Dietary Patterns During Pregnancy and Their Association with Gestational Weight Gain and Anthropometric Measurements at Birth

Maternal and Child Health Journal - Dietary patterns can influence maternal and child health outcomes. The study aims to characterize dietary patterns during pregnancy as well as to identify their...     

Vitamin A Status Improvement in Obesity: Findings and Perspectives Using Encapsulation Techniques

The association between obesity and vitamin A has been studied. Some studies point to the anti-obesity activity related to this vitamin, carotenoids with provitamin A activity, and carotenoid conversion products. This performance has been evaluated in respect of adipogenesis, metabolic activity, oxidation processes, secretory function, and oxidative stress modulation, showing a new property attributed to vitamin A in preventing and treating obesity. However, vitamin A and its precursors are highly sensitive and easily degraded when subjected to heat, the presence of light, and oxygen, in addition to losses related to the processes of digestion and absorption. In this context, encapsulation presents itself as an alternative capable of increasing vitamin A’s stability in the face of unfavorable conditions in the environment, which can reduce its functionality. Considering that vitamin A’s status shows a strong correlation with obesity and is an innovative theme, this article addresses the associations between vitamin A’s consumption and its precursors, encapsulated or not, and its physiological effects on obesity. The present narrative review points out those recent studies that demonstrate that vitamin A and its encapsulated precursors have the most preserved functionality, which guarantees better effects on obesity therapy.     

Correction to: Incidence and characteristics of methicillin‑resistant coagulase‑negative Staphylococcus in peritoneal dialysis‑associated peritonitis in a single center using molecular methods

International Urology and Nephrology - In the original publication, article title was incorrectly published.     

Early and late paternal contribution to cell division of embryos in a time-lapse imaging incubation system

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of male age, semen quality and days of ejaculatory abstinence on embryo morphokinetics. A total of 1,220 zygotes obtained from 139 couples in a private in vitro fertilisation centre were analysed. The timing of specific events from the point of insemination, such as timings to pronuclei appearance and fading, to two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight cells and to blastulation were recorded. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of paternal factors on embryo morphokinetic events. Paternal age was positively correlated with delayed cell cleavage and blastulation, and negatively associated with implantation rate, and clinical pregnancy and live–birth chances. The ejaculatory abstinence was inversely correlated with the implantation rate. Inverse relationships were observed between semen parameters (sperm count, progressive sperm motility, total motile sperm count and morphology) and the timing of specific events during embryo development. Sperm morphology was also positively associated with implantation rate and pregnancy and live–birth chances. Increased paternal age and ejaculatory abstinence, and poor semen quality correlate with delayed cell cleavage and blastulation and negatively impact intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes.     

Taking a patient-oriented approach in exercise interventions for pregnant women: a commentary

Taking a patient-oriented approach to developing lifestyle interventions includes incorporating the patient into the program’s design, delivery, and evaluation. This commentary assumes that a patient-oriented approach has not yet been implemented and tested in exercise-based interventions designed for pregnant women. We outline and define a patient-oriented approach to conduct exercise-based research and review previous physical activity interventions designed for pregnant women to determine whether a patient-oriented approach was applied. In addition, pregnant women living with obesity may have unique barriers to engaging in prenatal exercise interventions that have not been previously addressed, such as having experienced weight stigma before pregnancy in healthcare and fitness settings. We propose suggestions for future trials to effectively take a patient-oriented approach when designing and implementing prenatal exercise interventions to address patient-informed barriers and incorporate suggested facilitators for physical activity. Given that prenatal activity levels are low and pregnant women may have unique barriers to engaging in exercise interventions, a patient-oriented approach may be an effective strategy to improve inclusivity and equity and, as a result, increase uptake and adherence to the intervention.     

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis

A four years-old boy with Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis was surgically treated at the Pediatric Surgery Unit of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Maceió. Comments are made upon pathology, pre-operative diagnostic difficulties, differential diagnosis, and the rare occurrence in children.