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Perinatal psychological stress has been associated with unfavorable maternal and neonatal outcomes. We aimed to assess the impact of perinatal stress on infant development at 1 year of age. We recruited pregnant women calling North American Teratogen Information Services or attending outpatient clinics at CHU Sainte Justine (Montreal) between 2008 and 2010 and their spouses. To be part of our study, women had to be (1) >18 years of age, (2) <15 weeks of gestational age at recruitment, (3) living within 250-km radius of Montreal, and (4) taking antidepressants or non-teratogenic drugs. Stress was assessed using the telephone-administered four-item perceived stress scale during pregnancy in mothers and at 2 months postpartum in both parents. Child development at 1 year of age was evaluated with the Bayley III scales. Socio-demographic and potential confounders were collected through telephone interviews. Multivariable linear regression models were built to assess the association between perinatal parental stress and child development. Overall, 71 couples and their infants were included. When adjusted for potential confounders, maternal prenatal stress was positively associated with motor development (adjusted β = 1.85, CI 95 % (0.01, 3.70)). Postpartum maternal and paternal stresses were negatively associated with motor and socio-emotional development, respectively (adjusted β = −1.54, CI 95 % (−3.07, −0.01) and adjusted β = −1.67, CI 95 % (−3.25, −0.10), respectively). Maternal and paternal postnatal stress seems to be harmful for the motor and socio-emotional development in 1-year-old children. No association was demonstrated between parental stress and cognitive, language, and adaptive behavioral development. However, prenatal maternal stress appears to improve motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medication use during pregnancy and lactation is prevalent. However, current knowledge of the risks and benefits of medication use during pregnancy and lactation is incomplete as the best available evidence has been obtained from cohort studies of inadvertent exposures and registries. This situtation may partly explain health care providers’ (HCP) risk perceptions and thus the increasing number of calls to Teratogen Information Services (TIS). The objectives of this study were (1) to identify the medication classes for which HCP are seeking counseling from the IMAGe center, a Quebec TIS; (2) to identify the medical conditions for which medication classes were used during pregnancy and lactation; (3) to identify and quantify predictors of medication information requests during pregnancy and lactation. A retrospective analysis of data was conducted within the population served by the IMAGe center, a TIS based at CHU Ste-Justine in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that serves the French population of Canada. To be included, calls had to be received between January 1, 2004 and April 30, 2007, and the subject of the call had to be directly associated with the exposure, or not, of a pregnant or breastfeeding woman to medication. Multivariate generalized estimating equation (GEE) regression models were performed to identify the predictors of medication requests. A total of 11, 076 requests regarding medication exposure during pregnancy, 12 055 requests regarding pregnant women before the exposure took place, and 13, 364 requests regarding lactation were included for analyses. Pregnant women were most frequently exposed to antidepressants (17.3), antibiotics (6.3%), and benzodiazepines (5.3%). Prior to drug exposure, the most frequent inquiries by HCP were on antibiotics (11.0%), anti-inflammatory drugs (6.0%), and antiemetics (5.1%). Inquiries concerning lactating women most frequently requested information on the drug classes of antidepressants (10.8%), antibiotics (9.1%), and anti-inflammatory drugs (7.8%). Depressive disorders were an indication of antidepressant, benzodiazepine and antipsychotic exposures reported to IMAGe. Associations were found between medication use and maternal age, previous pregnancies, trimester of pregnancy at the time of the call and lifestyle habits. The IMAGe received frequent inquiries on antidepressant, antibiotic, and benzodiazepine exposures, with depressive disorders being the most frequently declared indication. Predictors of medication requests were identified among exposed women during pregnancy, and breastfeeding women. These results emphasize the need for effective studies on drug use during pregnancy and lactation and for better knowledge transfer programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Visual reading of [123I]IBZM SPECT scans depends on the experience of the interpreter. Therefore, semi-quantification of striatal IBZM uptake is commonly considered mandatory. However, semi-quantification is time consuming and prone to error, particularly if the volumes of interest (VOIs) are positioned manually. Therefore, the present paper proposes a new software tool (‘IBZM tool’) for fully automated and standardised processing, evaluation and documentation of [123I]IBZM SPECT scans. Methods: The IBZM tool is an easy-to-use SPM toolbox. It includes automated procedures for realignment and summation of multiple frames (motion correction), stereotactic normalisation, scaling, VOI analysis of striatumto-reference ratio R, classification of R and standardised display. In order to evaluate the tool, which was developed at the University of Hamburg, the tool was transferred to the University of Hannover. There it was applied to 27 well-documented subjects: eight patients with multisystem atrophy (MSA), 12 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and seven controls. The IBZM tool was compared with manual VOI analysis. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of the IBZM tool for the differentiation of the MSA subjects from the controls were 100% and 86%, respectively. The IBZM tool provided improved statistical power compared with manual VOI analysis. Conclusion: The IBZM tool is an expert system for the detection of reduced striatal D2 availability on [123I]IBZM SPECT scans. The standardised documentation supports visual and semi-quantitative evaluation, and it is useful for presenting the findings to the referring physician. The IBZM tool has the potential for widespread use, since it appears to be fairly independent of the performance characteristics of the particular SPECT system used. The tool is available free of charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An industrial hygiene study of 10 glassfiber reinforced polyester plants (including 90 workers) was undertaken to investigate the styrene exposure in this industry and to estimate biological limit values (BLV's) for the urinary metabolites of styrene: mandelic (MA) and phenylglyoxylic acids (PGA). Time weighted average (TWA) styrene exposures were found ranging from 2 to 200 ppm. The urinary elimination of metabolites correlated well with exposure and the BLV's corresponding to an 8-h exposure at 100 ppm were consistent with earlier laboratory findings (end-of-shift sample: MA 1640, PGA 510, MA + PGA 2150; next-morning sample: MA 330, PGA 330, MA + PGA 660 mg/g creat.). Total metabolites (MA + PGA) in the next-morning sample or mandelic acid in the end-of-shift sample are recommended for routine monitoring of exposure to styrene. The study revealed the need for further research on how to reduce styrene exposure in this industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenza A viruses can infect a wide variety of animal species and, occasionally, humans. Infection occurs through the binding formed by viral surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin and certain types of glycan receptors on host cell membranes. Studies have shown that the α2,3-linked sialic acid motif (SA2,3Gal) in avian, equine, and canine species; the α2,6-linked sialic acid motif (SA2,6Gal) in humans; and SA2,3Gal and SA2,6Gal in swine are responsible for the corresponding host tropisms. However, more detailed and refined substructures that determine host tropisms are still not clear. Thus, in this study, we applied association mining on a set of glycan microarray data for 211 influenza viruses from five host groups: humans, swine, canine, migratory waterfowl, and terrestrial birds. The results suggest that besides Neu5Acα2-6Galβ, human-origin viruses could bind glycans with Neu5Acα2-8Neu5Acα2-8Neu5Ac and Neu5Gcα2-6Galβ1-4GlcNAc substructures; Galβ and GlcNAcβ terminal substructures, without sialic acid branches, were associated with the binding of human-, swine-, and avian-origin viruses; sulfated Neu5Acα2-3 substructures were associated with the binding of human- and swine-origin viruses. Finally, through three-dimensional structure characterization, we revealed that the role of glycan chain shapes is more important than that of torsion angles or of overall structural similarities in virus host tropisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]