Outcome of Teenage Pregnancy at a Tertiary Hospital in Abakaliki Southeast Nigeria

Background: Teenage pregnancy is a high risk pregnancy associated with obstetric, fetal, neonatal and psycho‑social complications. These complications are worsened by poverty, ignorance and lack of special care during pregnancy.Aim: The objective of the following study is to determine the obstetric and neonatal outcome of teenage pregnancy.Materials and Methods: A retrospective case control study was carried out over a 6 years period, 2006‑2011. All teenage pregnancies (aged 13‑19 years) at Federal Medical Center Abakaliki, Ebonyi were taken as cases. Pregnancy deliveries from mothers aged 20 to 29 that met the inclusion criteria were selected as controls. A total of 137 teenage pregnancies were analyzed and compared with 948 controls. Statistical analysis was performed using 2008 Epi‑info statistical software version 3.5.1 (Atlanta, Georgia, USA). Results: The incidence of teenage deliveries over the period of the study was (137/8020) 2.25%. Single mothers were commoner (40.9% [56/137] vs. 3.1% [29/948], P < 0.01) among the teenagers. Low educational status was more common among teenage mothers (P < 0.01). Unbooked pregnancies were significantly common among teenage mothers (23.4% [32/137] vs. 12.3% [117/948], P < 0.01). Anemia in pregnancy (18.1% [41/226] vs. 11.2% [65/579], P = 0.01), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in pregnancy (4.9% [11/226] vs. 1.7% [10/579], P = 0.01) and malaria in pregnancy (26.1% [59/226] vs. 12.4% [72/579], P < 0.01) were significantly common in teenage pregnancies than the control. Teenage mother had significantly increased cesarean deliveries (23% [31/137] vs. 14.8% [140/948], P < 0.02), male deliveries (64.3% [90/140] vs. 52.1% [502/963], P < 0.03) and low birth weight (19.3% [27/140] vs. 12.7% [122/963], P < 0.03). Fetal loss (22.1% [31/140] vs. 3.3% [32/963] P < 0.01) and birth asphyxia (19.3% [27/140] vs. 6.8% [65/963], P < 0.01) were significantly common among teen mothers in the 1st min American Pediatric Gross Assessment Records score. Conclusion: Teenage pregnancies were associated with a significantly higher risk of anemia in pregnancy, HIV in pregnancy, malaria in pregnancy, cesarean deliveries and poor fetal outcome. Health education, women enlightenment and empowerment will be essential in reducing the problems of teenage pregnancy.Keywords: Abakaliki, outcome, teenage pregnancy, tertiary hospita

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field