Women's heart health linked to age at first menstrual period

New study suggests that early menarche is associated with worse cardiovascular health, especially in young women

September 9, 2020

Science Daily/The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)Early menarche has been associated with many cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, but little is known about its association with overall heart health. One new study suggests that age at menarche plays an important role in maintaining and improving cardiovascular health, although there are a number of age differences. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Because CVD is the leading cause of death in women, a lot of research is devoted to identifying ways for women to improve their heart health and prevent major cardiovascular events. Cardiovascular health takes into account factors such as blood pressure, total cholesterol, and glucose levels, as well as behavioral factors including cigarette smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and diet. Ideal cardiovascular health is associated with a lower risk of CVD, as well as with other outcomes such as cancer, cognitive impairment, and depression. Studies have shown that ideal cardiovascular health is prevalent in 50% of the US population at 10 years of age and declines to less than 10% by 50 years of age.

Some forms of CVD have their origins during childhood, which is one reason why they have been previously associated with early menarche. To date, however, few if any studies have focused on the association between early menarche (generally defined as the occurrence of first menstruation before 12 years of age) and overall cardiovascular health. This new study involving more than 20,000 women not only found that increases in age at menarche are significantly associated with increases in heart health in women but also that there are major age differences in the association. In fact, significant associations between age at menarche and ideal cardiovascular health were observed only in young women, whereas little association was documented in older women. This suggests that age at menarche may be less of a predictor of heart health as women age.

Similarly, the researchers found that the protective effects of late menarche on cardiovascular health were apparent in women aged 25 to 44 years, whereas the detrimental effects of early menarche were only observed in those aged 25 to 34 years. Further studies are necessary to better understand the reason behind these declining associations.

Results are published in the article "Age at menarche and cardiovascular health: results from the NHANES 1999-2016."

"This study highlights a link between age at menarche and cardiovascular health, findings that were evident only in younger women and may be driven by associations with body mass index. Given that heart disease is the number one killer of women, identifying those women who experienced early menarche (aged younger than 12 years) may allow for earlier intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200909114812.htm

Healthy diet and exercise during pregnancy could lead to healthier children

September 11, 2020

Science Daily/King's College London

New research shows improving the lifestyle of women with obesity during pregnancy could mean long-term cardiovascular benefits for their children.

The study, led by King's College London and supported by the British Heart Foundation and Tommy's charity, examined how an antenatal diet and physical activity intervention in pregnant women with obesity could positively influence the health of the women and their children three years after giving birth.

The UPBEAT trial is a randomised controlled trial which aims to improve the diet and physical activity of obese pregnant women across the UK. Women who were given a diet and exercise intervention were compared to women in a control group, who made no changes to their lifestyle during pregnancy.

Follow-up examinations three years after birth showed that the children born to the intervention arm of the trial had a lower resting heart rate of -5 bpm than children treated with standard care. A higher resting heart rate in adults is associated with hypertension and cardiovascular dysfunction.

The study also showed that mothers in the intervention arm maintained a healthier diet three years after birth.

While women reported lower glycaemic load, maternal energy and saturated fatty acids intake, and higher protein intake three years after delivery, there were no differences in self-reported physical activity or in measures of body composition.

Lead author Kathryn Dalrymple from King's College London said: "This research shows that an lifestyle intervention in pregnant women, which focused on improving diet and increasing physical activity, is associated with improved cardiovascular function in the child at three-years of age and a sustained improvement in the mothers diet, three years after the intervention finished. These findings are very exciting as they add to the evidence that pregnancy is a window of opportunity to promote positive health and lifestyle changes which benefit the mother and her child."

Senior author Professor Lucilla Poston, Tommy's Chair for Maternal and Fetal Health, said: "Obesity in pregnancy is a major problem because it can increase the risk of complications in pregnancy as well as affecting the longer-term health of the child. This study strengthens my resolve to highlight just how important it is that we give children a healthy start in life."

Tommy's Research and Policy Director, Lizzie D'Angelo, said: "Pregnancy can be higher risk for women who are obese, but trying to lose lots of weight while pregnant is not advised, so our research focuses on finding new ways to make pregnancy safer for these families. It's very reassuring to see that our researchers have been able to improve mothers' diets and children's heart health in the long term, helping to give these babies the best start in life."

Tracy Parker, Senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Keeping physically active and maintaining a balanced diet are both important ways of keeping our hearts healthy. This research shows that for pregnant women, the benefits don't end there. A healthy diet before, during and after pregnancy can have positive long-term health benefits for both mother and child."

The team of researchers will follow-up these children again at 8-10 years of age to see if this improvement in cardiovascular function is maintained through childhood.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200911110804.htm

Stronger bones thanks to heat and microbiota

September 11, 2020

Science Daily/Université de Genève

Osteoporosis, a bone disease linked to ageing, is characterised by a loss of bone density, micro-architectural deterioration of the bones and an increased risk of fractures. With one third of postmenopausal women affected, it is a major public health problem. Through epidemiological analyses, laboratory experiments and state-of-the-art metagenomic and metabolomics tools, a research team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in Switzerland, has observed that exposure to warmer ambient temperatures (34 °C) increases bone strength, while preventing the loss of bone density typical of osteoporosis. Moreover, this phenomenon, linked to a change in the composition of gut microbiota triggered by heat, could be replicated by transplanting the microbiota of mice living in a warm environment to mice suffering from osteoporosis. Indeed, after the transplant, their bones were stronger and denser. These results, to be discovered in Cell Metabolism, make it possible to imagine effective and innovative interventions for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Many biologists are familiar with Allen's Rule, from 19th-century naturalist Joel Asaph Allen, according to which animals living in warm areas have a larger surface area in relation to their volume than animals living in colder environment. Indeed, a larger skin surface allows better evacuation of body heat. "In one experiment, we placed newborn mice at a temperature of 34 °C in order to minimise the heat shock associated with their birth. We found that they had longer and stronger bones, confirming that bone growth is affected by ambient temperature," explains Mirko Trajkovski, Professor at the Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism and at the Diabetes Centre of the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, who led the study. But what about adulthood?

Consistent epidemiological data 

By placing several groups of adult mice in a warm environment, the scientists observed that while bone size remained unchanged, bone strength and density were largely improved. They then repeated their experiment with mice after an ovariectomy modelling post-menauposal osteoporosis. "The effect was very interesting," says Claire Chevalier, then a researcher in Professor Trajkovski's laboratory and the first author of this work. "The simple fact of warming the living environment of our mice protected them from the bone loss typical of osteoporosis!"

What about human beings? The research team analysed global epidemiological data on the incidence of osteoporosis in relation to the average temperature, latitude, calcium consumption and vitamin D levels. Interestingly, they found that the higher the temperature, the fewer hip fractures -- one of the main consequences of osteoporosis -- regardless of other factors. "We found a clear correlation between geographical latitude and hip fractures, meaning that in the northern countries the incidence is higher compared to the warmer south," says Mirko Trajkovski. "Normalising the analysis of the known players such as vitamin D or calcium did not modify this correlation. However, when we excluded the temperature as the determinant, the correlation was lost. This is not to say that calcium or vitamin D do not play a role, either alone or in combination. However, the determining factor is heat -or lack thereof."

How the microbiota adapts 

Specialists in the microbiota, the Geneva scientists wanted to understand its role in these metabolic modifications. To this end, they transplanted the microbiota of mice living in a 34° environment to osteoporotic mice, whose bone quality was rapidly improved. "These findings may imply an extension to Allen's rule, suggesting elongation-independent effects of the warmth, which predominantly favours bone density and strength during adulthood through microbiota alterations," says Mirko Trajkovski.

