BACKGROUND Fetal DNA has been found in maternal plasma and serum. Diagnosis of fetal gender using maternal plasma and serum has been attempted in an effort to develop a new noninvasive method of prenatal diagnosis. METHODS Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 61 pregnant women at 10-17 weeks of gestation before amniocentesis. DNA was extracted from 800 microL of each plasma or serum sa...

Maternal plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status and its association with pregnancy outcomes in malaria holoendemic regions of sub-Saharan Africa is poorly defined. We examined this association and any potential interaction with malaria and helminth infections in an ongoing pregnancy cohort study in Kenya. The association of maternal plasma 25(OH)D status with pregnancy outcomes and infant ...

Diallel crosses were used to investigate the genetic inheritance of stress responsiveness through examination of population effects in progeny of randombred (RB) quail and quail selected for reduced (low stress, LS) or exaggerated (high stress, HS) plasma corticosterone (CS) response to brief immobilization. The three genotypes were crossed in a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement of treatments that al...

BACKGROUND Maternal prenatal folate status has been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, but the association with child emotional and behavioral problems is unclear. OBJECTIVES We assessed the association of maternal folate status during pregnancy with child emotional and behavioral problems. Also, we examined whether any association between folate status and child problems is a consequenc...

It is well known that maternal stress during the gestation and lactation periods induces abnormal behavior in the offspring and causes a lowering of the offspring's body weight. Various causes of maternal stress during the lactation period, relating to, for example, maternal nutritional status and reduced maternal care, have been considered. However, little is known about the effects on milk of...

In normal pregnancy, cortisol increases; however, further pathological increases in cortisol are associated with maternal and fetal morbidities. These experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that increased maternal cortisol would increase maternal glucose concentrations, suppress fetal growth, and impair neonatal glucose homeostasis. Ewes were infused with cortisol (1 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1)...

Noninvasive prenatal testing using fetal DNA in maternal plasma is an actively researched area. The current generation of tests using massively parallel sequencing is based on counting plasma DNA sequences originating from different genomic regions. In this study, we explored a different approach that is based on the use of DNA fragment size as a diagnostic parameter. This approach is dependent...

Adequate maternal behavior in rats requires minimal corticotropin-releasing factor receptor (CRF-R) activation in the medial-posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (mpBNST). Based on the architectural heterogeneity of the BNST and its distinct inter-neural connectivity, we tested whether CRF-R manipulation in another functional part, the anterior-dorsal BNST (adBNST), differentially modu...

BACKGROUND Human milk is a potential source of lead exposure. Yet lactational transfer of lead from maternal blood into breast milk and its contribution to infant lead burden remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVES We explored the dose-response relationships between maternal blood, plasma, and breast milk to better understand lactational transfer of lead from blood and plasma into milk and, ult...