, and upper body of the scapula, which formed a bony canal and was responsible for hypoplasia of the supraspinatus muscle on CT and MRI. To our knowledge, this is the first description of such congenital shoulder anomalies with extreme bony fusion and is an illustrative example of how imaging may be used to differentiate fusion from other congenital abnormalities of the shoulder to aid diagnosis.

Retinoic acid signalling regulates the development of tonotopically patterned hair cells in the chicken cochlea.

Precise frequency discrimination is a hallmark of auditory function in birds and mammals and is required for distinguishing similar sounding words, like 'bat,' 'cat' and 'hat.' In the cochlea, tuning and spectral separation result from longitudinal differences in basilar membrane stiffness and numerous individual gradations in sensory hair cell phenotypes, but it is unknown what patterns the phenotypes. Here we used RNA-seq to compare transcriptomes from proximal, middle and distal regions of the embryonic chicken cochlea, and found opposing longitudinal gradients of expression for retinoic acid (RA)-synthesizing and degrading enzymes. In vitro experiments showed that RA is necessary and sufficient to induce the development of distal-like hair cell phenotypes and promotes expression of the actin-crosslinking proteins, Espin and Fscn2. These and other findings highlight a role for RA signalling in patterning the development of a longitudinal gradient of frequency-tuned hair cell phenotypes in the cochlea.