Thanks to the state-of-the-art metagenomic tools developed in their laboratory, the scientists then succeeded in understanding the role played by microbiota. When adapts to heat, it leads to a disruption in the synthesis and degradation of polyamines, molecules that are involved in ageing, and in particular in bone health. "With heat, the synthesis of polyamines increases, while their degradation is reduced. They thus affect the activity of osteoblasts (the cells that build bones) and reduce the number of osteoclasts (the cells that degrade bones). With age and menopause, the exquisite balance between the osteoclast and osteoblast activity is disrupted," explains Claire Chevalier. "However, heat, by acting on the polyamines, which we found to be partly regulated by the microbiota, can maintain the balance between these two cell groups." These data therefore indicate that exposure to warmth could be a prevention strategy against osteoporosis.

Developing new treatments 

The influence of microbiota on metabolism is being better understood. However, in order to be able to use this knowledge to develop therapeutic strategies, scientists must identify precisely the role of particular bacteria in particular diseases. In the context of their work on osteoporosis, Professor Trajkovski's team has been able to identify certain important bacteria. "We still need to refine our analyses, but our relatively short-term goal would be to identify candidate bacteria, and develop several 'bacterial cocktails' to treat metabolic and bone disorders, such as osteoporosis, but also to improve insulin sensitivity, for example," the authors conclude.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200911093027.htm

How microbes in a mother's intestines affect fetal neurodevelopment

September 23, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles

During pregnancy in mice, the billions of bacteria and other microbes that live in a mother's intestines regulate key metabolites, small molecules that are important for healthy fetal brain development, UCLA biologists report Sept. 23 in the journal Nature.

While the maternal gut microbiota has been associated with abnormalities in the brain function and behavior of offspring -- often in response to factors like infection, a high-fat diet or stress during pregnancy -- scientists had not known until now whether it influenced brain development during critical prenatal periods and in the absence of such environmental challenges.

To test the impact the gut microbiata has on the metabolites and other biochemicals that circulate in maternal blood and nurture the rapidly developing fetal brain, the researchers raised mice that were treated with antibiotics to kill gut bacteria, as well as mice that were bred microbe-free in a laboratory.

"Depleting the fetal braina, using both methods, similarly disrupted fetal brain development," said the study's lead author, Helen Vuong, a postdoctoral scholar in laboratory of UCLA's Elaine Hsiao.

Depleting the maternal gut microbiota altered which genes were turned on in the brains of developing offspring, including many genes involved in forming new axons within neurons, Vuong said. Axons are tiny fibers that link brain cells and enable them to communicate.

In particular, axons that connect the brain's thalamus to its cortex were reduced in number and in length, the researchers found.

"These axons are particularly important for the ability to sense the environment," Vuong said. "Consistent with this, offspring from mothers lacking a gut microbiota had impairments in particular sensory behaviors."

The findings indicate that the maternal gut microbiota can promote healthy fetal brain development by regulating metabolites that enter the fetal brain itself, Vuong said.

"When we measured the types and levels of molecules in the maternal blood, fetal blood and fetal brain, we found that particular metabolites were commonly decreased or missing when the mother was lacking a gut microbiota during pregnancy," she said.

The biologists then grew neurons in the presence of these key metabolites. They also introduced these metabolites into the microbiata-depleted pregnant mice.

"When we grew neurons in the presence of these metabolites, they developed longer axons and greater numbers of axons," Vuong said. "And when we supplemented the pregnant mice with key metabolites that were decreased or missing when the microbiata was depleted, levels of those metabolites were restored in the fetal brain and the impairments in axon development and in offspring behavior were prevented.

"The gut microbiota has the incredible capability to regulate many biochemicals not only in the pregnant mother but also in the developing fetus and fetal brains," Vuong said. "Our findings also pinpoint select metabolites that promote axon growth."

The results suggest that interactions between the microbiota and nervous system begin prenatally through the influence of the maternal gut microbiota on the fetal brain, at least in mice.

The applicability of the findings to humans is still unclear, said the study's senior author, Elaine Hsiao, a UCLA associate professor of integrative biology and physiology, and of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the UCLA College.

"We don't know whether and how the findings may apply to humans," said Hsiao, who is also an associate professor of digestive diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "However, there are many neurodevelopmental disorders that are believed to be caused by both genetic and environmental risk factors experienced during pregnancy. Our study suggests that maternal gut microbiota during pregnancy should also be considered and further studied as a factor that could potentially influence not only the health of the mother but the health of the developing offspring as well."

Hsiao, Vuong and colleagues reported in 2019 that serotonin and drugs that target serotonin, such as antidepressants, can have a major effect on the gut's microbiota. In 2018, Hsiao and her team established a causal link between seizure susceptibility and gut microbiota and identified specific gut bacteria that play an essential role in the anti-seizure effects of the ketogenic diet.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923164601.htm

Prenatal cannabis exposure associated with adverse outcomes during middle childhood

The findings are reported as use of cannabis during pregnancy has 'skyrocketed'

September 23, 2020

Science Daily/Washington University in St. Louis

While cannabis use during pregnancy is on the rise, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found evidence that the resulting children are more likely to have psychopathology in middle childhood.

The team's analysis are the first steps in studying the effects of cannabis on children as attitudes surrounding its use change rapidly -- recreational adult cannabis use is now legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Patterns of usage, too, are changing; one of the fastest-growing subsets of cannabis users may come as a surprise: the pregnant.

"There have been increasingly permissive and lenient attitudes toward cannabis use among pregnant people," said Sarah Paul, a clinical psychology graduate student. "It has skyrocketed in the past few years," she added, with data indicating a quick rise from 3% to 7% past-month use.

"Unfortunately, despite the increase in use, we know remarkably little about the potential consequences of prenatal cannabis exposure," Paul said. "Prior studies have linked prenatal cannabis exposure to birth-related outcomes such as lower birth weight and infant characteristics like disrupted sleep and movement. Relatively fewer studies have examined behavior and problems as children age," and, she said, "findings have been tenuous due to inconsistent replication and an inability to account for potential confounding variables."

Working with Ryan Bogdan, associate professor of psychological & brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, and director of the Brain Lab at Washington University, and faculty from the School of Medicine, a team of researchers led by Paul and Alexander Hatoum, a postdoc research scholar, poured through data to examine what, if any, effect maternal use of cannabis during pregnancy may have on children.

Their findings were published today in JAMA Psychiatry.

They looked at data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study), an ongoing longitudinal study of nearly 12,000 children ages 9-11 and their parent or caregiver from 22 sites across the United States that began in 2016.

The researchers grouped participants into three mutually exclusive groups: Children who were not exposed to cannabis prenatally; children who were prenatally exposed to cannabis before the pregnancy was known, but not after; and children who had been exposed to cannabis after the pregnancy was known, regardless of exposure before.

The receptors that cannabis influences are not known to be expressed prior to five- to six-weeks' gestation. Researchers expected associations with the children's outcomes would only be present if cannabis exposure happened once those receptors had been expressed. Most people said they learned of their pregnancy after about seven weeks, which aligned with the time of endocannabinoid type 1 receptor expression.

The group hypothesized that prenatal exposure, regardless of when it occurred, would be characterized by adverse outcomes in childhood, but that only continued exposure after the pregnancy was known would have an independent association with these outcomes (after considering potential confounds -- things such as family history of psychopathology, whether alcohol or tobacco or prenatal vitamins were used during the pregnancy, as well as whether children had tried alcohol, among a host of others).

