Lactation amenorrhea in Saudi women.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate some aspects of breast feeding, namely-lactation amenorrhea, the average interval between pregnancies, and the extent of knowledge that an average Saudi woman has about breast feeding. DESIGN: This was a cross sectional study in which a pretested questionnaire was used to collect the information. SETTING: The study was conducted in the Taif area between January and April of 1990. Seventy nine primary health care centres participated. PARTICIPANTS: Altogether 1019 of 2400 women contacted who agreed to participate and met the criteria were studied. Eligible subjects were defined as Saudi women, between 16 and 40 years old, who came with their infants for vaccination, and had delivered between one week and 12 months previously. Each mother had at least one other child. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULT: At birth, the percentage of infants who were initially breast fed was 98% but within three days of delivery over two thirds (68.9%) of the mothers gave other supplementary liquids to their infants. At the time of interview more than half (55.1%) of mothers had lactation amenorrhea. The mean (SD) lactation amenorrhea period and birth interval were 5.95 (5) and 26.8 (14.1) months, respectively. Mothers obtained information on breast feeding mainly from their doctors and television. Within families, husbands had the primary role in encouraging their wives to breast feed, followed by the mother and then by the mother in law. It was found that a high percentage (94.2%) of women had breast fed their previous child. CONCLUSION: The lack of adequate information on breast feeding and the short interval between births are local problems which should be considered by the health authorities.

Breast-feeding patterns in Saudi Arabia.

A survey was conducted on 1019 mothers in 79 primary health care centers in Saudi Arabia to determine the patterns of breast feeding. A large percentage of mothers (98%) had breastfed their infants at birth. This rate dropped to 96.5% during the first week of life. There were 635 (64.1%) mothers who started to breastfeed their babies within 6 hours of delivery. Over two-thirds (68.9%) of mothers gave supplemental liquids to infants during the first 3 days of their life. More than half fed their infants on demand rather than on schedule. A high proportion (94.4%) breastfed at night, with 88.1% feeding their infants more than once. There was no significant relationship between the duration of suckling and the mother's age or work status (p 0.05). However, a significant relationship (p 0.001) was found between the duration of suckling and the mother's literacy. More than three-quarters of mothers slept in the same bed with their infants or in the same room. A large percentage of women initiated breast feeding; however, many introduced a supplement too early, a practice that should be discouraged.

Effects of vitamin A status on cellular retinoic acid-binding protein in rat skin and testes.

Cellular retinoic acid-binding protein levels were determined in the skin and testes of normal and retinol-deficient rats. All-trans [3H]retinoic acid (1.1 TBq/mmol) was used to titrate the specific binding sites in tissue cytosol preparations. Scatchard plot analyses were used to determine the concentration of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein and its binding affinity (Kd) for all-trans-retinoic acid. In normal rat skin the concentration of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein was 3317 +/- 924 (SD) fmol/mg protein and the Kd was 1.98 +/- 1.0 x 10(-9) mol/l. In retinol-deficient rat skin the concentration of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein was 2584 +/- 1205 fmol/mg protein and the Kd was 3.30 +/- 3.4 x 10(-9) mol/l. In the normal rat testes the concentration of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein was 2965 +/- 1187 fmol/mg protein and the Kd was 2.30 +/- 2.1 x 10(-9) mol/l. In retinol-deficient rat testes the concentration of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein was 2439 +/- 383 fmol/mg protein and the Kd was 0.3 +/- 0.2 x 10(-9) mol/l. These findings indicate that there are no significant differences in the levels of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein between normal and deficient rat skin and testes (p greater than 0.1, by Wilcoxon rank sum test). We therefore conclude that the level of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein in skin and testes may not be controlled by the availability of vitamin A.

The in vitro metabolism of 13-cis-retinoic acid in a model sebaceous structure, the rat preputial gland.

In order to study the metabolism of 13-cis-retinoic acid (13-cis-RA) in animal sebaceous glands and analogues, preputial glands from normal and vitamin A-deficient male rats were incubated with [3H]13-cis-RA for up to 24 h; vitamin A-normal hamster costovertebral glands (flank organs) were incubated for 24 h as well. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to identify the metabolites. [3H]13-cis-RA was rapidly converted to a less polar compound, [3H]all-trans-retinoic acid, by the preputial glands from both normal and deficient rats. In normal preputial glands, the level of [3H]all-trans-RA decreases and two more polar compounds, metabolite I and [3H]4-keto-13-cis-RA appear. In contrast, [3H]all-trans-RA is not metabolized further by the preputial glands from deficient rats, while [3H]13-cis-RA in the hamster costovertebral glands remains intact for up to 24 h. The major metabolite of [3H]13-cis-RA in rat preputial glands is [3H]4-keto-13-cis-RA. Initially, [3H]13-cis-RA is converted to [3H]all-trans-RA. In vitamin A-deficient rats the preputial glands fail to further metabolize [3H]13-cis-RA to the more polar [3H]13-cis-RA derivatives. This may be due to the reduced level of P-450 enzyme in vitamin A-deficient rat preputial glands.