Mother's obesity may lead to infertility in the next generation
2011-03-24
(Press-News.org) Chevy Chase, MD—Levels of the hormone ghrelin are low in obese women and a recent study accepted for publication in Endocrinology, a publication of The Endocrine Society, reports that mice whose mothers had low ghrelin levels were less fertile due to a defect in implantation.
Hormones involved in energy balance and metabolism, such as ghrelin, have been shown to regulate reproductive function in animals and humans. However ghrelin's role in reproductive tract development remains unclear. The current study examined the effect of ghrelin deficiency on the developmental programming of female fertility.
"While our study involved mice, we believe our findings have significant implications for women," said Hugh Taylor, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. and lead author of the study. "Our results suggest that low ghrelin levels could program the development of the uterus in the female children of obese women. These women may then be less fertile as adults."
In this study, researchers observed that female mice born of mice with ghrelin deficiency had diminished fertility and produced smaller litters than mice born of mice with normal ghrelin levels. Mice exposed to ghrelin deficiency in-utero demonstrated alterations in uterine gene expression which lead to impaired embryo implantation and consequently low fertility.
###
Other researchers working on the study include: J. Ryan Martin, Sarah Lieber, James McGrath, Marya Shanabrough and Tamas Horvath of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
The article, "Maternal Ghrelin Deficiency Compromises Reproduction in Female Progeny through Altered Uterine Developmental Programming," appears in the April 2011 issue of Endocrinology.
Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest, largest and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, The Endocrine Society's membership consists of over 14,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in more than 100 countries. Society members represent all basic, applied and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endo-society.org.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-03-24
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Seemingly every year there are reports of a young, apparently healthy athlete dying on the court or playing field.
The sudden death of Wes Leonard, a junior at Fennville High School, who died of cardiac arrest from an enlarged heart on March 3, may have parents and coaches wondering if enough is being done to identify athletes at risk for dying suddenly.
"We would like to develop a better screening program to help prevent sudden cardiac death, but there is not enough rigorous data to support what that should look like," says Sanjaya Gupta, M.D., clinical ...
2011-03-24
A breakthrough in the study of chemical reactions during etching and coating of materials was achieved by a research group headed by Kiel physicist, Professor Olaf Magnussen. The team from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), Germany, in collaboration with staff from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, have uncovered for the first time just what happens in manufacturing processes, used for the formation of metal contacts thinner than a human hair in modern consumer electronics, such as flat-screen television. The results ...
2011-03-24
Ambrico, creators of the popular E-Z Thin Brick installation system, have announced a new partnership with Clover Creek Brick Company of Kentucky. As providers of high quality clay brick and thin brick products, Ambrico is excited about this latest partnership, which brings Clover Creek's exclusive products directly to their customers. Specializing in high quality, tumbled bricks, Clover Creek has been producing materials at their historical production site for over 125 years, making them leaders in the clay brick industry.
Ambrico, who has been recommending Clover ...
2011-03-24
Even relatively mild stress can lead to long term disability and an inability to work, reveals a large population based study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
It is well known that mental health problems are associated with long term disability, but the impact of milder forms of psychological stress is likely to have been underestimated, say the authors.
Between 2002 and 2007, the authors tracked the health of more than 17,000 working adults up to the age of 64, who had been randomly selected from the population in the Stockholm ...
2011-03-24
International piracy costs the shipping industry billions of dollars a year and leads to high-profile murders that make global headlines. Longstanding concerns over piracy have led to numerous international laws and conventions designed to keep pirates in check – but research from North Carolina State University shows that the tangled network of laws may actually be helping pirates escape justice.
"We wanted to know why the international community is not working together and taking advantage of existing laws to address piracy, even as piracy is on the rise in places like ...
2011-03-24
Methadone has been used to treat heroin addicts for nearly 50 years. Yet we have surprisingly incomplete knowledge about possible harmful effects from prolonged use. New research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shows that methadone affects the brain and impairs the attention of experimental animals.
In general, opioids such as heroin and morphine are known to weaken intellectual functions such as learning, memory and attention.
"It is therefore tempting to assume that methadone has similar effects," says researcher Jannike M. Andersen at the NIPH's Division ...
2011-03-24
Applications on modern wireless devices make demands on data rate and connectivity far beyond anything experienced in the past. One way to meet these stringent requirements is to give the device multiple antennas or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. The problem of physically accommodating these additional antennas in the latest consumer products is investigated in new research from the University of Bristol.
The study by academics in the field of antennas and propagation in the University's Centre for Communications Research (CCR) is published in the journal ...
2011-03-24
Men with high-risk prostate cancer who take statin drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol while receiving radiation therapy are less likely to have their cancer return than patients who do not take these medications, according to a study published in the March issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology•Biology•Physics, an official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
In the study, 1,681 men with high-risk, localized prostate cancer were treated with radiation therapy between 1995 and 2007. Of them, 382 (23 percent) were taking ...
2011-03-24
It is not clear whether disease management programs (DMPs), which are expensive and involve a great deal of documentation, improve medical outcomes for participants. Roland Linder's working group present their results in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[10]: 155).
In 2009, DMPs in Germany cost around 1.1 billion euros; the larger part of this related to the DMP for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
The authors investigated whether the T2DM DMP resulted in medical benefit for patients. To do this, they analyzed ...
2011-03-24
With 300 days of sunshine a year, it is no surprise that bicycling is a popular pastime in the State of Colorado. Whether for transportation or recreation, thousands of Coloradans take to the streets and trails all year long. Considering the sheer volume of cyclists in the state, some bike accidents will inevitably happen. Yet, many of those hurt while cycling fail to consider a possible cause of their injuries: bicycle defects.
Bike product recalls are a common occurrence. A bicycle design or manufacturing defect can cause severe injury to the rider. Unfortunately, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Mother's obesity may lead to infertility in the next generation
