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Background: Health status of offspring is programmed by maternal diet throughout gestation and lactation. The present study investigates the lasting effects of maternal supplementation with different amounts of soy oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) on weight and biochemical parameters during gestation and lactation of female mice offspring. Methods: Eight weeks old female C57BL/6 mice (n=40) were assigned through simple randomization into four isocaloric dietary groups (16% of calories as soy oil (LSO) or EVOO (LOO) and 45% of calories as soy oil (HSO) or EVOO (HOO)) during three weeks of gestation and lactation. After weaning (at 3 weeks), all offspring received a diet containing 16% of calories as soy oil and were sacrificed at 6 weeks. Two-way ANOVA was used to adjust for confounding variables and repeated measures test for weight gain trend. Statistical analyses were performed with the IBM SPSS package. Results: At birth and adolescence, the weight of offspring was significantly higher in the soy oil than the olive oil groups (P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). Adolescence weight was significantly higher in the offspring born to mothers fed with 16% oil than those with 45% oil (P=0.001). Serum glucose, triglyceride and total cholesterol were significantly higher in the LSO than LOO (P<0.001, P<0.001 and P<0.001), LSO than HSO (P<0.001, P=0.03 and P<0.001), and LOO than HOO (P<0.001, P<0.001 and P<0.001) dietary groups, respectively. Serum triglyceride and total cholesterol were significantly higher in the offspring of HSO than HOO fed mothers (P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). Conclusion: A maternal diet containing EVOO has better effects on birth weight, as well as weight and serum biochemical parameters in offspring at adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatoblastoma is a malignant embryonal tumor typically diagnosed in children younger than five years of age. Little is known on hepatoblastoma etiology. Methods: We matched California Cancer Registry records of hepatoblastomas diagnosed in children younger than age 6 from 1988 to 2007 to birth records using a probabilistic record linkage program, yielding 261 cases. Controls (n = 218,277), frequency matched by birth year to all cancer cases in California for the same time period, were randomly selected from California birth records. We examined demographic and socioeconomic information, birth characteristics, pregnancy history, complications in pregnancy, labor and delivery, and abnormal conditions and clinical procedures relating to the newborn, with study data taken from birth certificates. Results: We observed increased risks for hepatoblastoma among children with low [1500-2499 g, Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29-3.15] and very low birthweight (<1500 g, OR = 15.4, 95% CI 10.7-22.3), preterm birth <33 weeks (OR = 7.27, 95% CI 5.00, 10.6), small size for gestational age (OR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.25-2.45), and with multiple birth pregnancies (OR = 2.52, 95% CI 1.54-4.14). We observed a number of pregnancy and labor complications to be related to hepatoblastoma, including preeclampsia, premature labor, fetal distress, and congenital anomalies. Conclusion: These findings confirm previously reported associations with low birthweight and preeclampsia. The relation with multiple birth pregnancies has been previously reported and may indicate a relation to infertility treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Uterine leiomyomata (fibroids) are hormonally responsive tumors, but little is known about risk factors. Early-life exposures may influence uterine development and subsequent response to hormones in adulthood. An earlier analysis of non-Hispanic white women who participated in the Sister Study found associations between several early-life factors and early-onset fibroids.Objectives: We evaluated associations of early-life and childhood exposures with early-onset fibroids among black women and compared the results with those found among white women.Methods: We analyzed baseline data from 3,534 black women, 35-59 years of age, in the Sister Study (a nationwide cohort of women who had a sister diagnosed with breast cancer) who self-reported information on early-life and childhood exposures. Early-onset fibroids were assessed based on self-report of a physician diagnosis of fibroids by the age of 30 years (n = 561). We estimated risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from log-binomial regression models.Results: Factors most strongly associated with early-onset fibroids were in utero diethylstilbestrol (DES; RR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.28, 3.18), maternal prepregnancy diabetes or gestational diabetes (RR = 1.54; 95% CI: 0.95, 2.49), and monozygotic multiple birth (RR = 1.94; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.99). We also found positive associations with having been taller or thinner than peers at the age of 10 years and with early-life factors that included being the firstborn child of a teenage mother, maternal hypertensive disorder, preterm birth, and having been fed soy formula. Conclusions: With the exception of monozygotic