Aim-To determine blood glucose levels in a population of healthy, breast fed, term infants of appropriate size for gestational age. Methods-In a cross sectional study, the blood glucose concentration of 223 healthy, breast fed, term infants of appropriate size for gestational age was determined at diVerent times (between one and 96 hours) after delivery. One sample of blood glucose was taken from each infant independent of the feeding time. The glucose concentration was correlated with sex, method of delivery, delivery with or without analgesia, smoking status of the mother, gestational age, umbilical cord pH, and Apgar score. Infants suspected of suVering from intrapartum hypoxia were excluded. Results-Blood glucose concentration one hour after delivery was not significantly lower than at any other time. Only two infants had low blood glucose concentrations one hour after delivery (1.4 and 1.9 mmol/l). There were no significant diVerences in blood glucose concentration between sexes, methods of delivery, infants delivered with or without analgesia, and infants born to smokers or non-smokers, and there was no further correlation between blood glucose concentration and gestational age, umbilical cord pH, or Apgar score. Discussion-Very few healthy, breast fed, term infants of appropriate size for gestational age have low blood glucose levels, and there is no indication for blood glucose monitoring in these infants.

The Wnt signaling pathway plays a crucial role in neurodevelopment and in regulating the function and structure of the adult nervous system. Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe mental disorders with evidence of subtle neurodevelopmental, structural and functional neuronal abnormalities. We aimed to elucidate the role of aberrant regulation of the Wnt system in these disorders by evaluating plasma levels of secreted Wnt modulators in patients (SCZ = 551 and BD = 246) and healthy controls (HCs = 639) using enzyme immune-assay. We also investigated the expression of 141 Wnt-related genes in whole blood in a subsample (SCZ = 338, BD = 241, and HCs = 263) using microarray analysis. Both SCZ and BD had dysregulated mRNA expression of Wnt-related genes favoring attenuated canonical (beta-catenin-dependent) signaling, and there were also indices of enhanced non-canonical Wnt signaling. In particular, FZD7, which may activate all Wnt pathways, but favors non-canonical signaling, and NFATc3, a downstream transcription factor and readout of the non-canonical Wnt/Ca2+ pathway, were significantly increased in SCZ and BD (p < 3 × 10−4). Furthermore, patients had lower plasma levels of soluble dickkopf 1 and sclerostin (p < 0.01) compared with HC. Our findings suggest that SCZ and BD are characterized by abnormal Wnt gene expression and plasma protein levels, and we propose that drugs targeting the Wnt pathway may have a role in the treatment of severe mental disorders.

Trauma-altered immune activation via elevated hs-CRP in patients with SZ and BD may be mediated by higher BMI; however, the direction of this association needs further clarification.

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