plus 4, Low vitamin D tied to infection during pregnancy - StarPhoenix

Low vitamin D tied to infection during pregnancy - StarPhoenix
Siblings Key In Pregnancy-Related Diabetes Risk - Post Chronicle
Jessica Alba Talks Pregnancy and Politics - The Hollywood Gossip
Dannii Minogue confirms pregnancy - Thaindian.com
Can companies block pregnancy leave? - Columbus Dispatch

Low vitamin D tied to infection during pregnancy - StarPhoenix

Posted: 14 Jan 2010 02:47 AM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who are deficient in vitamin D may be at increased risk for developing bacterial vaginosis, a vaginal infection that may have harmful effects on the pregnancy, according to a report in The Journal of Nutrition.

Bacterial vaginosis is caused by an imbalance of the bacteria normally found in a woman's vagina, which is upset by an overgrowth of bacteria not usually present. It is the most common vaginal infection in women of child-bearing age. Symptoms include discharge, odor, pain, itching and burning.

When present during pregnancy, bacterial vaginosis is known to increase the chances of preterm delivery.

Dr. Lisa M. Bodnar from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pennsylvania, and colleagues examined the association between vitamin D status and bacterial vaginosis in the first trimester of pregnancy in 469 women.

The team found that 41 percent of the women had bacterial vaginosis, and 52 percent had low levels of vitamin D. Further analysis showed that vitamin D levels were lower in women with bacterial vaginosis than in those without the infection.

The researchers found that low vitamin D levels were linked to bacterial vaginosis in black women, but not in white women. However, this may simply be because relatively few white women were included in the study.

"Our findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency is associated with bacterial vaginosis at less than 16 weeks of pregnancy," the authors conclude. If the findings are confirmed in other studies, they add, vitamin D deficiency may partially account for the racial differences seen in rates of bacterial vaginosis and in other pregnancy complications.

SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, April 8, 2009.

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Siblings Key In Pregnancy-Related Diabetes Risk - Post Chronicle

Posted: 14 Jan 2010 02:11 AM PST

Women with a family history of diabetes who are free from the disease themselves are more likely to develop pregnancy-related diabetes, a new study confirms.

And the risks associated with having a brother or sister who is diabetic are much higher than having one or even two parents with the disease, Dr. Catherine Kim of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and her colleagues found.

The increased demands placed on the body during pregnancy can cause some women to develop abnormally high blood sugar. The condition, known medically as gestational diabetes, typically gets better after a woman delivers her baby, but it increases her risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on.

The more relatives a person has with type 2 diabetes, the greater their risk of developing the condition themselves. But little is known about how a woman's family history of the condition affects her risk of developing gestational diabetes.

To investigate, Kim and her team looked at 4,566 women participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, all of whom had at least one child. Ninety-seven percent had never been diagnosed with diabetes, about 1 percent had gestational diabetes only, and 2 percent had type 2 diabetes.

Having a mother or father with diabetes increased the likelihood of having diabetes or gestational diabetes to a similar degree, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. But while having two parents with diabetes boosted the likelihood of having diabetes eight-fold, this only doubled the likelihood of gestational diabetes.

On the other hand, having a diabetic brother or sister increased gestational diabetes risk more than seven-fold, but only slightly upped type 2 diabetes risk.

"The odds of increased most markedly when a sibling was affected," Kim and her team write. And when the researchers accounted for early-life factors such as education and poverty, the risk associated with having a diabetic sibling actually increased. "Sibling-only history may be a greater risk factor than previously documented," they say.

The findings suggest, the researchers say, that gestational diabetes may follow a different pattern of inheritance than type 2 diabetes, which is closely associated with being overweight or obese.

Further investigation of these patterns could help identify women who are at particularly high risk of developing type 2 diabetes after having the gestational form of the condition, they add, "and thus target them for future prevention interventions."

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, December 2009.

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Jessica Alba Talks Pregnancy and Politics - The Hollywood Gossip

Posted: 14 Jan 2010 03:09 AM PST

In the latest issue of Self, Jessica Alba speaks glowingly about her husband, her political affiliation, her pregnancy and her feelings on Nancy Pelosi.

It's a wide-ranging interview.

