“Antidepressant use in pregnancy can affect newborn - CNN” plus 4 more

Antidepressant use in pregnancy can affect newborn - CNN
Single girl Padma Lakshmi craves spaghetti during pregnancy - Express India
Lust, pregnancy, infidelity: All teachable moments on ‘Glee’ - Kansas City Star
Pregnancy ends in death for one in eight mothers in Sierra Leone - World Socialist Web Site
Asthmatic children: Did mom use her pump during pregnancy? - Science Centric

Antidepressant use in pregnancy can affect newborn - CNN

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 10:06 PM PDT

(Health.com) -- More than one in 10 women develops depression during pregnancy. Now, a new study suggests that women who are treated with antidepressants are more likely to give birth early or to have newborns that need to spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Babies of women taking SSRIs were born earlier and were more likely to have been admitted to intensive care.

Depression itself can have ill effects for both mom and baby. Therefore, the benefits of the antidepressants -- known as selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors -- may still outweigh the risks for some women, researchers say.

"There is no easy way out of this," says Dr. Tim Oberlander, a developmental pediatrician at BC Children's Hospital, in Vancouver, Canada, who has studied the effects of SSRIs on children exposed in the womb, but was not involved in the current study. "Depression needs to be managed, and for some women, the use of these medications is appropriate and necessary." Health.com: 3 Signs you should stop, adjust, or switch antidepressants

The new study, led by Dr. Najaaraq Lund, of Aarhus University, in Denmark, found that babies whose mothers had taken SSRIs were born earlier and were more likely to require treatment in an NICU.

Women have been using SSRIs during pregnancy since the early 1990s, Lund and her colleagues point out in the report, which is published in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. These drugs, which include Zoloft, Prozac, and others, are widely considered to be the safest type of antidepressant medication to take during pregnancy. It's been difficult to confirm their safety, however, especially since investigators have to find a way to distinguish between the effects of depression itself -- and habits that depressed women may be more likely to engage in, like drinking and smoking -- and the drug on the newborn. Health.com: Do pregnancy and bipolar disorder mix?

Lund and her colleagues tackled this issue by including a group of women who reported a history of some type of psychiatric illness but weren't taking SSRIs. Some, but not all, of these women had suffered from depression. "Using this group as a comparison group takes into account possible genetic or lifestyle factors associated with present or previous psychiatric disorders," the researcher notes.

The analysis included 329 women who took SSRIs in pregnancy, 4,902 with a history of psychiatric illness who weren't taking the drugs, and 51,770 women who reported no history of psychiatric illness and weren't taking SSRIs. All had received prenatal care at Aarhus University Hospital between 1989 and 2006.

Babies of women taking SSRIs were born an average of five days earlier than those born to women who had no mental illness, and were twice as likely to be born preterm. The babies whose mothers took SSRIs were 2.4 times as likely to have been admitted to the NICU than infants who hadn't been exposed to the drugs in utero.

They were also more than four times as likely to have Apgar scores below eight, just five minutes after birth. (Apgar scores measure an infant's health at birth by looking at his or her breathing, heartbeat, reflexes, muscle tone, and skin color; scores of seven and above are considered normal, and a newborn's Apgar score has no influence on how he or she will fare later in life.)

There was no difference between SSRI-exposed babies and unexposed babies in head circumference or birth weight.

Antidepressant medication is just one part of the equation in addressing women's mental health during pregnancy, notes Oberlander, who says depression in pregnancy is a "huge public health issue" with lasting implications for women and their children. Helping ensure that women are getting enough social support and adequate nutrition is essential, he adds, while alternative treatments for depression -- such as exercise, light therapy, and omega-3 fatty acids -- ought to be explored further. "In general, optimizing non-pharmacological treatment would be a really important step," he says.