The data showed children who were exposed to cannabis in the womb (regardless of when that exposure occurred) were slightly more likely to have adverse outcomes. They had elevated psychopathology -- more psychotic-like experiences; more problems with depression and anxiety as well as impulsivity and attention; and social problems as well as sleep disturbance. They also had lower cognitive performance, lower indices of global brain structure during middle childhood as well as lower birth weight.

However, when the researchers included important familial, pregnancy and child-related covariates, Bogdan said, "This is when things got really interesting. All associations with prenatal exposure only prior to maternal knowledge of pregnancy were nowhere near significantly associated." This suggests that the association between prenatal cannabis exposure during early stages of pregnancy may not be independent of these confounding factors.

"Cutting to the chase ... clinicians and dispensaries should discourage cannabis use among those who are pregnant or are considering becoming pregnant.

"However, when we look at exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy, which corresponds to when endocannabinoid type 1 receptors are expressed in the fetal brain, the associations with child psychopathology largely remain -- these children tend to have more psychotic-like experiences, more impulsivity and attention problems, and social problems," he said. "This raises the intriguing possibility that prenatal cannabis exposure may plausibly impact child behavior. It in no way shows causation, but documenting that effects are independent of common confounding factors provides incremental support for potential causation."

"There are certainly other plausible reasons for this pattern of results," Hatoum said. It could be that the behaviors are a byproduct of genetic and environmental similarity and not causally related to cannabis use.

"However, that our measures of these potential confounds accounted for the associations with use prior to maternal knowledge, but not after, suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure may independently contribute, in a small way, to child outcomes," he said. "Potential causation underlying this association should be further evaluated using experimental non-human animal models, additional replication and other approaches (e.g., siblings discordant for exposure)."

"Cutting to the chase, my interpretation of these findings, is that clinicians and dispensaries should discourage cannabis use among those who are pregnant or are considering becoming pregnant," Bogdan said.

"Being attentive to substance use problems among family members and providing them with support and access to help is critical for anyone regardless of pregnancy status," Bogdan said. "Learning of one's pregnancy may produce additional reason to stop use. Someone who has just learned of a pregnancy and has previously used cannabis, might think, well I have already exposed the fetus to cannabis, so I may as well not stop. The current data might provide the clinician and parent-to-be with evidence that stopping after learning of the pregnancy may reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes among their children."

At the same time, Bogdan said, "It is also important not to stigmatize expecting parents who may be experiencing difficulties. Quitting substance use during pregnancy, which is already a challenging time, may not be straightforward. Physician support and empirical paradigms for quitting during pregnancy will be important. Lastly, couples who are planning to have a child may wish to consider combatting cannabis use before they begin attempting to conceive and the additional stressors of pregnancy begin to mount."

From a public health perspective, Bogdan suggested looking to the highly effective public health campaigns and clinician attention directed at reducing the use of tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy. In fact, he said, "This study found that prenatal cannabis exposures were more strongly and consistently associated with adverse child outcomes than prenatal tobacco or alcohol exposure."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923143550.htm

Higher dementia risk in women with prolonged fertility

September 17, 2020

Science Daily/University of Gothenburg

Women with a longer reproductive period had an elevated risk for dementia in old age, compared with those who were fertile for a shorter period, a population-based study from the University of Gothenburg shows.

"Our results may explain why women have a higher risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease than men after age 85, and provide further support for the hypothesis that estrogen affect the risk of dementia among women," says Jenna Najar, a medical doctor and doctoral student at Sahlgrenska Academy who also works at AgeCap, the Centre for Ageing and Health at the University of Gothenburg.

The study, now published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, covers 1,364 women who were followed between 1968 and 2012 in the population studies collectively known as the "Prospective Population-based Study of Women in Gothenburg" (PPSW) and the "Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies in Sweden" (the H70 studies). The "reproduction period" spans the years between menarche (onset of menstruation) and menopause, when menstruation ceases.

Of the women studied with a shorter reproductive period (32.6 years or less), 16 percent (53 of 333 individuals) developed dementia. In the group of women who were fertile a longer period (38 years or more), 24 percent (88 of 364) developed dementia. The difference was thus 8 percentage points.

The study shows that risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease increases successively for every additional year that the woman remains fertile. The association was strongest for those with dementia onset after age 85, and the effect was most strongly associated with age at menopause.

These results persisted after adjustment for other factors with an influence, such as educational attainment, physical activity, BMI, smoking, and cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, no association was found between dementia risk and age at menarche, number of pregnancies, duration of breastfeeding, or exogenous estrogen taken in the form of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) or oral contraceptives.

Several studies have investigated how estrogen in the form of HRT affects dementia risk. Some studies show that dementia risk falls and others that it rises, especially in women who take estrogen late in life.

In the current study Jenna Najar has, instead, investigated the long-term association between factors related to endogenous estrogen and dementia.

"What's novel about this study, too, is that we've had access to information about several events in a woman's life that can affect her estrogen levels. Examples are pregnancies, births, and breastfeeding. Being pregnant boosts estrogen levels tremendously; then they decline once the baby is born, and if women breastfeed the levels fall to extremely low levels. The more indicators we capture, the more reliable our results are," Najar says.

Ingmar Skoog, professor of psychiatry at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg and head of AgeCap, led the study.

"The varying results for estrogen may be due to it having a protective effect early in life but being potentially harmful once the disease has begun."

At the same time, Skoog points out that the duration of women's fertile periods is one risk factor for dementia among many.

Most women whose menopause is delayed do not develop dementia because of this factor alone. However, the study may provide a clue as to why women are at higher risk than men for dementia after age 85, the most common age of onset. Alzheimer's disease, on the other hand, starts developing some 20 years before symptoms of the disorder become apparent.

"Most people affected are over 80 and female," Najar says.

"As a result of global ageing, the number of people affected by dementia will increase. To be able to implement preventive strategies, we need to identify people with an elevated risk of dementia."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917105419.htm

Many women suffering from severe migraine might avoid pregnancy, but should they?

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/Elsevier

A survey of 607 women who suffer from severe migraine found twenty percent of the respondents are currently avoiding pregnancy because of their migraines. The women avoiding pregnancy due to severe migraine tend to be in their thirties, are more likely to have migraine triggered by menstruation, and are more likely to have very frequent attacks (chronic migraine) compared to their counterparts who are not avoiding pregnancy, according to a new study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Their decision appears to be based on perceived fears about their own health and the health of their child, even though evidence shows that migraine improves in up to 75 percent of women during pregnancy.

Migraine is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, particularly affecting women during their childbearing years. "A large number of women with migraine might avoid pregnancy due to migraine. So they can make informed decisions, it is important that women with migraine have access to reliable information about the relationship between migraine and pregnancy," explained lead author Ryotaro Ishii, MD, PhD., a visiting scientist at Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA.

The study investigated the impact of migraine on pregnancy plans among patients being treated in headache specialty clinics and enrolled in the American Registry for Migraine Research (ARMR), the American Migraine Foundation's national prospective longitudinal patient registry and biorepository. Corresponding author Todd J. Schwedt, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA, and Principal Investigator of ARMR, remarked, "ARMR is a multicenter patient registry that collects in-depth clinical data, biospecimens, and neuroimaging data from a large number of individuals with migraine and other headache types. ARMR provides deep insights into the clinical manifestations, management, and outcomes of patients with headache."

Patients provide demographic data when they enroll in ARMR and complete questionnaires about their medical history. A family planning questionnaire is included. The database includes a specialist's diagnosis of migraine subtypes, such as migraine with aura, migraine without aura, chronic migraine (at least 15 headache days per month), and/or menstrual migraine.

