Characteristics and risk factors of preterm births in a tertiary center in Lagos, Nigeria

Introduction: preterm birth is a dire complication of pregnancy that poses huge long-term medical and financial burdens for affected children, their families, and the health care system. The aim of the present study was to identify characteristics associated with preterm births at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, Nigeria from 2011 to 2013. Methods: we obtained Information from 5,561 maternal, fetal/neonatal and obstetric records from the labor ward. We excluded delivery at less than 22 weeks (0.25%), post-term birth at ≥42 weeks gestation (1.3%), and unknown gestation (1.4%). Additionally, we excluded records of multiple births (5.4%) and stillbirths (8.3%) leaving 4,691 records of singleton live-births for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed comparing preterm birth (22-36 weeks gestation) to term birth (37-41 weeks gestation). Multiple variable models adjusting for maternal age, parity, fetal position, delivery method and booking status were also evaluated. Multinomial regression was used to identify characteristics associated with preterm birth (PTB) defined as early PTB (22-31 weeks gestation), moderate PTB (32-34 weeks gestation), late PTB (35-36 weeks gestation), compared to term birth (37-41 completed weeks gestation). Results: from our data, 16.8% of the singleton live-birth deliveries were preterm (<37 weeks gestation). Of these, 4.7% were early (22-31 weeks), 4.5% were moderate (32-34 weeks) and 7.7% were late (35-36) PTBs. Older maternal age (≥35 years) [odds ratio (OR) = 1.41], hypertension (OR = 3.44) and rupture of membranes (OR = 4.03) were significantly associated with increased odds of PTB. Women being treated for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV were at a significantly decreased risk for PTB (OR = 0.70). Sixteen percent of women in this cohort were not registered for antenatal care in LUTH. These non-registered subjects had significantly greater odds of all categories of PTB, including early (odds ratio (OR) = 20.8), moderate (OR = 8.68), and late (OR = 2.15). Conclusion: PTB and risks for PTB remain high in Nigeria. We recommend that any high risk pregnancy should be referred to a tertiary center for prenatal care in order to significantly reduce adverse birth outcomes such as PTBs

Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program

This article discusses field environmental philosophy and biocultural conservation methods at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in Chile

Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program

This article discusses field environmental philosophy and biocultural conservation methods at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in Chile

Locomotor conditioning by amphetamine requires cyclin-dependent kinase 5 signaling in the nucleus accumbens

Intermittent systemic exposure to psychostimulants such as amphetamine leads to several forms of long-lasting behavioral plasticity including non-associative sensitization and associative conditioning. In the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), the protein serine/threonine kinase cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) and its phosphorylation target, the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor kalirin-7 (Kal7), may contribute to the neuroadaptations underlying each of these forms of plasticity. Pharmacological inhibition of Cdk5 in the NAcc prevents the increases in dendritic spine density in this site and enhances the locomotor sensitization normally observed following repeated cocaine. Mice lacking the Kal7 gene display similar phenotypes suggesting that locomotor sensitization and increased NAcc spine density need not be positively correlated. As increases in spine density may relate to the formation of associative memories and both Cdk5 and Kal7 regulate the generation of spines following repeated drug exposure, we hypothesized that either inhibiting Cdk5 or preventing its phosphorylation of Kal7 in the NAcc may prevent the induction of drug conditioning. In the present experiments, blockade in rats of NAcc Cdk5 activity with roscovitine (40 nmol/0.5µl/side) prior to each of 4 injections of amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg; i.p.) prevented the accrual of contextual locomotor conditioning but spared the induction of locomotor sensitization as revealed on tests conducted one week later. Similarly, transient viral expression in the NAcc exclusively during amphetamine exposure of a threonine-alanine mutant form of Kal7 [mKal7(T1590A)] that is not phosphorylated by Cdk5 also prevented the accrual of contextual conditioning and spared the induction of sensitization. These results indicate that Cdk5 phosphorylation of Kal7 in the NAcc is necessary for the formation of context-drug associations potentially through the modulation of dendritic spine dynamics in this site

Integrating Ecology and Environmental Ethics: Earth Stewardship in the Southern End of the Americas

This article discusses integrating ecology and environmental ethics

Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program

This article discusses the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve's Omora Ethnobotanical Park educational program which was launched to contribute to a biocultural citizenship

Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program

This article discusses the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve's Omora Ethnobotanical Park educational program which was launched to contribute to a biocultural citizenship

Field environmental philosophy: A biocultural ethic approach to education and ecotourism for sustainability

To contribute to achieving local and global sustainability, we propose a novel educational methodology, called field environmental philosophy (FEP), which orients ecotourism practices to reconnect citizens and nature. FEP is based on the systemic approach of the biocultural ethic that values the vital links among the life habits of co-inhabitants (humans and other-than-humans) who share a common habitat. Based on this “3Hs” model (habitats, co-inhabitants, habits), FEP combines tourism with experiential education to reorient biocultural homogenization toward biocultural conservation. FEP’s methodological approach seeks to integrate social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability by generating new links between biological and cultural diversity at different spatial and social scales. Ecotourism has an underutilized potential to link sciences with education and conservation practices at different scales. By incorporating a philosophical foundation, FEP broadens both understanding and practices of environmental education and sustainable tourism. FEP has been developed at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile, at the southern end of the Americas since 2000, where it has oriented transdisciplinary work for the creation of new protected areas and ecotourism practices. FEP enables an integration of biophysical, cultural, and institutional dimensions into the design of ecotourism activities that transform and broaden the perceptions of tourists, local guides, students, and other participants to better appreciate local biological and cultural diversity. FEP’s methodology is starting to be adapted in other world regions, such as Germany, Japan, and Mexico, to integrate education and ecotourism for sustainability

Targeted newborn metabolomics: prediction of gestational age from cord blood.

ObjectiveOur study sought to determine whether metabolites from a retrospective collection of banked cord blood specimens could accurately estimate gestational age and to validate these findings in cord blood samples from Busia, Uganda.Study designForty-seven metabolites were measured by tandem mass spectrometry or enzymatic assays from 942 banked cord blood samples. Multiple linear regression was performed, and the best model was used to predict gestational age, in weeks, for 150 newborns from Busia, Uganda.ResultsThe model including metabolites and birthweight, predicted the gestational ages within 2 weeks for 76.7% of the Ugandan cohort. Importantly, this model estimated the prevalence of preterm birth <34 weeks closer to the actual prevalence (4.67% and 4.00%, respectively) than a model with only birthweight which overestimates the prevalence by 283%.ConclusionModels that include cord blood metabolites and birth weight appear to offer improvement in gestational age estimation over birth weight alone