OBJECTIVE To analyze the humoral immune response to Ro/SSA and La/SSB antigens in detail, in order to identify markers in mothers at high risk of having children with congenital heart block (CHB). METHODS Serum samples were obtained from 9 Ro/La-positive mothers who gave birth to affected children, from their 8 newborns with CHB, and from 26 Ro/La-positive mothers whose children were healthy....

Findings regarding associations between maternal sensitivity and infant and mother adrenocortical function have been inconsistent. Nor have studies addressed the issue of intra-individual, between-challenge cortisol variability in the context of maternal sensitivity. In this study, we combine several design features aimed at sensitizing analyses to these issues. Cortisol secretion of 297 infant...

Vertebrate mothers transfer diverse compounds to developing embryos that can affect their development and final phenotype (i.e., maternal effects). However, the way such effects modulate offspring phenotype, in particular their immunity, remains unclear. To test the impact of maternal effects on offspring development, we treated wild breeding house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Sevilla, SE Sp...

The relationship between maternal factors and the response of preterm infants to pain and stress experienced during heel puncture while in maternal kangaroo care was investigated. This descriptive study included 42 mothers and their preterm infants cared for in a neonatal unit. Data were collected in the baseline, procedure, and recovery phases. We measured the neonates' facial actions, sleep a...

Mothers in a range of taxa manipulate the phenotype of their offspring in response to environmental change in order to maximize their own fitness. Most studies have focused on changes in the mean phenotype of offspring. Focusing on mean offspring phenotypes is appropriate for species in which mothers are likely to successfully predict the environment their offspring will experience, but what ha...

Neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses to different rotavirus serotypes were compared in 64 convalescent-phase serum samples from hospitalized rotavirus-positive children less than 2 years of age and their mothers. Compared to the child patients, the mothers showed significantly higher NAb positivity to animal rotavirus serotypes G3 simian (96.88%), G6 bovine (85.94%), and G10 bovine (25.0%) and...

objective: to assess the relationship between maternal uti during pregnancy and neonatal uti. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study included eighty neonates referred to ali-e-asghar hospital, tehran, iran, in 2011. the participants were divided into the study (with diagnosis of uti; n = 40) and the control (without this type of infection; n = 40) groups. the mothers were asked about...

BACKGROUND Successful parenting requires maternal behaviors that promote infant survival such as protection from predators. In animal studies, oxytocin (OT) has been linked to maternal aggression to protect offspring. No human study has explored this topic. Mothers with a diagnosis of postnatal depression (PND) are at higher risk of neglecting their infants. We hypothesized that intranasal OT a...