ABO Incompatibility and parity effects on perinatal mortality

Abstract

The perinatal mortality rate is known to increase with parity. This parity effect is shown to be steepest for “O"‐type mothers, compared to mothers with blood groups A, B, or AB. Thus, there is a heightened parity effect in mothers who are likeliest to be antigenically dissimilar from their fetuses. This model may also be germane to other clinical conditions where negative parity effects are observed. Maternal‐fetal immunoreactivity is a likely explanation for parity effects on perinatal mortality attributable to ABO incompatibility and may also contribute to the occurrence of negative parity effects in other conditions.     

Effect of parity on bone mineral density in female rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago

This cross-sectional study investigates the relationship between parity, bone mineral density, and spontaneous osteopenia/osteoporosis in a large skeletal population of female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from the free-ranging colony of Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. The sample consists of 119 mature female monkeys aged 4.0-22.2 years at time of death. The data consist of measurements of bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD), obtained from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) of the last lumbar vertebra. After controlling for age, there is a significant increase in BMD of the spine with increasing parity (P = 0.0006), up to a parity of 7 offspring. Thus, high parity initially has a positive effect on BMD in female rhesus monkeys, but this positive effect disappears with parities that are greater than 7 offspring. After controlling for parity, however, age has a negative (P = 0.015) effect on BMD, beginning several years after the attainment of peak BMD (age 9.5 years). Thus, it appears that parity initially mitigates the effects of aging, but the positive effect of parity on BMD is eventually overwhelmed by the aging process. Mean BMC and BMD values are higher in parous females compared to nulliparous females in the same age range. Similarly, females with low parity have significantly lower mean BMD values than do age-matched high-parity controls, and the frequency of osteopenia and osteoporosis is greater in low-parity females. Forty-three percent (43%) of the osteopenic/osteoporotic females in the sample are members of the low-parity group, even though it composes only 13% (16/119) of the entire sample. This study demonstrates that the free-ranging female rhesus monkeys from Cayo Santiago are a good nonhuman primate model for the study of bone mineral density, parity, osteopenia, and osteoporosis.     

Lactation weight loss influences subsequent reproductive performance of sows

In order to examine the effect of different lactation weight losses of sows of different parity on subsequent reproductive performance, the present trial was performed in German (n = 4) and Slowakian (n = 11) indoor pig breeding units (n = 1677 sows evaluated). Weaning-to-service-intervals, farrowing rates and total-born litter sizes in sows with different lactation weight losses were compared. Sows were categorized according to lactation weight losses of <5%, 5-10%, 11-15%, 16-20%, >20%. Lactation weight losses exerted a quadratic effect (P < 0.01) on weaning-to-service-intervals. When analyzed across parity categories, with parity category included as a fixed effect, the weaning-to-service-intervals appeared to be minimized at lactation weight losses of <5%. Weaning-to-service-intervals increased (P < 0.05) when lactation weight losses increased above 5% for parity 1 sows, but not until lactation weight losses exceeded 10% for animals of parity 2 and more. There was a parity effect observed at lactation weight losses of <10%, P < 0.05, but the difference was not significant any more at lactation weight losses of >10%. Lactation weight losses >10% had a negative (P < 0.05) effect on subsequent farrowing rates to first service. The difference was higher (P < 0.01) in sows with lactation weight losses >20%. Lactation weight losses exerted a negative (P < 0.001) effect on total-born litter sizes in parity 1 versus parity >5 and parity 1 versus parity 2-5 sows at lactation weight losses of >10%. CONCLUSION: As weight loss of sows during lactation increases subsequent reproduction performance decreases.     

Compensatory nature of Chargaff’s second parity rule

The second parity rule of Chargaff (A≈T and G≈C within one strand) holds all over the living world with minor exceptions. It is maintained with higher accuracy for long sequences. The question addressed in the article is how different sequence types, with different biases from the parity, contribute to the general effect. It appears that the sequence segments with biases of opposite sign are intermingled, so that with sufficient sequence lengths the parity is established. The parity rule seems to be a cumulative result of a number of independent processes in the genome evolution, with the parity as their intrinsic property. Symmetrical appearance of simple repeats and of Alu sequences in the human DNA strands, and other contributions to the Chargaff parity II rule are discussed.     

