Background. Children with intellectual disability need special help from their parents, proportional to the type and degree of their disability. They require individual treatment, and their development depends not only on their health status but also on environmental conditions, measures and actions taken by supporting institutions, and social attitudes. Most often, mothers engage in a child care by giving up their own professional career, interests and social interactions. While raising a child, they face many adversities, and they are often helpless to overcome them. The aim of this work is to analyze the most important problems of mothers raising a child with intellectual disability. Material and methods. The research was of a qualitative nature. Case studies were used based on the method of unstructured interview and structured interview. Each interview lasted about 2 hours. The participants of interviews were four mothers bringing up children with intellectual disabilities. Results. The mothers who participated in the research pointed out negative social attitudes in the environment. They reported ambiguous situations in institutions supporting the family and the problems in the health care of their disabled children. Women’s dreams focused around a child, his or her health and future. Conclusions. There is a need to formulate procedures for dealing with an intellectually disabled patient in hospital wards, to attempt to regulate the institutional support for daily activities of adult, dependent people with intellectual disabilities.
Schizophrenia is an etiologically complex disorder arising from the interactions between and a range of factors acting at various stages in life. Despite the 70 year history in scientific literature describing the correlation between obstetric complications as a risk factor for schizophrenia it is still the subject of many research studies. A relatively new trend in research is to analyze the ages of the mother, father and the occurrence of this disease. The aim of this research, based on a review of literature, was to present the current level of knowledge relating to these topics while taking into account the factors for three groups of obstetric complications: I - complications during pregnancy (preeclampsia, bleeding, diabetes, rhesus incompatibility, hypertension with diuretic treatment); II - abnormal fetal development (low birth weight, congenital malformations, reduced head circumference); and III - complications during delivery (uterine atony, asphyxia, emergency Cesarean section).
In gilts, the period of early pregnancy occurring from the time of fertilization to the beginning of implantation is sensitive to any environmental disruptions, including an unbalanced diet of a future mother. Previously, we found that due to the undernutrition in gilts during this period, the endocrine intrauterine microenvironment and DNA methylation in the uterus have been changed. These distortions may diminish the success of pregnancy. In this study we focused on the influence of a restricted diet used in gilts during the first days of pregnancy on their biochemical and haematological parameters in peripheral blood. The applied restrictive diet vs. normal diet covered only 70% of the nutritional demands of early pregnant gilts. Normal (n = 4 gilts) or restrictive (n = 5 gilts) diets were used from the day of the first signs of the estrus until day 9 of pregnancy and biochemical and haematological parameters in blood plasma were determined during peri-implantation period, e.g. on days 15 to16 of pregnancy. In restrictive vs. normal fed gilts significantly lower plasma phosphorus, calcium and total cholesterol as well as the tendency to increasing concentrations of triglicerydes and asparate aminotranserase were found. Haematological parameters did not differ between the studied gilts. Thus, it seems that the availability of nutritional factors became suboptimal in restrictively fed early pregnant gilts. Even short-lasting undernutrition of females during the peri-conceptional period may cause a disruption of biochemical homeostasis during the peri-implantation period and probably affect the success of pregnancy.
The state of the vascular system of the mother and of placenta is known to exert a great influence on intrauterinal development of the fetus. Pre-eclampsia is the most common pathological syndrome connected with pregnancy. Since collagen is one of the main constituents of the vessel wall a comparison was made with collagen content and its molecular polymorphism in umbilical cord veins of newborns from healthy and pre-eclamptic mothers. It was found that umbilical cord veins of newborns from mothers with pre-eclampsia contained 18% less collagen than those of the newborns from normal pregnancies. This decrease was accompanied by a slight decrease of collagen solubility, but all its types (I, III, IV, V and VI) were present. However, the umbilical vein wall of newborns from mothers with pre-eclampsia contained relatively less of type I and more of type III collagen than the normal umbilical cord. These differences may be connected with a disturbance of blood flow in fetus of a woman with pre-eclampsia.
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Соответствующие исследования проводились на 50 овцематках польской мериносовой породы, в том числе на 40 овцематках выращивающих одинцы н 10 овцематках выращивающих близнецы в овчарне Собеюхы. На основании 7 контрольных уроев при использовании синтетического окситоцина определяли молочность овец в отдельных стадиех лахтации. Продукция молока, жира и белка была выше у овец с близнецами, чем с одинцами. Пик лактации в обеих группах овцематок появился во второй половине первого месяца.
