Late-gestation maternal undernutrition induces circulatory redistribution while preserving uteroplacental function independent of fetal glycaemic state.

Programming effects of maternal undernutrition on fetal metabolic and cardiovascular systems are well elucidated, yet a detailed characterization of maternal haemodynamics is not available. This study used comprehensive cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to quantify maternal haemodynamics after 29 days (111-140 days) of late-gestation undernutrition (LGUN) in pregnant sheep. Control ewes received 100% of metabolizable energy requirements (MERs, n = 15), whereas LGUN ewes were globally nutrient restricted to 50% MER (n = 18), with a subset of fetuses undergoing continuous glucose infusion (LGUN + G, n = 6/18).

Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses.

Knowledge of how animals respond to weather and changes in their physical environment is increasingly important, given the higher frequency of extreme weather recorded in recent years and its forecasted increase globally. Even species considered to be highly adapted to extremes of weather, as albatrosses are to strong winds, may be disadvantaged by shifts in those extremes. Tracked albatrosses were shown recently to avoid storms and the strongest associated winds.

Betamethasone improved near-term neonatal lamb lung maturation in experimental maternal asthma.

Maternal asthma is associated with increased rates of neonatal lung disease, and fetuses from asthmatic ewes have fewer surfactant-producing cells and lower surfactant-protein B gene (SFTPB) expression than controls. Antenatal betamethasone increases lung surfactant production in preterm babies, and we therefore tested this therapy in experimental maternal asthma. Ewes were sensitised to house dust mite allergen, and an asthmatic phenotype induced by fortnightly allergen lung challenges; controls received saline.

A Scoping Review of Social Determinants of Health and Pain Outcomes in Sickle Cell Disease.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary blood disorder with chronic pain that affects over 100,000 people in the United States. Previous research suggests a complex interaction between SCD pain outcomes and social determinants of health (SDOH).

Objective: To explore the impact of SDOH on pain outcomes in SCD.

Endometrial cancer of both uterine horns in a premenopausal patient with uterine didelphys: Surgical approach and considerations for adjuvant treatment.

•Concomitant diagnosis of endometrial cancer (EC) and uterine didelphys is rare.•Robotic surgery can safely be performed in patients with EC uterine didelphys.•A multidisciplinary team is required to approach treatment and cancer surveillance in those with Mullerian anomalies.

Endometrial cancer recurrence after the use of a uterine manipulator during laparoscopic surgery.

Objective: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is the standard approach for the staging and treatment of early-stage endometrial cancer (EC) and often includes use of a uterine manipulator. Uterine perforation is a known risk in this setting, and the impact of perforation and tumor spillage on cancer recurrence is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the association between uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage at the time of MIS for low-grade, early-stage EC on disease recurrence.

Experiences, acceptability and feasibility of an isometric exercise intervention for stage 1 hypertension: embedded qualitative study in a randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Background: Healthy lifestyle changes for patients with stage 1 hypertension are recommended before antihypertensive medication. Exercise has antihypertensive benefits; however, low adoption and high attrition are common. Patients need easily adoptable, effective and manageable exercise interventions that can be sustained for life.

Barriers and Facilitators to Integrating Acupuncture into the U.S. Health Care System: A Scoping Review.

Acupuncture is a widely practiced complementary and integrative health modality that has multiple clinical applications. The use of acupuncture in the United States is rapidly increasing. Although studies have shown the efficacy and effectiveness of acupuncture for various ailments, the integration of acupuncture into the U.

Maternal high fat-high energy diet alters metabolic factors in the non-human primate fetal heart.

The consumption of high fat-high energy diets (HF-HEDs) continues to rise worldwide and parallels the rise in maternal obesity (MO) that predisposes offspring to cardiometabolic disorders. Although the underlying mechanisms are unclear, thyroid hormones (TH) modulate cardiac maturation in utero. Therefore, we aimed to determine the impact of a high fat-high energy diet (HF-HED) on the hormonal, metabolic and contractility profile of the non-human primate (NHP) fetal heart.

Conversion of Mouse-Derived Hybridomas to Tasmanian Devil Recombinant IgG Antibodies.

The hybridoma method for production of monoclonal antibodies has been a cornerstone of biomedical research for several decades. Here we convert the monoclonal antibody sequence from mouse-derived hybridomas into a "devilized" recombinant antibody with devil IgG heavy chain and IgK light chain. The chimeric recombinant antibody can be used in functional assays, immunotherapy, and to improve understanding of antibodies and Fc receptors in Tasmanian devils.

Impact of a family support intervention on hospitalization costs and hospital readmissions among ICU patients at high risk of death or severe functional impairment.

Background: Patients with advanced critical illness often receive more intensive treatment than they would choose for themselves, which contributes to high health care costs near the end of life. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a family support intervention delivered by the interprofessional ICU team decreases hospitalization costs and hospital readmissions among critically ill patients at high risk of death or severe functional impairment.