Starring alongside every other A-lister in Hollywood in next month's Valentine's Day - from Taylor Lautner to Julia Roberts to Patrick Dempsy - Alba dishes on these topics below...

On pregnancy: "[It] was the most incredible experience I've ever had. So I'll take the stretch marks. I'll take the sagging boobs. I'll take the cellulite I can never get rid of. If you walk around with your head held high and you're happy and positive, then all that other stuff is irrelevant."

On politics: "When I was in Washington, D.C., I got to meet Nancy Pelosi. She was so warm. I just grinned from ear to ear with my mouth open and my eyes bulging out of my head! Afterward, I called [husband Cash Warren] and totally geeked out. I was beside myself. Tickled pink! The fact that a woman is speaker of the house? Oh, my God!"

On Warren: "I love the way I feel after Cash and I wake up. Or talk on the phone. Everything! Every time I see him or talk to him, I fall in love with him all over again."

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Dannii Minogue confirms pregnancy - Thaindian.com

Posted: 14 Jan 2010 02:33 AM PST

London, January 14 (ANI): Dannii Minogue has confirmed she is pregnant with her first child with boyfriend Kris Smith.

The X Factor judge made the announcement on Twitter.

"Woo hoo I'm gonna be a mummy!" the Telegraph quoted her as stating.

Also, a spokesman for the X Factor star confirmed: "Dannii and Kris are very excited and can't wait to start their family in 2010."

He added: "Dannii had her 12-week scan this week and was given the results today with the all-clear to make an announcement."

Meanwhile, Minogue's sister/singer, Kylie, expressed her joy.

She Tweeted: "OMG OMG OMG Perfect!!!! So happy!!! A new Minogue!"

Minogue and Smith have been dating after they met in 2008 during a holiday in Ibiza. (ANI)

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Can companies block pregnancy leave? - Columbus Dispatch

Posted: 14 Jan 2010 01:43 AM PST

Companies shouldn't be able to fire women for taking pregnancy leave even when they haven't worked long enough to qualify, the state's solicitor general told the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday.

The state contends that a Pataskala nursing home illegally fired a nurse in January 2004 after she presented a doctor's note stating that she was unable to work because of pregnancy-related swelling. The nurse went on leave even though her employer had denied her request.

The nurse, Tiffany McFee, had been employed at Pataskala Oaks Care Center for about eight months. The nursing home allowed employees with at least a year's tenure to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for pregnancy or other needs.

The state argues that such policies -- which are common among Ohio employers -- discriminate against women.

"To become pregnant is tantamount to dismissal under a no-leave policy," Solicitor General Benjamin C. Mizer told justices yesterday.

Pataskala Oaks Care Center, joined by organizations representing hundreds of companies across Ohio, argued that employers may require tenure before granting leave for maternity or any other reason.

Organizations representing human-resources professionals couldn't say yesterday how many employers in Ohio have such policies.

As long as the policy doesn't single out pregnant women, it doesn't violate the state's anti-discrimination law, said Jan E. Hensel, attorney for Pataskala Oaks.

"The language of the statute is clear," she said. "It prohibits discrimination. It is entirely silent as to the issue of maternity leave."

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission interpreted the state's anti-discrimination law as requiring "reasonable" leave for pregnant women because only women become pregnant.

After the nursing home fired her, McFee filed a gender-discrimination complaint with the commission, which concluded that Pataskala Oaks had discriminated against her.

The Licking County Common Pleas Court threw out the discrimination claim, but the Civil Rights Commission won a reversal in the 5th District Court of Appeals. The nursing home then took the case to the Supreme Court.

During arguments yesterday, most Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic to the nursing home's side.

"(The policy) seems to be very evenhanded," Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger said. "It says to all employees, male and female, that no employee may get leave in the first year."

G. Michael Payton, Civil Rights Commission executive director, said after the hearing that the most evenhanded approach would acknowledge that only women can become pregnant and therefore deserve special protections in the workplace.

But the nursing-home industry's top lobbyist, Peter Van Runkle, said granting such leaves to new employees would hinder the ability of nursing homes to care for patients. About 90 percent of nursing-home employees are women, many of childbearing age, said Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association.

"We view it as being very disruptive to our workplaces and our ability to provide continuity of care," he said.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule within a few months.

jnash@dispatch.com

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