The ZIC genes comprise a family of transcriptional factors associated with neural tube defects (NTDs) in mice and with holoprosencephaly in humans. An allelic variant of ZIC2, a CAC repeat within the first exon, was reported in association with an increased risk of non-syndromic NTDs in patients with a Hispanic ethnic background. We investigated whether this 10-residue histidine tract polymorph...

The Swedish health registries were used to investigate a possible effect on the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) of maternal smoking and maternal body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2). Among 1,199,701 infants born in 1983-1993 with known smoking exposure in early pregnancy, 621 infants with NTDs were selected. After controlling for year of birth, maternal age, parity, education level, BMI, and i...

BACKGROUND Among mouse genetic mutants that develop neural tube defects (NTDs), some respond to folic acid administration during early pregnancy, whereas NTDs in other mutants are not prevented. This parallels human NTDs, in which up to 30% of cases may be resistant to folic acid. Most spina bifida cases in the folic acid-resistant 'curly tail' mouse can be prevented by treatment with inositol ...

Risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) is determined by genetic and environmental factors, among which folate status appears to play a key role. However, the precise nature of the link between low folate status and NTDs is poorly understood, and it remains unclear how folic acid prevents NTDs. We investigated the effect of folate level on risk of NTDs in splotch (Sp(2)(H)) mice, which carry a mutat...

Objectives: The main objective of this research was an analytic assessment of Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) in pregnant women who visited Jundi Shapur university hospitals in Ahvaz from March 21, 2002 till March 20, 2004 and possible contributory factors. Methodology: This is a retrospective study from the medical documents. The results have been analytically assessed. Results: Total numbers of pr...

Studying empirically derived dietary patterns is useful in understanding dietary practice. We classified women by their dietary patterns using latent class analysis of 66 foods and studied the association of these patterns with neural tube defects (NTDs) and congenital heart defects (CHDs) in the U.S. National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997-2005). Logistic regression models used data from...

Background and Objective. Daily folic acid intake, prior to conception and in early pregnancy, significantly reduces neural tube defects (NTDs). We compared folic acid consumption among Jewish and Bedouin women and the recommendations of family physicians and gynecologists. Methods. We compared 64 Muslim Bedouin women and 65 Jewish women. We also compared 39 gynecologists and 60 family physicia...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the rate of neural tube defects (NTDs) and their relation to gender, maternal age, consanguineous marriage, season, and drug consumption in Birjand, Iran. METHODS This research was carried out on 16,785 live or stillborn newborns in Birjand, Iran from April 1997 to December 2001. RESULTS The rate of NTDs was 2.97 per 1000. This rate was 1.97 per 1000 in males, and 3...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between birth defects and dietary nutrient intake in a high risk area of China. METHODS A dietary survey was performed and serum folic acid was measured in women whose pregnancy was affected by neural tube defects (NTDs) or unaffected by any birth defects (BDs) in Zhongyang and Jiaokou Counties in Shanxi Province of China. RESULTS The local average c...

BACKGROUND Although a number of studies have reported the recurrence risk of NTDs in developed countries, there is little data on the rate of recurrence of NTDs in northern China, a region of high prevalence of NTDs. METHODS Based on the population-based birth defects surveillance system of five counties, we identified women who had an NTD affected pregnancy from 2004-2015 and a retrospective...