Reference Ranges for Uterine Artery Pulsatility Index during the Menstrual Cycle: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Cyclic endometrial neoangiogenesis contributes to changes in local vascular patterns and is amenable to non-invasive assessment with Doppler sonography. We hypothesize that the uterine artery (UtA) impedance, measured by its pulsatility index (PI), exhibits a regular pattern during the normal menstrual cycle. Therefore, the main study objective was to derive normative new day-cycle-based reference ranges for the UtA-PI during the entire cycle from days 1 to 34 according to the isolated time effect and potential confounders such as age and parity.

Methods

From January 2009 to December 2012, a cross-sectional study of 1,821 healthy women undergoing routine gynaecological ultrasound was performed. The Doppler flow of the right and left UtA-PI was studied transvaginally by colour and pulsed Doppler imaging. The mean right and left values and the presence or absence of a bilateral protodiastolic notch were recorded. Reference intervals for the PI according to the cycle day were generated by classical linear regression.

Results

The majority of patients (97.5%) presented unilateral or bilateral UtA notches. The crude 5th, 50th, and 95th reference percentile curves of the UtA-PI at 1–34 days of the normal menstrual cycle were derived. In all curves, a progressive significant decrease occurred during the first 13 days, followed by an increase and recovery in the UtA-PI. The adjusted 5th, 50th, and 95th reference percentile curves for the effects of age and parity were also obtained. These two conditions generated an approximately identical UtA-PI pattern during the cycle, except with small but significant reductions at the temporal extremes.

Conclusions

The median, 5th, and the 95th percentiles of the UtA-PI decrease during the first third of the menstrual cycle and recover to their initial values during the last two thirds of the cycle. The rates of decrease and recovery depend significantly on age and parity.     

MAFCO: A Compression Tool for MAF Files

In the last decade, the cost of genomic sequencing has been decreasing so much that researchers all over the world accumulate huge amounts of data for present and future use. These genomic data need to be efficiently stored, because storage cost is not decreasing as fast as the cost of sequencing. In order to overcome this problem, the most popular general-purpose compression tool, gzip, is usually used. However, these tools were not specifically designed to compress this kind of data, and often fall short when the intention is to reduce the data size as much as possible. There are several compression algorithms available, even for genomic data, but very few have been designed to deal with Whole Genome Alignments, containing alignments between entire genomes of several species. In this paper, we present a lossless compression tool, MAFCO, specifically designed to compress MAF (Multiple Alignment Format) files. Compared to gzip, the proposed tool attains a compression gain from 34% to 57%, depending on the data set. When compared to a recent dedicated method, which is not compatible with some data sets, the compression gain of MAFCO is about 9%. Both source-code and binaries for several operating systems are freely available for non-commercial use at: http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/software/mafco.     

Functional overlap between the structure-specific nucleases Yen1 and Mus81-Mms4 for DNA-damage repair in S. cerevisiae

In eukaryotic cells, multiple DNA repair mechanisms respond to a wide variety of DNA lesions. Homologous recombination-dependent repair provides a pathway for dealing with DNA double-strand breaks and replication fork demise. A key step in this process is the resolution of recombination intermediates such as Holliday junctions (HJs). Recently, nucleases from yeast (Yen1) and human cells (GEN1) were identified that can resolve HJ intermediates, in a manner analogous to the E. coli HJ resolvase RuvC. Here, we have analyzed the role of Yen1 in DNA repair in S. cerevisiae, and show that while yen1Δ mutants are repair-proficient, yen1Δ mus81Δ double mutants are exquisitely sensitive to a variety of DNA-damaging agents that disturb replication fork progression. This phenotype is dependent upon RAD52, indicating that toxic recombination intermediates accumulate in the absence of Yen1 and Mus81. After MMS treatment, yen1Δ mus81Δ double mutants arrest with a G2 DNA content and unsegregated chromosomes. These findings indicate that Yen1 can act upon recombination/repair intermediates that arise in MUS81-defective cells following replication fork damage.     

