Dietary carbohydrate during pregnancy is essential but whether this requirement is specific to glucose or if fructose could substitute for glucose in the diet of pregnant rat dams was investigated. It was concluded that the carbohydrate requirement for the rat during pregnancy is not specific to glucose and the level, not the type, of carbohydrate was critical. The potential toxicity of high fructose diets was also investigated. Dams fed high fructose had significantly higher liver weights than dams fed high glucose while other toxic indicators were not affected. A third aspect was the comparison of isocaloric, low carbohydrate diets containing different sources of 4% glucose equivalents: glucose, fructose or lipid-glycerol. Fructose and lipid-glycerol were not adequate substitutes for glucose. The measurement of amniotic fluid glucose, which increased as either dietary glucose or fructose increased in the maternal diet may be a new, accessible nutritional indicator of carbohydrate status.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Homoeopathy)-Dept. of Homoeopathy, Durban Institute of Technology, 2006 xxiii, 154 leaves / This study sought to determine the perceptions that currently exist amongst pregnant women towards homoeopathy, in light of the fact that drug use during pregnancy is limited. This study aimed at identifying myths and misconceptions that currently exist towards homoeopathy by looking at the attitudes and perceptions held by this target group. This information can be used to develop future homoeopathic education initiatives for this target group.

The role of placental VEGFA in placental development and maternal pregnancy adaptations is unknown. In this thesis, one or both copies of Vegfa was knocked out from the placental spongiotrophoblast region using a mouse Cre-loxP system. Surprisingly, in pregnancies carrying 100% conceptuses with a single deletion of Vegfa from the spongiotrophoblast layer, maternal circulating VEGFA increased by 20% accompanied by a 15% decrease in arterial pressure while no impairment in embryo growth was found. In pregnancies carrying 50% conceptuses with both copies of Vegfa deleted from spongiotrophoblast, 17% of conceptuses had been reabsorbed by late gestation suggesting a function for spongiotrophoblast VEGFA in sustaining early pregnancy. In conclusion, spongiotrophoblast VEGFA affects maternal function during pregnancy but the exact mechanism remains to be defined.

The role of placental VEGFA in placental development and maternal pregnancy adaptations is unknown. In this thesis, one or both copies of Vegfa was knocked out from the placental spongiotrophoblast region using a mouse Cre-loxP system. Surprisingly, in pregnancies carrying 100% conceptuses with a single deletion of Vegfa from the spongiotrophoblast layer, maternal circulating VEGFA increased by 20% accompanied by a 15% decrease in arterial pressure while no impairment in embryo growth was found. In pregnancies carrying 50% conceptuses with both copies of Vegfa deleted from spongiotrophoblast, 17% of conceptuses had been reabsorbed by late gestation suggesting a function for spongiotrophoblast VEGFA in sustaining early pregnancy. In conclusion, spongiotrophoblast VEGFA affects maternal function during pregnancy but the exact mechanism remains to be defined.

This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with L-arginine during early pregnancy will ameliorate embryonic loss in pigs. Gilts were bred at the second estrus, and housed individually in pens and fed twice daily 1 kg of a corn- and soybean meal-based diet supplemented with 0.0%, 0.4%, or 0.8% L-arginine (w/w) between d 0 and 25 of gestation (Experiment 1) or between d 14 and 25 of gestation (Experiments 2 and 3). At d 25 (Experiment 1 and 2) or d 60 (Experiment 3) of gestation, gilts were hysterectomized to obtain uteri and conceptuses. Total RNA and protein were extracted from the frozen tissues. Quantitative RT-PCR, western blotting, and microarray analyses were performed to determine the changes of gene expression at mRNA and protein levels. Dietary supplementation with 0.8% L-arginine between d 0 and 25 of gestation decreased uterine weight, total number of fetuses, number of corpora lutea (CL), total fetal weight, total volume of allantoic and amniotic fluids, concentrations of progesterone in maternal plasma and allantoic fluid, compared to the control group. However, dietary supplementation with 0.4% or 0.8% L-arginine between d 14 and 25 of gestation increased total volume of amniotic fluid, total amounts of arginine in allantoic and amniotic fluids, total amounts of fructose and most amino acids in amniotic fluid, placental growth, and the number of viable fetuses per litter by 2. Dietary supplementation with 0.4% or 0.8% L-arginine between d 14 and 25 of gestation increased the total number of fetuses and number of live fetuses, rate of embryonic survival, and volumes of allantoic and amniotic fluids in gilts with 15 to 18 CL on d 60 of gestation compared with the control group. The abundance of placental protein and expression of mRNA related to the genes for arginine transport and metabolism, including cationic amino acid transporter 1, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3), phosphorylated-NOS3, ornithine decarboxylase, and guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase-I was increased by dietary supplementation with 0.8% L-arginine between d 0 and 25 of gestation. The abundance of total and phosphorylated mechanistic target of rapamycin was also enhanced by dietary 0.8% L-arginine supplementation between d 0 and 25 of gestation. Microarray analysis revealed that supplementation with 0.8% arginine between d 14 and 25 of gestation affected placental expression of 575 genes. Findings from the current study not only advance basic knowledge of mammalian reproductive biology, but also have important implications for developing practical means to enhance fertility in female pigs.

