BACKGROUND Research suggests that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) increases the risk of insecure caregiver-child attachment and related negative child emotional-behavioural outcomes. Research also shows positive effects of attachment-focused interventions in preventing disrupted caregiver-child attachment relationships; however, such interventions have...

In this work, we have investigated the development of a synthetic hydrogel that contains a negatively charged phosphate group for use as a substrate for bone cell attachment and differentiation in culture. The photoreactive, phosphate-containing molecule, bis(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl)phosphate (BP), was incorporated into oligo(polyethylene glycol) fumarate hydrogel and the mechanical, rheologic...

Background/aim: Serum and growth factor deprivation, a common cellular stressor in solid tumors, arises upon irradiation, chemotherapy, antiangiogenesis. Spheroid body culture aims to enrich cancer stem cells by using low attachment conditions some factors, such as basic fibroblast epidermal support the spheroid formation serum-free culture. However, without any factors can imitate tumor enviro...

The role of individual integrins in human beta-cell development and function is largely unknown. This study describes the contribution of alpha(v)-integrins to human beta-cell adhesion, spreading, and motility. Developmental differences in alpha(v)-integrin utilization are addressed by comparing the responses of adult and fetal beta-cells, and vitronectin is used as a substrate based on its uni...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) from uteroplacental dysfunction causes impaired nephrogenesis and ultimately hypertension, but it is unknown whether IUGR caused by insufficient space for placental development seen in uterine anomalies and/or multifetal gestation exerts the same effects. Fetal renal development and metabolism were studied in an ovine space-restriction model by combining u...

The paralysing feelings of grief after perinatal loss can cause an overwhelming feeling of being abandoned, creating confusion, disorientation and hopelessness, altering future pregnancies for parents, children alive at the time and those that follow. Research with parents’ pregnant following loss, elderly bereaved parents with no intervention, and children born after loss, some now adults, sho...