An Integrative Review of Fear of Childbirth

This study aimed to provide knowledge for midwives to deepen their understanding of their clients when working closely with women during the perinatal period through an integrative review of ‘fear of childbirth’, and to clarify the research topics to be addressed in the future. Methods: This study used an integrative review (IR) method in addition to bibliometric analysis methods to classify and analyse the studies. Review questions (RQ) included 1. ‘what is the status of research efforts (number of papers, location, etc.) on “fear of childbirth”?’, 2. ‘what are the screening methods and prevalence of “fear of childbirth”?’, and 3. ‘what can be learned from the findings of these studies?’ Findings: RQ1: The number of papers published gradually increased after 1981 and has been increasing since 2000. Studies conducted in Scandinavia accounted for more than half of the total studies. Conversely, only five studies were conducted in Japan. RQ2: The Wijma Delivery Experience Questionnaire is a screening scale for fear of childbirth developed in Sweden, which has been translated and utilised in multiple languages. In meta-analyses worldwide, the prevalence of fear of childbirth has been reported to range from 3.7% to 43%. RQ3: Fear of childbirth leaves a negative impression of past childbirth experiences on women’s psychological well-being and subsequently leads to post-traumatic stress disorder. Intervention studies have shown that prenatal education can help couples overcome their fear of childbirth. However, the effectiveness of intervention studies that have examined these psychological aspects has not yet been clarified. Conclusion: The prevalence of fear of childbirth varies considerably, possibly owing to cultural differences. Research on fear of childbirth has reported negative effects on the postpartum period and on subsequent pregnancy and childbirth. Practising women-centred care may help prevent this fear

食物アレルゲン・卵白オボムコイドの不均一性とアレルゲン性 : その1.卵白から3種類のオボムコイドの分離

Ovomucoid (OVM), one of the major allergens in egg white, consists of several variants with different carbohydrate contents. The relationship between its heterogeneity and allergenicity has not been clarified. Here we described a simple method to obtain three variants of ovomucoid having different, apparent molecular weight on SDS-PAGE, namely OVM-H, OVM-M and OVM-L. When egg white was applied to a CM-toyopearl 650M column, OVM-H was first eluted followed by OVM-M and OVM-L. The isoelectric points estimated by disc electrophoresis were 4.4 for OVM-H, 4.2 for OVM-M and 4.1-3.7 for OVM-L. All variants were identified by using the monoclonal antibody specifically recognizing the carbohydrate moiety of ovomucoid. Furthermore, by using the same column we succeeded to isolate other albumen proteins in their pure form, such as ovalbumin, ovalbumin Y, ovoglobulin G2, ovoglobulin G3, ovotransferrin and lysozyme. Ovalbumin, the other major allergen in egg white is difficult to obtain without the concomitant presence of ovomucoid

DNPIノックアウトマウスの作製

A gene-knockout mouse is a mouse in which a particular gene has been artificially destroyed and made dysfunctional. By analyzing symptoms which appear in the gene-knockout mouse's body, we are able to learn the essential function of the knocked-out gene in vivo. Utilizing a gene-knockout mouse, we can ana-lyze the differences between the mouse and a normal mouse of their growth, activity, or abnormalities of their tissues including brains, livers, kidneys and bones. These information from analyzing of a gene-knockout mouse is quite important. For instance, unknown gene functions or connections between genes and diseases can be clarified. Differentiation-associated Na+-dependent inorganic phosphate (Pi) cotransporter (DNPI) is protein that is reported to be associated with transdifferentiation of insulin-secreting cells and regulation of blood glucose levels. We tried to generate DNPI-knockout mouse. The analysis of this mouse clarifies the mech-anism of DNPI and leads to development of future diabetes medical treatment. This review article explained the background of this study and generation of knockout mouse