Many people all over the world suffer from back pain. It is unavoidable for pregnant women too. According to various authors, about 50 % of women suffer from this symptom. During pregnancy, high loads that are influenced by mechanical as well as hormonal factors affect the spine. The aim of the work was to evaluate effectiveness of the muscle flexion and strengthening program in the reduction of back pain in pregnancy. In the research, the state of muscles producing waste and pelvis movements was evaluated before and after kinesiotherapy application in pregnant women suffering from back pain, and an influence of flexion and strengthening for muscle condition was evaluated in pregnant women suffering from back pain. The research lasted 10 weeks and it was performed in the Kaunas Clinical Hospital II in 2004. In total, 56 pregnant women were surveyed. 12 women participated in the kinesiotherapy program (experimental group), 11 women who did not participate in the kinesiotherapy program due to various reasons were attributed to the control group. Remaining 33 women did not participate in the research due to earlier problems with spine, syndrome of pelvic ligament relaxation or other individual reasons. Results of these two groups were compared and analyzed. Tests that were performed before and after the research show that results of the experimental group have improved significantly, while women in the control group have reported pain and disturbed physical activity. Pain... [to full text]

Introduction. There is clear evidence that children raised in families affected by parental drug use are at high risk for a wide range of adverse outcomes, including; early cognitive and language delay (van Baar & de Graaff, 1994); poor school attendance and educational under-achievement (Hogan & Higgins, 2001; Steinhausen, Blattmann, & Pfund, 2007); substance abuse and psychological problems (Keller, Catalano, Haggerty, & Fleming, 2002; Kilpatrick, Acierno, Saunders, Resnick, Best, & Schnurr, 2000; Kolar, 1994; Lagasse, Hammond, Liu, Lester, Shankaran, Bada et al., 2006; Merikangas, Dierker, & Szatmari, 1998; Moss, Vanyukov, Majumder, Kirisci, & Tarter, 1995; Nunes, Weissman, Goldstein, McAvay, Beckford, Seracini et al., 2000; Nunes, Weissman, Goldstein, McAvay, Seracini, Verdeli et al., 1998; Stanger, Higgins, Bickel, Elk, Grabowski, Schmitz et al., 1999). Careful examination of the impact of parental drug use on children and the developmental mechanisms associated with risk and resilience is central to the establishment of appropriate intervention. Children born to mothers who are drug dependent and enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment during pregnancy face the “double jeopardy” of prenatal drug exposure and post-natal environmental disadvantage (Zuckerman & Brown, 1993). This research aimed to identify early developmental difficulties or differences in communicative and cognitive development, and in particular the joint attention skills, of young children born to mothers engaged in methadone maintenance treatment. Of particular interest was the way in which pre- and postnatal factors combined to influence developmental outcome at age 2 years. This prospective, longitudinal study offered the opportunity to indentify early indicators of developmental differences in this group and thus, contribute to a better understanding of the long-term mechanisms of risk. Research Methods. Sixty children born to mothers engaged in methadone maintenance treatment and 60 randomly-selected, non-exposed comparison children were followed prospectively from birth to age 2 years. During the third trimester of pregnancy, mothers completed a comprehensive maternal interview. At 18 months, children were visited at home and evaluations of the social background, family and childrearing context were completed. At age 2 years, all children underwent a developmental assessment that included the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS) (Mundy, Hogan, & Doehring, 1996). The ESCS consists of a semi-structured series of activities, which assess the joint attention abilities, social skills and interactive behaviour of infants aged 8 to 30 months. The