Consistency is key: interactions of current and previous farrowing system on litter size and piglet mortality

Global interest in alternative indoor farrowing systems is increasing, leading to a growing number of farms utilising such systems alongside standard crates. There is evidence that interchanging sows between different farrowing systems affects maternal behaviour, whilst the subsequent effect of this on piglet mortality is unknown. The current study hypothesised that second parity piglet mortality would be higher if a sow farrowed in a different farrowing system to that of her first parity. Retrospective farm performance records were used from 753 sows during their first and second parities. Sows farrowed in either standard crates (crates), temporary crates (360s) or straw-bedded pens (pens), with mortality recorded as occurring either pre- or post-processing. Inter- and intra-parity sow consistency in performance were also investigated. Overall, total piglet mortality reduced from the first to the second parity, being significantly higher in the crates and higher in the 360s during the first or second parity, respectively. In the second parity, an interaction of the current and previous farrowing systems resulted in the lowest incidence of crushing for sows housed in the same system as their first parity for the crates and pens, but not the 360s. Post-processing mortality was significantly higher in the crates if a sow previously farrowed in the 360s and vice versa. Sows which previously farrowed in a pen had a significantly larger litter size and lower pre-processing mortality from crushing in their second parity than sows previously housed in the crates or the 360s. No inter-parity consistency of sow performance was found, whilst intra-parity consistency was found in the first but not second parity. In conclusion, returning sows to the same farrowing system appears to reduce piglet mortality, whilst farrowing in a pen during the first parity significantly increased second parity litter size without increasing piglet mortality.     

Effect of maternal parity on aneuploidy in early mouse embryos.

An attempt to evaluate the incidence of chromosomal aneuploidy in mouse blastocysts recovered from females of various ages and parity levels revealed an insignificant regression coefficient for aneuploidy on age of the female and its square, and an insignificant correlation coefficient for aneuploidy with the number of previous offspring born to the dam. However, significant regression coefficients were obtained for aneuploidy on parity of the dam and its square. These results indicate that not only does aneuploidy increase with parity level, but the rate of increase accelerates as parity level increases. Possible explanations for the increase in aneuploidy and its detrimental effect on reproductive efficiency were discussed.     

On the standardisation of the twinning rate.

In many studies the twinning rate, being strongly dependent on maternal age (and parity), has been standardised according to the maternal age distribution. The direct method requires very informative twinning data for the target population. The indirect method is used when the data for the target population is not sufficiently informative or when the target population is small. We have earlier introduced an alternative indirect technique for standardising the twinning rate. Our technique requires even less of the twinning data. Besides maternal age, parity is an influential factor, and should, if possible, be taken into account. In this study we present the traditional standardisation methods based on both maternal age and parity, we propose a new direct standardisation method and we develop our standardisation methods so that they take into account both maternal age and parity. We apply these standardisation methods to data from Finland, 1953-1964, from St. Petersburg, Russia, 1882-92, from Canada 1952-1967, and from Denmark, 1896-1967. These methods all give results very similar to those for the Finnish data, but the effect of parity is strongest with the direct methods. This may be due to the fact that, among extramarital maternities, parity has a strongly increasing effect on the twinning rate. This may be attributed to a higher reproduction capacity among unmarried mothers. Standardisations of the Canadian and the Danish data also give reliable results. With the St. Petersburg data, however, the different standardisations show notable discrepancies. These discrepancies are compared with Allen's findings.     

