Food-borne bacteria up miscarriage risk early in pregnancy

February 22, 2017

Feb 22: Listeria, a common food-borne bacterium, may pose a greater risk of miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy than previously thought, says a study.

pregnancy“For many years, listeria has been associated with adverse outcomes in pregnancy, but particularly at the end of pregnancy,” said one of the researchers Ted Golos, Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.

“What wasn’t known with much clarity before this study is that it appears it’s a severe risk factor in early pregnancy,” Golos said.

Pregnant women are warned to avoid many of the foods -- among them unpasteurised milk and soft cheese, raw sprouts, melon and deli meats not carefully handled -- that can harbour listeria, because the bacterium is known to cause miscarriage and still-birth, and spur premature labour.

But when it occurs, listeria infection in pregnancy may go unnoticed.

For the study, four pregnant rhesus macaques at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Centre were fed doses of the listeria comparable to what one might encounter in contaminated food.

None of the monkeys showed obvious signs of infection before their pregnancies came to abrupt ends, according to the results published in the journal mBio.

But in tissue samples taken after each monkey experienced intrauterine fetal death, the researchers found that listeria had invaded the placenta -- the connection between the mother-to-be and the foetus, which usually prevents transmission of bacteria -- as well as the endometrium, the lining of the uterus.

The researchers believe the inflammation caused by the maternal immune response to the fast-moving listeria also affects the placenta, keeping it from protecting the foetus.

The results suggest listeria (and perhaps other pathogens) may be the culprit in some miscarriages that usually go without diagnosed cause.

“There are effective antibiotics available. It is treatable,” said lead author of the study Bryce Wolfe, a graduate student at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“The issue is that because it’s asymptomatic, the foetus may be infected by the time anyone realises the mother was infected,” Wolfe explained.

Comments

Wellspringivfs…
 - 
Thursday, 8 Feb 2018

Great post. Pregnant women are warned to avoid some foods such as unpasteurized milk, raw meat, and sprouts etc. because that may harbor listeria which may cause pregnancy complications such as miscarriage and stillbirth. http://www.wellspringivfsurrogacy.com/

Leesa
 - 
Thursday, 4 Jan 2018

Nice article. Listeria, a common food-borne bacterium increases the risk of miscarriage in early stages of pregnancy. It is important to follow the food safety measures. Listeria infection in pregnancy often goes unnoticed because of lack of awareness.  Expecting mothers should strictly avoid the food intake which contains listeria, as it may lead to miscarriage. To know more about pregnancy visit http://www.progenesisivf.com/

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 12: Disruption in one night's sleep can lead to getting Alzheimer's disease, a recent study has stated.

The interruption in the sound sleep for a single night aggravates the level of tau protein in any young male's body, thus gives rise to the chances of developing the disease.

According to CNN, the report was published on Wednesday in neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Our study focuses on the fact that even in young, healthy individuals, missing one night of sleep increases the level of tau in blood suggesting that over time, such sleep deprivation could possibly have detrimental effects," says study author Dr Jonathan Cedernaes, a neurologist at Uppsala University in Sweden.

As defined by the Alzheimer's Association, tau is the name of a protein that helps in stabilizing the internal structure of the brain's nerve cells. An abnormal build-up of tau protein in the body can end up in causing interior cells to fall apart and eventually developing Alzheimer's.

"When you get more of that deep sleep and you get the REM sleep in the normal amounts, that improves clearance of abnormal proteins which we think is good," said Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr Donn Dexter, not the study author but a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

Earlier studies have also shown that getting deprived of sleep can allow higher tau development and accumulation. Thus that poor sleep can hasten the development of cognitive issues.

Researchers caution that the study is small and inconclusive, and acknowledged they were not able to determine what the increased levels might mean.

"This study raises more questions than answers," agreed Dexter on a concluding note, sharing, "What this is telling us is that we have to dig more deeply. Despite something we do for a third of our lives, we know so little about sleep and we're learning every day, particularly when it comes to sleep and dementia."

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News Network
February 12,2020

Washington, Feb 12: People who are optimistic may contribute to the health of their partners, staving off the risk factors leading to Alzheimer's disease, dementia and cognitive decline as they grow old together, according to a study.

The research, published in the Journal of Personality, followed nearly 4,500 heterosexual couples from the US Health and Retirement Study for up to eight years.

The researchers found a potential link between being married to an optimistic person and preventing the onset of cognitive decline, due to a healthier environment at home.

"We spend a lot of time with our partners.They might encourage us to exercise, eat healthier or remind us to take our medicine," said William Chopik, an assistant professor at the Michigan State University in the US.

"When your partner is optimistic and healthy, it can translate to similar outcomes in your own life. You actually do experience a rosier future by living longer and staving off cognitive illnesses," Chopik said.

An optimistic partner may encourage eating healthy foods, or working out together to develop healthier lifestyles, the researchers said.

For example, if a person quits smoking or starts exercising, their partner is close to following suit, they said.

"We found that when you look at the risk factors for what predicts things like Alzheimer's disease or dementia, a lot of them are things like living a healthy lifestyle," Chopik said.

"Maintaining a healthy weight and physical activity are large predictors.There are some physiological markers as well. It looks like people who are married to optimists tend to score better on all of those metrics," he said.

The researchers said there is a sense where optimists lead by example, and their partners follow their lead.

They also suggest that when couples recall shared experiences together, richer details from the memories emerge.

Chopik noted while there is a heritable component to optimism, there is some evidence to suggest that it's a trainable quality.

"There are studies that show people have the power to change their personalities, as long as they engage in things that make them change," Chopik said.

"Part of it is wanting to change. There are also intervention programs that suggest you can build up optimism," he added.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Washington, Aug 2: Children under the age of five have between 10 to 100 times greater levels of genetic material of the coronavirus in their noses compared to older children and adults, a study in JAMA Pediatrics said Thursday.

Its authors wrote this meant that young children might be important drivers of Covid-19 transmission within communities -- a suggestion at odds with the current prevailing narrative.

The paper comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing hard for schools and daycare to reopen in order to kickstart the economy.

Between March 23 and April 27, researchers carried out nasal swab tests on 145 Chicago patients with mild to moderate illness within one week of symptom onset.

The patients were divided into three groups: 46 children younger than five-years-old, 51 children aged five to 17 years, and 48 adults aged 18 to 65 years.

The team, led by Dr Taylor Heald-Sargent of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, observed, "a 10-fold to 100-fold greater amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract of young children."

15 countries with the highest number of cases, deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic

The authors added that a recent lab study had demonstrated that the more viral genetic material was present, the more infectious virus could be grown.

It has also previously been shown that children with high viral loads of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are more likely to spread the disease.

"Thus, young children can potentially be important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population," the authors wrote.

"Behavioral habits of young children and close quarters in school and daycare settings raise concern for SARS-CoV-2 amplification in this population as public health restrictions are eased," they concluded.

The new findings are at odds with the current view among health authorities that young children -- who, it has been well established, are far less likely to fall seriously ill from the virus -- don't spread it much to others either.

However, there has been fairly little research on the topic so far.

One recent study in South Korea found children aged 10 to 19 transmitted Covid-19 within households as much as adults, but children under nine transmitted the virus at lower rates.

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