focus of this study was on children’s use of two types of communicative behaviour – requesting and affect-sharing communications. Alongside the ESCS, the Mental Development Index (MDI) and language items from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II) (Bayley, 1993) and the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales– Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) (Wetherby & Prizant, 1998), were used to assess concurrent cognitive and language skills. Results. The results of this study indicated that children born to mothers engaged in methadone maintenance treatment were typically growing up in single-parent families (p=<.0001) and in welfare-dependent households (p=<.0001). Methadone-exposed children were also more likely to be living in out-of-home care placements at age 18months than comparison group children (p=<.0001). Their caregivers were less likely to be accepting of (p=<.01) and responsive to their needs (p=.008) compared to parents of comparison children. At home, methadone-exposed children had fewer learning opportunities (p=<.0001) and were more likely to live in houses where the television was on for longer, compared to non-exposed children (p=<.001). Caregivers of methadone-exposed toddlers reported more depression (p=<.0001), more illicit substance use (p=<.0001) and more family stress (p=.004) than comparison caregivers. They were also more often victims of psychological aggression (p=.002) and violence from others (p=<.0001), but they also reported that they were more likely to use psychological aggression (p=<.001) and physical punishment (p=<.03) in managing their children’s behaviour than comparison caregivers. The developmental assessment at age 2 years suggested that methadone-exposed children were significantly more likely to engage in communicative behaviour, which expressed a request, than non-exposed, comparison children (p=.03). On the other hand, analysis suggested that whilst methadone-exposed children were less likely than comparison children to engage in communication, which had the goal of affect sharing, this difference did not reach significance (p=.27). Previous research links greater use of requesting behaviours with later behaviour problems (Sheinkopf, Mundy, Claussen, & Willoughby, 2004). The MDI, BSID language measure and CSBS results further indicated significant delay in both cognitive (p =<.0001) and language development (p =<.0001) in the methadone-exposed group, compared to the comparison group. Between group differences were attenuated by control for confounding social background and prenatal factors, including maternal education, gestational age, other drug exposures during pregnancy and gender, but significant differences remained. Further analysis suggested that parenting practices and family environment factors were important intervening influences on the relationship between being born to a mother engaged in methadone maintenance treatment and poorer outcomes. More specifically, the association between methadone-exposure and differences in joint attention behaviours, were explained by caregiver use of psychological aggression (p=.01), caregiver disruption (p=.07) and caregiver stress (p=.01). On the other hand, poorer cognitive and language outcomes were explained by family contextual factors, including a less child-centered home environment (p=.008), caregiver disruption (p=.001), increased use of background TV (p=.02) and fewer stimulating activities (p=.06) Discussion. The family circumstances of children born to mothers engaged in methadone maintenance treatment during pregnancy, when compared with a group of randomly-selected comparison children, showed pervasive differences and multiple disadvantage. Findings suggest that these differences in family disruption, family functioning and parenting practices explain the negative outcomes of methadone-exposed children in early cognitive and communication skills at age 2 years. These results raise concerns for the later functioning of methadone-exposed children and emphasise the key importance of early intervention for children and families affected by parental drug use.

No description available.

