Examine the Frequency of Postnatal Depression in Mothers having Malnourished Infants

Background: Healthy child development is dependent on a mentally and physically healthy mother. Depressions in mother can adversely affect their offspring healthy growth. Aim: To estimate the frequency of post-natal depression in mothers having malnourished infants. Place and duration of study: Department of Psychiatry, Balochistan Institute of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Qeutta from 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020. Methodology: In this case control study 250 mothers (125 were malnourished infants or toddlers mothers and other 125 from healthy weight infants/toddlers mothers) were interviewed to assess their depressional state. Their stress inducing factors, age and other clinical comorbidities were also documented. Results: Mean mother age of malnourished infants/toddlers was 28.1±6.6 years in comparison to 27.8±5.2 years of healthy weight infants/toddlers mother’s respectively. Twenty four percent malnourished infant/toddlers’ mothers were single parent. Un-employed spouse of mothers to malnourished infant/toddlers were found at higher frequency (51.06%) than of healthy infant/toddlers (23.4%).The frequency of post-natal depression among mothers of malnourished infants/toddlers was observed in 57.6% cases Conclusion: Out of total 57.5% mothers of malnourished children suffering from post-natal depression there are 15.2% to 9.6% those having moderate to highly moderate post-natal depression. Keywords: Post-natal depression, Malnourish, Infants, Toddlers

Myoclonic status epilepticus and cerebellar hypoplasia associated with a novel variant in the GRIA3 gene

AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) are postsynaptic ionotropic receptors which mediate fast excitatory currents. AMPARs have a heterotetrameric structure, variably composed by the four subunits GluA1-4 which are encoded by genes GRIA1-4. Increasing evidence support the role of pathogenic variants in GRIA1-4 genes as causative for syndromic intellectual disability (ID). We report an Italian pedigree where some male individuals share ID, seizures and facial dysmorphisms. The index subject was referred for severe ID, myoclonic seizures, cerebellar signs and short stature. Whole exome sequencing identified a novel variant in GRIA3, c.2360A > G, p.(Glu787Gly). The GRIA3 gene maps to chromosome Xq25 and the c.2360A > G variant was transmitted by his healthy mother. Subsequent analysis in the family showed a segregation pattern compatible with the causative role of this variant, further supported by preliminary functional insights. We provide a detailed description of the clinical evolution of the index subjects and stress the relevance of myoclonic seizures and cerebellar syndrome as cardinal features of his presentation.

Increase of Human Milk Fat Inducing Nutritional Ketosis in Exclusively Breastfed Infant, Brought About by Treating the Mother With Ketogenic Dietary Therapy

Introduction: Medicalized Ketogenic Therapy is commonly used to treat refractory epilepsy. Patients have varying degrees of seizure or symptom relief, responding at individual levels of ketone production. Typically, initiating the therapy necessitates the discontinuation of breastfeeding. Our case study mother was keen to continue breastfeeding if possible. We were able to achieve this by placing the healthy mother on a ketogenic diet and altering the composition of the mother’s own milk. Main Lactation Issue: Pediatric Medicalized Ketogenic Therapy is delivered through a ketogenic diet consisting of up to 90% fat, measuring of ingredients to 0.1 g matching a food prescription of fat, protein, and carbohydrate. We placed the mother on a less stringent ketogenic diet achieving 61% fat and measured both infant and mother’s blood sugar levels and ketones. The hypothesis was that changes would occur in the mother’s own milk fat content, and/or ketones would be passed directly to the infant. If therapeutic levels of ketones were reached in the infant and a reduction in seizures observed, breastfeeding could continue. Management Overview: Over 3 months we achieved a calorific increase of the mother’s mature milk by an additional 134%. The infant was successfully put into nutritional ketosis and visible seizures eliminated. Conclusion: Medicalized Ketogenic Therapy can be safely used to treat seizures of breastfeeding infants diagnosed with epilepsy, through management of the mother on a ketogenic diet. Significantly increasing the mature mothers own milk fat component could have implications for other areas, including faltering growth.

Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI associates with neonate local and distal functional connectivity of the left superior frontal gyrus

Maternal obesity/overweight during pregnancy has reached epidemic proportions and has been linked with adverse outcomes for the offspring, including cognitive impairment and increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders. Prior neuroimaging investigations have reported widespread aberrant functional connectivity and white matter tract abnormalities in neonates born to obese mothers. Here we explored whether maternal pre-pregnancy adiposity is associated with alterations in local neuronal synchrony and distal connectivity in the neonate brain. 21 healthy mother-neonate dyads from uncomplicated pregnancies were included in this study (age at scanning 26.14 ± 6.28 days, 12 male). The neonates were scanned with a 6-min resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) during natural sleep. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) maps were computed from obtained rs-fMRI data. Multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the association of pre-pregnancy maternal body-mass-index (BMI) and ReHo. Seed-based connectivity analysis with multiple regression was subsequently performed with seed-ROI derived from ReHo analysis. Maternal adiposity measured by pre-pregnancy BMI was positively associated with neonate ReHo values within the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) (FWE-corrected p < 0.005). Additionally, we found both positive and negative associations (p < 0.05, FWE-corrected) for maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and seed-based connectivity between left SFG and prefrontal, amygdalae, basal ganglia and insular regions. Our results imply that maternal pre-pregnancy BMI associates with local and distal functional connectivity within the neonate left superior frontal gyrus. These findings add to the evidence that increased maternal pre-pregnancy BMI has a programming influence on the developing neonate brain functional networks.

