Evidence for sympathetic origins of hypertension in juvenile offspring of obese rats.

Maternal obesity in rodents is associated with increased adiposity, impaired glucose tolerance, and hypertension in adult offspring. In this study we investigated the influence of maternal obesity in the rat on blood pressure and blood pressure regulatory pathways in juvenile and adult offspring. Obesity was induced before pregnancy in female Sprague-Dawley rats by feeding a highly palatable energy-dense diet. In juvenile animals (30 days of age), before the onset of obesity and hyperleptinemia, basal nighttime mean arterial pressure was significantly raised in the offspring of obese dams (OffOb) relative to offspring of controls (OffCon; mean arterial pressure, males: OffOb, 121.8+/-0.6 mm Hg versus OffCon, 115.0+/-0.5 mm Hg, n=6, P<0.01; females: OffOb, 125.4+/-0.4 mm Hg versus OffCon, 114.4+/-0.5 mm Hg, n=6, P<0.001), as was the mean arterial pressure response to restraint stress (P<0.01). The pressor response to a leptin challenge was enhanced in OffOb rats (Deltamean arterial pressure: OffOb, 9.7+/-0.8 mm Hg versus OffCon, 5.3+/-1.3 mm Hg; n=8; P<0.05). Renal tissue norepinephrine content (P<0.001) and renin expression (P<0.05) were markedly raised. Analysis of heart rate variability revealed an increased low:high frequency ratio in OffOb versus OffCon rats (P<0.05). At 90 days, hypertension in OffOb rats persisted and was abolished by alpha1- and beta-adrenergic blockade, and cardiovascular responses to phenylephrine or sodium nitroprusside indicated altered baroreceptor function. The exaggerated pressor response to leptin in OffOb rats was maintained. Hypertension in the offspring of obese rats may arise from persistent sympathoexcitatory hyperresponsiveness acquired in early stages of development.

[Growth in children fed exclusively with breast milk during the first 6 months of life]. / El crecimiento de los niños alimentados exclusivamente con leche materna durante los seis primeros meses de vida.

To study first year growth patterns in exclusively breast-fed children, the growth (weight and height) of 232 children who had received only breastmilk during the six first months of life was followed over a period extending from 1983 to 1987. The follow-ups were done in the pediatric dispensary at Taguatinga Health Center No. 7 in the Federal District of Brazil. The children were from low-income families and represented various racial mixes. All were single products of pregnancy, had no pathological history, and had been breast-fed on demand. The percentile distribution (90, 75, 50, 25, and 10) of weight and height at birth and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of age showed that the average quarterly increases in these variables were greater in the first quarter and less in subsequent quarters. The weight of the boys doubled between the third and fourth months, while that of the girls doubled in the fourth month. The results indicate that the growth of these children was satisfactory.

Crescimento ponderal de prematuros. / Post-natal growth of the premature infant

Com o objetivo de avaliar o crescimento pos-natal de prematuros no periodo hospitalar, foram eleboradas curvas ponderais com intervalos de 250 g. a partir do peso de nascimento, utilizando-se o peso diario. Foram estudados 232 prematuros, o que permitiu verificar a percentagem da perda de peso fisiologica, o tempo necessario para atingir o peso de nascimento e estabelecer os padroes de crescimento ponderal da populacao de Sobradinho, nesta faixa etaria