"How am I going to make it through pregnancy?" A qualitative examination of prenatal maternal stress.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is common among childbearing women, and there is substantial evidence that persistent high levels of stress during pregnancy are associated with adverse birth outcomes and poorer postpartum mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the idiographic experiences of women who experienced elevated PNMS during their current or most recent pregnancy. METHODS: Six focus groups were conducted, and data were collected from 26 women (n = 16 pregnant and n = 10 postpartum) at a large medical center in the United States (US). Data from the semi-structured focus group prompts were analyzed by two independent raters using conventional content analysis21 . RESULTS: Three key themes emerged from the data: (1) Navigating Changing Circumstances, (2) Being a "Good" Mother, and (3) Loss of Control and Autonomy. DISCUSSION: The current study offers one of the first in-depth examinations of the experiences of highly stressed pregnant women using a qualitative approach and identifies stressors rarely described in quantitative research. These findings suggest that women's ability to prioritize their self-care, and receive structural/institutional supports in the workplace and instrumental support at home, and overall health literacy promote successful coping with stress and highlight important future directions for intervention.

The genomic diversification of grapevine clones.

BACKGROUND: Vegetatively propagated clones accumulate somatic mutations. The purpose of this study was to better appreciate clone diversity and involved defining the nature of somatic mutations throughout the genome. Fifteen Zinfandel winegrape clone genomes were sequenced and compared to one another using a highly contiguous genome reference produced from one of the clones, Zinfandel 03. RESULTS: Though most heterozygous variants were shared, somatic mutations accumulated in individual and subsets of clones. Overall, heterozygous mutations were most frequent in intergenic space and more frequent in introns than exons. A significantly larger percentage of CpG, CHG, and CHH sites in repetitive intergenic space experienced transition mutations than in genic and non-repetitive intergenic spaces, likely because of higher levels of methylation in the region and because methylated cytosines often spontaneously deaminate. Of the minority of mutations that occurred in exons, larger proportions of these were putatively deleterious when they occurred in relatively few clones. CONCLUSIONS: These data support three major conclusions. First, repetitive intergenic space is a major driver of clone genome diversification. Second, clones accumulate putatively deleterious mutations. Third, the data suggest selection against deleterious variants in coding regions or some mechanism by which mutations are less frequent in coding than noncoding regions of the genome.

The effect of two different types of stress on locus coeruleus alpha-2 receptor binding.

The central noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC) are important in regulating an animal's response to a stressor. Changes in alpha-2 autoreceptors on LC neurons during stress could alter the functional state of the LC. We investigated the changes in binding of LC alpha-2 receptors immediately following 1 h and 4 h of two stressors: novelty + cold and prone restraint. We measured the specific binding of the alpha-2 receptor antagonist [3H]idazoxan in the LC of rats using in vitro autoradiography. Specific binding was increased after 1 h of novelty + cold exposure but decreased after 4 h, and after both 1 and 4 h of prone restraint. The increase after 1 h of stress may be due to the ability of LC neurons to regulate their own activity because this would produce a dampening of the high LC activity produced by the stressor. However, extended time and/or intensity of a stressor may overwhelm this initial response and produce an agonist-induced decrease in receptor binding.

The effect of adrenalectomy on the circadian variation in the rate of kindled seizure development.

The hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPAA) is activated during kindled seizures and the circadian changes in this axis may contribute to the circadian variation in the kindling rate. Changes in the rate of seizure development were examined in rats that were amygdala kindled in the a.m., at midday and in the p.m.. Sham operated control groups were compared to adrenalectomized groups. Adrenalectomy had no effect on the midday rate but abolished the normal circadian variation by accelerating the rate in the a.m. and decreasing the rate in the p.m.. These results suggest a complicated relationship of kindled seizure rate to the hormones of the HPAA axis.

Frequency of eating problems among Asian and Caucasian college women.

We compared the frequencies of Asian and Caucasian women who were classified by their responses to the EAT-26 scale as having eating problems. We noted that relative to their Asian peers, our sample of Caucasian women was 5.5 times more likely to score above the cut-off score for eating problems on this test. Two earlier studies which had reported opposite results for Asian and Caucasian women were discussed and reevaluated in the context of our data.

Relationship between habitual sleep duration and diet.

Speculation and indirect evidence have suggested a relationship between habitual sleep duration and food intake. We tested this hypothesis by asking groups of short- and longer-sleeping students to keep 21-day sleep and food-intake diaries. We found no reliable evidence that sleep habits are linked to any major dietary variables as measured in this study and concluded that the differences between our results and those of an earlier study may reflect differences in the methodologies used.

A monoclonal antibody against an epitope common to HLA-b locus antigens.

A monoclonal antibody G4 that appears to be directed against a determinant common to all HLA-B locus antigens is described. This antibody reacted with a large panel of B and T lymphocyte and cell lines, but it did not react with two lines that do not serologically express HLA antigens (Daudi and K562) and two lines that expressed A-locus but not B-locus antigens (8402 and HPBMLT). The F(ab')2 fragment of G4 blocked B-locus but not A-locus HLA alloantisera. By immunoprecipitation and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis G4 reacted with a dimer consisting of a heavy chain of 44,000 daltons and a light chain of 12,7000 daltons.

A new acute leukemia-associated blast cell antigen detected by a monoclonal antibody.

A monoclonal mouse antibody has been raised to the common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) cell line Reh. It is a cytotoxic antibody of the IgG2, subclass that reacts with leukemia cells from the following patients: 69% non-B non-T ALL, 50% T-ALL, 18% acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), and 66% chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) blast crisis lymphoid cells. Other types of leukemia and all normal blood cells tested were negative, including T and B lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, erythrocytes, and spleen cells. The detected antigen appears to be a type of blast cell antigen because it is also present on phytohemagglutinin (PHA) blast cells, myeloblast from normal bone marrow cells (by CFU-C), and all lymphoblastoid cell lines tested. Only one active antibody species could be detected by preparative isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels and by protein-A-Sepharose affinity chromatography.

A monoclonal antibody recognizing a determinant common to HLA-A3 and A11.

Spleen cells from a mouse immunized with an AML cell expressing HLA-A3 produced a hybridoma secreting an anti-HLA-A3, A11 monoclonal antibody, 26D3. By complement-dependent cytotoxicity at dilutions to 1:10(4) the ascites antibody lysed 13/13 A3, 15/15 A11, and 8 other lymphocytes from a panel of 98 donors. The 26 D3 immunoprecipitated a molecule consisting of subunits of 44,000 and 12,000 daltons. Monoclonality of the antibody was demonstrated by isoelectric focusing and protein A affinity chromatography.