The family planning questionnaire was completed by 607 patients within ARMR between February 2016 and September 2019. Patients were asked, "Have migraines impacted your plans for pregnancy?" They selected one of the following answers: "Avoid pregnancy -- Significant;" "Avoid pregnancy -- Somewhat;" "No Impact/Not Sure;" "Increased Desire to Get Pregnant -- Somewhat;" and "Increased Desire to Get Pregnant -- Significant." Six individual questions that asked about how migraine might impact pregnancy, the ability to raise a child, and the child's health were rated on a scale from "Strongly agree" to "Strongly disagree."

Patients were divided into two groups according to whether or not they reported avoiding pregnancy because of migraine. Twenty percent of the patients indicated that they avoided pregnancy because of their migraine. The average age for those who reported avoiding pregnancy was 37.5 years, younger than that of the group who reported no impact of migraine on their pregnancy plans (47.2 years). Women who experienced migraine attacks associated with their menstrual cycle more commonly avoided pregnancy compared to those who did not experience menstrual-related migraine attacks. They more frequently reported a history of depression, a higher monthly frequency of days with headache, and higher migraine-related disability over the three previous months.

Among those who avoided pregnancy due to migraine, 72.5 percent believed that their migraine would be worse during or just after pregnancy, 68.3 percent believed their disability would make pregnancy difficult, and 82.6 percent believed that the disability caused by migraine would make raising a child difficult. There were also concerns that medications they take would negatively affect their child's development and that they would pass on genes to their baby that increase the risk of the child having migraine.

The investigators noted that research does not support what the patients in the ARMR believed about the impact of migraine on pregnancy. About one half to three fourths of women with migraine experience a marked improvement during pregnancy, with a significant reduction in the frequency and intensity of attacks according to published literature. Because the prognosis of migraine during pregnancy is generally good, it may be possible to limit the use of medications, thereby reducing the risk of medication-related adverse events. Migraine does not appear to increase the risk for fetal malformations, although some studies suggest a small increase in poor pregnancy and fetal outcomes.

The authors cautioned that because ARMR patients are enrolled from specialty headache centers and are more severely affected by migraine, the results cannot necessarily be generalized to the general population of people with migraine. There may be certain patient characteristics associated with an individual being more likely to enroll.

It is essential that women of childbearing potential with migraine receive education about the potential impact of migraine on pregnancy, the authors observed. "As the leading cause of years lived with disability in the world, and one that affects one in three women during their lifetime, these data highlight the substantial impact migraine has on pregnancy and family planning," added co-author David Dodick, MD, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA, and Principal Investigator of ARMR. "Clinicians must be alert to and proactively manage these important concerns of their female patients."

"This study is a testament to the unrelenting, destructive nature of this chronic invisible diagnosis, which can permeate all aspects of life if left unchecked, including potentially depriving women of the opportunity of motherhood should they desire as well as other important relationships," commented Rashmi B. Halker Singh, MD, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA, and Joseph I. Sirven, MD, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA, in an accompanying editorial. "We need to not only support women who have migraine by addressing this patient education gap and improving our treatments to better meet their needs, but also must be deliberate in our efforts to improve societal understanding and acceptance of this prevalent neurobiological disease."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915090104.htm

Study tracks human milk nutrients in infant microbiome

September 1, 2020

Science Daily/Cornell University

A new study in mice helps explain why gut microbiomes of breastfed infants can differ greatly from those of formula-fed infants.

The study, "Dietary Sphinganine Is Selectively Assimilated by Members of the Mammalian Gut Microbiome," was published in July in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Sphinganine from milk Johnson Lab/Provided A new technique allows researchers to track specific nutrients as they are taken up by gut microbes in a mouse's digestive tract. The image shows certain microbes (red) taking in a nutrient common in human milk called sphinganine; blue microbes have not taken it in.

The paper describes an innovative technique developed at Cornell to track the fate of metabolites -- nutrients formed in or necessary for metabolism -- through a mouse's digestive tract and identify how they interact with specific gut microbes.

"We think the methods are expandable to many different microbiome systems," said senior author Elizabeth Johnson, assistant professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She noted that researchers investigating effects of a high-fat vs. low-fat diet, or a keto diet, might use the technique to track metabolites.

The methodology could reveal how specific metabolites promote specific bacteria. This could allow nutritionists to prescribe that patients eat foods containing specific metabolites to intentionally change the composition of their microbiomes, Johnson said.

Human milk and many other foods contain a class of lipid metabolites called sphingolipids. Previous research suggested that these metabolites help shape an infant's microbiome, but it was not known if they actually interact with the microbiome.

The study identified two types of gut microbes, Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium, that use sphingolipids for their own metabolism.

While very little is known about the specific roles of gut microbes in human health, Bacteroides have been implicated in both beneficial and not-so-beneficial effects, depending on context. They are generally associated with microbiomes of healthy breastfed infants. Bifidobacterium, shown for the first time in this study to process dietary sphingolipids, are considered the quintessential beneficial bacteria, comprising up to 95% of breastfed infants microbiome.

They're also a highly popular over-the-counter probiotic.

"Our lab is very interested in how the diet interacts with the microbiome in order to really understand how you can best modulate it to have positive effects on health," Johnson said. "In this study, we were able to see that yes, these dietary lipids that are a big part of [breastfed] infants diets, are interacting quite robustly with the gut microbiome."

Sphingolipids originate from three main sources: diet; bacteria that can produce them; and most host tissues.

Johnson, along with first author Min-Ting Lee, a doctoral student, and Henry Le, a postdoctoral researcher, both in Johnson's lab, created a technique to specifically track dietary sphingolipids as they passed through the mouse gut.

"We custom synthesized the sphingolipid we added to the diet," Johnson said. "It is almost identical to ones derived from breast milk but with a small chemical tag so we could trace the location of the sphingolipid once it was ingested by the mice."

Lee then used a fluorescent label that attached to cells or microbes that absorbed the tagged lipid, such that any bacteria that had taken up sphingolipids lit up red. Microbes from the mice's microbiomes were then isolated and analyzed. Populations with red microbes were separated from the others, and these were then genetically sequenced to identify the species of bacteria.

With further investigation, Le was able to identify the metabolites that Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium produce when exposed to dietary sphingolipids. Further investigations are underway to determine whether these microbially-produced metabolites are beneficial for infant health.

Johnson recently received a five-year, $1.9 million Maximizing Investigators' Research Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand on this work, to better understand how lipid-dependent host-microbe interactions affect human health..

The study was supported by seed funds from the Genomics Facility of the Biotechnology Resource Center at Cornell's Institute of Biotechnology.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200901142725.htm

Women with higher neuroticism are less physically active

Personality traits help to understand why some people are physically active and others are not

August 28, 2020

Science Daily/University of Jyväskylä - Jyväskylän yliopisto

Personality traits help to understand why some people are physically active and others are not. A new study from the Gerontology Research Center and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows that the role of personality may vary depending on how physical activity is measured.

Personality traits reflect people's characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. A study at the University of Jyväskylä focused on two traits: extraversion and neuroticism. Individuals who score high in extraversion are typically social, active and talkative. High scores in neuroticism indicate a tendency to have negative feelings, such as anxiety and self-pity.

The results showed that high extraversion and low neuroticism were linked to higher leisure time physical activity in middle-aged women. Women who scored high in extraversion reported more physical activity, but this was not seen in the physical activity measured by an activity monitor. Women who scored high in neuroticism reported less physical activity and had less physical activity captured by activity monitors.

