Epilepsy is a devastating disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. The pathophysiology of the disorder is not well understood. In this study the effects of early life, including pre- and post-natal, experiences on the seizure susceptibility of offspring was determined. Sprague-Dawley rats were air transported prior to breeding (In-House), on gestation day 9 (G9), or G16. The maternal behaviour was scored from P2-P13. On P14, seizure susceptibility of pups was assessed by randomly assigning the pups into Naïve (control), Saline, lipopolysaccharides (LPS; 200 ?g/kg), Kainic acid (KA; 1.75 mg/kg) or Febrile Convulsion (FC; LPS followed by KA) groups. No effect of prenatal transport was found on seizure susceptibility. Licking and grooming (LG) maternal behaviour was associated with higher FC seizure susceptibility of offspring. Male pups were more susceptible to FC seizure than female pups. These results emphasize the dam-dependent and sex-dependent effects of early life experiences on seizure susceptibility of offspring.

Orientador: Débora Cristina Damasceno / Banca: Yuri Karen Sinzato / Banca: Daniela Cristina Ceccatto Gerardin / Banca: Luciano Freitas Felicio / Banca: Maria Martha Bernardi / Resumo: Não disponível / Abstract: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of maternal mild hyperglycemia on maternal behavior, as well as on offspring development, behavior, reproductive function, and development of glucose intolerance in adulthood. At birth, litters were assigned either to Control (subcutaneous(sc)- citrate buffer) or STZ group (streptozotocin(STZ)-100mg/kg-sc.). On PND 90 rats were mated. Glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT) were performed during pregnancy. Pregnancy duration, litter size and sex ratio were assessed. Newborns were classified according to birth weight as small (SPA), adequate (APA), or large for pregnancy age (LPA). Maternal behavior was analyzed on PND 5 and 10. Offspring physical and sexual development was evaluated. Offspring body weight, length, and anogenital distance was measured and general activity was assessed on open field. Sexual behavior studies were conducted on both male and female offspring. Levels of reproductive hormones and estrous cycle duration were evaluated in female offspring. Female offspring were mated and GTT and ITT performed during pregnancy. STZ neonatal administration caused mild hyperglcyemia during pregnancy and changed some aspects of maternal care. The hyperglycemic intrauterine millieu impaired physical development and increased imobility on the open field in the offspring although the latter effect appeared at different ages for males (adulthood) and females (infancy). However, offspring sexual behavior was not impaired and, during pregnancy, STZ female offspring did not become glucose intolerant. Therefore, it can be concluded that mild hyperglycemia during pregnancy caused changes in maternal behavior, as well as offspring development and general activity, but failed to induce glucose... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

<p>This thesis studies women’s experience of maternal care in Babati, Tanzania and possible reason for Tanzania’s high level of maternal mortality. Globally, every year more than 500,000 women die during pregnancy or deliveries, and 90 percent of these deaths occur in Africa and Asia. The deaths are often of the preventable kind. The purpose is to investigate what makes the maternal care result in high mortality and if under registration of deaths could affect it somehow. The study’s empirical part is conducted through a fieldwork in Babati during the spring semester in 2009 where mothers and health personnel were interviewed. The interviews consisted of semi-structured one on one and group sessions. The interviewed mothers were satisfied with the care received and stated that both accessibility and availability of maternal care was good. One of the possible solutions to the high ratio of maternal mortality is that Tanzanian women visit antenatal services later than recommended and that the access to emergency obstetric care is not always good. Further, it is likely that underregistration of maternal death is present in Tanzania, an issue that must be dealt with in order to receive accurate statistics and by that enable interventions targeted into lowering the maternal mortality.</p>

