The adverse effect of light or moderate maternal drinking during pregnancy on the well being of the newborn has been investigated. The study group included 2145 live births in the obstetric units of 11 Italian cities between February 1989 and July 1990. A detailed life style questionnaire was administered to the mothers. Information on the newborn was collected from clinical records as well as from a clinical examination. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were suggestive of a decrease in mean birth weight associated with maternal drinking pregnancy, especially in women who also smoked during pregnancy. This effect was higher in male newborns. The occurrence of low birth weight (< 2500 g.) was more frequent in women drinking during pregnancy in both smokers and non-smokers (for this latter group an effect is suggested only for a daily consumption of more than 10 grams of absolute alcohol). Maternal alcohol drinking of more than 20 grams of absolute alcohol per day also increased the risk of preterm delivery (OR = 2.35; 95% CI: .98-5.59). Finally, an increase in the rate of early jaundice was found, also associated with maternal drinking (OR = 3.30; 95% CI: 1.03-10.54).

A series of dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazole-2,5(3H,6H)-diones were synthesized. These bicylic derivatives contain both the 2-pyrrolidinone and 4-imidazolidinone nuclei, already recognized as important for cognition enhancing activity. In addition, these structures maintain the backbone of piracetam and oxiracetam with the acetamide side chain restricted in a folded conformation. Their ability to reverse scopolamine-induced amnesia was assessed in a one trial, step-through, passive avoidance paradigm. The main features observed are a potent antiamnestic activity after ip administration (minimal effective dose being between 0.3 and 1 mg/kg ip for most compounds), the presence of a bell-shaped dose-response curve and, generally, a reduction of biological activity after po administration. However, the unsubstituted compound (15, dimiracetam) shows no evidence of a bell-shaped dose-response curve and completely retains activity when given orally, being 10-30 times more potent than the reference drug oxiracetam.

A survey on drug intake during pregnancy was carried out in a sample of 3268 women who delivered live-born infants in 11 hospitals located throughout Italy. A large questionnaire on drug use and other aspects of maternal life-style was administered within five days of delivery to 3112 women who consented to the interview. An overall mean consumption of 2.17 drugs per woman was reported. Apart from dietary supplements, the most used drugs were tocolytics, analgesics, and antibiotics. The proportion of women who did not use any drug was 17.3%. The role of some non-medical determinants of drug intake was evaluated as well. Geographic and socio-economic factors were seen to increase drug intake up to 44%, while the presence of anxiety provoked a 60% higher consumption of drugs other than dietary supplements. Other factors influencing drug use during pregnancy were rural vs. urban residence and smoking habits. The need for the recording of these socio-economic factors in surveys on drug use during pregnancy is emphasized.

A series of triazolopyridine derivatives (compounds 2a-l) were synthesized in order to explore the effect of modifications of the alkylpiperazine moiety of trazodone (fragment A) on binding affinity for 5HT2A and alpha1 receptors. All of the synthesized compounds show a decrease of affinity for both 5HT2A and alpha1 receptors, as compared to trazodone, with the exception of compounds 2b,c which bear a methyl group in an alpha position to the aliphatic nitrogen atom N1. These compounds showed a decrease of affinity only for the alpha1 receptor. The stereochemical influence of the piperazine moiety of compound 2c was also evaluated. Enantiomer (S)-2c showed the most significant differences between 5HT2A and alpha1 receptor affinity (IC50 values) and among the corresponding functional properties (pA2 values). Since (S)-2c cannot generate the metabolite 4-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine this product was selected for further pharmacological studies.

No abstract