multiple birth and maternal hypertensive disorder, early-life risk factors for early-onset fibroids for black women were similar to those found for white women. However, in contrast to whites, childhood height and weight, but not low socioeconomic status indicators, were associated with early-onset fibroids in blacks. The general consistency of early-life findings for black and white women supports a possible role of early-life factors in fibroid development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women with higher parity have a lower risk of ovarian cancer possibly because of pregnancy hormones, but the specific effect of different pregnancy hormones on ovarian cancer risk is not clear. Some clarification might be gained by considering situations where hormone levels vary between pregnancies. Study participants from an Australian population-based, case-control study of epithelial ovarian cancer (2001–2005) completed a reproductive/lifestyle questionnaire. The authors included 1,203 cases and 1,286 controls with at least 1 birth and, using multiple logistic regression, calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to investigate the effects of pregnancy-related factors on cancer risk. Women who had 1 or more preterm births had higher risks of ovarian cancer than those who had only full-term births (odds ratio (OR) = 1.48, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 2.15). The authors also found that bearing only boys was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of mucinous ovarian cancer (OR = 2.19, 95% CI: 1.15, 4.17). There was no association between multiple pregnancy and ovarian cancer (for any multiple pregnancy vs. only singleton pregnancies: OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 0.74, 2.02). The results suggest that pregnancies associated with differing hormonal milieux have different effects on ovarian cancer risk and that some of these associations may vary with histologic subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

: ObjectiveTo determine whether insurance coverage for ART is associated with transfer of fewer embryos and decreased risk of multiple births.: DesignRetrospective cohort study of a population-based sample of IVF procedures performed in six U.S. states during 1998.: SettingThree states with mandated insurance coverage (Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island) and three states without coverage (Indiana, Michigan, and New Jersey).: Participant(s)Seven thousand, five hundred sixty-one IVF transfer procedures in patients ≤ 35 years of age.: Main outcome measure(s)Number of embryos transferred, multiple-birth rate, triplet or higher order birth rate, and triplet or higher order gestation rate.: Result(s)A smaller proportion of procedures included transfer of three or more embryos in Massachusetts (64%) and Rhode Island (74%) than in the noninsurance states (82%). The multiple-birth rate in Massachusetts (38%) was less than in the noninsurance states (43%). The insurance states all had protective odds ratios for triplet or higher order births, but only the odds ratio (0.2) for Massachusetts was significant. This decreased risk in Massachusetts resulted from several factors, including a smaller proportion of patients with three or more embryos transferred, lower implantation rates when three or more embryos were transferred, and greater rates of fetal loss among triplet or higher order gestations.: Conclusion(s)Insurance appears to affect embryo transfer practices. Whether this translates into decreased multiple birth risk is less clear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is increasingly used to overcome growing rates of infertility and subfertility. Perinatal and maternal morbidity and mortality are elevated in ART conceptions even in vaginally delivered singletons. Malta is a small archipelago with comprehensive national data. This study was carried out in order to investigate ART rates in Maltese deliveries for 2000-2019 inclusive.Methods: Anonymous data was obtained from the Malta National Obstetric Information System (NOIS). For this study all ART methods were aggregated into one group. Deliveries refer to single pregnancies. A p value ≤0.05 was taken to represent statistically significance.Results: This study analysed 82,356 deliveries over the period with overall 2% ART. There was a significant rising trend in all deliveries (ART plus non-ART) with time (p = 0.012). Of these, 1262 were twin deliveries (18% ART) and 56 were triplet deliveries (66% ART). Multiple deliveries (ART plus non-ART) also rose significantly (p = 0. 00035). The proportion of ART deliveries rose significantly overall and individually, for singletons (3.4-4.6%) since 2018, and over a quarter of such deliveries since 2013 for twin and further multiples.Discussion: The Maltese rate of twins and triplets plateaued before reaching the peaks experienced by other countries and it may be that more infertile couples were and are only having one embryo transferred. In smaller countries with only one neonatal unit, ART services should strive to produce a smooth throughput so as to minimize surges and strains on downstream neonatal services which may have deleterious effects on outcomes, especially neonatal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]