He explains that it is essential to follow SSRI-exposed babies as they grow up, to identify any problems and intervene as necessary. However, he and Lund agree that it's still unclear whether the differences seen at birth will have lasting effects on a child's development and health. Health.com: 6 Rules for a healthy postpartum slim-down

"As depression itself can influence birth outcome in a negative direction, treatment is warranted in some cases based on the existing body of evidence," Lund says. "In cases with mild or moderate symptoms, psychotherapy can be used as an alternative treatment. In severe cases and in patients with a history of recurrent, severe depression, continuation or initiation of treatment might be the best option.

"Every single case should be considered individually, and the decision should be made by the woman and her ob-gyn and psychiatrist," she says. Health.com: Why you cannot wait to treat postpartum depression

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All About Depression • Pregnancy and Childbirth

Single girl Padma Lakshmi craves spaghetti during pregnancy - Express India

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 09:24 PM PDT

Agencies

Posted: Oct 07, 2009 at 0903 hrs IST

Los Angeles Indian supermodel Padmalakshmi who is expecting her first child has revealed that any man who wants to impress her, can do so by whipping up a great dish of spaghetti.

The 39-year-old who calls herself a "single girl" recently confirmed her pregnancy but refused to name the father of the child, reported Fox News online.

"I think the way to anybody's heart is through their stomach. The way to my heart is through my stomach, with a really great bowl of spaghetti," the Top Chef host said in an interview to Vegas magazine.

The award winning cook book author is over the moon with the news, as she has for years battled the disease of endometriosis, which causes infertility.

"Model, author, and Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi confirms that she is carrying her first child after years of struggling with endometriosis. As a result of her condition, this pregnancy has been referred to by her physician as nothing short of a medical miracle," her spokesperson had said while confirming the pregnancy.

Lakshmi hasn't gone public with any romantic interests since divorcing Booker prize winning author Salman Rushdie in 2007.

Earlier reports suggested that a New York based lawyer Manu Nathan was the father of the child, but Lakshmi's representative shot down the report saying that Nathan is her cousin, not lover.

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Lust, pregnancy, infidelity: All teachable moments on ‘Glee’ - Kansas City Star

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 08:33 PM PDT

Lulled into a sense of family-friendly excitement by the first installment of "Glee," which Fox sent out like a tantalizing test balloon this summer, some parents subsequently have expressed shock and concern over the overtly sexual nature of the show's formal premiere.

Which is a bit strange, considering that the show is on Fox, not the Disney Channel, and is about, you know, high school.

One episode included allusions to and/or discussions about premature ejaculation, accidental pregnancy, sexual betrayal and the general teen obsession with carnality. Which, OK, is a lot of edge for people hoping that "Glee" would turn out to be a slightly less golly-gee version of "High School Musical." With better acting. And much better songs.

Subsequent episodes were not quite as out there, but clearly "Glee" has claimed frank sexuality as part of its domain. In this time of special-interest TV, when each family member has his or her own personal screen and each demographic its own network, it's natural for parents to long for the golden age of the Family Hour, for that one show they can watch with their tweens without having to subject themselves to either bratty kids playing to a soul-brutalizing laugh track or the very real possibility that the skinned corpse of a prostitute will be turning up any minute now.

I'm here to assert that "Glee" may be just that show. Not in spite of the straight-on sexuality but because of it.

For those who claim to feel betrayed by the show's sexiness, I have one word: "Twilight." Peruse your Bram Stoker for a moment; vampires are the ultimate symbol of scary sexuality — all that biting and shared bodily fluids, those uncontrollably fatal appetites that must be stilled or fatally sated. Premature ejaculation may be frustrating for all concerned, but the idea that the truest passion is the one that dances with death is a much deeper and more disturbing issue.

After watching the official premiere with the kids, some of us may have felt obligated to explain that, no, one cannot get pregnant without intercourse even if a Jacuzzi is involved.

But the rest of the stuff — that girls want sex as much as boys, that people can get overly excited when they kiss, that boys talk about sex a lot — well, it's true, isn't it? More true than the "High School Musical" hypothesis that Troy and Gabriella would go through two years of couplehood without ever locking lips.

