Teratogens and childbirth Flashcards
Cocaine and crack in correlation with
• Women doing this are less likely to get prenatal care, more likely in poverty, more likely in sexual transmission, more likely receiving partner violence or violence from others, may have a bad enough drug addiction and not a good enough support system that they can’t stop.
‣ Dangerous conditions such as placental separation
• Less likely to survive
Cocaine and crack in correlation with low birthweight, length, and head circumference
• This is even for gestational age.
• Head circumference does more correlate with IQ
◦ Thought that if you get way too small it may mean that not enough brain matter developed
◦ Male head circumference was positively correlated with big head circumference
◦ Thought that head circumference is a direct relation to use of Cocaine
Cocaine and crack in correlation with cry patterns
‣ Cry patterns are off
• Seems very specific to Cocaine use
• Off in ways that are hard to explain, but when you hear it you know. the cry is so adversive (very high pitched, the same effect of fingernails on a blackboard) makes it so that you may not want to be around them.
‣ Training people to work with them is a big part
◦ Hearing a baby cry is what initiates the release of breast milk. This is sometimes why a new mother may leak milk
marijuana is related to
‣ May be linked to low birth weight and other problems
• Decreased birth weight, synapse formation, dopamine levels, socialization, memory, synaptic plasticity, short-term memory,
‣ May be linked to learning disabilities
• Decreased verbal reasoning scores, short-term memory, abstract reasoning, visto-spatial memory
• Increased aggression (females), anxiety, depression, impulsivity, inattention, hyperactivity, etc.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
• Where a child has problems with growth learning, has distinctive facial features and structural abnormalities
◦ Tend to be smaller on average as they grow
◦ Tend to see a number of learning problems and things like ADHD.
fetal alcohol effect
Milder form, and often the kids seem fairly typical
◦ However, then in adolescents their behavior tends to take a violent swing for the worse.
‣ Sometimes in teenage girls they will disappear for days at a time and go on a binge then just reappear and act like nothing happened.
Mercury
◦ Seafood has high levels. The lowest ones are salmon, clam, perch, shrimp, whitling, tilapia, oyster
‣ Cognitive problems
‣ Vision and hearing problems
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
‣ Found in flame retardant PJs, couches used to be full of them, new rugs or mattress toppers that have that chemical smell to them have this in it.
‣ The old subway bread used to have this in it.
◦ May lower fertility
◦ Linked to prematurity and low birth weight
Maternal disease - rubella
‣ German measles -> can cause miscarriage or serious birth defects in developing babies.
◦ Can cause deafness, cataracts, heart disease, intellectual disability, liver or spleen damage
• Humans are the only known reservoir, spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
◦ Mild illness, rash, lymphadenopathy, and low-grade fever
• Protection can be from the MMRV vaccine (measles-mumps rubella, varicella)
Maternal disease - AIDS
- perinatal transmission is avoidable
- some treatment is available
- important to keep the blood of the mother and baby separate from each other
Maternal disease - toxoplasmosis
‣ Miscarriage, stillbirth or damage to the bay’s brain and other organs, particularly the eyes
• Tends to start with birds and mice, then moved onto someone else when a cat or other animal eats a infected animal. then the parasite is released through feces, so pregnant women should not clean the litter box
Cytomegalovirus
‣ Most common virus passed from mothers to babies (can lead to major problems)
‣ Linked to microcephaly (when there is a brain stem but the rest of the brain is extremely small), and other problems in some infants
‣ Some infants do not seem to be effected
• Getting tested to see if you have been exposed to this or have had it is important, likely may have it from working in a hospital, or being around kids a lot.
Maternal health:
Exercise
Nutrition
Stress
◦ Exercise
‣ Good to get in a good routine before pregnancy
◦ Nutrition
‣ Make sure to get protein, fiber, and good fats. Taking prenatal vitamins, and listen to your body. Satisfy your cravings when you can
• People wanting to crave dirt, especially in the salt with red clay. Shows a deficiency in zinc.
◦ Stress
‣ High levels of stress among other things can start rewiring the brain. Can have an effect on brain development. We can’t avoid it completely, but reducing the amounts of unnecessary stress can be helpful.
Maternal health
RH blood compatibility
Maternal age
Toxemia (eclampsia)
◦ RH blood incompatibility
‣ It is the second child that is likely to be effected by this
◦ Maternal age
‣ Know that maternal age at the extreme puts the baby at risk. At a older age a more likely to have genetic issues, especially Down Syndrome. Very young women can be the same, because their body may not be completely ready yet for delivery.
◦ Toxemia (eclampsia)
‣ Trying to not be too active -> may lead to bed rest
• Often with those with blood pressure issues, or people with diabetes
Teratogens
Teratogen - agents that can induce or increase the incidence of birth defect in a developing child
◦ Only against development
‣ If it happens in an early phase especially in the age of the embryo they are more likely to have issues like miscarriage, developmental issues, defects, or anything else.
◦ During the fetal period we still don’t want to expose them to things that may cause problems. Most of those that cause damage won’t be as much during this period.
‣ The exception to this is smoking. It can make the blood system more likely to have a detachment (embryonic sac detaching from the uterus), it also lessens the amount of oxygen that the fetus gets.
