Aurora magazine

The stress of the mother influences the child's age. Excess concerns its many pregnant women it affects telomere length of the fetus. Telomeres are DNA sequences that are essential for cell division: the birth shorter telomeres mean premature aging. The discovery of Tabea Send and Stephanie Witt of the Central Institute of Mental Health.

Chromosomal abnormalities in pregnancy are one of the great fears of expectant mothers. Prenatal tests help eliminate some doubts about it. To ensure the integrity of fetal chromosomes, however, also it needs a good dose of motherly peace.

Telomeres are repeated sequences of DNA that protect eukaryotic chromosomes. With each cell division is a little shorter, since they become too short, the cell dies. The length of telomeres is a biological indicator of age of the person and is associated with age-related illnesses.

Previous studies have already shown that ultraviolet radiation and oxidative stress affect telomere length. In addition, people with psychiatric and somatic disorders often have shorter telomeres than average. The disorders include major depression, post-traumatic stress and other disorders of the mind. But there are few studies on the link between telomere length and maternal stress during pregnancy.

The doctors and Tabea Send Stephanie Witt measured the telomeres of 319 infants and 318 mothers. They then interviewed the mothers about their habits and stress tests subjected pregnant. The questionnaires included questions about any psychological disorders and their father.

The data revealed a correlation between psychosocial stress in pregnancy and shorter telomeres in infants. In the case of stress in pregnancy, the mother telomeres were on average and those of shorter babies. In the case of past psychological disorders and outdated, mothers showed shorter telomeres and infants telomeres average. During pregnancy it is recommended that the mother is undergoing prenatal screening tests such as fetal DNA test that reveals the major chromosomal abnormalities.

Source: springer.com

An epileptic seizure is an abnormal electrical discharge in the cortex or brain stem, which causes a variety of neurological symptoms. It affects about 5% of people, and in most cases it is an isolated phenomenon. There is talk of epilepsy only if the phenomenon is repeated, which occurs in about 0.5% of the population.

The isolated seizures are often linked to alcohol and drugs or sleep deficit. They are also connected with two disturbing elements within the brain, such as tumors or aneurysms. In fact all factors that increase the excitability of nerve cells and inhibit their spontaneous firing. In these cases the excess electricity flows into the seizure, but it is an exceptional event. In epilepsy idiopathic, however, lacking obvious causes for the continuing crisis. Often the first they occur between childhood and adolescence, in genetically susceptible individuals.

The diagnosis of the disease requires an evaluation of the clinical history of the subject and symptoms. As the crisis resulting in loss of consciousness, even external observations of third parties are necessary. The electroencephalogram allows to detect any alterations in brain electrical activity, sometimes also present in the absence of symptoms. MRI and CT scans, however, possible to identify the most important traces of the disease and any specific causes.
If doctors ascertain the diagnosis of epilepsy, we proceed with the drug treatment. Antiepileptic drugs are used to stabilize the electrical activity of nerve cells, so as to block any discharges. The therapy helps to reduce symptoms and help patients in a normal way, but does not act on the causes. In addition, the drugs can be problematic during pregnancy, with consequent lowering of dosages.

In 20% of cases the drugs are insufficient. It is therefore resort to surgery, whereby it removes the cerebral region from which depart from the crisis. This requires that the region is easily identifiable, so as not to cause neurological damage in removing it.

In drug-resistant cases, and in those in which surgery is not recommended, it can also act with the stimulation of the vagus nerve. It is less effective than surgery and involves the installation of a pacemaker in the brain. It connects with the left vagus nerve, which carries the stimuli from the viscera to the brain. Its stimulation makes the brain less susceptible to crises, even if you do not yet know why.

We know that a diet high in sugar and fat during pregnancy is harmful to mother and child. A study conducted by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has even linked childhood epilepsy. Increasing too much weight in the early stages of pregnancy in fact increase the risk of epilepsy in children.

Little is known about both the causes of both maternal obesity effects on neurological health of the child. According to the Swedish study, the two things were connected in part. Dr. Neda Razaz has therefore conducted a study of more than 1.4 million pregnancies occurred in Sweden between 1997 and 2011. It examined the body mass index (BMI) of the mothers in the first quarter and has crossed the data with the number of epileptic children. This has found a correlation between maternal index very high and likely to develop the disease.

Of 1.4 million children examined, until 2012 7,592 (0.5%) are epileptic results. The incidence of epilepsy among individuals with between 28 days and 16 years is an average of 6.79 per 10,000. Among the children of normal-weight women with a BMI around 25, it is 6.30 per 10,000. Among the children of women with a BMI of 25-30, however, it is 12.4 per 10,000. A large excess weight in the early stages of pregnancy therefore increases the risk of childhood epilepsy about 11%.
More serious is the obesity increases the risk for the baby. For BMI 30-35, the risk is higher than 20%. For BMI 35-40 the risk is higher than 30%. In the case of obesity grade III, and BMI over 40, there is even talk of a 82% higher risk.

According to the researchers, maternal obesity may cause inflammation that would undermine fetal development. This would lead to brain damage that could stimulate the emergence of neurological disorders. In addition, other studies have shown that an excess of fat and sugar in pregnancy causes metabolic disorders is the woman in the child. This could lead to further complications in adult life.

Source: guardian.ng

It arriving in Europe VeriSeq, a noninvasive prenatal screening test next generation. The technology allows you to run in quickly and accurately testing, saving both time and money. At the base is the next-generation sequencing or NGS, integrated with a software analysis and preparation of libraries for in vitro diagnostic devices. The result is an automated solution that allows you to detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities more common in one day.

For VeriSeq solution just a sample of maternal blood from the tenth week of pregnancy. From here the test detects fetal cells and to analyze the DNA. In this way it is possible to detect trisomy 21, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13. These types of anomalies are at the base respectively of Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome and Patau syndrome. The test also can detect some diseases related to sex chromosomes, with a very low rate of false positives and false negatives. Thanks to the procedure, it is thus possible to minimize the use of invasive prenatal testing.

What is so new VeriSeq compared to traditional invasive prenatal screening test does not? Leverage sequencing coupled readings, using the chemical synthesis developed by Illumina. To this it adds important innovations in terms not only of tools and software, but also workflow. The result is greater accessibility to this kind of test, even by smaller laboratories. The greater efficiency of the process also allows to analyze more than 90 samples in one day. In this way, the process is more rapid.

The manufacturer has evaluated the clinical precision of tests on more than 3,100 maternal blood samples. VeriSeq has proved a highly reliable solution, as well as rapid. Parents who rely on partner laboratories Illumina can therefore rest assured that they will have the results of which are in need of a few days, with the security of a reliable answer to their doubts.

Source: ansa.it