Objective
There is increasing awareness of the importance of maternal thyroid hormone for the development of the fetal brain early in pregnancy. Recent studies have suggested that a proportion of pregnant women are affected by thyroid inadequacy resulting in period s of decreased thyroid hormone production during pregnancy, with no apparent symptoms. We wish to clarify whether adverse maternal and fetal outcomes are significantly increased in women with such thyroid inadequacy, termed "sub-clinical hypothyroidism", and to quantify such effects, if present. This will have tremendous societal implications, not just with regard to the cost of long term care of impaired children, but also in terms of the vast opportunity cost to society from failure of those affected to achieve their potential.
A range of thyroid hormones will be studied at each term during pregnancy and after delivery. The first objective of this study is to establish normal ranges for these hormones at each time-point during pregnancy. At this time there is no uniform agreement on the appropriate cut-offs in hormone levels in order to make a diagnosis of sub-clinical hypothyroidism, or the severity of hypothyroidism that would require treatment. The literature suggests that our current laboratory techniques for testing thyroid hormones may be inadequate.
Our study will therefore employ highly sensitive laboratory techniques for quantifying these hormone levels. Preliminary work suggests that "mass spectrometry" technology is more accurate in the detection of thyroid hormones. In the event that mass spectrometry technology identifies that currently employed standard techniques for quantifying thyroid hormones result in an under diagnosis of sub-clinical hypothyroidism, the importance of this proposal will be to prompt timely intervention for such pregnancies, which should ultimately result in fewer children with sub-optimal neurological development.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine obstetrics
- natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry mass spectrometry
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2004-MOBILITY-12
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
IRG - Marie Curie actions-International re-integration grants
Coordinator
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.