Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (MPH)--University of Limpopo,2009. / Background: Women living with HIV frequently report in the clinic with pregnancy despite their health status and knowledge of mother-to-child transmission HIV. This study assessed the level of knowledge of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) and the reasons for pregnancy among women on PMTCT in Serowe, Botswana. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the level of knowledge of the PMTCT program and vertical transmission among HIV-positive women in Serowe; evaluate the reasons for pregnancy among HIV-positive pregnant women enrolled in the PMTCT program as well as describe the practices of family planning among these women in Serowe. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey using qualitative method. Twenty six (26) participants attending PMTCT clinics at Serowe clinic, Nutrition clinic, and Kadimo clinic participated in the study between October and December 2008 after consenting to participate. Research assistants conducted in-depth interviews to collect socio-demographic data of the participants. Qualitative methods were used to collect data about the women’s level of understanding of the PMTCT program, reasons for falling pregnant, types and duration of their relationships with their partners and family planning practices. The interviews were conducted in the local language (Setswana) and then translated into English by the research assistant for transcribing. Their responses were audio taped. Results: The results indicated that most of pregnancies were unplanned. However, 26.9 % of participants said that they became pregnant because they desire to have another child. A number of participants ( 15.4%) indicated that they became pregnant because their partners wanted a child. Although all 26 participants had good knowledge and understanding of the family planning practices, but only 18 (69.2 %) had used the family planning methods before falling pregnant. The findings in this study revealed good social suport from the family members and the disclosure of HIV status was not a big issue to the participants. Majority of respondents (66.6%)) had good knowledge and understanding of the PMTCT program. One-third of the participants were single, ninety- six percentages of participants were unemployed, and about one-third of them live on less than 50 U$ dollars per month. Conclusion: As the desire to have children is usually perceived as a normal part of life for all women, including women living with HIV. Most women chose not to become pregnant after knowing their HIV status (HIV-positive) but the found themselves with unplanned pregnacy. The women with a procreative inclination were found to be more likely to choose to become pregnant which outweighed social support and personal health concerns. Additional factors included fear of transmitting HIV to their child, personal health-related concerns, unemploment and poverty. Participants had good knowledge of PMTCT program. The use of family planning by participants was poor despiste their good knowledge about it

Thesis (MPH)-- University of Limpopo, 2012. / Background: A number of initiatives have been implemented in South Africa to prevent and reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy. These includes sex education as part of the Life Skills Programme in schools, roll-out of Youth Friendly Services (YFS) in government clinics and funding programmes such as Lovelife which combines a highly visible sustained national multi-media sex education and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. However, these campaigns do not reach most teenagers in the rural areas such as in Moshana village. Teenage pregnancy has been recognized as one of the major problems affecting the learners of Mpolokang High School Aim: The aim of the study was to explore factors contributing to teenage pregnancy within the secondary school environment Methods: This was an exploratory and descriptive study. Focus group interviews were conducted with the learners from Grade 10 – 12, aged 15 - 19. Results: It was found that factors contributing to teenage pregnancy at Mpolokang High School were openness and transparency, sexual practices, access to the government grant, peer influence, lack of recreational facilities, substance abuse by the learners and attitudes of Health Care Workers at Moshana clinic. Conclusion: From this study, it can be concluded that although sex education is now part of the Life Skills programme in schools, teenagers still fall pregnant due to lack of openness and transparency when discussing sexual matters.

152 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (M.D. 1973) from the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Adelaide & Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Dundee

[Typewritten] / 117, [28] leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Physical & Inorganic Chemistry, 1960

Appropriate placental development in early gestation is essential for subsequent placental function and hence optimal fetal growth and pregnancy outcome. Placental insufficiency has been implicated in common disorders of pregnancy, which result in fetal and maternal mortality or morbidity, and also increase the risk of poor health in adult offspring. Prior to the onset of maternal blood flow to the placenta at ~10 weeks of gestation, placentation occurs in a relatively hypoxic environment, which is essential for healthy pregnancy. IGF-II is abundantly expressed by the invasive trophoblast and may interact with oxygen to regulate placentation. Additionally, maternally-derived IGFs may act on the placenta and the mother to regulate fetal growth. This thesis investigated the role and interaction of oxygen and IGF-II on human placental outgrowth during early pregnancy in vitro. Furthermore, the impact of maternal IGF treatment during early to mid pregnancy, on placental development and substrate transfer, nutrient partitioning between the mother and fetus, and fetal growth, were also determined in mid and late gestation in guinea pigs. We have demonstrated, using human early first trimester placental villous explants, that IGF-II mediates the effect of hypoxia on placental outgrowth. Culture of placental explants in hypoxia, or with exogenous IGF-II, enhanced trophoblast outgrowth and inhibited TGF-β1 activation, a negative regulator of trophoblast function. In addition, culture of explants in hypoxia induced Igf2 gene expression in outgrowing trophoblast, without altering Upar, Igf1r, Igf2r or Tgfβ1 transcription. We propose that this novel interaction of oxygen, IGF-II and TGF-β1 during pregnancy is an important determinant of placental development. Furthermore, we showed that exogenous IGF-II stimulates villous explant trophoblast outgrowth in placenta from >10 weeks gestation, suggesting that IGF-II may be a potential therapeutic agent to enhance placental growth. In guinea pigs, maternal treatment with IGF-I or IGF-II, in early to mid pregnancy, has sustained anabolic effects on fetal growth, enhanced fetal survival and increased placental delivery, and fetal and maternal utilization of, glucose and amino acids near term. These effects were also evident by mid gestation following earlier IGF-I treatment. Despite these similar pregnancy outcomes, there were IGF specific effects on the placenta and mother, suggesting that IGFs may mediate some of their effects via different pathways. IGF-I administration severely reduced maternal adiposity in late pregnancy, elicited its effects by substantially improving development of the placental exchange region, which correlated with placental function. We have suggested that the discrete effects of IGF-I and IGF-II stem from distinct interactions of the IGFs with various receptors. Maternal administration of an analogue of IGF-II that selectively interacts with IGF2R (Leu ²⁷-IGF-II), revealed that many of the effects of IGF-II treatment, were mediated by IGF2R, while IGF-I presumably acts through IGF1R. Together, this work has highlighted the major and somewhat complementary roles of maternal IGFs during the first half of pregnancy, in regulating placental development, fetal growth and pregnancy success. Importantly, it indicates the potential use of maternal IGFs in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to pregnancy complications. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277715 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, 2007.

