TY  - JOUR
AB  - Physical activity (PA) during pregnancy may have a positive effect on the fetal cardiac maturation which is reflected in a decreasing resting heart rate and increasing heart rate variability (HRV). Different types of PA, for example during leisure or work time, have differential effects on HRV; however, this relationship has not yet been investigated in pregnancy. In our work, we related different types of PA during pregnancy with maternal and fetal HRV. We assessed the levels of PA in 95 pregnant women between 28 and 32 weeks of gestational age using the Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire. Maternal and fetal heart rate and HRV were extracted from magnetocardiography recordings at rest, and maternal anthropometric and metabolic parameters were measured, such as fasting glucose and insulin levels, body mass index, and blood pressure. Pearson correlations were calculated between HRV, PA, and maternal parameters. Principal component analysis and generalized linear models were implemented to further investigate these relationships. Our findings indicate that habitual physical activity, whether during leisure or work, has no significant effect on maternal or fetal HRV at rest. However, leisure-time physical activity, unlike work-related activity, is associated with improved maternal insulin sensitivity. Additionally, our exploratory analyses revealed that lower HRV in both the mother and the fetus is associated with poorer maternal metabolic health quantified through higher fasting insulin levels, triglycerides, and adiposity. Finally, male fetuses showed higher HRV compared to females, highlighting the difference in cardiac development between the two biological sexes.
AU  - Auchynnikava, V.
AU  - Semeia, L.
AU  - Sippel, K.
AU  - Sbierski-Kind, J.
AU  - Fritsche, A.
AU  - Birkenfeld, A.L.
AU  - Paluscke-Fröhlich, J.*
AU  - Wikström, A.K.*
AU  - Preissl, H.
C1  - 74424
C2  - 57442
CY  - Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland
TI  - Fetal heart rate variability in relation to maternal physical activity and metabolic health.
JO  - Early Hum. Dev.
VL  - 206
PB  - Elsevier Ireland Ltd
PY  - 2025
SN  - 0378-3782
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Introduction: The human sex ratio or sex odds at birth (M/F) are influenced by many factors. Radiation is the only stressor known to elevate the ratio while dropping total births. The Mainz research nuclear reactor (FRMZ) underwent extensive refurbishment commencing in 1992 and with further upgrading in 2011. This study was carried out in order to investigate any possible effects of these events on M/F.Methods: Annual municipality-specific births by sex were obtained from official government sources. Statistical methods used included ordinary linear logistic regression and Poisson regression.Results: M/F rose significantly in 1993 only close to the FRMZ (< 10 km) with sex odds ratio (SOR) 1.023 (p = 0.0074) and this rise was associated with numerically equivalent drops in male births of 4.01% (p = 0.0251) and female births of 6.17% (p = 0.0005). No such effects were seen beyond 10 km.Discussion: These findings add to the corpus of evidence that man-made radiation may have significant effects on total births and on M/F with a skew toward male births. While the authors are certain that suitable precautions were taken when the reactor in Mainz was handled, the findings imply that these may not have been sufficient. Perhaps even greater care and even more stringent precautions need to be employed when dealing with radioactive elements. It clearly behoves humanity to exercise extreme caution when handling, processing, and storing radioactive materials and waste.
AU  - Scherb, H.
AU  - Grech, V.*
C1  - 56931
C2  - 47439
CY  - Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland
TI  - Trends in births and the birth sex ratio in the vicinity of the Mainz research reactor in Germany.
JO  - Early Hum. Dev.
VL  - 141
PB  - Elsevier Ireland Ltd
PY  - 2020
SN  - 0378-3782
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BACKGROUND: Habituation, as a basic form of learning, is characterized by decreasing amplitudes of neuronal reaction following repeated stimuli. Recent studies indicate that habituation to pure tones of different frequencies occurs in fetuses and infants. AIMS: Neural processing of different syllables in fetuses and infants was investigated. STUDY DESIGN: An auditory habituation paradigm including two different sequences of syllables was presented to each subject. Each sequence consisted of eight syllables (sequence /ba/: 5× /ba/, 1× /bi/ (dishabituator), 2× /ba/; sequence /bi/: 5× /bi/, 1× /ba/ (dishabituator), 2× /bi/). Each subject was stimulated with 140 sequences. Neuromagnetic signatures of auditory-evoked responses (AER) were recorded by fetal magnetoencephalography (fMEG). SUBJECTS: Magnetic brain signals of N=30 fetuses (age: 28-39weeks of gestation) and N=28 infants (age: 0-3months) were recorded. Forty-two of the 60 fetal recordings and 29 of the 58 infant recordings were included in the final analysis. OUTCOME MEASURES: AERs were recorded and amplitudes were normalized to the amplitude of the first stimulus. RESULTS: In both fetuses and infants, the amplitudes of AERs were found not to decrease with repeated stimulation. In infants, however, amplitude of syllable 6 (dishabituator) was significantly increased compared to syllable 5 (p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: Fetuses and infants showed AERs to syllables. Unlike fetuses, infants showed a discriminative neural response to syllables. Habituation was not observed in either fetuses or infants. These findings could be important for the investigation of early cognitive competencies and may help to gain a better understanding of language acquisition during child development.
AU  - Hartkopf, J.*
AU  - Schleger, F.
AU  - Weiss, M.*
AU  - Hertrich, I.*
AU  - Kiefer-Schmidt, I.*
AU  - Preissl, H.
AU  - Muenssinger, J.*
C1  - 49098
C2  - 41639
CY  - Clare
SP  - 61-66
TI  - Neuromagnetic signatures of syllable processing in fetuses and infants provide no evidence for habituation.
JO  - Early Hum. Dev.
VL  - 100
PB  - Elsevier Ireland Ltd
PY  - 2016
SN  - 0378-3782
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Masukume, G.*
AU  - Grech, V.*
AU  - Scherb, H.
C1  - 47706
C2  - 39553
CY  - Clare
SP  - 11-13
TI  - Reply: Analysis of the sex ratio at birth in South Africa increased 9 months after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
JO  - Early Hum. Dev.
VL  - 97
PB  - Elsevier Ireland Ltd
PY  - 2016
SN  - 0378-3782
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - It has long been known that ionizing radiation causes genetic mutations and that nuclear bomb testing, nuclear accidents, and the regular and incidental emissions of nuclear facilities enhance environmental radioactivity. For this reason, the carcinogenic and genetic impact of ionizing radiation has been an escalating issue for environmental health and human health studies in the past decades. The Windscale fire (1957) and the Chernobyl accident (1986) caused alterations to the human birth sex ratio at national levels across Europe, and childhood cancer and childhood leukemia are consistently elevated near nuclear power plants. These findings are generalized and corroborated by the observation of increased sex ratios near nuclear facilities in Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. We present a concise review of the pertinent literature and we complement our review by spatiotemporal analyses of historical and most recent data. Evidence of genetic damage by elevated environmental radioactivity is provided.
AU  - Scherb, H.
AU  - Voigt, K.
AU  - Kusmierz, R.
C1  - 47185
C2  - 39161
SP  - 841-850
TI  - Ionizing radiation and the human gender proportion at birth - a concise review of the literature and complementary analyses of historical and recent data.
JO  - Early Hum. Dev.
VL  - 91
IS  - 12
PY  - 2015
SN  - 0378-3782
ER  -