"Even though both methods assess the frequency, duration and intensity of physical activity, they measure partly different aspects of physical activity," explains postdoctoral researcher Tiia Kekäläinen from the Gerontology Research Center. "Activity monitors are better at capturing all daily stepping activities whereas self-reporting better accounts for all types of physical activities. Therefore, it is natural that results are partly different between different physical activity measures. It is important to use both ways to assess physical activity behavior."

Personality traits may explain individual tendencies to estimate one's own physical activity level

Personality may explain the way individuals assess their own level of physical activity. The results showed that older adults scoring high in neuroticism reported less physical activity than what was measured by accelerometers.

"Neuroticism describes a predisposition to experience negative feelings," Kekäläinen says. "In addition to lower willingness to participate in physical activities, this kind of tendency seems to be related to underreporting physical activity behavior. The information about the role of personality could be used to help identify risk groups for inactivity and in physical activity promotion work."

Two larger research projects conducted at the Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences provided data for the study: from a total of 314 older men and women aged 70 to 85 years who participated in the PASSWORD study, and from 1,098 middle-aged women aged 47 to 55 years who participated in the ERMA study.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200828092006.htm

Women less likely to receive pay for college internships

August 18, 2020

Science Daily Binghamton University

The odds of women receiving pay for a college internship are 34% lower than for men, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

A team of researchers led by Binghamton University Assistant Professor of Student Affairs Administration John Zilvinskis sought to find out whether women and other underserved groups were more or less likely to participate in paid or unpaid internships in college compared with their peers. They were prompted to examine this issue given that paid internships often lead to higher paying positions post-graduation and that women continue to earn less than men for the same position despite their level of education.

Using data from a 2018 experimental itemset of the National Survey of Student Engagement, the researchers examined the relationship between student identity and academic major to the outcome of receiving pay for an internship. Of the 2,410 seniors who participated in internships, 58% of men received pay during their internships, whereas only 35% of women received pay. After controlling for background and major, the odds of women receiving pay for their internship were almost 34% lower than for men.

"This finding aligns with general scholarship regarding inequity in compensation, and our findings demonstrate that discrepancies by gender can occur in the college internship process as well," said Zilvinskis.

Also contributing to this research from Binghamton University were Professor of Psychology Jennifer Gillis and Assistant Vice President for Student Success Kelli Smith.

"Although tremendous strides have been made for women in the workplace, we must continue to identify points of inequality," said Gillis.

To move toward equity in pay for college internships for female students, Smith recommends implicit bias training for those within university settings who advise students on career decision making, whether faculty or career advisors; having universities analyze and be transparent in sharing pay data disaggregated by gender; working with employers to ensure awareness; and providing educational sessions for students on internship seeking and salary negotiation.

"Since career advising and support is everyone's business within a university setting -- not just career centers -- it is important that all members directly serving students be informed of such findings to effect change," said Smith. "Career centers can play a leading role with both training for campus staff, faculty and employer partners, and designing relevant student educational content and programming."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818094024.htm

Half of parents report butting heads with child's grandparent over parenting

August 17, 2020

Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Nearly half of parents describe disagreements with one or more grandparent about their parenting, with one in seven going so far as to limit the amount of time their child sees certain grandparents.

Cookies for breakfast, staying up late and maybe a little more TV than usual.

For some families, what happens at grandma's house stays at grandma's house.

But for others, clashes over parenting choices and enforcing parents' rules can cause major strife between a child's parents and grandparents, a national poll suggests.

Nearly half of parents describe disagreements with one or more grandparent about their parenting, with one in seven going so far as to limit the amount of time their child sees certain grandparents, finds the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at Michigan Medicine.

Disputes most commonly involve discipline (57 %), meals (44 %), and TV/screen time (36 %.) Other thorny subjects: manners, safety and health, bedtime, treating some grandchildren differently than others and sharing photos or information on social media.

"Grandparents play a special role in children's lives and can be an important resource for parents through support, advice and babysitting. But they may have different ideas about the best way to raise the child and that can cause tension," says Mott Poll co-director Sarah Clark.

"If grandparents contradict or interfere with parenting choices, it can have a serious strain on the relationship."

The nationally representative survey is based on 2,016 responses from parents of children ages 18 and under.

Discipline was the biggest source of contention. Among parents who report major or minor disagreements, 40% say grandparents are too soft on the child, and 14% say grandparents are too tough.

Nearly half of parents say disagreements arise from grandparents being both too lenient and overly harsh.

"Parents may feel that their parental authority is undermined when grandparents are too lenient in allowing children to do things that are against family rules, or when grandparents are too strict in forbidding children to do things that parents have okayed," Clark says.

Some disagreements may stem from intergenerational differences, Clark says. For example, grandparents may insist that "the way we used to do things" is the correct way to parent. New research and recommendations on child health and safety may also lead to disagreements if grandparents refuse to put babies to sleep on their back or do not use a booster seat when driving grandchildren to preschool.

In many cases, parents have tried to get grandparents to be more respectful of their parenting choices and household rules. These requests have mixed results: while about half of grandparents made a noticeable change in their behavior to be more consistent with how parents do things, 17 % outright objected.

"Whether grandparents cooperated with a request or not was strongly linked to parents' description of disagreements as major or minor," Clark says. "The bigger the conflict, the less likely grandparents were to budge."

Parents who said that grandparents refused such a request were also more likely to put limits on the amount of time their child spent with them.

"Parents who reported major disagreements with grandparents were also likely to feel that the conflicts had a negative impact on the relationship between the child and the grandparent," Clark says.

"These findings indicate that grandparents should strive to understand and comply with parent requests to be more consistent with parenting choices -- not only to support parents in the difficult job of raising children, but to avoid escalating the conflict to the point that they risk losing special time with grandchildren."

Further information: http://mottpoll.org/reports/when-parents-and-grandparents-disagree

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817104303.htm

Pregnant mother's immunity tied to behavioral, emotional challenges for kids with autism

Study finds that male offspring are at higher risk to maternal immunity activation

August 14, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Davis Health

Children with autism born to mothers who had immune conditions during their pregnancy are more likely to have behavioral and emotional problems, a UC Davis Health study has found. The study examined maternal immune history as a predictor of symptoms in children with autism.

"We tested the ability of maternal immune history to predict ASD symptoms and the possible role that the sex of the offspring plays," said Paul Ashwood, professor of microbiology and immunology and faculty member at the UC Davis MIND Institute.

Published Aug. 14 in Translational Psychiatry, the study found that offspring sex may interact with maternal immune conditions to influence outcomes, particularly in terms of a child's cognition.

Maternal immunity conditions and autism

Maternal immune conditions are caused by a dysfunction of the mother's immune system. They include allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases, autoinflammatory syndromes and immunological deficiency syndromes. Previous studies have shown that maternal immune conditions are more prevalent in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The researchers enrolled 363 mothers and their children (252 males and 111 females) from the Autism Phenome Project (APP) and Girls with Autism Imaging of Neurodevelopment (GAIN) study at the UC Davis MIND Institute. The median age of the children was three years.

The researchers measured the children's autism severity and assessed a set of behavioral and emotional problems such as aggression and anxiety. They also measured the children's development and cognitive functioning.

The study found that around 27% of the mothers had immune conditions during their pregnancy. Of these mothers, 64% reported a history of asthma, the most common immune condition. Other frequent conditions included Hashimoto's thyroiditis (hypothyroidism), Raynaud's disease (blood circulation disease), alopecia (hair loss), psoriasis (skin disease) and rheumatoid arthritis (joint tissue inflammation).

The study also found that maternal immune conditions are associated with increased behavioral and emotional problems but not reduced cognitive functioning in children with autism.

