The Association between Prenatal Nicotine Exposure and Offspring's Hearing Impairment.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether there is an association between in-utero exposure to nicotine and subsequent hearing dysfunction.

Materials And Methods: Secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized trial to prevent congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection among gravidas with primary CMV infection was conducted. Monthly intravenous immunoglobulin hyperimmune globulin therapy did not influence the rate of congenital CMV.

Glycemic Control and Aspirin Resistance in Patients Taking Low-Dose Aspirin for Pre-eclampsia Prevention.

Objectives: To assess the association between aspirin and glycemic control in diabetic, pregnant patients, and the risk for aspirin resistance in those with poor glycemic control across gestation taking low-dose aspirin (LDA) for pre-eclampsia (PEC) prevention.

Study Design: We performed a secondary analysis of samples collected during the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units trial of LDA for PEC prevention. A subset of insulin-controlled diabetic patient samples on placebo or 60 mg aspirin daily were evaluated.

Low-dose aspirin increases 15-epi-lipoxins A in pregnancies at high-risk for developing preeclampsia.

Background: LDA triggers biosynthesis of endogenous anti-inflammatory molecules, aspirin-triggered 15-epi-lipoxin A (15-epi-LXA), which may counteract inflammatory process of preeclampsia (PE), and play role in LDA's mechanism of action in PE prevention in high-risk patients.

Objective: Investigate the effects of daily LDA on levels of 15-epi-LXA in pregnancies at high-risk for developing PE.

Materials And Methods: Secondary analysis of multi-centered randomized controlled trial investigating effects of daily LDA (60 mg) in high-risk pregnancies.

Progesterone Receptor Signaling Selectively Modulates Cytokine-Induced Global Gene Expression in Human Cervical Stromal Cells.

Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants <1 year of age. Intrauterine inflammation is a hallmark of preterm and term parturition; however, this alone cannot fully explain the pathobiology of PTB. For example, the cervix undergoes a prolonged series of biochemical and biomechanical events, including extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and mechanochemical changes, culminating in ripening.

Novel Interventions for the Prevention of Preeclampsia.

Purpose Of Review: To review the rationale and biological plausibility and discuss the current research on novel interventions for the prevention of preeclampsia.

Recent Findings: Preeclampsia affects up to 8% of pregnancies worldwide and remains a major cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Multiple medications have been investigated or repurposed as potential effective interventions for preeclampsia prevention.

Cell Lines as Biological Models: Practical Steps for More Reliable Research.

Research in toxicology relies on models such as cell lines. These living models are prone to change and may be described in publications with insufficient information or quality control testing. This article sets out recommendations to improve the reliability of cell-based research.

Myoferlin regulates epithelial cancer cell plasticity and migration through autocrine TGF-β1 signaling.

Epithelial cancer cells can undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a complex genetic program that enables cells to break free from the primary tumor, breach the basement membrane, invade through the stroma and metastasize to distant organs. Myoferlin (MYOF), a protein involved in plasma membrane function and repair, is overexpressed in several invasive cancer cell lines. Depletion of myoferlin in the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 (MDA-231) reduced migration and invasion and caused the cells to revert to an epithelial phenotype.

Authentication of M14 melanoma cell line proves misidentification of MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cell line.

A variety of analytical approaches have indicated that melanoma cell line UCLA-SO-M14 (M14) and breast carcinoma cell line MDA-MB-435 originate from a common donor. This indicates that at some point in the past, one of these cell lines became misidentified, meaning that it ceased to correspond to the reported donor and instead became falsely identified (through cross-contamination or other means) as a cell line from a different donor. Initial studies concluded that MDA-MB-435 was the misidentified cell line and M14 was the authentic cell line, although contradictory evidence has been published, resulting in further confusion.

Cellular Mechanics of Primary Human Cervical Fibroblasts: Influence of Progesterone and a Pro-inflammatory Cytokine.

The leading cause of neonatal mortality, pre-term birth, is often caused by pre-mature ripening/opening of the uterine cervix. Although cervical fibroblasts play an important role in modulating the cervix's extracellular matrix (ECM) and mechanical properties, it is not known how hormones, i.e.

Inflammatory gene networks in term human decidual cells define a potential signature for cytokine-mediated parturition.

Background: Inflammation is a proximate mediator of preterm birth and fetal injury. During inflammation several microRNAs (22 nucleotide noncoding ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules) are up-regulated in response to cytokines such as interleukin-1β. MicroRNAs, in most cases, fine-tune gene expression, including both up-regulation and down-regulation of their target genes.

Agonist-Dependent Downregulation of Progesterone Receptors in Human Cervical Stromal Fibroblasts.

Progesterone (P(4)) maintains uterine quiescence during the majority of pregnancy, whereas diminished progesterone receptor (PR) expression and/or activity (ie, functional P(4) withdrawal) promotes parturition. To investigate the regulation of PR expression in cervical stroma, fibroblasts from premenopausal hysterectomy specimens were prepared. Greater than 99% of the cultures were vimentin positive (mesenchymal cell marker) with only occasional cytokeratin-8 positivity (epithelial cell marker) and no evidence of CD31-positive (endothelial cell marker) cells.