Part of "Glee's" charm is its determined evocation of the big MGM musical, Judy and Mickey puttin' on a show. But let's not forget that many of those "kids" were hyped up on bennies at the time, or forced into fake studio romances, and teens and even tweens today know stuff like that.

Kids know that Heath Ledger was great in "The Dark Knight" but died of an accidental drug overdose and that Lindsay Lohan, so cute in "The Parent Trap" and "Mean Girls," has been in and out of rehab. They know that the Jonas Brothers wear promise rings and what that means and that Bristol Palin and Jamie Lynn Spears had babies and what that means, too.

Any tweens or teens who would find "Glee" enjoyable in the first place in all likelihood already know that high school students think and talk about sex and some of them actually have it. And if they don't, well, one of the most offensive pieces of television I've ever seen was an episode of Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh" in which Drake sat down on an airplane between two young women previously unknown to him and within minutes was making out with both of them while Josh made fun of his overweight seatmates. "Glee" isn't a network version of "High School Musical" or even a resurrected "Square Pegs." The whole point of the first episode is that adults who deny the sexual impulses of teenagers do so at their own peril.

As Will (Matthew Morrison) lobbies for a harmless disco tune to introduce the Glee Club to the school, he seems to have forgotten that disco, embodied at the time by John Travolta's mating dance of a strut, was all about sex. That most modern music is all about sex. Because sex is the electric current that keeps us moving and makes us human. Sexual love is the closest many of us get to transcendence, which is why it occupies such a huge portion of art and literature and makes high school so difficult and delicious.

"Glee" is certainly no after-school special, no public service announcement, but if you're going to watch television with your kids, a show in which high school students are engaged in but still embarrassed by and alarmingly clueless about sex seems like a perfect opportunity for a little intra-family values sharing.

Pregnancy ends in death for one in eight mothers in Sierra Leone - World Socialist Web Site

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 09:59 PM PDT

Home » World News » Sierra Leone

Pregnancy ends in death for one in eight mothers in Sierra Leone

By Barry Mason
7 October 2009

Back in 1997 the incoming Labour government in Britain loudly trumpeted its intention to follow an "ethical foreign policy," using humanitarian concerns to pursue an interventionist strategy. This was strongly endorsed by the Foreign Office first under Robin Cook and later under Jack Straw.

One of the Labour government's first opportunities to put this policy into practice was in Sierra Leone.

The former British colony suffered a decade-long civil war, which officially ended in 2002. The conflict, which was fuelled by the diamonds with which the country is richly endowed, cost the lives of tens of thousands. The opposition Revolutionary United Front (RUF), backed by the regime of Charles Taylor in neighbouring Liberia, gratuitously hacked off the limbs of men, women and children. It presented a perfect case for a supposedly humanitarian intervention.

The British intervention in 2000 aimed to prop up the corrupt regime of Ahmad Kabbah, who had come to power in 1996 in a disputed election with the civil war already in progress. For the British establishment it was a welcome return to the world stage. The Daily Telegraph, a paper close to the military, described it as "the most ambitious attempt by Britain to involve itself in an African nation's affairs since the colonial era."

Now, almost a decade later, the results of that intervention are clear to see in a recent report on the dire situation facing pregnant women in Sierra Leone. The report has been drawn up by the human rights advocacy group Amnesty International (AI).

Women in Sierra Leone have a one-in-eight chance of dying from the complications associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Thousands of girls and young women are dying each year from problems that are easily treatable if resources were made available. Most of the deaths occur in the home, others while making hazardous journeys in private transport. Others die in spite of reaching a health facility because the necessary treatment is unavailable.

The report notes the effect of various delays in the system. Initially women delay seeking treatment for complications because of a lack of knowledge or lack of money. Further delays occur once a decision has been taken to seek help due to poor transport infrastructure. On average, an 11-mile journey is needed to reach the nearest hospital or clinic. Once at a medical facility further delays can result from the lack of finance to pay for the treatment or because of a lack of staff or necessary resources at the facility.