Sow-level risk factors for stillbirth of piglets in organic sow herds

In Danish organic pig production, one-third of total born piglets die before weaning, and stillbirth has previously crudely been estimated to account for 27% of the total preweaning mortality. The objective of this study was to evaluate season, litter size, parity and body condition of the sow as risk factors for stillbirth in nine commercial Danish organic pig herds. The study was conducted over a 1-year period, and the data included registrations on 5170 farrowings with 82 906 total born piglets. The average number of total born piglets per litter was 16.0, and the number of stillborn piglets per litter was 1.1. A significant effect of season was seen with an odds ratio for stillbirth of 1.15 during summer (May to August) compared with the remaining part of the year. A non-linear effect of litter size was seen where an increase in litter size from 11 to 16 resulted in an odds ratio of stillbirth of 1.11. An increase in litter size from 16 to 21 resulted in an odds ratio of stillbirth of 1.45. A significant interaction between body condition and parity was present. In first parity sows, an increase in body condition score from 2 (thin) to 3 (moderate) and from 3 to 4 (fat) increased the probability of stillbirth with an odds ratio of 1.23 and 1.36, respectively. In sows with parity above 4, an increase in body condition score from 2 to 3 and from 3 to 4 decreases the probability of stillbirth with an odds ratio of 0.68 and 0.79, respectively. In conclusion, increasing litter size and being born during the summer months of May to August were found to be risk factors for stillbirth. Furthermore, an interaction between body condition and parity showed that thin sows with parity above 4 had a substantially increased risk of stillbirth compared with normal and fat sows with parity above 4. In contrast, for parity 1 sows risk of stillbirth was increased in fat sows.     

Sow level risk factors for early piglet mortality and crushing in organic outdoor production

Piglet mortality is a major problem in organic pig production affecting both farm economy and animal welfare. Knowledge is scarce on the risk factors of piglet mortality in Danish commercial organic pig production. The objectives of this study were to evaluate season, litter size, parity, sow body condition and stillborn littermates as risk factors for early piglet mortality and crushing of liveborn piglets from parturition until castration at day 3 to 5 postpartum (pp). The study was conducted over a 1-year period in nine commercial Danish organic pig herds practicing outdoor farrowing all year round. Data included recordings on 3393 farrowings with 50 284 liveborn piglets of which 14.8% died before castration. A subset of the dead piglets were collected and necropsied to identify crushed piglets. The average number of liveborn piglets per litter was 14.8 (SD=3.7) and the average time from parturition until castration was 4.1 (SD=1.7) days. A negative binomial regression analysis was used to model the effect of the predictive variables on the early piglet mortality accounting for different time periods from parturition to castration. An increase in maternal body condition score (BCS) and parity significantly increased the risk of dying between parturition and castration. Early mortality was found to be lowest during spring (March to May) and highest during summer (June to August). Being born into a litter with one or more stillborn littermates increased the risk of early mortality. The risk factors for crushing of piglets were evaluated using a logistic analysis. A significant effect of parity and litter size was found where the odds of at least one piglet in a litter with mortality was diagnosed as crushed increased with increasing parity and litter size. In conclusion, being born during summer (June to August), high parity and maternal BCS and stillborn littermates were found to be risk factors for piglet mortality between parturition and castration. In addition, parity and increasing litter size were found to be risk factors for crushing of piglets in litters with mortality.     

IGF1调控区微卫星座位对金华猪生长性能的影响

类胰岛素生长因子IGF1及其相关结合蛋白和跨膜受体IGFR在哺乳动物的生长过程中扮演着重要角色。本文基于最小二乘法分析了IGF1 5′ 调控序列微卫星座位对金华猪初生重, 断奶重, 120日龄重, 180日龄重和出生窝重等生长性状的影响。结果表明: 286/286基因型对金华猪初生重有显著影响(P<0.05); 280/286基因型对金华猪开产后出生窝重影响显著(P<0.05), 进一步通过等位基因平均替代效应分析发现274 bp和286 bp等位基因有利于提高初生重, 280 bp等位基因有利于第二胎出生窝重的提高。同时通过相关性分析发现金华猪开产母猪出生窝重、总产仔数和产活仔数间的相关性极显著(P<0.01), 因此出生窝重的增加有利于提高金华猪的产仔性能。     

Factors affecting the choice of nonpermanent contraceptive methods among married women

Data from the 1976 US National Survey of Family Growth were used to examine the effect of sociodemographic factors on choice of nonpermanent contraceptive methods among white, fecund, married women aged 15-44 who intend no additional births. A multivariate analysis revealed that age of the respondent had a strong negative relationship to the effectiveness of contraceptive chosen. Being Catholic had a negative effect on the effectiveness of contraceptive chosen, but significant interaction occurred between age and parity and between age and education. 1 explanation may be that increased age may result in reduced perception of risk that an unwanted birth will occur. Another explanation is that concerns about health risks associated with the pill or IUD use may lead to use of other methods among older women. The most probable explanation of the observed relationship is a cohort effect. Older women who began marital contraception at an earlier point in time have continued to use the same methods as were initially available early in their marriage. The lack of a significant association between parity and the effectiveness of contraceptive method chosen based on multivariate analysis is most likely due to the high correlation between parity and age. The lack of a significant effect of education on choice of method may be explained by the nearly universal access to all methods of contraception for married women. Further research on the same lines is strongly urged to shed light on current behavior patterns.     