Loss of myoferlin redirects breast cancer cell motility towards collective migration.

Cell migration plays a central role in the invasion and metastasis of tumors. As cells leave the primary tumor, they undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and migrate as single cells. Epithelial tumor cells may also migrate in a highly directional manner as a collective group in some settings.

Discovery of HeLa Cell Contamination in HES Cells: Call for Cell Line Authentication in Reproductive Biology Research.

Continuous cell lines are used frequently in reproductive biology research to study problems in early pregnancy events and parturition. It has been recognized for 50 years that many mammalian cell lines contain inter- or intraspecies contaminations with other cells. However, most investigators do not routinely test their culture systems for cross-contamination.

Finite element analysis of traction force microscopy: influence of cell mechanics, adhesion, and morphology.

The interactions between adherent cells and their extracellular matrix (ECM) have been shown to play an important role in many biological processes, such as wound healing, morphogenesis, differentiation, and cell migration. Cells attach to the ECM at focal adhesion sites and transmit contractile forces to the substrate via cytoskeletal actin stress fibers. This contraction results in traction stresses within the substrate/ECM.

Myoferlin depletion in breast cancer cells promotes mesenchymal to epithelial shape change and stalls invasion.

Myoferlin (MYOF) is a mammalian ferlin protein with homology to ancestral Fer-1, a nematode protein that regulates spermatic membrane fusion, which underlies the amoeboid-like movements of its sperm. Studies in muscle and endothelial cells have reported on the role of myoferlin in membrane repair, endocytosis, myoblast fusion, and the proper expression of various plasma membrane receptors. In this study, using an in vitro human breast cancer cell model, we demonstrate that myoferlin is abundantly expressed in invasive breast tumor cells.

Mechanistic modeling of the effects of myoferlin on tumor cell invasion.

Myoferlin (MYOF) is a member of the evolutionarily conserved ferlin family of proteins, noted for their role in a variety of membrane processes, including endocytosis, repair, and vesicular transport. Notably, ferlins are implicated in Caenorhabditis elegans sperm motility (Fer-1), mammalian skeletal muscle development and repair (MYOF and dysferlin), and presynaptic transmission in the auditory system (otoferlin). In this paper, we demonstrate that MYOF plays a previously unrecognized role in cancer cell invasion, using a combination of mathematical modeling and in vitro experiments.

Inflammatory gene regulatory networks in amnion cells following cytokine stimulation: translational systems approach to modeling human parturition.

A majority of the studies examining the molecular regulation of human labor have been conducted using single gene approaches. While the technology to produce multi-dimensional datasets is readily available, the means for facile analysis of such data are limited. The objective of this study was to develop a systems approach to infer regulatory mechanisms governing global gene expression in cytokine-challenged cells in vitro, and to apply these methods to predict gene regulatory networks (GRNs) in intrauterine tissues during term parturition.

Mathematical modeling of preadipocyte fate determination.

White adipose tissue is the major energy storage depot for neutral lipids and is also a key endocrine regulator of a host of homeostatic activities, including metabolism, feeding behaviors, cardiovascular functions and reproduction. Abnormal fat accretion in the setting of obesity can lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and has been linked to some cancers and arteriosclerosis. Thus, a thorough appreciation of the intricate signaling events that must take place as quiescent adipocyte precursors are recruited into the proliferating cell population that then must 'decide' to differentiate into fully functional fat cells is critical to our understanding of diseases related to excess adipogenesis.

Nuclear factor-kappa B localization and function within intrauterine tissues from term and preterm labor and cultured fetal membranes.

Background: The objective of this study was to quantify the nuclear localization and DNA binding activity of p65, the major transactivating nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) subunit, in full-thickness fetal membranes (FM) and myometrium in the absence or presence of term or preterm labor.

Methods: Paired full-thickness FM and myometrial samples were collected from women in the following cohorts: preterm no labor (PNL, N = 22), spontaneous preterm labor (PTL, N = 21), term no labor (TNL, N = 23), and spontaneous term labor (STL, N = 21). NF-kappaB p65 localization was assessed by immunohistochemistry, and DNA binding activity was evaluated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based method.

Isolation of highly enriched apical plasma membranes of the placental syncytiotrophoblast.

The human placenta is a complex organ whose proper function is crucial for the development of the fetus. The placenta contains within its structure elements of the maternal and fetal circulatory systems. The interface with maternal blood is the lining of the placenta, that is a unique compartment known as the syncytiotrophoblast.

Bioassembly of three-dimensional embryonic stem cell-scaffold complexes using compressed gases.

Tissues are composed of multiple cell types in a well-organized three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment. To faithfully mimic the tissue in vivo, tissue-engineered constructs should have well-defined 3D chemical and spatial control over cell behavior to recapitulate developmental processes in tissue- and organ-specific differentiation and morphogenesis. It is a challenge to build a 3D complex from two-dimensional (2D) patterned structures with the presence of cells.