Different time variation in pregnancy was found for anxiety and depression symptoms; however anxiety and depression symptoms are particularly high during the 1st trimester. Intervention needs will be analyzed according to the results.

The study results support the need for screening and supporting depressed, unemployed and single mothers, in order to prevent bonding difficulties with the newborn at birth.

Adolescent mothers seem particularly at risk for depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, therefore, just like the women who are depressed during pregnancy, they should be better targeted in preventive and intervention measures.

While infant attachment has been largely studied, parental attachment is still relatively unknown, especially when referred to fathers. However, it is mainly recognised that parents' emotional involvement with the newborn contributes to the quality of the interaction and the care they provide. The aim of this study was to study mother-to-infant and father-to-infant initial emotional involvement; namely, differences between mothers and fathers and changes in mother's emotions toward the neonate within the first days after delivery. The Bonding Scale, an extended Portuguese version of the 'New Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale', was administered during the first two days after childbirth to a sample of 315 mothers and 141 fathers (n = 456), at the Júlio Dinis Maternity Hospital (Portugal). Most mothers and fathers show positive emotions and only a few of them showed negative emotions toward the infant. Maternal and paternal emotional involvement toward the newborn tend to be similar; nevertheless, fathers show less fear and better emotional involvement with the neonate, while mothers are sadder and show more emotions not related to bonding. During the first days following delivery, emotions not related to bonding, such as fear, seem to decrease in mothers.

The aim of this Portuguese study is to compare the experience of pregnancy in teenage years and later adulthood and to examine insecure attachment style as a risk factor for depression during pregnancy. The Attachment Style Interview (ASI; Bifulco, Moran, Ball, & Bernazzani, 2002) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987) were administered to 66 pregnant adolescents and 64 adult women. Pregnant teenagers were found to be nearly three times more likely to have an insecure attachment style of Enmeshed, Angry-Dismissive, or Fearful style than adults, all at high levels of impairment (54% vs.19%, p 5 .02). Logistic regression showed, when all risk factors were entered, highly Enmeshed style and poor partner support provided the best model for depression with age at pregnancy no longer adding. Insecure attachment style should be addressed in prevention and intervention strategies with teenage mothers.

BackgroundFibroblast growth factors (FGF) are essential key players during embryonic development. Through their specific cognate receptors (FGFR) they activate intracellular cascades, finely regulated by modulators such as Sprouty. Several FGF ligands (FGF1, 2, 7, 9, 10 and 18) signaling through the four known FGFRs, have been implicated in lung morphogenesis. Although much is known about mammalian lung, so far, the avian model has not been explored for lung studies.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study we provide the first description of fgf10, fgfr1-4 and spry2 expression patterns in early stages of chick lung development by in situ hybridization and observe that they are expressed similarly to their mammalian counterparts. Furthermore, aiming to determine a role for FGF signaling in chick lung development, in vitro FGFR inhibition studies were performed. Lung explants treated with an FGF receptor antagonist (SU5402) presented an impairment of secondary branch formation after 48 h of culture; moreover, abnormal lung growth with a cystic appearance of secondary bronchi and reduction of the mesenchymal tissue was observed. Branching and morphometric analysis of lung explants confirmed that FGFR inhibition impaired branching morphogenesis and induced a significant reduction of the mesenchyme.Conclusions/SignificanceThis work demonstrates that FGFRs are essential for the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions that determine epithelial branching and mesenchymal growth and validate the avian embryo as a good model for pulmonary studies, namely to explore the FGF pathway as a therapeutic target.