Relationship of vaginal impedance with speed of return to oestrus after weaning, oestrous behaviour, parity and lactation length in cyclic sows

The effect of weaning to oestrus interval, oestrus duration, parity, lactation length, breed and their interactions on changes of vaginal impedance in sows after weaning and during oestrus was examined. The impedance measurements were carried out by a four-electrode method. The interval from weaning to oestrus was significantly longer in sows with the length of lactation 21-25 days than 26-30 days and 31-36 days and in primiparous than multiparous sows. The interval from weaning to oestrus was negatively correlated with the length of lactation (r=-0.21; P<0.05), parity (r=-0.36; P<0.01) and oestrus duration (r=-0.26; P<0.01). The weaning to oestrus interval, oestrus duration, parity and lactation length had a significant effect and the breed of sows had no influence on the vaginal impedance in peri-oestrus. The decrease of vaginal impedance after weaning was delayed in sows with a longer weaning to oestrus interval and in primiparous than multiparous sows. The decline of vaginal impedance during peri-oestrus was more gradual in sows with a longer interval from weaning to oestrus, shorter lactation, primiparous sows and sows with the length of oestrus 36 h and 72 h and more. The nadir of vaginal impedance occurred earlier before oestrus in sows with a shorter oestrus. The interaction of weaning to oestrus interval with parity and oestrus duration and the interaction of oestrus duration with parity significantly affected the vaginal impedance in weaned sows. In conclusion, the weaning to oestrus interval, oestrus duration, parity and lactation length considerably influence the vaginal impedance in sows during peri-oestrus. The findings indicate that the impedance technique may be a useful method for a study of factors and processes that accelerate or slow down the return to oestrus after weaning and affect oestrus duration in sows.     

Congenital malformations and variations in reproductive performance in the ferret: effects of maternal age, color and parity

Demographic data of ferrets from a commercial breeding colony were analyzed for the effects of maternal age, parity and strain on reproductive performance and the frequency of gross congenital abnormalities observed at parturition. Litter size (mean +/- SEM) was found to be greatest for young, primiparous females (10.3 +/- 0.2) and decreased with advancing maternal age and parity to a cohort mean of 8.1 +/- 0.1 for third parity females 16 months of age. Age, parity or strain had no effect on 24-hour neonatal mortality (7%) or mortality from birth to weaning (20%) and an examination of the causes for death suggested that these rates can be reduced. The malformation rate from two cohorts of females whelping at different times of the year was low (less than 1.0%) and not significantly different. A higher frequency of malformed offspring was detected in females of low previous parity (0-2) than in those with three or more. Based on data obtained in this survey, the ferret would seem a valuable alternative, nonrodent species for teratologic investigations using currently recommended protocols.     

Parity and risk of developing breast cancer according to tumor subtype: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundClinical breast cancer subtypes are categorized basing on the expression of hormone receptors and overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). It is still unclear whether parity impact the risk of different breast cancer subtypes.MethodsWe searched eight mainstream databases for published epidemiologic studies that assessed the relationship between parity and risk of breast cancer subtypes up to January 12, 2021. Parity number were unified into nulliparity and ever parity. The random-effects or fixed-effect models were used to calculate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) among different subtypes. Restricted cubic spline analysis with four knots was applied to determine the relationship of parity number and risk of breast cancer subtypes.ResultsWe pooled sixteen case-control and four cohort studies, and performed an analysis including 7795 luminal A, 3576 luminal B, 1794 HER2-overexpressing, and 5192 triple-negative breast cancer cases among 1135131 participants. The combined ORs for ever parity versus nulliparity indicated a 34% reduction in luminal A risk (OR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.56–0.78), and a 29% reduction in luminal B risk (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.63–0.81), there was no significant association in HER2-overexpressing or TNBC risk. In the dose-response analysis, we observed a potentially non-linear and gradually increasing protective relationship between the number of parity and luminal breast cancer risk.ConclusionsThe effect of parity on breast cancer seems to vary among breast tumor subtypes, and it plays a protective role in luminal breast cancer.     

