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M Ounsted

Publications and source records attributed to M Ounsted.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Maternal attitudes to their obstetric care.

Advocates of 'natural childbirth' are many and vocal, but there appears also to be a group of women who are in favour of more active obstetric management. Preference for a subsequent confinement seems to be influenced by previous experience.

Anesthesia, Epidural

Two abnormalities of glucose-induced insulin secretion: dose-response characteristics and insulin sensitivity.

To characterize the defect of insulin secretion in diabetes, the response to different iv glucose loads has been studied in women who have had gestational diabetes and are, by definition, latent diabetic (LD). Women who have produced a large-for-dates baby, but who were not known to have been diabetic (LFD), have been investigated to determine if they have abnormal metabolism. Both groups were found to have raised fasting plasma glucose concentrations. Only the LD had glucose intolerance, which was associated with a reduced first phase insulin response to all glucose loads with a decreased maximal secretory capacity (low V max). The LFD women appeared to include a distinct abnormality in which the beta cells had decreased sensitivity to glucose (high Km), with diminished secretory response to small but normal response to large loads. Whereas the LD probably have disordered beta cell function, some of the LFD women may represent the upper end of the normal range of the glucose "set" of beta cell function. Neither group had insulin resistance, as measured by the hypoglycaemic response to an iv insulin bolus. A woman who has produced a LFD, but who was not known to be diabetic, does not necessarily have a diabetic tendency.

Adult

Infant feeding.

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Animals

The infant's self-regulation of food intake and weight gain. Difference in metabolic balance after growth constraint or acceleration in utero.

Methods of infant feeding, volume of milk intake, the introduction of solid supplements, and weight gain since birth have been studied in 191 babies at the age of 2 months. There were four groups: a hospital sample infants born to women who had been hypertensive during pregnancy, and infants who had been small-for-dates (S.F.D.) or large-for-dates (L.F.D.) at birth. Among bottle-feeders, S.F.D. infants took significantly more milk per kilogramme body-weight than infants in the hospital sample and hypertensive series; L.F.D. infants took significantly less. Within each group there was a negative correlation between actual weight at 2 months and milk intake per kilogramme body-weight. These findings are at variance with previous studies made on normal babies. Mean weight gain per kilogramme birth-weight per day was significantly increased in the S.F.D. series and reduced in the L.F.D. series compared with the hospital sample. Although mean milk intake per day at the age of 2 months was less for S.F.D. babies than for L.F.D. babies, mean weight gain per day was greater for S.F.D babies. In both extreme groups there was a tendency for breast-fed babies to revert towards the median faster than bottle-fed babies. These feeding and growth patterns of S.F.D. and L.F.D. babies suggest that there are powerful self-regulatory controls within the infant, and that the metabolic balance of S.F.D. infants is different from that of L.F.D. infants in the early postnatal months.

Animals