NICU parents' mental health: A comparative study with parents of term and healthy infants.

AIM: To compare mental health in parents of preterm/ill infants and parents of term and healthy infants before birth and 1 month after hospital discharge. METHODS: A comparative cohort design was used. In total 439 parents from six neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and 484 parents from four maternity units (MUs) in Sweden answered a survey 1 month after discharge. RESULTS: Parents in neonatal units experienced significantly more psychologically traumatic births and rated their health and the health of their infants less favourably the first week after delivery than parents in MUs. In the neonatal units, both parents had better possibilities to stay together with the infant during hospital stay. There was no difference between the NICU and MU groups in postpartum depressive symptoms 1 month after discharge. Experiencing a traumatic birth was not related to an increased risk of perinatal depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale ≥13) for mothers in NICUs. In contrast, the risk of depression increased for mothers in MUs. CONCLUSION: Family togetherness, parent-infant closeness and emotional support at NICUs may contribute to the positive outcome. Further studies are needed to assess the long-term effects of how family togetherness and closeness influence families long term.

Quality of couple relationship and associated factors in parents of NICU-cared infants during the first year after birth.

OBJECTIVE: To describe factors associated with quality of couple relationships among parents of infants cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) 1 year after birth and examine the trajectory of the relationship quality compared to parents from maternity units (MUs). STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinally comparative cohort design. Parents answered surveys during the first year after discharge about the couple relationship, social support, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Better social support and a hospital stay of 7-14 days were positively associated with the couple relationship in NICU mothers, whereas not having slept together with the partner and infant during hospitalization were negatively associated. Depressive symptoms were negatively associated with the relationship among NICU fathers. There were no differences in trajectory of the relationship quality between NICU and MU parents. CONCLUSION: To strengthen couple relationships, it could be important to improve social support, facilitate space and time for support, and enable togetherness during hospitalization.

Comparison of the 2,2'-azinobis-3-ethylbenzotiazo-line-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and ferric reducing anti-oxidant power (FRAP) methods to asses the total antioxidant capacity in extracts of fruit and vegetables.

A comparison was made on the use of two spectrophotometric methods, the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) method and the 2,2'-azinobis-3-ethylbenzotiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) method, for the measurement of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of plant foods. The correlations of TAC measured by the two methods were highly significant in both water-soluble (r2= 0.90) and water-insoluble extracts (r2= 0.98) from 13 strawberry samples. Also a corresponding comparison of TAC in extracts from 14 plant species showed high correlation coefficients, r2= 0.98 for water-soluble extracts and r2= 0.88 for water-insoluble extracts. The ratio of TAC values obtained with the two methods (ABTS/FRAP) varied between 0.7 and 3.3 for different plant extracts indicating that they contained antioxidants with varying reactivity in the two methods. TACs in six pure antioxidant substances were ranked in the following order by both methods: quercetin > ferulic acid > catechin > rutin > caffeic acid > Trolox = chlorogenic acid. The two methods showed similar TAC values for quercetin, rutin, caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid while ferulic acid and catechin gave higher results with the ABTS method than with the FRAP method, and such differences probably explain the varying ratios of ABTS/FRAP obtained in foods. Regarding storage TAC in water-soluble strawberry extracts stored at -20 or -80 degrees C was stable for at least five months while storage at 4 degrees C decreased the TAC value with 40% during five weeks of storage. The study showed that both the ABTS and FRAP methods can be used for convenient monitoring of the antioxidant capacities in fruit and vegetables, and that different antioxidants had varying reactivity in the two methods.

SPI-C, a PU-box binding ETS protein expressed temporarily during B-cell development and in macrophages, contains an acidic transactivation domain located to the N-terminus.

Mice deficient for SPI-group ETS transcription factors PU.1 or SPI-B fail to generate lymphocytes or do not mount normal antibody mediated immune responses, respectively. PU.1 expression is restricted to B-, T-lymphocytes and macrophages, while SPI-B is expressed in B- and T-lymphocytes. SPI-C is an ETS transcription factor closely related to PU.1 and SPI-B, and expressed temporarily during B-cell development and in macrophages. By deletion and mutation analysis we show that the SPI-C protein has a transactivation domain located to the N-terminus, and that the transactivation activity is reduced to that of the DNA binding domain (DBD) alone when four aspartic acid residues are mutated to alanines. PU.1 and SPI-B regulate transcription from acidic domains located to the N-terminus and by recruiting the co-activator PIP to adjacent sites in a sequence specific manner. In contrast to PU.1 and PIP, SPI-C and PIP were unable to form a distinct ternary complex on the Ig lambda light chain lambda(2-4) enhancer element, suggesting that SPI-C could act both as a positive and negative transcriptional regulator during B-lymphocyte differentiation.

Genomic structure of mouse SPI-C and genomic structure and expression pattern of human SPI-C.

Erythroblast transformation-specific domain (ETS) transcription factors regulate some of the critical molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation of multipotent haematopoietic progenitor cells into effector B-lymphocytes. The SPI-group ETS-protein transcription factors PU.1 and SPI-B play essential and, although coexpressed and binding to similar DNA sequences, unique roles in B-cell differentiation in mice. Mouse SPI-C is an SPI-group ETS protein expressed temporarily during B-cell development and in macrophages. Here we present the genomic organization of the mouse SPI-C gene, and show by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5'-RACE) analysis that transcription of the mouse SPI-C mRNA starts at a single site producing a single processed transcript. We have also isolated a cDNA clone encoding the human SPI-C homologue, which displays 65% amino acid identity to the murine protein. In addition, we show that the genomic structure of the human and mouse genes are similar, containing a 5' non-coding exon followed by five coding exons. Human SPI-C mRNA is preferentially detected in foetal and adult spleen, lymph nodes and at lower levels in bone marrow and foetal liver. Finally a phylogenetic prediction analysis of SPI-group protein sequences suggest that the SPI-C proteins form a distinct subgroup, with human SPI-C being closest related to the mouse SPI-C protein.

The VpreB1 enhancer drives developmental stage-specific gene expression in vivo.

In adult mice, the VpreB genes are expressed in bone marrow progenitor (pro-) and precursor (pre-) B cells. As part of the pre-B cell receptor, the proteins are crucial for the proliferation of these cells and consequently normal B lymphocyte development. Using cell lines, we identified a lineage- and developmental-stage-specific VpreB1 enhancer. Here, we analyze its specificity in vivo by generating transgenic mice in which expression of a reporter gene (human CD122) is regulated by the VpreB1 enhancer in the context of its own promoter. All transgenic lines expressed the reporter gene in the bone marrow in a copy number-independent manner, whereas expression levels were integration site-dependent. While the enhancer is not tissue specific, within the B cell lineage the expression pattern of human CD122 mimicked that of endogenous VpreB1. Thus, low levels were detected in pro-B cells, high levels in pre-BI and slightly lower levels in pre-BII cells; no expression was detected in immature/mature B cells. Furthermore, when in vitro cultured transgenic pre-B cells differentiated into immature B cells there was concomitant down-regulation of human CD122 and endogenous VpreB1. Thus the VpreB1 enhancer is sufficient to ensure developmental stage-specific expression of a reporter gene in B lymphocytes in vivo.