This thesis studies women’s experience of maternal care in Babati, Tanzania and possible reason for Tanzania’s high level of maternal mortality. Globally, every year more than 500,000 women die during pregnancy or deliveries, and 90 percent of these deaths occur in Africa and Asia. The deaths are often of the preventable kind. The purpose is to investigate what makes the maternal care result in high mortality and if under registration of deaths could affect it somehow. The study’s empirical part is conducted through a fieldwork in Babati during the spring semester in 2009 where mothers and health personnel were interviewed. The interviews consisted of semi-structured one on one and group sessions. The interviewed mothers were satisfied with the care received and stated that both accessibility and availability of maternal care was good. One of the possible solutions to the high ratio of maternal mortality is that Tanzanian women visit antenatal services later than recommended and that the access to emergency obstetric care is not always good. Further, it is likely that underregistration of maternal death is present in Tanzania, an issue that must be dealt with in order to receive accurate statistics and by that enable interventions targeted into lowering the maternal mortality.

The aim of this phenomenological study was to explore women’s experiences of an Elective Caesarean Section (ECS) following a previous Traumatic Birth (TB). Thirteen women who had undergone an ECS following a TB were either interviewed or provided written accounts of their experiences. Data from these sources were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). Five main themes were identified: ‘cautiously moving forward into the unknown: the drive to reproduce’, ‘attempting to make the unknown known’, ‘the longed for, positive birthing experience’ , ‘a different post-natal experience’ and ‘the interaction of the two experiences’. These findings were considered in relation to previous research; relevant theoretical perspectives were considered including those attached to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Post-traumatic stress reactions may increase during subsequent pregnancy impeding on women’s ability to consider facing another ‘unknown’ natural birth and domineering their decision to elect for a CS. An ECS following a TB may provide women with the controlled experience and high levels of care they long for. Such experiences could be redemptive and have positive outcomes for women’s relationships and wellbeing. These results highlight the importance of providing women in this position with information and choice regarding a subsequent birth. They also stress that prevention of women carrying Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) reactions into their subsequent pregnancies is imperative. Future research would benefit from focussing on the development and trialling of effective screening tools for PTS reactions following birth.