Results: We examined index hospitalization costs as well as post-discharge utilization of acute care hospitals, rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities, and hospice services for the PARTNER trial, a multicenter, stepped-wedge, cluster randomized trial of an interprofessional ICU family support intervention.

Post-Myocardial Infarction Remodeling and Hyperkinetic Remote Myocardium in Sheep Measured by Cardiac MRI Feature Tracking.

Background: Cardiac MRI feature tracking (FT) allows objective assessment of segmental left ventricular (LV) function following a myocardial infarction (MI), but its utilization in sheep, where interventions can be tested, is lacking.

Purpose: To apply and validate FT in a sheep model of MI and describe post-MI LV remodeling.

Study Type: Animal model, longitudinal.

Acute-on-chronic: using magnetic resonance imaging to disentangle the haemodynamic responses to acute and chronic fetal hypoxaemia.

Introduction: The fetal haemodynamic response to acute episodes of hypoxaemia are well characterised. However, how these responses change when the hypoxaemia becomes more chronic in nature such as that associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR), is less well understood. Herein, we utilised a combination of clinically relevant MRI techniques to comprehensively characterize and differentiate the haemodynamic responses occurring during acute and chronic periods of fetal hypoxaemia.

Echocardiographic assessment of cardiovascular physiology of preterm miniature piglets supported with a pumped artificial placenta system.

Objectives: We evaluated fetal cardiovascular physiology and mode of cardiac failure in premature miniature piglets on a pumped artificial placenta (AP) circuit.

Methods: Fetal pigs were cannulated via the umbilical vessels and transitioned to an AP circuit composed of a centrifugal pump and neonatal oxygenator and maintained in a fluid-filled biobag. Echocardiographic studies were conducted to measure ventricular function, umbilical blood flow, and fluid status.

Maternal tadalafil treatment does not increase uterine artery blood flow or oxygen delivery in the pregnant ewe.

Increasing placental perfusion (PP) could improve outcomes of growth-restricted fetuses. One way of increasing PP may be by using phosphodiesterase (PDE)-5 inhibitors, which induce vasodilatation of vascular beds. We used a combination of clinically relevant magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to characterize the impact that tadalafil infusion has on maternal, placental and fetal circulations.

Pulmonary Vascular Regulation in the Fetal and Transitional Lung.

Fetal lungs have fewer and smaller arteries with higher pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) than a newborn. As gestation advances, the pulmonary circulation becomes more sensitive to changes in pulmonary arterial oxygen tension, which prepares them for the dramatic drop in PVR and increase in pulmonary blood flow (PBF) that occur when the baby takes its first few breaths of air, thus driving the transition from fetal to postnatal circulation. Dynamic and intricate regulatory mechanisms control PBF throughout development and are essential in supporting gas exchange after birth.

Transcriptomic and Proteomic Characterization of the Immune Response to Elective Spinal Reconstructive Surgery: Impact of Aging and Comparison with Traumatic Injury Response.

Background: Major surgery triggers trauma-like stress responses linked to age, surgery duration, and blood loss, resembling polytrauma. This similarity suggests elective surgery as a surrogate model for studying polytrauma immune responses. We investigated stress responses across age groups and compared them with those of polytrauma patients.

Gaussian approximation potentials: Theory, software implementation and application examples.

Gaussian Approximation Potentials (GAPs) are a class of Machine Learned Interatomic Potentials routinely used to model materials and molecular systems on the atomic scale. The software implementation provides the means for both fitting models using ab initio data and using the resulting potentials in atomic simulations. Details of the GAP theory, algorithms and software are presented, together with detailed usage examples to help new and existing users.

Feasibility of MRI assessment of maternal-fetal oxygen transport and consumption relative to maternal position in healthy late gestational pregnancies.

Late gestational supine positioning reduces maternal cardiac output due to inferior vena caval (IVC) compression, despite increased collateral venous return. However, little is known about the impact of maternal position on oxygen (O ) delivery and consumption of the gravid uterus, fetus, placenta and lower limbs. We studied the effects of maternal positioning on these parameters in 20 healthy pregnant subjects at 36 ± 2 weeks using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); a follow-up MRI was performed 6-months postpartum (n = 16/20).

ACEpotentials.jl: A Julia implementation of the atomic cluster expansion.

We introduce ACEpotentials.jl, a Julia-language software package that constructs interatomic potentials from quantum mechanical reference data using the Atomic Cluster Expansion [R. Drautz, Phys.

Decadal increase in vessel interactions by a scavenging pelagic seabird across the North Atlantic.

Fisheries waste is used by many seabirds as a supplementary source of food, but interacting with fishing vessels to obtain this resource puts birds at risk of entanglement in fishing gear and mortality. As a result, bycatch is one of the leading contributors to seabird decline worldwide, and this risk may increase over time as birds increasingly associate fishing vessels with food. Light-level geolocators mounted on seabirds can detect light emitted from vessels at night year-round.