Maternal Antibiotic Use During Pregnancy and Childhood Obesity at Age 5 Years

Objective The benefits of antibiotic treatment during pregnancy are immediate, but there may be long-term risks to the developing child. Prior studies show an association between early life antibiotics and obesity, but few have examined this risk during pregnancy. Subjects To evaluate the association of maternal antibiotic exposure during pregnancy on childhood BMI-z at 5 years, we conducted a retrospective cohort analysis. Using electronic health record data from seven health systems in PCORnet, a national distributed clinical research network, we included children with same-day height and weight measures who could be linked to mothers with vital measurements during pregnancy. The primary independent variable was maternal outpatient antibiotic prescriptions during pregnancy (any versus none). We examined dose response (number of antibiotic episodes), spectrum and class of antibiotics, and antibiotic episodes by trimester. The primary outcome was child age- and sex-specific BMI-z at age 5 years. Results The final sample was 53,320 mother–child pairs. During pregnancy, 29.9% of mothers received antibiotics. In adjusted models, maternal outpatient antibiotic prescriptions during pregnancy were not associated with child BMI-z at age 5 years (β = 0.00, 95% CI −0.03, 0.02). When evaluating timing during pregnancy, dose-response, spectrum and class of antibiotics, there were no associations of maternal antibiotics with child BMI-z at age 5 years. Conclusion In this large observational cohort, provision of antibiotics during pregnancy was not associated with childhood BMI-z at 5 years

The effect of soil water management on the reflectance characteristics of vine (Vitis vinifera) leaves and ther monitoring by low level airborne video

The study site was a vineyard in the Barossa Valley South Australia where two vine varieties Vitis vinifera cv Shiraz and Vitis vinifera cv Cabernet Sauvignon were subjected to three differing water management treatments. Measurements of vine leaf reflectance characteristics, vine vegetative growth and soil moisture status were monitored throughout the growing season. Simultaneously at three dates in combination with ground measurements, the trial site was overflown using an airborne sensor measuring in the visible and near infrared at heights of 700 and 200 metres. The imposed soil water management treatments significantly affected the total soil water content within the soil profile, this difference being accompanied by significant differences in both berry mass and vine vegetative growth for both varieties. However no significant differences in vine leaf reflectance were recorded either between varieties or between soil water management treatments. This may be due to the coarse spectral resolution of the sensors used or the limited range chosen. Airborne video at 700 metres showed considerable promise in detecting vineyard management and soil patterning details and at 200 metres gave sub‐meter spatial resolution allowing for the identification of missing vine positions.Iain Grierso