Epigenetics is the field of focus when determining how environmental and behavioral factors can directly impact the expression of genes that affect our behavior. Existing studies have examined links between eliciting stress behaviors in pregnant mice and the negative stress behavioral responses in offspring for several subsequent generations, which points to a disposition to adverse stress responses later in life due to early-life epigenetic modifi- cations. Similarly, research on both rats and humans has found early life trauma to be a large factor in both the hyper- and de-methylation of genes responsible for stress processing, which can be linked to depressive behav- ior later in life. The proposed study aims to address the lack of attention to positive psychology in this field of study by seeking to identify epigenetic markers such as hyper- or de-methylation in regions of the rat genome con- taining homologous genes to those in humans potentially linked to positive affect or life satisfaction. Rat offspring reared with either high or low levels of maternal care would be exposed to a novel stressful environment, and a microarray analysis would be performed to assess the differences in gene expression in the previously noted regions of the genome. Gene expression analysis may reveal that offspring who received more maternal care show increased expression of the serotonin transporter gene, down-regulation of genes for proinflammatory cytokines, and up-regulation of anti-viral re- sponse genes. These results would be consistent with the gene expression patterns previously seen in individuals with higher levels of life satisfac- tion, eudemonic pleasure, and optimism.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-03-31Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:26:36Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 kiss_aci_dr_botfm.pdf: 534968 bytes, checksum: 5321d718c3b52fcb79390025f85f46b5 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of maternal mild hyperglycemia on maternal behavior, as well as on offspring development, behavior, reproductive function, and development of glucose intolerance in adulthood. At birth, litters were assigned either to Control (subcutaneous(sc)- citrate buffer) or STZ group (streptozotocin(STZ)-100mg/kg-sc.). On PND 90 rats were mated. Glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT) were performed during pregnancy. Pregnancy duration, litter size and sex ratio were assessed. Newborns were classified according to birth weight as small (SPA), adequate (APA), or large for pregnancy age (LPA). Maternal behavior was analyzed on PND 5 and 10. Offspring physical and sexual development was evaluated. Offspring body weight, length, and anogenital distance was measured and general activity was assessed on open field. Sexual behavior studies were conducted on both male and female offspring. Levels of reproductive hormones and estrous cycle duration were evaluated in female offspring. Female offspring were mated and GTT and ITT performed during pregnancy. STZ neonatal administration caused mild hyperglcyemia during pregnancy and changed some aspects of maternal care. The hyperglycemic intrauterine millieu impaired physical development and increased imobility on the open field in the offspring although the latter effect appeared at different ages for males (adulthood) and females (infancy). However, offspring sexual behavior was not impaired and, during pregnancy, STZ female offspring did not become glucose intolerant. Therefore, it can be concluded that mild hyperglycemia during pregnancy caused changes in maternal behavior, as well as offspring development and general activity, but failed to induce glucose... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Typically, rhesus mothers begin rejecting their infants' attempts to nurse when the infants are approximately three months of age in order to begin the process of weaning. A small subgroup of mothers begin rejecting their infants earlier, at one or two months of age, typically before infants seek and maintain independence from their mother. The effects of this early maternal rejection on the development of infants and some potential factors that contribute to premature maternal rejection were explored in this study. Infants who were rejected early were hypothesized to subsequently spend less time in positive contact with their mother, have lower activity levels, were groomed less by their mother and, as a consequence of the maternal rejections, display a higher frequency of aggression toward other group members when compared to infants experiencing maternal rejection after the age-typical, three months of age. Mothers who were primiparous and/or had a poor early-rearing experience were hypothesized to be more likely to reject their infants prematurely. Consistent with these hypotheses, infants who were rejected early spent less time on their mother's ventrum and were groomed less by their mother, suggesting that early maternal rejection may lead to less positive mother-infant interactions and a more distant mother-infant relationship. Infants rejected early were also more likely engage in aggression. Given the punitive nature of the maternal rejection, the results suggest that aggression is transmitted from mother to infant through their interactions. Prematurely rejected infants were found to spend significantly more time in a passive, withdrawn behavioral state. When assessing the causes of premature rejections, primiparous mothers were not more likely to prematurely reject their infants, indicating that premature rejection was not simply a lack of experience with an infant. There was evidence that the mothers engaging in early rejection had poor early-rearing experiences, with surrogate-peer-reared mothers showing more early rejections than those who were reared by an adult female, and with mothers who were peer-reared having higher rates of rejection overall. The present results suggest that early rejection is associated with more difficult mother-infant relationships and may lead to increased likelihood of aggression in infants.

We investigated licking and grooming (LG) levels received by each pup from their dams and the locomotor activity, anxiety-like behaviors, and stress reactivity in adult female offspring. We also investigated glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene expression and its DNA methylation status in the hippocampus, comparing pups between and with-in litters. Rats that receive more LG than their siblings showed less anxiety-like behaviors and increased locomotor activity, regardless of their litter type. Higher licked pups also showed increased expression of the GR gene. Gene expression levels of the GR 17 splice variant were not significantly different as a function of dam LG or LG received, whereas DNA methylation levels at two CpG sites within GR17 promoter were significantly higher in high LG pups than low LG pups. Our results indicate that naturally occurring intra- and inter-litter differences in maternal LG have a lasting effect on the phenotypic outcomes of adult female offspring.

We investigated licking and grooming (LG) levels received by each pup from their dams and the locomotor activity, anxiety-like behaviors, and stress reactivity in adult female offspring. We also investigated glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene expression and its DNA methylation status in the hippocampus, comparing pups between and with-in litters. Rats that receive more LG than their siblings showed less anxiety-like behaviors and increased locomotor activity, regardless of their litter type. Higher licked pups also showed increased expression of the GR gene. Gene expression levels of the GR 17 splice variant were not significantly different as a function of dam LG or LG received, whereas DNA methylation levels at two CpG sites within GR17 promoter were significantly higher in high LG pups than low LG pups. Our results indicate that naturally occurring intra- and inter-litter differences in maternal LG have a lasting effect on the phenotypic outcomes of adult female offspring.