The primary focus of this research was on the emotional status of expectant mothers and expectant fathers. A comparison between couples who were currently expecting a child and couples who had had a child within one calendar year of the testing period was made. Specifically, expectant mothers were compared to present mothers and expectant fathers were compared to present fathers on three personality variables: the degree of emotional stability, the perception of the locus of internal-external control, and parental role identification. This comparison was made to determine whether men and women who were currently expecting a child would differ significantly from similar men and women who had already had their child in relation to the three selected variables.Participants in Lamaze prepared childbirth training were selected as the population to be studied. Members of one of four Lamaze prepared childbirth classes selected as the population for the research were asked to take part in the study. Twenty-one couples agreed to participate; the 21 pregnant women comprised the expectant mother sample, while the 21 husbands of the pregnant women comprised the expectant father sample. In order to compare the expectant parent samples to an appropriate control group, 100 former Lamaze participants who received their training from the same Lamaze instructors who provided instruction to the expectant parent samples were contacted and asked to take part in the study. Twenty-one couples volunteered; the 21 women comprised the present mothers sample, and the 21 men made up the present fathers sample. All subjects in the expectant parents samples were tested on the second meeting of their regularly scheduled Lamaze class. Those couples in the present parents samples attended a specially scheduled testing period.Six hypotheses were formulated relative to emotional stability, perception of the locus of internal-external control and parental role identification. The multiple choice Inquiry items of the Blacky Pictures Test served as the measure of emotional stability. Each subject's perception of the locus of control was measured by the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (I-E Scale). An additional measure was obtained to determine whether a subject was unusually involved with the parental role. A writer-designed adaptation of the Blacky Pictures Test served as a measure of identification with the parental figures depicted on the Blacky Pictures Test illustrations. The adaptation consisted of the addition of the following question to the standard Inquiry items on each card: "With which character do you feel most involved on this card? Mama, Papa, Blacky, or Tippy?" Because the parent figures are depicted on only three of the 11 critical cards, four or more responses that indicated involvement (or identification) with the parental figures was considered to indicate unusual involvement with the parental figures. In addition to these three measurements, all subjects completed a demographic questionnaire.Statistical analyses were carried out to determine whether there were significant differences (p <.05) between the same sex samples. Results indicated two significant findings. Present fathers were found to be less emotionally stable than expectant fathers. In addition, the expectant mothers tended to identify significantly more often with the parental figures than did present mothers. All other measured variables failed to show significant differences. No significant differences were found between the expectant mother sample and the present mother sample in their perception of the locus of internal-external control; similarly expectant fathers and present fathers were not significantly different on the perception of control variable. Findings also indicated that no significant difference existed between the two father samples on the identification with the parental role variable. No significant difference was found between the two mother samples on the emotional stability variable.

The researcher focused on developing a psycho-developmental programme that could be used as an intervention technique to combat teenage pregnancy. The literature research indicated that general factors contributing to teenage pregnancy could be divided into individual factors and social factors. The following individual factors played a major role towards teenage pregnancy: lack of knowledge, lack of future vision, lack of educational and personal goals and poor academic performance. Social factors such as poor health care services, poor socio-economic condition, unemployment and poverty could be seen as the most common general factors that lead to teenage pregnancy. Family disorientation because of families consisting of one parent, alcohol and drug abuse, and lack of parent support increase the risk to get involved in prostitution and sexual molesting ending up in teenage pregnancy. Psychological aspects such as low self-image, low self-concept, low self-esteem and an external locus of control are also contributing factors to teenage pregnancy. Cultural rituals, myths about sexuality and teenage pregnancy, poor recreational facilities, poor socio-economic condition leading to poverty and increasing the risk of becoming a victim of sexual abuse could be seen as the most common cultural factors which lead to teenage pregnancy. For the purpose of this research a cultural quasi-experimental design was used. Enrolled pupils between fourteen and sixteen years from the following culture groups: white, black (rural), black (urban) and brown were included in this research. These pupils were enrolled students from the following High Schools in Parys: Parys High School, Phehelang High School, Barnard Molekwane High School, Weiveld High School and Sckonkinville High School. All the pupils from the control group, experimental group and development groups were exposed to the completion of a questionnaire that was utilised for pre-testing as well as post-testing. This questionnaire consisted out of three dimensions: knowledge on sexuality, attitudes towards sexuality and myths occurring in connection with sexuality. This questionnaire is available in Afrikaans and Sotho. Only the experimental group was exposed to the psycho-development programme. The results of the research indicated that no differences between the research groups (experimental, development and control groups), age (14 - 16 years) and gender (male and female) groups were reported before the implementation of the psycho-educational programme. Only statistical differences in the cultural groups (white, black and brown) were found: between white and brown in connection with knowledge, attitudes and myths, and between white and black differences in connection with knowledge and myths. Between brown and black differences were found in connection with attitudes. The results after the implementation of the psycho-educational programme showed that no differences were found in connection with age and gender. The experimental group reported a positive change in attitudes towards teenage pregnancy, while knowledge increased in the development group. No changes were reported in the control group. Within the different cultural groups the following results were reported: Knowledge increased in the white group, while within the black group changes in knowledge, attitudes and myths were found. The results for the brown group did not report any change. The following conclusion could be made that the developed psycho-educational programme did have an impact on improving the knowledge and changing the attitudes of the study population in connection with sexuality and teenage pregnancy. The limitations of this research were identified and recommendations were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.