经腹、经阴道与经会阴三种超声途径测量宫颈长度对早产的预测价值

目的:比较经腹、经阴道与经会阴三种超声途径测量宫颈长度对早产的预测价值。方法:选取我院就诊的孕妇780例,根据测量途径不同分为三组,每组260例,分别采用经腹、经阴道与经会阴方法测量宫颈长度。观察并比较三组患者的妊娠结局,以及三种测量方法的敏感度及特异性。结果:三组患者接受率相比,经腹组、经会阴组患者接受率明显高于经阴道组(P0.05);三组患者宫颈显示率相比,经会阴组、经阴道组宫颈显示率显著高于经腹组(P0.05)。经腹组中,宫颈长度2.5 cm的患者早产率为48.46%,明显高于宫颈长度≥2.5 cm的患者早产率17.69%(P0.05);经会阴组中,宫颈长度2.5 cm的患者早产率为37.69%,明显高于宫颈长度≥2.5 cm的患者早产率13.08%(P0.05);经阴道组中,宫颈长度2.5 cm的患者早产率为36.92%,明显高于宫颈长度≥2.5 cm的患者早产率13.46%(P0.05)。结论:三种超声途径测量宫颈长度对预测早产均有很大的临床价值,其中经会阴途径优势更大,值得进一步推广临床使用。     

Common congenital anomalies: Environmental causes and prevention with folic acid containing multivitamins

Congenital anomalies, congenital defects, or birth defects are significant causes of death in infants. The most common congenital defects are congenital heart defects (CHDs) and neural tube defects (NTDs). Defects induced by genetic mutations, environmental exposure to toxins, or a combination of these effects can result in congenital malformations, leading to infant death or long‐term disabilities. These defects produce significant mortality and morbidity in the affected individuals, and families are affected emotional and financially. Also, society is impacted on many levels. Congenital anomalies may be reduced by dietary supplements of folic acid and other vitamins. Here, we review the evidence for specific roles of toxins (alcohol, cigarette smoke) in causing common severe congenital anomalies like CHDs, NTDs, and ocular defects. We also review the evidence for beneficial effects for dietary supplementation, and highlight gaps in our knowledge, where research may contribute to additional benefits of intervention that can reduce birth defects. Extensive discussion of common severe congenital anomalies (CHDs, NTDs, and ocular defects) illustrates the effects of diet on the frequency and severity of these defects. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 108:274–286, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Month of birth is associated with mortality among older people in Japan: Findings from the JAGES cohort

Month of birth (MOB) has been linked to a variety of health conditions in adulthood. This study examined the association between MOB and mortality among the healthy elderly in Japan, where a practice of traditional age reckoning was employed up until the late 1940s. The results showed male participants born in December were more likely to die earlier while those born in January had lower mortality. It is possible that social factors in early life, such as the time period when a birth is officially registered, may have implications for health that stretch across the life course.     

High Mobility Group-Box 1 (HMGB1) levels are increased in amniotic fluid of women with intra-amniotic inflammation-determined preterm birth,and the source may be the damaged fetal membranes

BackgroundHigh Mobility Group Box-1 (HMGB1) is considered a prototype alarmin molecule. Upon its extracellular release, HMGB1 engages pattern recognition receptors and the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products (RAGE) followed by an outpouring of inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-6.MethodsWe assayed the amniotic fluid (AF) levels of HMGB1 and IL-6 in 255 women that either had a normal pregnancy outcome or delivered preterm. Immunohistochemistry on fetal membranes was used for cellular localization and validation of immunoassay findings. HMGB1 also was analyzed in amniochorion tissue explants subjected to endotoxin.ResultsAF HMGB1 levels are not gestational age regulated but are increased in women with intra-amniotic inflammation and preterm birth. The likely source is the damaged amniochorion, as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry and explant experiments.ConclusionsOur research supports a role for HMGB1 in the inflammatory response leading to preterm birth. As a delayed phase cytokine, in utero exposure to elevated AF HMGB1 levels may have an impact on the newborn beyond the time of birth.     

Impaired intermediate formation in mouse embryos expressing reduced levels of Tbx6

Intermediate mesoderm (IM) is the strip of tissue lying between the paraxial mesoderm (PAM) and the lateral plate mesoderm that gives rise to the kidneys and gonads. Chick fate mapping studies suggest that IM is specified shortly after cells leave the primitive streak and that these cells do not require external signals to express IM‐specific genes. Surgical manipulations of the chick embryo, however, revealed that PAM‐specific signals are required for IM differentiation into pronephros—the first kidney. Here, we use a genetic approach in mice to examine the dependency of IM on proper PAM formation. In Tbx6 null mutant embryos, which form 7–9 improperly patterned anterior somites, IM formation is severely compromised, while in Tbx6 hypomorphic embryos, where somites form but are improperly patterned along the axis, the impact to IM formation is lessened. These results suggest that IM and its derivatives, the kidneys and the gonads, are directly or indirectly dependent on proper PAM formation. This has implications for humans harboring Tbx6 mutations which are known to have somite‐derived defects including congenital scoliosis.     

Mapping quantitative trait Loci underlying fitness-related traits in a free-living sheep population

We searched for quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying fitness-related traits in a free-living pedigree of 588 Soay sheep in which a genetic map using 251 markers with an average spacing of 15 cM had been established previously. Traits examined included birth date and weight, considered both as maternal and offspring traits, foreleg length, hindleg length, and body weight measured on animals in August and jaw length and metacarpal length measured on cleaned skeletal material. In some cases the data were split to consider different age classes separately, yielding a total of 15 traits studied. Genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variance were estimated for each trait and, for those traits showing nonzero heritability (N= 12), a QTL search was conducted by comparing a polygenic model with a model including a putative QTL. Support for a QTL at genome-wide significance was found on chromosome 11 for jaw length; suggestive QTL were found on chromosomes 2 and 5 (for birth date as a trait of the lamb), 8 (birth weight as a trait of the lamb), and 15 (adult hindleg length). We discuss the prospects for refining estimates of QTL position and effect size in the study population, and for QTL searches in free-living pedigrees in general.     

Birth weight is inversely associated with central adipose tissue in healthy children and adolescents

Objective: Previous studies have explored the association between birth weight and excess childhood body fat, but few have used precise measures of body composition, leading to equivocal and sometimes contradictory results. Research Methods and Procedures: Subjects included 101 children who underwent DXA measurements between 1995 and 2000. Birth weight and gestational age were assessed using maternal recall. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between birth weight and the following four outcome variables: total fat mass (FM), truncal fat mass (TrFM), percentage body fat (%BF), and TrFM adjusted for FM (TrFMadj), controlling for current weight and Tanner stage. Results: The mean age of the children studied was 12.9 ± 2.4 years, and the mean birth weight reported by subjects’ mothers was 3.3 ± 0.5 kg. The FM and TrFM were 12.8 ± 8.7 kg and 5.1 ± 4.1 kg, respectively, and the mean %BF was 22.9 ± 10.3%. Birth weight was a significant predictor of FM (p = 0.02) and %BF (p = 0.038). However, birth weight adjusted for gestational age (BWTadj) was a significant (p = 0.03) negative predictor of TrFMadj, independently of race, sex, Tanner stage, and current weight. Discussion: These results provide evidence that, even in childhood and adolescence, a higher birth weight is associated with higher FM and %BF, while a low birth weight is associated with TrFM, adjusted for FM.