Dynamic Colonization of Gut Microbiota and Its Influencing Factors Among The Breast-Feeding Infants During The First Two Year of Life

Background Maturation of the infant gut microbiota has lifelong implications on health, which has been proposed as the major events during the first year of life. However, little was known about dynamic colonization of the gut microbiota and its influencing elements among the two-year infancy as well as into the adulthood. Results Based on the 16S rRNA sequencing data in the V3-V4 regions among 30 healthy mother-infant pairs with the normal range of the growth and development index from birth to two years old, the diversity of the gut microbiota was significantly increased from Six-month to Two-year subgroups. Furthermore, the dynamic colonization of gut microbiota was that the significant trends of Firmicutes (Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Enterococcus, Subdoligranulum, Agathobacter, Unidentified_Erysipelotrichaceae, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacillus, Unidentified_ Ruminococcaceae and Fusicatenibacter), Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia were increased, while Actinobacteria (Bifidobacterium) and Proteobacteria (Enterobacteriaceae and Klebsiella) were decreased with the increased age at the phylum and genus levels. These above results revealed that certain bacteria might modulate the host pathways, such as Chemoheterotrophy, Fermentation, Parasites_or _symbionts, Nitrate_reduction and Aerobic_chemoheterotrophy metabolism. Moreover, there were significant associations between maternal (gut microbiota in the milk, Pre-pregnancy BMI-M.BMI, BMI gain during the pregnancy-I.BMI) and infant characteristics (BMI at birth-B.BMI and increment of BMI-G.BMI), and the compositions of gut microbiota in the faeces, but not differences were shown between the different sex and mode of productive subgroups. Conclusion Overall, the gut microbial community was significantly matured into adulthood with the increased age subgroups. It also identified that there were significant correlations between the features of gut microbiota and maternal (gut microbiota in the milk, M.BMI and I.BMI) and infant characteristics (B.BMI and G.BMI), which will provide a new direction for the host-gut microbiota interplay during the two years of life.

A Descriptive Study to assess the knowledge regarding Antenatal care among pregnant women in selected hospitals of Haryana

Background and aim: The primary aim of antenatal care is to achieve, at the end of pregnancy, a healthy mother and a healthy baby. Antenatal care is a care which is provided in antenatal period which starts from day of conception till the delivery. The aim of study was assessed the knowledge regarding antenatal care among Pregnant women in selected area of Haryana. Materials and Methods: A descriptive research design was used with a convenience sampling technique on 50 pregnant women in selected hospitals of Haryana. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire for knowledge regarding antenatal care. Analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Majority of the (62%) pregnant women had an excellent level of knowledge, nearly one-fifth (22%) had good level of knowledge and few 8(16%) had an average level of knowledge. None of them have below average knowledge. There was a statistically significant association of qualification and Parity with Knowledge. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant association of qualification and Parity with level of knowledge.

Biallelic Variants in KIF17 Associated with Microphthalmia and Coloboma Spectrum

Microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma (MAC) are a group of congenital eye anomalies that can affect one or both eyes. Patients can present one or a combination of these ocular abnormalities in the so called “MAC spectrum”. The KIF17 gene encodes the kinesin-like protein Kif17, a microtubule-based, ATP-dependent, motor protein that is pivotal for outer segment development and disc morphogenesis in different animal models, including mice and zebrafish. In this report, we describe a Sicilian family with two siblings affected with congenital coloboma, microphthalmia, and a mild delay of motor developmental milestones. Genomic DNA from the siblings and their unaffected parents was sequenced with a clinical exome that revealed compound heterozygous variants in the KIF17 gene (NM_020816.4: c.1255C > T (p.Arg419Trp); c.2554C > T (p.Arg852Cys)) segregating with the MAC spectrum phenotype of the two affected siblings. Variants were inherited from the healthy mother and father, are present at a very low-frequency in genomic population databases, and are predicted to be deleterious in silico. Our report indicates the potential co-segregation of these biallelic KIF17 variants with microphthalmia and coloboma, highlighting a potential conserved role of this gene in eye development across different species.

Strategies for vegetative propagation and viral cleaning of a miniature ornamental pineapple hybrid

This study assessed and compared different methods for vegetative propagation of a miniature ornamental pineapple hybrid (ORN-MUT), seeking to determine the best method for production of plantlets, as well as for removal of the PMWaV viral complex from plants cultured in vitro, for production of healthy parent plants. Pineapple wilt is a disease that can cause large economic and is caused by a viral complex called Pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus (PMWaV). For this, four propagation methods were evaluated (conventional, stem sectioning, micropropagation and etiolation of nodal segments). The time necessary for each method and the number of plants formed were assessed. Stem tips (0.5 mm) were cultured and indexed for three PMWaV types. Conventional propagation produced 17 plantlets per plant in 566 days, stem sectioning produced 2.3 plantlets per stem in 591 days, while the conventional micropropagation technique produced 1,284 plants after four subcultures in 778 days. Stems etiolated for 60 days showed peak production in the second subculture, with 1,224 plants. This method required 883 days to obtain plants with ideal size for transplantation to the field. In turn, stems etiolated for 120 days produced 935 plants at the end of four subcultures, with peak output in the third subculture, in which the plants could be cultivated in the field after 943 days. Conventional micropropagation and etiolation for 60 days were the best methods for production of plantlets of the ORN-MUT hybrid. The results of this work showed that the cultivation of shoot tips is an efficient strategy to remove the PMWaV complex and obtain healthy mother plants and can be a useful tool for other varieties of pineapple.