BACKGROUND Placental malaria (PM) is associated with prenatal malaise, but many PM+ infants are born without symptoms. As malaria has powerful immunomodulatory effects, we tested the hypothesis that PM predicts reduced T-cell responses to vaccine challenge. METHODS We recruited healthy PM+ and PM- infants at birth. At six and 12 months, we stimulated PBMCs with tuberculin purified protein der...

introduction: head circumference (hc) measurement is one of the important parameter for diagnosis of neurological, developmental disorders and dysmorphic syndromes. recognition of different disorders requires an understanding of normal variation for hc size, in particular, in infancy period with most rapid growth of the brain. because of international and interracial standard chart differences ...

BACKGROUND A paradoxical secular trend of an increase in preterm births and a decrease in low birth weights has been reported in many developed countries over the last 25 years. OBJECTIVE To determine if this trend is true for Israeli neonates, and to add new information on secular trends in crown-heel length and head circumference. METHODS A hospital-based historic cohort design was used. ...

PURPOSE To determine whether poor fetal growth, as determined by size at birth, is associated with increased risk of age-related macular degeneration. METHODS A total of 660 men and women born in Sheffield, United Kingdom, between 1922 and 1930 and whose size at birth was available were traced and invited to take part in the study. Of these, 392 attended for ophthalmic examination. Age-relate...

OBJECTIVE To assess the growth and sexual maturity of non-handicapped children with birth weight less than 2000 g at 12 years. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Infants discharged from a Neonatal Special Care Unit of a referral hospital with birth weight less than 2000 g between 1987-1989 and followed up till the age of 12 years. METHODS The height, weight and head circumference wa...

Recent studies show that the rate of cocaine use by pregnant women in the United States is much higher than realized hitherto, and an increasing number of infants are being born to cocaine-using mothers. In an ongoing research project to study the effects of cocaine on pregnancy outcome, we studied 70 infants born to cocaine-using women. These infants were matched to a drug-free comparison grou...

OBJECTIVE Numerous studies have revealed the impacts of maternal nutritional status on subsequent birth outcome, but much less is known about the long-term impacts on infant growth after birth. We investigated the association between maternal micronutrient levels/oxidative stress status in pregnancy and infant growth during the first 3 years of life. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING...

Anthropometric birth measurements analysed for 51 boys with hypospadias identified in a prospective cohort study showed significant reductions in mean values for birth weight, length, and head circumference compared with controls. The absence of the usual sex dimorphism for these variables suggests that the results represent a marker of fetal androgen dysfunction in this subgroup of infants.

AIMS Thymus is the central lymphatic organ in humans with important endocrine function that is involved in maturation of immunocompetent T-lymphocytes. In our study we investigated the relationship among thymus size and the anthropometric dimensions as well as between thymus size and the number of lymphocytes in peripheral blood in full-term newborns. METHODS The examined group consisted of 2...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the correlation between the number of leukocytes and cardiovascular risks associated with birth characteristics, nutritional status and biochemical tests. METHODS Cross-sectional study developed with 475 adolescents, born between 1992 and 2001, in the municipality of Viçosa (MG). Maternal medical records were analyzed in the hospital units, and the following was recorded...