Does the sex of the offspring interact with the influence of maternal immune conditions on autism symptoms?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ASD is four times more common among boys than among girls.

"Our study explored whether offspring sex interacts with the presence of maternal immune conditions to influence behavioral outcomes in children," said Ashwood. "Maternal immune conditions may be one environmental factor which contributes to the higher male prevalence seen in ASD."

The study found that a history of maternal immune conditions was more common in male children with ASD (31%) compared to female (18%). Specifically, asthma was twice as common in mothers of male children with ASD than in mothers of female children with ASD.

The study also showed that in cases of ASD where maternal immune conditions are present, female offspring are less likely to be susceptible to adverse cognitive outcomes in response to maternal inflammation than male offspring.

"This critical finding links offspring sex and maternal immune conditions to autism," said Ashwood. "It provides more evidence that male offspring are at higher risk of adverse outcomes due to maternal immunity activation compared to female offspring."

Future studies would include identifying the type, severity and gestational timing of immune conditions, and then examining offspring outcomes over time.

Co-authors on this study are Brianna Heath, Christine Nordahl and Sally Rogers in the department of psychiatry at UC Davis and at the UC Davis MIND Institute, Destanie Rose in the department of medical microbiology and immunology and at the UC Davis MIND Institute, Shrujna Patel, Russell Dale and Adam Guastella in the Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School at the University of Sydney.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200814163307.htm

Excess weight among pregnant women may interfere with child's developing brain

August 11, 2020

Science Daily/NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine

Obesity in expectant mothers may hinder the development of the babies' brains as early as the second trimester, a new study finds.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation linked high body mass index (BMI), an indicator of obesity, to changes in two brain areas, the prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. These regions play a key role in decision-making and behavior, with disruptions having previously been linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and overeating.

In their new study, publishing online August 11 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the investigators examined 197 groups of metabolically active nerve cells in the fetal brain. Using millions of computations, the study authors divided the groups into 16 meaningful subgroups based on over 19,000 possible connections between the groups of neurons. They found only two areas of the brain where their connections to each other were statistically strongly linked to the mother's BMI.

"Our findings affirm that a mother's obesity may play a role in fetal brain development, which might explain some of the cognitive and metabolic health concerns seen in children born to mothers with higher BMI," says Moriah Thomason, PhD, the Barakett Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health.

As obesity rates continue to soar in the United States, it is more important than ever to understand how the condition may impact early brain development, says Thomason, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone.

Previous studies showing an association between obesity and brain development had mostly looked at cognitive function in children after birth. The new investigation is believed to be the first to measure changes in fetal brain activity in the womb, and as early as six months into pregnancy.

Thomason says this approach was designed to eliminate the potential influence of breast feeding and other environmental factors occurring after birth and to examine the earliest origins of negative effects of maternal BMI on the developing child's brain.

For the investigation, the research team recruited 109 women with BMIs ranging from 25 to 47. (According to the National Institutes of Health, women are considered "overweight" if they have a BMI of 25 or higher and are "obese" if their BMI is 30 and higher.) The women were all between six and nine months' pregnant.

The research team used MRI imaging to measure fetal brain activity and map patterns of communication between large numbers of brain cells clustered together in different regions of the brain. Then, they compared the study participants to identify differences in how groups of neurons communicate with each other based on BMI.

The investigators caution that their study was not designed to draw a direct line between the differences they found and ultimate cognitive or behavioral problems in children. The study only looked at fetal brain activity. But, Thomason says, they now plan to follow the participants' children over time to determine whether the brain activity changes lead to ADHD, behavioral issues, and other health risks.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200811120149.htm

Prenatal depression can alter child's brain connectivity, affect behavior

Weakened brain connections may mediate prenatal depression's influence on child behavior

August 10, 2020

Science Daily/Society for Neuroscience

Altered brain connectivity may be one way prenatal depression influences child behavior, according to new research in JNeurosci.

Up to one fifth of women experience depression symptoms during pregnancy, with unknown effects on the fetus. Prenatal depression is correlated with behavioral and developmental issues in the child, as well as an increased risk of developing depression at age 18. But how prenatal depression leads to these changes remains unclear.

Hay et al. studied 54 mother/child pairs. Mothers answered a survey about their depression symptoms at several points during their pregnancy. The research team employed diffusion MRI, an imaging technique that reveals the strength of structural connections between brain regions, to examine the children's white matter.

Greater prenatal depression symptoms were associated with weaker white matter connections between brain regions involved in emotional processing. This change could lead to dysregulated emotional states in the children and may explain why the children of depressed mothers have a higher risk of developing depression themselves. The weakened white matter was associated with increased aggression and hyperactivity in the male children. These findings highlight the need for better prenatal care to recognize and treat prenatal depression in order to support the mother and the child's development.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200810141012.htm

Miscarriage risk increases each week alcohol is used in early pregnancy

August 10, 2020

Science Daily/Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Each week a woman consumes alcohol during the first five to 10 weeks of pregnancy is associated with an incremental 8% increase in risk of miscarriage, according to a study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, examine the timing, amount and type of alcohol use during pregnancy and how these factors relate to miscarriage risk before 20 weeks' gestation.

Impact of alcohol use rises through the ninth week of pregnancy, and risk accrues regardless of whether a woman reported having fewer than one drink or more than four drinks each week. Risk is also independent of the type of alcohol consumed and whether the woman had episodes of binge drinking.

Though most women change their alcohol use after a positive pregnancy test, consuming alcohol before recognizing a pregnancy is common among both those with a planned or unintended pregnancy. Half of the 5,353 women included in the analysis reported alcohol use around conception and during the first weeks of pregnancy.

The median gestational age for stopping alcohol use was 29 days. Although 41% of women who changed their use did so within three days of a positive pregnancy test, those who stopped consumption near their missed period had a 37% greater risk of miscarriage compared to women who did not use alcohol.

"Abstaining from alcohol around conception or during pregnancy has long been advised for many reasons, including preventing fetal alcohol syndrome. Nonetheless, modest levels of consumption are often seen as likely to be safe," said Katherine Hartmann, MD, PhD, vice president for Research Integration at VUMC and principal investigator for the Right from the Start cohort, from which participants were enrolled in the study.

"For this reason, our findings are alarming. Levels of use that women, and some care providers, may believe are responsible are harmful, and no amount can be suggested as safe regarding pregnancy loss."

According to the researchers, one in six recognized pregnancies ends in miscarriage, which brings great emotional cost and leaves unanswered questions about why the miscarriage occurred.

Biologically, little is known about how alcohol causes harm during early pregnancy, but it may increase miscarriage risk by modifying hormone patterns, altering the quality of implantation, increasing oxidative stress or impairing key pathways.

Because alcohol use is most common in the first weeks -- when the embryo develops most rapidly and lays down the pattern for organ development -- understanding how timing relates to risk matters.

Risk did not peak in patterns related to alcohol use in specific phases of embryonic development, and there was no evidence that a cumulative "dose" of alcohol contributed to level of risk.

The study recruited women planning a pregnancy or in early pregnancy from eight metropolitan areas in Tennessee, North Carolina and Texas. Participants were interviewed during the first trimester about their alcohol use in a four-month window.

"Combining the facts that the cohort is large, comes from diverse communities, captures data early in pregnancy and applies more advanced analytic techniques than prior studies, we're confident we've raised important concerns," said Alex Sundermann, MD, PhD, the study's first author and recent graduate of the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program.

