Science Updates

Early childhood is a very sensitive period for brain, cognitive as well as behavioral maturation while much social-emotional development and social cognition happens before ~6 years of age.

Over 200 human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) structures have been identified and this recent review article provides an overview of HMO levels from healthy women throughout lactation. 57 peer-reviewed articles were analyzed and a summary as below: Total HMO levels were: Colostrum (0-5 days): 17.7 g/L Transitional milk (6-14 days): 13.3 g/L Mature milk (15-90 days): 11.3 g/L   HMO levels differed greatly for individual HMO and varied throughout different lactational stage, e.g. 2’-FL significantly dropped from colostrum to late milk 3-FL significantly increased from colostrum to late milk   Pooled human milk consisted of a diverse HMO profile with over 200 structures, but the top 10 HMOs contributed over 70% of total HMO   Top HMOs in descending order of magnitude: 2’-FL LNDFH-I (DFLNT) LNFP-I LNFP-II LNT 3-FL 6’-SL DSLNT LNnT DFL (LDFT) FDS-LNH LNFP-III 3’-SL LST c TF-LNH   Abbreviations: 2’-FL = 2′-Fucosyllactose; LNDFH-I (DFLNT) = Lacto-N-difucohexaose I (or Difucosyllacto-N-Tetraose); LNFP-I = Lacto-N-Fucopentaose I; LNFP-I = Lacto-N-Fucopentaose II;  LNT = Lacto-N-Tetraose; 3-FL = 3-Fucosyllactose; 6’-SL = 6’-Sialyllactose; DSLNT = Disialyllacto-N-Tetraose; LNnT = Lacto-N-Neotetraose; DFL (LDFT) = Difucosyllactose (Lactodifucotetraose); FDS-LNH = Fucosyl-Disialyl-Lacto-N-Hexaose; LNFP-III = Lacto-N-Fucopentaose III; 3’-SL = 3’-Sialyllactose; LST c = Sialyllacto-N-Neotetraose c; TF-LNH = Trifucosyllacto-N-Hexaose

Preterm birth (less than 37 weeks of gestation) is a major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. A population-based retrospective cohort study analyzing 334,415 deliveries has examined the influences of various risk factors for extremely preterm birth (24-28 weeks of gestation) and if these changed between different sub-populations with known risk factors. Strongest risk factors for extremely preterm birth were: Placental abruption (OR = 20.606, 95%CI 17.006-24.969, p < 0.001) Multi-gestations (OR = 7.714, 95%CI 6.581-9.042, p < 0.001) Placenta previa (OR = 5.884, 95%CI 4.149-8.344, p < 0.001)   Risk factors for singleton extremely preterm birth included: Placental abruption (OR = 24.619, 95%CI 20.063-30.210, p < 0.001) Placenta previa (OR = 5.845, 95%CI 4.022-8.945, p < 0.001)) Previous preterm birth (OR = 2.305, 95%CI 1.980-2.784, p < 0.001) Nulliparity (OR = 2.226, 95%CI 1.902-2.605, p < 0.001) Lack of prenatal care (OR = 2.136, 95%CI 1.772-2.574, p < 0.001)   Among all groups, placental abruption was the strongest risk factor for extremely preterm birth whereas no significant difference on risk factors between sub-populations was observed

This study analyzed the human milk samples from maternity patients who recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that N-protein secretory immunoglobulin A 1 (sIgA1) and sIgA2 responses were found induced in 100% and 33% of cases respectively. Overall, the authors concluded that such antibody immunological landscape may confer infants with a passive immunity against COVID-19.