Neutral currents in weak interactions and molecular asymmetry

Weak interactions are parity violating forces, i.e. they differentiate between mirror images. Therefore it is a very attractive hypothesis to invoke weak interactions in explaining the origin of molecular asymmetry. It is, however, not clear whether weak interactions may operate between electrons and/or between electrons and protons? For these types of interactions so called neutral currents are needed. Recent experiments with muon neutrinos at CERN gave some evidence for the existence of neutral currents. Thus we may suppose that parity violating forces are active in molecules. In the first part of this paper a very elementary theory of weak interactions is outlined with special reference to the discovery of neutral currents. In the second part we show how weak interactions may differentiate between mirror image molecules. The asymmetrically distributed static charges in chiral molecules represent a helical potential field. This potential field may exert an effect on the orbital electrons and therefore coupling of spins and momenta occurs. Thus the enantiomers are parity transformed images not only as geometrical bodies, but their orbital electrons are parity transformed too as "a helical electron gas". Weak interactions will differentiate between L and D forms because their orbital electrons have a nonzero spin polarization with respect to their velocity.     

Carbon payback period and carbon offset parity point of wood pellet production in the South‐eastern United States

This study examines the effect of methodological choices to determine the carbon payback time and the offset parity point for wood pellet production from softwood plantations in the South‐eastern United States. Using the carbon accounting model GORCAM we model low‐, medium‐ and high‐intensity plantation management scenarios for a single stand level, an increasing stand level and a landscape level. Other variables are the fossil‐fuel reference system and the electrical conversion efficiency. Due to the large amount of possible methodological choices and reference systems, there is a wide range of payback times (≤1 year at landscape to 27 years at stand level) and offset parity points (2–106 years). Important aspects impacting on the carbon balances are yield, carbon replacement factor, system boundaries and the choice of reference scenario used to determine the parity point. We consider the landscape‐level carbon debt approach more appropriate for the situation in the South‐eastern United States, where softwood plantation is already in existence, and under this precondition, we conclude that the issue of carbon payback is basically nonexistent. If comparison against a protection scenario is deemed realistic and policy relevant, and assuming that wood pellets directly replace coal in an average coal power plant, the carbon offset parity point is in the range 12–46 years; i.e. one or two rotations. Switching to intensively managed plantations yields most drastic reduction in the time to parity points (≤17 years in 9 of 12 cases).     

A Bayesian Two‐Part Latent Class Model for Longitudinal Medical Expenditure Data: Assessing the Impact of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity

Summary In 2001, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management required all health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to offer mental health and substance abuse benefits on par with general medical benefits. The initial evaluation found that, on average, parity did not result in either large spending increases or increased service use over the four‐year observational period. However, some groups of enrollees may have benefited from parity more than others. To address this question, we propose a Bayesian two‐part latent class model to characterize the effect of parity on mental health use and expenditures. Within each class, we fit a two‐part random effects model to separately model the probability of mental health or substance abuse use and mean spending trajectories among those having used services. The regression coefficients and random effect covariances vary across classes, thus permitting class‐varying correlation structures between the two components of the model. Our analysis identified three classes of subjects: a group of low spenders that tended to be male, had relatively rare use of services, and decreased their spending pattern over time; a group of moderate spenders, primarily female, that had an increase in both use and mean spending after the introduction of parity; and a group of high spenders that tended to have chronic service use and constant spending patterns. By examining the joint 95% highest probability density regions of expected changes in use and spending for each class, we confirmed that parity had an impact only on the moderate spender class.     

