Birth Outcomes in Women Who Have Taken Hydroxycholoroquine During Pregnancy: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: Findings from previous small studies have been reassuring regarding the safety of treatment with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) during pregnancy. In one recent study, it was demonstrated that the frequency of major birth defects was increased in women who had received HCQ at a dose of ≥400 mg/day during pregnancy. This study was undertaken to examine pregnancy outcomes among women following the use of HCQ.

Birth outcomes in women who have taken adalimumab in pregnancy: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Information is needed on the safety of adalimumab when used in pregnancy for the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases.

Methods And Findings: Between 2004 and 2016, the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists Research Center at the University of California San Diego conducted a prospective controlled observational cohort study in 602 pregnant women who had or had not taken adalimumab. Women in the adalimumab-exposed cohort had received at least one dose of the drug in the first trimester for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's Disease (N = 257).

Oral corticosteroid use during pregnancy and risk of preterm birth.

Objective: To evaluate the associations between oral corticosteroid (OCS) dose early and late in pregnancy and preterm birth (PTB) among women with RA.

Methods: Pregnant women in the MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies (2003-2014) with RA (n = 528) were included in the primary analysis. Information was collected by phone interview and from medical records.

No Association of Discontinuing Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors Before Gestational Week Twenty in Well-Controlled Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis With a Disease Worsening in Late Pregnancy.

Objective: To investigate whether the discontinuation of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) during pregnancy is associated with any changes of the disease course in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: Pregnant women with RA and JIA from the US and Canada were enrolled in the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Autoimmune Diseases in Pregnancy Project, a prospective cohort study. Information about medication and disease activity (patient-reported outcome measures) was collected prior to gestational week 20 and at gestational week 32.

Approach to evaluating pregnancy safety of anti-rheumatic medications in the OTIS MotherToBaby pregnancy studies: what have we learned?

For the last 30 years, pregnancy exposure studies, with varying methodologies, have been the mainstay of post-marketing surveillance for new drugs likely to be used by women of reproductive age. While they provide valuable data to inform use during pregnancy, they have limitations that render them necessary but not sufficient in supplying timely information to patients and prescribers. The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies' collaborative research group operates to help fill this gap.

Risk of infantile hemangiomas in the offspring of women with autoimmune disease and the pathogenic implications of these lesions.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the risk of maternal autoimmune disease or associated treatments on infantile hemangiomas (IHs), a common benign vascular tumor in infants, and to better understand how maternal chronic inflammation may play a factor in the pathogenesis of these lesions. Eligible women from the United States and Canada who enrolled before 19 weeks' gestation and delivered at least one live born infant were recruited as part of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Autoimmune Disease in Pregnancy Project from 2004-2013. A total of 51/969 (5.

Consistency of maternal telephone administration of the asthma control test using postpartum recall compared to repeated measures during pregnancy.

Background: Suboptimal asthma control during pregnancy may impact perinatal outcomes. U.S.

Safety of the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 seasonal influenza vaccines in pregnancy: Birth defects, spontaneous abortion, preterm delivery, and small for gestational age infants, a study from the cohort arm of VAMPSS.

Introduction: There is a need for pregnancy safety information overall and for each seasonal formulation of the influenza vaccine.

Methods: As part of the cohort arm of the Vaccines and Medications in Pregnancy Surveillance System, vaccine-exposed and unexposed women in the U.S.

Validation of the Pregnancy Asthma Control Test.

Background: Suboptimal asthma control during pregnancy may affect perinatal outcomes. US guidelines recommend questionnaires to assess asthma control including the Asthma Control Test (ACT).

Objective: To validate telephone administration of a modified version of ACT during pregnancy.

The dynamic proliferation of CanSINEs mirrors the complex evolution of Feliforms.

Background: Repetitive short interspersed elements (SINEs) are retrotransposons ubiquitous in mammalian genomes and are highly informative markers to identify species and phylogenetic associations. Of these, SINEs unique to the order Carnivora (CanSINEs) yield novel insights on genome evolution in domestic dogs and cats, but less is known about their role in related carnivores. In particular, genome-wide assessment of CanSINE evolution has yet to be completed across the Feliformia (cat-like) suborder of Carnivora.

Novel animal pole-enriched maternal mRNAs are preferentially expressed in neural ectoderm.

Background: Many animals utilize maternal mRNAs to pre-pattern the embryo before the onset of zygotic transcription. In Xenopus laevis, vegetal factors specify the germ line, endoderm, and dorsal axis, but there are few studies demonstrating roles for animal-enriched maternal mRNAs. Therefore, we carried out a microarray analysis to identify novel maternal transcripts enriched in 8-cell-stage animal blastomeres.

Emerging data on the use of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha medications in pregnancy.

Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α medications are used for the treatment of a number of autoimmune diseases. Evaluation of pregnancy safety for these medications is complicated by the contribution of the underlying maternal disease to adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm delivery and reduced birth weight. Placental transport of these medications is thought to be minimal in the first trimester, thereby providing some reassurance regarding theoretical risks for congenital malformations.

Carnivore-specific SINEs (Can-SINEs): distribution, evolution, and genomic impact.

Short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) are a type of class 1 transposable element (retrotransposon) with features that allow investigators to resolve evolutionary relationships between populations and species while providing insight into genome composition and function. Characterization of a Carnivora-specific SINE family, Can-SINEs, has, has aided comparative genomic studies by providing rare genomic changes, and neutral sequence variants often needed to resolve difficult evolutionary questions. In addition, Can-SINEs constitute a significant source of functional diversity with Carnivora.

Birth outcomes in women who have taken leflunomide during pregnancy.

Objective: In preclinical reproductive studies, leflunomide was found to be embryotoxic and teratogenic. Women treated with leflunomide are advised to avoid pregnancy; those who become pregnant are advised to reduce fetal exposure through a cholestyramine drug elimination procedure. The present study was undertaken to investigate pregnancy outcomes in women who received leflunomide and were treated with cholestyramine during pregnancy.

Evolution of the GST omega gene family in 12 Drosophila species.

Gene families provide a unique system to study the evolutionary relationships between related genes both within and between organisms. We can ascertain whether members of a gene family in different species are orthologs or paralogs. We may also search for evidence that may explain why duplicate genes are present.

Characterization of human control region sequences for Spanish individuals in a forensic mtDNA data set.

Population data on the hypervariable regions of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome are used to convey the relative rarity of mtDNA profiles obtained from evidence samples and of profiles used to identify missing persons. In this study, mtDNA profiles of Spanish individuals (n=312) were analyzed to describe haplogroup distributions and to determine relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of those haplogroups. All nine common European haplogroups were observed in the sample, and these were divided into subgroups when possible.