Appropriate placental development in early gestation is essential for subsequent placental function and hence optimal fetal growth and pregnancy outcome. Placental insufficiency has been implicated in common disorders of pregnancy, which result in fetal and maternal mortality or morbidity, and also increase the risk of poor health in adult offspring. Prior to the onset of maternal blood flow to the placenta at ~10 weeks of gestation, placentation occurs in a relatively hypoxic environment, which is essential for healthy pregnancy. IGF-II is abundantly expressed by the invasive trophoblast and may interact with oxygen to regulate placentation. Additionally, maternally-derived IGFs may act on the placenta and the mother to regulate fetal growth. This thesis investigated the role and interaction of oxygen and IGF-II on human placental outgrowth during early pregnancy in vitro. Furthermore, the impact of maternal IGF treatment during early to mid pregnancy, on placental development and substrate transfer, nutrient partitioning between the mother and fetus, and fetal growth, were also determined in mid and late gestation in guinea pigs. We have demonstrated, using human early first trimester placental villous explants, that IGF-II mediates the effect of hypoxia on placental outgrowth. Culture of placental explants in hypoxia, or with exogenous IGF-II, enhanced trophoblast outgrowth and inhibited TGF-β1 activation, a negative regulator of trophoblast function. In addition, culture of explants in hypoxia induced Igf2 gene expression in outgrowing trophoblast, without altering Upar, Igf1r, Igf2r or Tgfβ1 transcription. We propose that this novel interaction of oxygen, IGF-II and TGF-β1 during pregnancy is an important determinant of placental development. Furthermore, we showed that exogenous IGF-II stimulates villous explant trophoblast outgrowth in placenta from >10 weeks gestation, suggesting that IGF-II may be a potential therapeutic agent to enhance placental growth. In guinea pigs, maternal treatment with IGF-I or IGF-II, in early to mid pregnancy, has sustained anabolic effects on fetal growth, enhanced fetal survival and increased placental delivery, and fetal and maternal utilization of, glucose and amino acids near term. These effects were also evident by mid gestation following earlier IGF-I treatment. Despite these similar pregnancy outcomes, there were IGF specific effects on the placenta and mother, suggesting that IGFs may mediate some of their effects via different pathways. IGF-I administration severely reduced maternal adiposity in late pregnancy, elicited its effects by substantially improving development of the placental exchange region, which correlated with placental function. We have suggested that the discrete effects of IGF-I and IGF-II stem from distinct interactions of the IGFs with various receptors. Maternal administration of an analogue of IGF-II that selectively interacts with IGF2R (Leu ²⁷-IGF-II), revealed that many of the effects of IGF-II treatment, were mediated by IGF2R, while IGF-I presumably acts through IGF1R. Together, this work has highlighted the major and somewhat complementary roles of maternal IGFs during the first half of pregnancy, in regulating placental development, fetal growth and pregnancy success. Importantly, it indicates the potential use of maternal IGFs in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to pregnancy complications. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277715 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, 2007.

During early pregnancy in ruminants, progesterone (P4) from the corpus luteum (CL) and interferon tau (IFNT) from the conceptus act on the endometrium to regulate genes including interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) that are hypothesized to be important for uterine receptivity and conceptus growth. Previous custom ovine cDNA array analyses identified candidate genes that were regulated by pregnancy, P4 and/or IFNT in the ovine uterus. The first study validated pregnancy, P4 and/or IFNT regulated genes identified by previous custom ovine cDNA microarray analyses. ACTA2, COL3A1, POSTN, SPARC, S100A2, STAT5A and TAGLN were examined. POSTN was upregulated by P4 and S100A2 was downregulated by IFNT. Moreover, functional studies showed that POSTN stimulated attachment of ovine trophectoderm cells. However, neither COL3A1, SPARC, ACTA2 nor TAGLN was regulated by pregnancy, P4 or IFNT in the ovine endometrium. Collectively, these results confirmed that POSTN and S100A2 are P4 and IFNT regulated, respectively, and likely involved in uterine receptivity to conceptus implantation during early pregnancy. The second study determined expression of ISGs in the CL of pregnant ewes. MX1, MX2, ISG15, OAS1, and RSAD2 mRNAs were increased on Day 14 of pregnancy and maintained to Day 18, indicating that IFNT induced expression of ISGs in the CL. These results confirmed that locally produced IFNT has paracrine effects and also endocrine effects on reproductive organs other than the uterine endometrium and maternal immune system.

Dissertation (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Dissertation (Dept. of Psychology) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references : leaves 187-209.

Thesis--PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.