Effect of overweight and obesity on pregnancy and birth outcomes

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of maternal overweight and obesity on pregnancy and birth outcome. DESIGN AND METHODS: This prospective study invited 160 women who attended their first antenatal visit at the University Hospital of the West Indies to participate in the study between June 2012 and February 2013. Maternal demographics, socioeconomic status, past medical and obstetric history, complications in pregnancy and birth outcome were collected. Body mass index (BMI) categories were created. Descriptive statistics reporting means ñ SD, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi Squared Test and regression analyses to determine whether maternal BMI or weight were independent predictors of birth and placental size were performed. RESULTS: Of the 160 women recruited, 126 (78.8%) were used for final analysis. There was an even distribution of mothers in each BMI category. A significant difference in blood pressure was seen between normal weight and obese women (systolic BP: p = 0.002, diastolic BP: p = 0.01). There was no statistical difference in women who developed an illness in pregnancy and in the admission rates across BMI categories (p = 0.92; p = 0.09 respectively). There was no significant difference in birth outcome across BMI categories. CONCLUSION: Overweight or class I obese women did not have an increased risk of adverse maternal and birth outcomes as compared to women with a normal BMI.

The role of protein kinase C in regulating equine eosinophil adherence and superoxide production.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if protein kinase C (PKC) regulates equine eosinophil function. MATERIAL OR SUBJECTS: Blood eosinophils were obtained from healthy ponies. METHODS: IL-5- and histamine-induced adherence to serum-coated plastic was measured as the eosinophil peroxidase content of adherent cells and serum treated zymosan (STZ)-and IL-5-induced superoxide production by the reduction of cytochrome C. Eosinophil PKC activity was quantitated as the rate of transfer of (32)P from ATP to substrate. The effects of Ro31-8220 (isotype non-selective PKC inhibitor), Go6976 (conventional PKC inhibitor), and rottlerin (PKCdelta inhibitor) were determined by ANOVA and Bonferroni's or Dunnett's test. RESULTS: Ro31-8220 and Go6976 reduced superoxide production whereas only Go6976 inhibited adherence. Rottlerin inhibited histamine-induced adherence and increased STZ-induced superoxide production. Ro31-8220 and Go6976, but not rottlerin, inhibited PKC activity. CONCLUSIONS: PKC is involved in regulating equine eosinophil adherence and superoxide production. The role of PKCdelta appears to depend upon the stimulus used and response measured.

Protein kinase C (PKC) isotype profile in eosinophils from ponies with sweet itch and role in histamine-induced eosinophil activation.

Eosinophils have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the seasonal equine allergic skin disease, sweet itch. Protein kinase C (PKC) is involved in regulating eosinophil function and antigen challenge has been reported to alter PKC isotype expression in blood eosinophils from allergic human subjects. Here we have compared the pattern of PKC isotype expression in eosinophils from sweet itch ponies with that in cells from normal ponies both during the active and inactive phases of the disease. A role for PKC in histamine-induced eosinophil activation was also investigated. Conventional PKCs alpha and beta, novel PKCs delta and epsilon and atypical PKCs iota and zeta were identified in eosinophils pooled from four allergic ponies during the inactive phase, when no clinical signs were evident. The PKC isotypes, like those in eosinophils from normal ponies, were located primarily in the particulate fraction of the cell. Isotype expression in cells from normal and allergic animals did not appear to be different. In contrast, during the active phase of the disease, when the sweet itch ponies had clinical signs, the expression of PKCs beta, epsilon and iota in eosinophils from these animals appeared to be increased relative to that in cells from normal ponies. When PKC expression in eosinophils from five individual normal and sweet itch ponies was compared, small, but statistically significant, increases in PKC epsilon and PKCdelta expression were evident in eosinophils from the sweet itch ponies during the active and inactive phases, respectively. The non-selective PKC inhibitors, staurosporine and Ro31-8220, significantly reduced histamine-induced superoxide production. Use of Gö6976, an inhibitor of conventional PKCs, suggested that PKCalpha and/or beta were involved and that there was significantly greater inhibition of the response in eosinophils obtained from sweet itch ponies during the active phase. There was no significant difference in histamine-induced superoxide production by eosinophils from allergic and normal ponies and the functional significance of the increased PKC isotype expression in eosinophils from sweet itch ponies relative to that in cells from healthy animals remains to be established.

Differential localization of protein kinase C isotypes in equine eosinophils and neutrophils.

Phorbol esters, which activate protein kinase C (PKC), stimulate equine eosinophil superoxide production and adherence. After showing that superoxide production could be inhibited by the nonselective PKC inhibitors, staurosporine and bisindolymaleimide I, the PKC isotypes in equine eosinophils were characterized, because evidence suggests that individual isotypes may play distinct roles in regulating eosinophil function. Western blots demonstrated that equine eosinophils expressed PKC alpha, beta, delta, epsilon, iota, and zeta. However, unlike the equine neutrophil, the majority of the PKC was detected in the particulate fraction of the cell. Despite this unusual location, the PKC in equine eosinophils was activatable, suggesting that it is functionally competent. The regulatory role of PKC in equine eosinophils may reflect the association of activity with the particulate fraction and the profile of isotype expression.