Aim:  The main aim of this work was to study and compare the adhesion of water exposed Helicobacter pylori to six different substrata and correlate any changes in morphology, physiology, ability to form aggregates and cultivability when in the planktonic or in the sessile phase. Methods and Results:  The number of total cells adhered for different water exposure times and modifications in the cell shape were evaluated using epifluorescence and scanning electron microscopy, and physiology assessed using Syto9 and propidium iodide (PI) cellular uptake. All abiotic surfaces were rapidly colonized by H. pylori, and colonization appeared to reach a steady state after 96 h with levels ranging from 2·3 × 106 to 3·6 × 106 total cells cm−2. Cell morphology was largely dependent on the support material, with spiral bacteria, associated with the infectious form of H. pylori, subsisting in a higher percentage on nonpolymeric substrata. Also, sessile bacteria were generally able to retain the spiral shape for longer when compared with planktonic bacteria, which became coccoid more quickly. The formation of large aggregates, which may act as a protection mechanism against the negative impact of the stressful external environmental conditions, was mostly observed on the surface of copper coupons. However, Syto9 and PI staining indicates that most of H. pylori attached to copper or SS304 have a compromised cell membrane after only 48 h. Cultivability methods were only able to detect the bacteria up to the 2 h exposure‐time and at very low levels (up to 500 CFU cm−2). Conclusions:  The fact that the pathogen is able to adhere, retain the spiral morphology for longer and form large aggregates when attached to different plumbing materials appeared to point to pipe materials in general, and copper plumbing in particular, as a possible reservoir of virulent H. pylori in water distribution systems. However, the Syto9/PI staining results and cultivability methods indicate that the attached H. pylori cells quickly enter in a nonviable physiological state. Significance and Impact of the Study:  This represents the first study of H. pylori behaviour in water‐exposed abiotic surfaces. It suggests that co‐aggregation with the autochthonous heterotrophic consortia present in water is necessary for a longer survival of the pathogen in biofilms associated to drinking water systems.

Three different media-Columbia agar, Wilkins-Chalgren agar, and Helicobacter pylori special peptone agar-were prepared in a diluted version and compared to the standard medium formulation in order to study a possible nutrient shock effect observed when recovering H. pylori from water by counting the number of CFU. This same parameter was subsequently used to evaluate the influence of the incubation atmosphere by using a modular atmosphere-controlled system to provide different atmospheres and by employing an established gas generation kit as a control. Both a low nutrient content of the media and a rapidly achieved microaerophilic incubation atmosphere proved to increase the numbers of environment-stressed H. pylori organisms recovered. An atmosphere of 5% CO 2 , 5% O 2 , and 3% H 2 is recommended, although other atmospheres with a low oxygen concentration are also acceptable. Besides highlighting and assessing the importance of several factors in the culturability of H. pylori, this paper demonstrates the potential ability to develop an optimized technique for recovery of this pathogen from water.Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative bacterium with the remarkable ability to survive and replicate within the gastric mucosa of the human stomach. Infection with this pathogen can lead to several gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastritis, peptic and duodenal ulcers, gastric carcinomas, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue tumors. The route of transmission of H. pylori remains a controversial topic, with circumstantial evidence for infection via exposure to animals, contaminated water supplies, and oral reservoirs being reported previously (13).In an early study, the survival ability of H. pylori in treated water systems was questioned, with the suggestion that this microorganism was very sensitive to the chlorine used in water treatment plants (9). However, Baker et al. argued later that H. pylori could tolerate disinfectants better than could the classical fecal indicator, Escherichia coli (3). Consequently, disinfected water could be free of coliforms and classified as safe but might still contain potentially infectious H. pylori that could therefore be transmitted by a waterborne route. The suspicion that water might be one of the vehicles of infection is sustained further by several recent studies that have used DNA recognition techniques such as PCR to identify the pathogen in potable water and associated biofilms (4,8,12,16). However, recovery of this bacterium from water by using the present plate procedures remains elusive, and because viability is frequently associated with culturability, demonstration of the existence of viable H. pylori either in the planktonic phase or in biofilms associated with drinking water has yet to be accomplished. Two distinct explanations can be advanced for this apparent failure: either H. pylori is in fact not able to survive in potable water systems, or some of the recovery technique parameters, such as the media composition and the incubation atmosphere, are not adequate...