Very little information is available to delineate the role of melatonin during the complex process of gestation in seasonally breeding mammals. The present study was aimed at understanding the physiology of gestation and fetal growth in relation to maternal hormonal levels, including melatonin, of a tropical seasonal breeder, Funambulus pennanti. Through assessment of the vaginal smear during b...

This study examined associations between caregiver talk and language skills in full term (FT) and preterm (PT) children (n = 97). All-day recordings of caregiver-child interactions revealed striking similarities in amount of caregiver talk heard by FT and PT children. Children who heard more caregiver talk at 16 months demonstrated better knowledge- and processing-based language skills at 18 mo...

To evaluate the role of vitamin B12 on spermatogenesis, the effects of dietary vitamin B12 deficiency on sperm maturation in developing rat fetuses and young growing rats were examined. The vitamin B12-deficient diet was given to all the animals for three different periods: whole period (gestation to mature), gestation period (gestation to weaning), or immature period (3-12 weeks postnatal). Sp...

Background data during the gestation period were obtained from 128 Wistar Hannover GALAS rats and 26 Crl:CD(SD) pregnant rats in the control groups of our previous toxicity studies. The body weights of dams in the Wistar Hannover GALAS rats were significantly lower throughout the gestation period than those in the Crl:CD(SD) rats. In contrast, the time-dependent change in the body weight gain (...

The study was conducted on the embryo/foeti of goat from 0-150 days of gestation, divided into group I (0-30 days), group II (31-60 days), group III (61-90 days), group IV (91-120 days) and group V (121-150 days of gestation). In group I whole embryo was processed and serial sections were cut whereas, in rest of the groups, pelvic urethra was dissected out and the tissues from the representativ...

The objective was to determine effects of the type of gestation accommodation to which dams were exposed on growth performance and age at puberty in gilt offspring. Yorkshire x Landrace gilts (n = 81; 26.9 +/- 0.8 kg of BW) were placed in pens of 3 gilts each. Each pen contained gilts farrowed exclusively by gilts exposed to 1 of 3 gestation accommodations: 1) individual crates throughout gesta...