To avoid increased risk of miscarriage, the researchers emphasize the importance of using home pregnancy tests, which can reliably detect pregnancy before a missed period, and ceasing alcohol use when planning a pregnancy or when pregnancy is possible.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200810102430.htm

Language may undermine women in science and tech

August 3, 2020

Science Daily/Carnegie Mellon University

Despite decades of positive messaging to encourage women and girls to pursue education tracks and careers in STEM, women continue to fall far below their male counterparts in these fields. A new study at Carnegie Mellon University examined 25 languages to explore the gender stereotypes in language that undermine efforts to support equality across STEM career paths. The results are available in the August 3rd issue of Nature Human Behavior.

Molly Lewis, special faculty at CMU and her research partner, Gary Lupyan, associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, set out to examine the effect of language on career stereotypes by gender. They found that implicit gender associations are strongly predicted by the language we speak. Their work suggests that linguistic associations may be causally related to people's implicit judgement of what women can accomplish.

"Young children have strong gender stereotypes as do older adults, and the question is where do these biases come from," said Lewis, first author on the study. No one has looked at implicit language -- simple language that co-occurs over a large body of text -- that could give information about stereotypical norms in our culture across different languages."

In general, the team examined how words co-occur with women compared to men. For example, how often is 'woman' associated with 'home,' 'children' and 'family,' where as 'man' was associated with 'work,' 'career' and 'business.'

"What's not obvious is that a lot of information that is contained in language, including information about cultural stereotypes, [occurs not as] direct statements but in large-scale statistical relationships between words," said Lupyan, senior author on the study. "Even without encountering direct statements, it is possible to learn that there is stereotype embedded in the language of women being better at some things and men at others."

They found that languages with a stronger embedded gender association are more clearly associated with career stereotypes. They also found that a positive relationship between gender-

marked occupation terms and the strength of these gender stereotypes.

Previous work has shown that children begin to ingrain gender stereotypes in their culture by the age of two. The team examined statistics regarding gender associations embedded in 25 languages and related the results to an international dataset of gender bias (Implicit Association Test).

Surprisingly, they found that the median age of the country influences the study results. Countries with a larger older population have a stronger bias in career-gender associations.

"The consequences of these results are pretty profound," said Lewis. "The results suggest that if you speak a language that is really biased then you are more likely to have a gender stereotype that associates men with career and women with family."

She suggests children's books be written and designed to not have gender-biased statistics. These results also have implications for algorithmic fairness research aimed at eliminating gender bias in computer algorithms.

"Our study shows that language statistics predict people's implicit biases -- languages with greater gender biases tend to have speakers with greater gender biases," Lupyan said. "The results are correlational, but that the relationship persists under various controls [and] does suggest a causal influence."

Lewis notes that the Implicit Association Test used in this study has been criticized for low reliability and limited external validity. She stresses that additional work using longitudinal analyses and experimental designs is necessary to explore language statistics and implicit associations with gender stereotypes.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200803120130.htm

Marijuana use while pregnant boosts risk of children's sleep problems

Negative effects seen as much as a decade later

July 2, 2020

Science Daily/University of Colorado at Boulder

As many as 7% of moms-to-be use marijuana while pregnant, and that number is rising fast as more use it to quell morning sickness. But new research suggests such use could have a lasting impact on the fetal brain, influencing children's sleep for as much as a decade.

Use marijuana while pregnant, and your child is more likely to suffer sleep problems as much as a decade later, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study of nearly 12,000 youth.

Published in Sleep Health: The Journal of The National Sleep Foundation, the paper is the latest to link prenatal cannabis use to developmental problems in children and the first to suggest it may impact sleep cycles long-term.

It comes at a time when -- while the number of pregnant women drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes has declined in the United States -- It has risen to 7% of all pregnant women as legalization spreads and more dispensaries recommend it for morning sickness.

"As a society, it took us a while to understand that smoking and drinking alcohol are not advisable during pregnancy, but it is now seen as common sense," said senior author John Hewitt, director of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at CU Boulder. "Studies like this suggest that it is prudent to extend that common sense advice to cannabis, even if use is now legal."

A landmark study

For the study, Hewitt and lead author Evan Winiger analyzed baseline data from the landmark Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which is following 11,875 youth from age 9 or 10 into early adulthood.

As part of an exhaustive questionnaire upon intake, participants' mothers were asked if they had ever used marijuana while pregnant and how frequently. (The study did not assess whether they used edibles or smoked pot). The mothers were also asked to fill out a survey regarding their child's sleep patterns, assessing 26 different items ranging from how easily they fell asleep and how long they slept to whether they snored or woke up frequently in the night and how sleepy they were during the day.

About 700 moms reported using marijuana while pregnant. Of those, 184 used it daily and 262 used twice or more daily.

After controlling for a host of other factors, including the mother's education, parent marital status and family income and race, a clear pattern emerged.

"Mothers who said they had used cannabis while pregnant were significantly more likely to report their children having clinical sleep problems," said Winiger, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Those who used marijuana frequently were more likely to report somnolence symptoms (symptoms of excess sleepiness) in their children, such as trouble waking in the morning and being excessively tired during the day.

The authors note that, while their sample size is large, the study has some limitations.

"We are asking mothers to remember if they smoked marijuana 10 years ago and to admit to a behavior that is frowned upon," said Winiger, suggesting actual rates of prenatal use may have been higher.

While the study doesn't prove that using cannabis while pregnant causes sleep problems, it builds on a small but growing body of evidence pointing to a link.

For instance, one small study found that children who had been exposed to marijuana in-utero woke up more in the night and had lower sleep quality at age 3. Another found that prenatal cannabis use impacted sleep in infancy.

And, in other previous work, Hewitt, Winiger and colleagues found that teenagers who frequently smoked marijuana were more likely to develop insomnia in adulthood.

The fetal brain on THC

Researchers aren't sure exactly how cannabis exposure during vulnerable developmental times might shape future sleep. But studies in animals suggest that THC and other so-called cannabinoids, the active ingredients in pot, attach to CB1 receptors in the developing brain, influencing regions that regulate sleep. The ABCD study, which is taking frequent brain scans of participants as they age, should provide more answers, they said.

Meantime, mothers-to-be should be wary of dispensaries billing weed as an antidote for morning sickness. According to CU research, about 70% of Colorado dispensaries recommend it for that use. But mounting evidence points to potential harms, including low birth weight and later cognitive problems. With marijuana on the market today including far higher THC levels than it did a decade ago, it's impacts on the fetal brain are likely more profound than they once were.

"This study is one more example of why pregnant women are advised to avoid substance use, including cannabis," said Hewitt. "For their children, it could have long-term consequences."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702153700.htm

Marijuana may impair female fertility

April 2, 2020

Science Daily/The Endocrine Society

Female eggs exposed to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, have an impaired ability to produce viable embryos, and are significantly less likely to result in a viable pregnancy, according to an animal study accepted for presentation at ENDO 2020, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.

Marijuana, or cannabis, is the most commonly used recreational drug by people of reproductive age. The rise in marijuana use has occurred at the same time that THC percentages in the drug have increased. "Currently, patients seeking infertility treatments are advised against cannabis use, but the scientific evidence backing this statement is weak," said Master student Megan Misner, part of the research laboratory led by Laura Favetta, Ph.D., in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Guelph in Canada. "This makes it difficult for physicians to properly advise patients undergoing in vitro fertilization."

In the new study, researchers treated cow oocytes, or female eggs, with concentrations of THC equivalent to therapeutic and recreational doses. The oocytes were collected and matured into five groups: untreated, control, low THC, mid THC and high THC.