The major causes of maternal death are obstructed labour, haemorrhage, anaemia and ruptured uterus. Another major cause is the lack of safe blood transfusion facilities. These are relatively simple things to overcome, given sufficient resources.

Less than 20 percent of births occur in a medical facility, and only around 40 percent of women giving birth have the support of a skilled attendant. The lack of midwifery staff and medical intervention contributes to the deaths. Of the 13 administrative districts that make up Sierra Leone, six of them provide no obstetric care. Less than 10 percent of women have access to contraceptives, making unplanned and risky pregnancies the lot of most.

The World Bank, the British government's Department for International Development and UNICEF are supposed to be funding a Reproductive and Child Health Strategic Plan. The AI report makes it clear that the fine words have had little effect on the ground.

Funding is grossly inadequate. Government and donor financing amounts to only US$16 per capita per year, compared to US$45 per capita that comes from patients and their families.

Britain did not just send troops into Sierra Leone. British personnel are involved in running the state machine that is so palpably failing women and children. Despite claiming that this was a humanitarian intervention, the main interest of the Labour government lay in the immense natural resources that Sierra Leone possesses.

There are known large deposits of bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds, while gas and oil deposits have been discovered off the coast of the country. Yet Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair retains a personal interest in Sierra Leone. Commenting on an investment conference due to take place in London this November, the current Sierra Leone president, Ernest Koroma said, "I am very pleased to announce this Investment Conference that I will be attending with my good friend, Tony Blair.

"Last year, the country was named the 'easiest place to open a new business' in West Africa by the World Bank. From minerals to fishing, from agriculture to energy, the opportunities for investors are enormous and tangible….

"For example, tourism is increasing—the first guidebook to the country has already sold out, and we are one of Lonely Planet's top 10 destinations this year. We have beautiful beaches, world class fishing and diving, and a rich cultural and historical heritage to explore."

The business magazine Entrepreneur carried an article on its Web site earlier this year entitled, "Back in Business: Sierra Leone's President and CEO." It commented, "In a visit to Sierra Leone in April 2009, Tony Blair…reported that the outlook for Sierra Leone was now the most positive that he had ever seen…economic possibilities offered by tourism h[ave] given the country a real chance [of] becoming an African success story."

It is in this British "success story" in Africa that women and children are dying because of the absence of the most elementary healthcare facilities.

See the Amnesty International report "Out of Reach: The Cost of Maternal Health in Sierra Leone".

Asthmatic children: Did mom use her pump during pregnancy? - Science Centric

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 12:55 PM PDT

Expectant mothers who eschew asthma treatment during pregnancy heighten the risk transmitting the condition to their offspring, according to one of the largest studies of its kind published in the European Respiratory Journal. A research team from the Universite de Montreal, the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre found that 32.6 percent of children born to mothers who neglected to treat their asthma during pregnancy developed the respiratory illness themselves.

'Uncontrolled maternal asthma during pregnancy could trigger a transient yet important reaction in the foetus that affects lung development and could subsequently increase the likelihood of a baby developing asthma in later childhood,' warns lead author Dr Lucie Blais, a professor at the Universite de Montreal's Faculty of Pharmacy and researcher at the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal.

As part of the study, the research team examined a decade of health records for 8,226 children - from birth to 10 years of age - born to asthmatic mothers. Parents of these children were also mailed questionnaires requesting additional facts concerning familial medical history, lifestyle habits and environment.

'We found that failing to control maternal asthma during pregnancy clearly has an impact on asthma in offspring - a consequence that is independent of other contributing factors,' says Dr Blais. 'It is of great importance for physicians to adequately treat asthmatic mothers during pregnancy, not only for the favourable outcome of pregnancy but also for the benefit of the child.'

Source: University of Montreal