防己抑藻效应及其化感物质的HPLC分析

通过常温水浸提方法获得12种药用植物浸提液,并分别研究其抑藻效应。结果显示：防己水浸提物(相对浓度1 g·L^-1)抑制蛋白核小球藻的效应最强,最大比生长率为-0.28 d^-1。防己甲醇浸提物对蛋白核小球藻的抑藻效应显著,且持续时间长,最低有效抑藻浓度为30 mg·L^-1。HPLC鉴定结果显示：防己水浸提液和甲醇浸提液中主要含有防己诺林碱、粉防己碱等生物碱类化学成分,防己对治理水华发生有较大的应用前景。     

缝隙连接与糖尿病

细胞间通讯方式可分为间接与直接通讯方式,以体循环远程分泌、旁分泌和自分泌方式完成的调节方式为间接通讯,而以细胞间隙连接为途径进行的细胞间直接的信息交流为直接通讯.细胞间隙连接又称缝隙连接,是普遍存在于人和动物组织中的一种细胞连接形式.近年有一系列研究表明缝隙连接胞间通道的异常与糖尿病及其并发症的发生、发展密切相关,本文将就有关这方面的研究进展作一综述.     

Foraging areas of Rousettus leschenaulti on the Hainan Island of China

We investigated the foraging area of three individuals (1 female and 2 males) of Rousettus leschenaulti (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) in suburban Haikou City, Hainan Province, South China from November 2005 to January 2006 using radio telemetry. These animals left the daytime roosting sites about 90 min after sunset with no significant difference in departure time between the male and female bats. The average active times were 391.8 min for males and 533.7 min for the female, respectively. By reconstructing 93...     

早产儿发生原因及并发症临床分析

目的:回顾分析以往早产儿的临床资料,总结经验,以改善早产儿的生存质量,提高医疗水平.方法:对2006年1月至2008年12月在我院出生的1080例早产儿进行回顾性分析,按不同孕周分为35～37周组、32～35周组以及＜32周组,对3组早产儿的早产原因,合并症的情况进行回顾性分析.结果:胎膜早破是引起早产最主要的原因,其他依次为妊娠期感染,不明原因的自然早产,妊娠期高血压疾病、多胎、胎盘因素及胎儿宫内窘迫.早产儿的并发症中以高胆红素血症,贫血,肺炎,低血糖为主,胎龄＜32周组出现各种合并症的概率＞35～37周组和32～35周组,差异有统计学意义.结论:加强围产期保健指导工作,积极防治早产高危因素,提高早产儿的救治水平,可以改善早产儿的生存质量.     

蓝细菌别藻蓝蛋白ApcE与ApcF不形成复合物

进行了Anabaena sp.PCC7120的别藻蓝蛋白ApcE与ApcF的体内重组的光谱和apcE和apcF基因的细菌双杂交的研究。在提纯前PCB-ApcE/PCB-ApcF的吸收及荧光光谱峰与PCB-ApcF的峰位置一致,而提纯后PCB-ApcE/PCB-ApcF的吸收及荧光光谱峰与PCB-ApcE的峰位置一致,表明ApcE与ApcF不能形成复合物。pBT-apcF与pTRG-apcE的转化细胞能在无3氨基-1,2,4三氮唑（3-AT）的非选择性培养基上生长,而不能在有3AT的选择性培养基上生长,说明在转化过程中未产生能抗3-AT的HIS3报告基因,进一步证实ApcE与ApcF间没有相互作用。     

苯丙烯酸对黄瓜幼苗膜脂过氧化作用的影响

以山东密刺黄瓜 (Cucumis sativus L.)为试材 ,分别采用大棚土壤和露地土壤进行盆栽模拟试验 ,首次研究了不同浓度的苯丙烯酸对不同土壤栽培条件下黄瓜幼苗膜质过氧化作用的化感效应。结果表明 :不同浓度的苯丙烯酸对大棚土培幼苗不同时期的 SOD活性的化感效应均为抑制作用 ,并随着处理浓度的增加抑制作用增强。浓度大于 5 0 mg/kg时 ,对露地土培幼苗 6叶期 SOD活性的化感效应均为抑制作用。浓度大于 1 0 0 mg/kg时 ,对两种土培幼苗 CAT的化感效应均为抑制作用 ,并随着处理浓度的增加抑制作用增强。苯丙稀酸对不同土壤、不同时期黄瓜幼苗的 MDA均为促进作用 ,并随着处理浓度的增加促进作用增强。苯丙稀酸使黄瓜幼苗的电解质外渗率和伤害率增加 ,浓度大于 5 0 m g/kg时的大棚土培幼苗和浓度大于 1 0 0 m g/kg时的露地土培幼苗 ,电解质外渗率与对照及处理间均存在显著差异 (p <0 .0 5 ) ,伤害率与对照及处理间均存在极显著差异 (p <0 .0 1 )。大棚土培幼苗 MDA含量和电解质外渗率的化感强度均大于露地土培幼苗