The eggs' developmental rates and gene expression were measured. The researchers evaluated the ability of embryos to reach critical stages of development at specific time points. With higher concentrations of THC, they found a significant decrease and delay in the ability of the treated oocytes to reach these checkpoints. "This is a key indicator in determining the quality and developmental potential of the egg," Misner said.

THC exposure led to a significant decrease in the expression of genes called connexins, which are present at increased levels in higher quality oocytes. Poorer quality oocytes, with lower connexin expression levels, have been shown to lead to a poorer embryo development. "This embryo would be less likely to proceed past the first week of development, and thus lead to infertility," Misner said.

Preliminary data also showed THC affected the activity of a total of 62 genes in the treatment groups compared with the non-treated groups. "This implies lower quality and lower fertilization capability, therefore lower fertility in the end," she said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200402134628.htm

Troubling connection between workplace pregnancy discrimination and health of mothers, babies

Researcher shares practical steps for managers to combat discrimination

July 7, 2020

Science Daily/Baylor University

Perceived pregnancy discrimination indirectly relates to increased levels of postpartum depressive symptoms for mothers and lower birth weights, lower gestational ages and increased numbers of doctor visits for babies, according to a management study led by Baylor University.

The study -- "Examining the Effects of Perceived Pregnancy Discrimination on Mother and Baby Health" -- is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

"Despite being illegal, pregnancy discrimination still takes place in the workplace," said lead author Kaylee Hackney, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. "Obviously, this is troublesome. Our research highlights the negative impact that perceived pregnancy discrimination can have on both the mother's and the baby's health."

The researchers surveyed 252 pregnant employees over the course of two studies. They measured perceived pregnancy discrimination, perceived stress, demographics and postpartum depressive symptoms. The second study included the measurements of the babies' health outcomes, including gestational age (number of weeks of pregnancy when the baby was delivered), Apgar score (heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflex response and color), birth weight and visits to the doctor.

Sample survey statements and questions used to measure perceived discrimination, perceived stress and postpartum depressive symptoms included: "Prejudice toward pregnant workers exists where I work," "In the last month, how often have you felt nervous or stressed?" and "I am so unhappy that I cry." Mothers also logged their babies' health outcomes.

"I think the biggest surprise from this research is that pregnancy discrimination not only negatively impacted the mother, but also negatively impacted the baby she was carrying while experiencing the discrimination," Hackney said. "This just shows the far-reaching implications of workplace discrimination and highlights the importance of addressing it."

More than 50,000 discrimination claims in a decade

The study noted that over the last decade, more than 50,000 pregnancy discrimination claims were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Fair Employment Practices Agencies in the United States.

Pregnancy discrimination is defined as unfavorable treatment of women at work due to pregnancy, childbirth or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, Hackney said. Pregnant women perceive discrimination when they experience subtly hostile behaviors such as social isolation, negative stereotyping and negative or rude interpersonal treatment.

Examples might include lower performance expectations, transferring the pregnant employee to less-desirable shifts or assignments or inappropriate jokes and intrusive comments.

Practical steps for managers

Given that pregnancy discrimination led to adverse health outcomes through increased stress, the researchers believe managers are in a unique position to provide the support that pregnant employees need to reduce stress.

Some steps managers might take include:

• Providing flexible schedules

• Keeping information channels open and the employee in the loop, specifically with regards to work-family benefits and expectations leading up to leave/returning from leave

• Accommodating prenatal appointments

• Helping to plan maternity leave arrangements

• Normalizing breastfeeding in the workplace

"Overall, I would suggest that managers 1) strive to create a workplace culture where discrimination does not take place and 2) not make assumptions about what pregnant employees want," Hackney said. "The best approach would be to have an open dialogue with their employees about what types of support are needed and desired."

Healthcare partnerships

In addition, Hackney said the findings suggest that healthcare organizations may find opportunities to provide guidance and outreach to workplaces to help pregnant workers reduce stress via reduced pregnancy discrimination and enhanced work-family support for pregnant women.

Some steps may include training managers to be more family supportive and less biased against expectant mothers, she said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707120650.htm

Living close to green space benefits gut bacteria of urban, formula-fed infants

July 9, 2020

Science Daily/University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Living close to natural green space can mitigate some of the changes in infant gut bacteria associated with formula feeding, according to new research published in the journal Environment International.

"Not every infant can be breastfed," said Anita Kozyrskyj, pediatrics professor at the University of Alberta. "This is one of the first pieces of evidence for a nature-related intervention that could possibly help promote healthy gut microbial composition in infants who are not breastfed."

"We consider breastfeeding to be the desirable state, and we know that a breastfed infant is at reduced likelihood of many conditions later in life -- for example, developing respiratory infections and becoming overweight," said Kozyrskyj, who is principal investigator for SyMBIOTA, a research team that studies how changes in infant gut microbiota can lead to the development of obesity, allergies and asthma in children.

The researchers examined fecal samples taken during routine home visits from 355 four-month-old infants who are part of the CHILD Cohort Study -- a national study that is following nearly 3,500 Canadian children from before birth to adolescence with the goal of discovering root causes of allergies, asthma and chronic disease.

The babies' postal codes were then cross-referenced with the City of Edmonton's urban Primary Land and Vegetation Inventory (uPLVI), which maps natural green spaces in the city, including natural forest, grasslands, wetlands, lakes, rivers and ravines.

"We found that the infants who lived within 500 metres of a natural environment were less likely to have higher diversity in their gut bacteria," she said. "It may seem counterintuitive, but a young breastfed infant has lower gut microbial diversity than a formula-fed infant because formula feeding increases the number of different gut bacteria."

The results applied only to infants living close to natural spaces, regardless of whether there was a human-made park in the neighbourhood.

The researchers found the greatest association was for formula-fed infants living in a home with a pet. Though the exact mechanism is not understood, they hypothesize that families who walk their dog may use natural areas more often, or that pets may bring healthy bacteria into the home on their fur.

"We know that when you introduce a pet into the home, it does change the types of microbes that are found in household dust," Kozyrskyj pointed out.

The researchers found that 54 per cent of the infants lived close to a natural environment and 18 per cent of the babies were exclusively formula-fed. Nine per cent were both formula-fed and had pets in the home. The results were adjusted for the type of delivery (caesarean section or natural), the season, and the age and education level of the mothers.

They did not distinguish between the type of pets the families owned, but Kozyrskyj said, "We think it's a dog effect."

"Even if you live in a highrise, if you have a dog you go out and use the natural spaces near your home. It's likely that the pet is the conduit."

The researchers reported an increased presence of Proteobacteria -- the type of bacteria more often found in nature -- in the guts of all of the babies.

While numerous studies have examined the impact of living close to natural green spaces on the skin and gut microbiota of adults, this is the first study to cross-reference proximity to natural green spaces with the gut bacteria of infants.

"We had this wonderful opportunity for data linkage between the unique natural assets map, the home locations of infants in the CHILD birth cohort and information on the composition of their gut bacteria," Kozyrskyj said.

Kozyrskyj said the research team included a geographer, a city planner, pediatrics and obstetrics specialists, and international environmental and microbiome scientists.

"It takes an interdisciplinary team to do this kind of research," she said. "That's what made the project so rich in terms of the interpretation of the results and the kinds of questions that could be asked."

Kozyrskyj said the next step for this research will be to follow the formula-fed infants who are exposed to natural areas throughout childhood and track the impact on their health.

She said she often receives emails from new mothers who are unable to breastfeed and are concerned about their children's futures. Based on these results, she will now advise them to take their babies out to natural areas and consider getting a pet.

The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Allergy, Genes and Environment (AllerGen) Networks of Centres of Excellence, the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation through the Women and Children's Health Research Institute and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200709135616.htm