Predictive Gestational Diabetes Biomarkers With Sustained Alterations Throughout Pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) results in an increased risk of pre- and postpartum health complications for both mother and child. Metabolomics analysis can potentially identify predictive biomarkers and provide insight into metabolic alterations associated with GDM pathogenesis and progression, but few metabolomics studies investigate alterations observed across the first and third trimester. We hypothesize that metabolites altered in first-trimester GDM that remain altered in late pregnancy may best inform interventions.

Independent origin of large labyrinth size in turtles.

The labyrinth of the vertebrate inner ear is a sensory system that governs the perception of head rotations. Central hypotheses predict that labyrinth shape and size are related to ecological adaptations, but this is under debate and has rarely been tested outside of mammals. We analyze the evolution of labyrinth morphology and its ecological drivers in living and fossil turtles, an understudied group that underwent multiple locomotory transitions during 230 million years of evolution.

Multiassay nutritional metabolomics profiling of low vitamin A status versus adequacy is characterized by reduced plasma lipid mediators among lactating women in the Philippines: A pilot study.

Low vitamin A (VA) status is common among lactating women in low-income countries. Lactation has substantial effects on mother's metabolism and VA is required in multiple biological processes, including growth, vision, immunity, and reproduction. The objective of this pilot study was to use metabolomics profiling to conduct a broad, exploratory assessment of differences in plasma metabolites associated with low VA status versus VA adequacy in lactating women.

The Caring for Our Own Program: A Model for American Indian and Alaska Native Nursing Students to Practice, Manage, and Lead in Indian Country.

Background: Research has identified workforce diversification as influential in improving health outcomes. The Caring for Our Own Program (CO-OP) set out to achieve classroom and workforce parity for rural Native American nurses and communities.

Purpose: In this study, we report quantitative results of the first 20 years of the CO-OP and explore the extent to which the CO-OP model influenced degree completion for Native American students.

Metabolites involved in purine degradation, insulin resistance, and fatty acid oxidation are associated with prediction of Gestational diabetes in plasma.

Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) significantly increases maternal and fetal health risks, but factors predictive of GDM are poorly understood.

Objectives: Plasma metabolomics analyses were conducted in early pregnancy to identify potential metabolites associated with prediction of GDM.

Methods: Sixty-eight pregnant women with overweight/obesity from a clinical trial of a lifestyle intervention were included.

Gestational long-term hypoxia induces metabolomic reprogramming and phenotypic transformations in fetal sheep pulmonary arteries.

Gestational long-term hypoxia increases the risk of myriad diseases in infants including persistent pulmonary hypertension. Similar to humans, fetal lamb lung development is susceptible to long-term intrauterine hypoxia, with structural and functional changes associated with the development of pulmonary hypertension including pulmonary arterial medial wall thickening and dysregulation of arterial reactivity, which culminates in decreased right ventricular output. To further explore the mechanisms associated with hypoxia-induced aberrations in the fetal sheep lung, we examined the premise that metabolomic changes and functional phenotypic transformations occur due to intrauterine, long-term hypoxia.

Metabolomics Reveals Altered Hepatic Bile Acids, Gut Microbiome Metabolites, and Cell Membrane Lipids Associated with Marginal Vitamin A Deficiency in a Mongolian Gerbil Model.

Scope: This study is designed to provide a broad evaluation of the impacts of vitamin A (VA) deficiency on hepatic metabolism in a gerbil model.

Methods And Results: After 28 days of VA depletion, male Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are randomly assigned to experimental diets for 28 days. Groups are fed a white-maize-based diet with ≈50 µL cottonseed oil vehicle either alone (VA-, n = 10) or containing 40 µg retinyl acetate (VA+, n = 10) for 28 days.

Effects of wetland vs. landscape variables on parasite communities of Rana pipiens: links to anthropogenic factors.

The emergence of several diseases affecting amphibian populations worldwide has prompted investigations into determinants of the occurrence and abundance of parasites in frogs. To understand the spatial scales and identify specific environmental factors that determine risks of parasitism in frogs, helminth communities in metamorphic frogs of the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) were examined in relation to wetland and landscape factors at local (1 km) and regional (10 km) spatial extents in an agricultural region of Minnesota (USA) using regression analyses, ordination, and variance partitioning techniques. Greater amounts of forested and woody wetland habitats, shorter distances between woody wetlands, and smaller-sized open water patches in surrounding landscapes were the most consistently positive correlates with the abundances, richness, and diversity of helminths found in the frogs.

Agrochemicals increase trematode infections in a declining amphibian species.

Global amphibian declines have often been attributed to disease, but ignorance of the relative importance and mode of action of potential drivers of infection has made it difficult to develop effective remediation. In a field study, here we show that the widely used herbicide, atrazine, was the best predictor (out of more than 240 plausible candidates) of the abundance of larval trematodes (parasitic flatworms) in the declining northern leopard frog Rana pipiens. The effects of atrazine were consistent across trematode taxa.

Prevalence of skeletal and eye malformations in frogs from north-central United States: estimations based on collections from randomly selected sites.

Skeletal malformation rates for several frog species were determined in a set of randomly selected wetlands in the north-central USA over three consecutive years. In 1998, 62 sites yielded 389 metamorphic frogs, nine (2.3%) of which had skeletal or eye malformations.