Depression in pregnancy,infant birth weight and DNA methylation of imprint regulatory elements

Depressed mood in pregnancy has been linked to low birth weight (LBW, < 2,500 g), a risk factor for adult-onset chronic diseases in offspring. We examined maternal depressed mood in relation to birth weight and evaluated the role of DNA methylation at regulatory sequences of imprinted genes in this association. We measured depressed mood among 922 pregnant women using the CES-D scale and obtained birth weight data from hospital records. Using bisulfite pyrosequencing of cord blood DNA from 508 infants, we measured methylation at differentially methylated regions (DMRs) regulating imprinted genes IGF2/H19, DLK1/MEG3, MEST, PEG3, PEG10/SGCE, NNAT and PLAGL1. Multiple regression models were used to examine the relationship between depressed mood, birth weight and DMR methylation levels. Depressed mood was associated with a more that 3-fold higher risk of LBW, after adjusting for delivery mode, parity, education, cigarette smoking, folic acid use and preterm birth. The association may be more pronounced in offspring of black women and female infants. Compared with infants of women without depressed mood, infants born to women with severe depressed mood had a 2.4% higher methylation at the MEG3 DMR. Whereas LBW infants had 1.6% lower methylation at the IGF2 DMR, high birth weight (> 4,500 g) infants had 5.9% higher methylation at the PLAGL1 DMR compared with normal birth weight infants. Our findings confirm that severe maternal depressed mood in pregnancy is associated with LBW, and that MEG3 and IGF2 plasticity may play important roles.     

Parental obesity moderates the relationship between childhood appetitive traits and weight

Objective:

In this study, the independent and combined associations between childhood appetitive traits and parental obesity on weight gain from 0 to 24 months and body mass index (BMI) z‐score at 24 months in a diverse community‐based sample of dual parent families (n = 213) were examined.

Design and Methods:

Participants were mothers who had recently completed a randomized trial of weight loss for overweight/obese postpartum women. As measures of childhood appetitive traits, mothers completed subscales of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire, including Desire to Drink (DD), Enjoyment of Food (EF), and Satiety Responsiveness (SR), and a 24‐h dietary recall for their child. Heights and weights were measured for all children and mothers and self‐reported for mothers' partners. The relationship between children's appetitive traits and parental obesity on toddler weight gain and BMI z‐score were evaluated using multivariate linear regression models, controlling for a number of potential confounders.

Results:

Having two obese parents was related to greater weight gain from birth to 24 months independent of childhood appetitive traits, and although significant associations were found between appetitive traits (DD and SR) and child BMI z‐score at 24 months, these associations were observed only among children who had two obese parents. When both parents were obese, increasing DD and decreasing SR were associated with a higher BMI z‐score.

Conclusions:

The results highlight the importance of considering familial risk factors when examining the relationship between childhood appetitive traits on childhood obesity.     

An update on the validation of whole slide imaging systems following FDA approval of a system for a routine pathology diagnostic service in the United States

Pathologists have used light microscopes and glass slides to interpret the histologic appearance of normal and diseased tissues for more than 150 years. The quality of both microtomes used to cut tissue sections and microscopes has improved significantly during the past few decades, but the process of rendering diagnoses has changed little. By contrast, major advances in digital technology have occurred since the introduction of hand held electronic devices, including the development of whole slide imaging (WSI) systems with software packages that can convert microscope images into virtual (digital) slides that can be viewed on computer monitors and via the internet. To date, however, these technological developments have had minimal impact on the way pathologists perform their daily work, with the exception of using computers to access electronic medical records and scholarly web sites for pertinent information to assist interpretation of cases. Traditional practice is likely to change significantly during the next decade, especially since the Federal Drug Administration in the USA has approved the first WSI system for routine diagnostic practice. I review here the development and slow acceptance of WSI by pathology departments. I focus on recent advances in validation of WSI systems that is required for routine diagnostic reporting of pathology cases using this technology.     

Occurrence of oestrogenic pollutants and widespread feminisation of male tilapia in peri-urban dams in Bulawayo,Zimbabwe

Peri-urban water bodies are at risk from excessive pollution as they are direct sinks for urban effluents. The occurrence of oestrogenic and androgenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in effluents and water bodies around the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and their effects on wild fish was investigated in 2013. Effluent and water were sampled from sewage treatment plants, an urban stream, and effluent-polluted dams, and were compared with a ‘pristine’ dam upstream of Bulawayo. Organic pollutants were extracted by solid-phase extraction and tested for EDCs using a yeast oestrogen/androgen screen. Oestrogenic and androgenic potencies were expressed as 17β-oestradiol equivalent (EEq) or dihydrotestosterone equivalent (TEq). Tilapia and catfish from the dams were analysed for gonado-somatic indices and testis histopathology. Effluents from STPs, which directly flow into Umguza Dam, had EEq of 33 ng l^?1 and 55 ng l^?1, respectively. Umguza Dam, Khami Dam and Matsheumhlope Stream had EEqs of 237 ng l^–1, 9 ng l^?1 and 2 ng l^?1, respectively. Androgenic activity was detected in only one STP (TEq = 93 ng l^?1). Tilapia sampled from effluent-polluted dams had high incidences of testis-ova, but catfish had no signs of reproductive dysfunction. These findings underscore the need for greater attention to EDCs in developing countries where there is scant literature regarding their occurrence and impacts.