Examining the Links Between Perceived Impact of Pregnancy, Depressive Symptoms, and Quality of Life During Adolescent Pregnancy: The Buffering Role of Social Support

The aims of the current study were to examine the indirect effect of the perceived impact of pregnancy on quality of life (QoL) through the severity of depressive symptoms among a sample of pregnant adolescents, and to explore whether adolescents’ satisfaction with support from their mothers (SM) or partners (SP) was a buffer of this effect. Demographic and pregnancy-related data were collected for 395 pregnant adolescents age 12–19 and were controlled for testing the proposed indirect effect. SM and SP were tested as moderators of the links between perceived impact of pregnancy and depressive symptoms and between depressive symptoms and QoL. A computational tool for path analysis-based moderation and mediation analysis as well as their combination was used to test indirect and interaction effects (PROCESS). A significant indirect effect of the perceived impact of pregnancy on QoL through the severity of depressive symptoms was found (0.51, CI = 0.29/0.78). There was no significant direct effect of the perceived impact of pregnancy on QoL after controlling for the severity of depressive symptoms. SM and SP buffered the indirect effect by weakening the association between a negative perception of the impact of pregnancy and higher severity of depressive symptoms. Identifying adolescents with a negative perception of the impact of pregnancy, improving the quality of their relations with their mothers and partners, and promoting satisfactory support from these figures may be extremely important to prevent and treat depressive symptoms and, in so doing, improve adolescents’ QoL during pregnancy

Regulation of surfactant protein and defensin mRNA expression in cultured ovine type II pneumocytes by all-trans retinoic acid and VEGF

Beta-defensins and surfactant proteins are components of the pulmonary innate immune system. Their gene expression is regulated by development, hormones, growth and immunoregulatory factors. It was our hypothesis that growth and differentiation factors such as all-trans retinoic acid (RA) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may affect expression of selected innate immune genes by respiratory epithelial cells. Ovine JS7 cells (alveolar type II pneumocytes) were incubated in serum-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) complete media that contained: no treatment (negative control), RA (500 nM), or VEGF (100 ng/ml) for 6, 12 or 24 h incubation. Total RNA was isolated, cDNA synthesized, and relative mRNA levels of surfactant protein A (SP-A) and SP-D, and sheep beta-defensin-1 (SBD-1) were determined by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Cells had significantly increased expression of SP-D mRNA at 6 h and 24 h, decreased expression of SP-A mRNA at 12 h, and unchanged levels of SBD-1 mRNA after the treatment with RA compared with their respective negative controls. VEGF did not alter the expression of the three innate immune genes. These findings suggest that SP-A and SP-D have different transcription regulation pathways, and that expression of SBD-1 is not inducible by RA similar to its human homolog HBD-1. The lack of changes induced by VEGF treatment suggests that VEGF does not have a direct effect on epithelial cells, but may affect gene expression indirectly

Ecological Contexts in Adolescent Pregnancy: The Role of Individual, Sociodemographic, Familial and Relational Variables in Understanding Risk of Occurrence and Adjustment Patterns

Adolescent pregnancy appears today as an intricate tapestry where different dimensions interact. In our study we examined the associations between individual, sociodemographic, familial, and relational variables and their impact in the occurrence of pregnancy and adolescents’ adjustment to it. Participants were Portuguese pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents (N = 833). Ecological contexts were characterized, and individual and relational adjustment (depressive symptoms and quality of life; perceived quality of relationship with significant others – parents, romantic partner and friends) were evaluated. Differences between the ecologies of adolescents in both groups were identified. Familial and relational variables were significantly associated with both the risk of pregnancy and more difficulties in adjustment. Implications for preventive intervention are discussed