Objective: To determine transforming growth factor (TGF) β1, interleukin (IL) 4, and IL-10 concentrations in human milk and to assess the relationship between allergic disorders in mothers and the content of the interleukins in their milk. Material and methods: Thirty allergic and 46 healthy mothers were included in the study. Colostrum was collected 2-3 days after delivery. Cytokine concentrations were determined with commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent systems. Results: TGF-β1was found in milk from 23 women in the control group (53.49%) and 11 in the allergy group (37.93%). When TGF-β1 was present, the median concentration was higher in the allergy group than in the control (61.5 and 30.4 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.004). IL-10 was present in the colostrum of all the women and the median IL-10 concentration did not differ between the allergy (50.5 pg/mL) and control (51.5 pg/mL) groups. The probability of occurrence of a positive IL-4 value in the allergy group was greater than in the control group (chi-squared [df = 1] = 2.60, P < 0.053). Median IL-4 level did not differ significantly between the two groups (0.5 and 0.5 pg/mL respectively). Conclusions: TGF-β1 was detected less often in the colostrum of allergic mothers than in that of mothers without allergy (but the difference was not statistically significant). IL-4 was found more often in the colostrum of allergic mothers than nonallergic ones. The allergy status did not correlate with IL-10 concentration.
Przedstawiono wyniki badań dotyczące poziomu rozwoju fizycznego oraz zróżnicowania wybranych zachowań zdrowotnych uczniów szkół ponadgimnazjalnych w zależności od poziomu wykształcenia ich matek
The aim of the research was to investigate the transfer of heavy metals (lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd)) and their antagonists in the group of essential micro-elements (magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)) from the organism of sheep to the organism of their offspring in milk. The research was carried out in two stages. The control group consisted of sheep with healthy milk glands, while the experimental group consisted of animals presenting subclinical mastitis. In the first stage of the research the distribution of toxic elements, Pb and Cd, administered per os to the mothers was studied by establishing their content in blood and milk. A measurable indicator for evaluating the transfer of toxic substances to milk, in both groups of animals was the content of the elements under investigation in the lambs’ blood. The concentrations of Mg, Cu and Zn were also ascertained in the biological material collected. The aim of the second stage of the study was to evaluate the transfer of the heavy metals as well as the essential elements from the organism of the mother to the offspring through healthy and pathologically altered milk glands. The mothers were administered a mixture of salts of Cd, Pb, Mg, Zn and Cu, which activated mechanisms of antagonistic and synergetic interaction between the toxic metals and the essential elements, as illustrated by the content of these metals determined in the blood and milk of the mothers and in the blood of the lambs. A proof of a favorable influence of Mg, Cu and Zn on the content of Pb and Cd in the blood and milk of the mothers was a 4-5 times lower content of Pb in the milk of ewes, as compared with the first stage of the research. The per os administration of Mg, Cu and Zn to the ewes showed their statistically significant increase in blood as well as milk. The reduction in the levels of Pb and Cd in the ewes’ milk, observed in the second stage of the research, was corroborated by their decreased content in the blood of the lambs in both groups of animals.
Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is associated with a variety of negative consequences not only for the mother, but also for the developing fetus. Many studies have shown that carcinogens contained in tobacco smoke permeate across the placenta, and are found in fetus. The aim of the study was to determine the prenatal exposure to tobacco-specific carcinogenic N-nitrosamines on the basis of measurements of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) in urine of smoking and second-hand smoke (SHS) exposed women and in the first urine of their newborns. A questionnaire documenting demographics and socio-economical data, smoking habits and exposure to SHS was completed by 121 delivering women near or at term. Maternal concentrations of cotinine and NNAL were measured in urine of the mother and the first urine of her newborn infant by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The mean concentration of cotinine was 439.2 ng/mg creatinine and NNAL concentration in urine of smoking women was 74.0 pg/mg creatinine, and for her newborn 78.6 pg/mg creatinine. Among mothers exposed to SHS, cotinine and NNAL mean concentration were 23.1 ng/mg creatinine, and 26.4 pg/mg creatinine. In newborns of SHS exposed mothers during pregnancy the mean concentration of NNAL was 34.1 pg/mg creatinine, respectively. Active tobacco smoking as well as passive exposure to smoking during pregnancy is an important source of tobacco specific N-nitrosamines to the fetuses as evidenced by increased concentrations of this carcinogen. Determination of NNAL in maternal urine samples can be a useful biomarker of prenatal exposure of newborn to carcinogenic nitrosamines.