母猪繁殖力性状影响因素分析及遗传参数估计

母猪繁殖力是影响种猪场经济效益的重要因素。文章对纯种大白猪、长白猪、杜洛克猪的8491窝产仔记录进行统计分析,建立固定效应模型对总产仔数、健仔数、初生窝重、弱仔数、死胎数、木乃伊胎数和畸形胎数共7个繁殖性状进行最小二乘分析,分析胎次、配种季节、品种对母猪繁殖性能的影响,同时比较了纯繁和杂交的效果。利用动物模型REML(约束最大似然)方法估计繁殖性状的遗传力和遗传相关。结果表明,胎次、配种季节和品种对总产仔数、健仔数、初生窝重影响极显著(P<0.001),胎次和品种对弱仔数影响极显著(P<0.001),但配种季节对弱仔数影响不显著。胎次对死胎数影响显著(P<0.05),而配种季节和品种对死胎数影响不显著,胎次、配种季节和品种对木乃伊胎、畸形胎数影响不显著。长白♂×大白♀交配组合具有最高的总产仔数、健仔数和初生窝重。繁殖性状遗传力估计结果显示,长白猪初生窝重的遗传力最高,为0.227。其余性状遗传力均在0.2以下,为低遗传力性状。3个品种母猪的健仔数与初生窝重、总产仔数与健仔数之间的遗传相关达0.96以上。研究结果为降低非传染性因素造成的种母猪产仔数低的问题以及种猪场对母猪繁殖力的选育提高提供了参考数据和理论依据。     

母猪繁殖力性状影响因素分析及遗传参数估计

母猪繁殖力是影响种猪场经济效益的重要因素。文章对纯种大白猪、长白猪、杜洛克猪的8491窝产仔记录进行统计分析, 建立固定效应模型对总产仔数、健仔数、初生窝重、弱仔数、死胎数、木乃伊胎数和畸形胎数共7个繁殖性状进行最小二乘分析, 分析胎次、配种季节、品种对母猪繁殖性能的影响, 同时比较了纯繁和杂交的效果。利用动物模型REML(约束最大似然)方法估计繁殖性状的遗传力和遗传相关。结果表明, 胎次、配种季节和品种对总产仔数、健仔数、初生窝重影响极显著(P<0.001), 胎次和品种对弱仔数影响极显著(P<0.001), 但配种季节对弱仔数影响不显著。胎次对死胎数影响显著(P<0.05), 而配种季节和品种对死胎数影响不显著, 胎次、配种季节和品种对木乃伊胎、畸形胎数影响不显著。长白♂×大白♀交配组合具有最高的总产仔数、健仔数和初生窝重。繁殖性状遗传力估计结果显示, 长白猪初生窝重的遗传力最高, 为0.227。其余性状遗传力均在0.2以下, 为低遗传力性状。3个品种母猪的健仔数与初生窝重、总产仔数与健仔数之间的遗传相关达0.96以上。研究结果为降低非传染性因素造成的种母猪产仔数低的问题以及种猪场对母猪繁殖力的选育提高提供了参考数据和理论依据。     

The influence of prenatal and postnatal fraternity size on reproduction in mice

Effects of prenatal and postnatal fraternity size (size of litter in which an individual is reared) on age at vaginal opening, growth, and subsequent litter production were examined by rearing mice in standardized prenatal and postnatal fraternities in a 3 X 3 factorial design. Prenatal fraternity size was standardized by reducing litters of 14 or more to either 14, 10, or 6 fetuses on Day 9 of gestation. Postnatal fraternity size was standardized by assigning pups randomly to nurse in litters of 5, 10, or 15 pups within 24 h of birth. Both prenatal and postnatal fraternity size affected growth of the mice (p = 0.02 and p less than 0.01, respectively) with mice reared in small fraternities attaining greater weights throughout the study. Prenatal fraternity size had a negative linear effect on litter size at second parity and tended to have a positive linear effect on age at vaginal opening. Postnatal fraternity size affected age at vaginal opening (p less than 0.01), litter size at first parity (p less than 0.01), and litter size at second parity (p = 0.03). These effects were positive and linear for age at vaginal opening (p less than 0.01; small fraternity size associated with younger age at vaginal opening) and negative and linear for litter size at first and second parity (p less than 0.01 and p = 0.10, respectively; smaller fraternity size associated with larger litter size). There was no interaction between prenatal and postnatal fraternity size effects on age at vaginal opening or litter size (p greater than 0.20).