Transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve for pregnancy with anti-phospholipid syndrome: a case report.

Background: Perioperative management and cardiac surgery in pregnant women with anti-phospholipid syndrome combined with heart valve disease have been rarely reported.

Case Presentation: We describe a case of transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve replacement in a pregnant woman with bioprosthetic valve failure and anti-phospholipid syndrome at 18 weeks' gestation. The patient underwent a cesarean section delivery at 34 weeks of gestation, resulting in the birth of a healthy baby.

Case Report: Totally endoscopic minimally invasive mitral valve surgery during pregnancy: a case series.

A totally endoscopic minimally invasive approach is widely used for cardiac valve surgery in normal adults. However, minimally invasive cardiac surgery during pregnancy is rarely reported. In addition to traditional median thoracotomy, totally endoscopic minimally invasive approaches can now be used for pregnant patients.

Using Innovative Machine Learning Methods to Screen and Identify Predictors of Congenital Heart Diseases.

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are associated with an extremely heavy global disease burden as the most common category of birth defects. Genetic and environmental factors have been identified as risk factors of CHDs previously. However, high volume clinical indicators have never been considered when predicting CHDs.

Gestational exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and congenital heart defects: A nested case-control pilot study.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that environmental pollutants may contribute to the occurrence of congenital heart defects (CHDs). However, no previous studies have evaluated the impact of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), persistent environmental pollutants, on CHDs. This exploratory study aimed to generate testable hypotheses of the association between gestational PFAS and the risk of CHDs.

Development of gut microbiota and bifidobacterial communities of neonates in the first 6 weeks and their inheritance from mother.

Microbiota especially play an important role in adjusting and maintaining homeostatic balance within the infant intestine. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between maternal and infant gut microbiota and identify the species that may transfer from mother to infant over the first 42 days of the infant's life. Nineteen mother-infant-pair fecal samples were collected and the diversity and composition of the total bacterial and communities were analyzed via 16S rDNA and bifidobacterial gene high throughput sequencing.

Fetal Pulmonary Valvuloplasty in Fetuses with Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstructive Disease: Experience and Outcome of the First Five Cases in China.

The current study was to report our initial experiences of fetal pulmonary valvuloplasty (FPV) for fetuses with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PA/IVS) and critical pulmonary stenosis (CPS), including case selection, technical feasibility, and the effects of FPV on utero and postnatal outcome. Two fetuses with PA/IVS and three fetuses with CPS were enrolled between September 2016 and April 2018. All fetuses were with concomitant severe right ventricular dysplasia and growth arrest.

Weighted gene co‑expression network analysis identifies key genes from extracellular vesicles as potential prognostic biomarkers for congenital pulmonary stenosis.

Pulmonary stenosis (PS) is a congenital heart disease characterized by a dynamic or fixed anatomic obstruction of blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arterial vasculature. In the present study, extracellular vesicle long RNAs (EVLRs) from pregnant females who had healthy infants or PS infants were analyzed by RNA sequencing, and their diagnostic potential for PS during pregnancy was evaluated. A method for the selection of genes that could be considered as informative for the prediction PS based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) from pregnant females using long‑read RNA sequencing was developed.

Evaluation of interactive effects between paternal alcohol consumption and paternal socioeconomic status and environmental exposures on congenital heart defects.

Background: While the maternal risk factors on congenital heart defects (CHDs) have often been assessed, paternal contribution to CHDs, especially the joint effects of paternal risk factors on CHDs remain unknown. This study examined the major impacts of paternal alcohol consumption and its interaction (on multiplicative and additive scales) with paternal socioeconomic status (SES) and environmental exposures on CHDs in China.

Methods: A population-based case-control study involving 4,726 singleton CHDs cases and 4,726 controls (without any malformation and matched on hospital, gender, and gestational age) was conducted in Guangdong, China, 2004-2014.

Maternal residential greenness and congenital heart defects in infants: A large case-control study in Southern China.

Background: Proximity to greenness has shown protective effects on coronary heart diseases by limiting exposure to environmental hazards, encouraging physical activity, and reducing mental stress. However, no studies have previously evaluated the impacts of greenness on congenital heart defects (CHDs). We examined the association between maternal residential greenness and the risks of CHDs.

Cardiac operation under cardiopulmonary bypass during pregnancy.

Background: Certain pregnant women suffer from cardiac pathology,and a few of them need cardiac operations under cardiopulmonary bypass during pregnancy. Feto-neonatal and maternal outcomes have not been sufficiently described.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 22 cases of women undergoing cardiac operations under cardiopulmonary bypass during pregnancy in our hospital from Jan.

Correction to: Nicotine Suppresses the Invasiveness of Human Trophoblasts by Downregulation of CXCL12 Expression through the Alpha-7 Subunit of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor.

Due to an error in production, the article should have indicated that Jing Chen and Min Qiu are co-first authors, as displayed here.

Prevalence and associated risk factors of insomnia among pregnant women in China.

Background: Insomnia is common during pregnancy but the prevalence and risk factors of insomnia in Chinese women during pregnancy is not well studied. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of insomnia and its risk factors in Chinese women during pregnancy.

Methods: In this cross sectional study, 436 Chinese pregnant women with Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) ≥ 8 were clinically assessed using the insomnia criteria based on the combination of DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-4th Edition) and ICD-10 (International Classification of Dieases, 10th Edition).

Nicotine Suppresses the Invasiveness of Human Trophoblasts by Downregulation of CXCL12 Expression through the Alpha-7 Subunit of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor.

Smoke exposure during pregnancy has detrimental effects upon numerous fetal and neonatal outcomes. Nicotine (the main component of tobacco) has been suggested to affect placental development. During placental development, efficient invasion by trophoblasts is required for establishment of the fetus-maternal circulation.

Long noncoding RNA SNHG6 contributes to ventricular septal defect formation via negative regulation of miR-101 and activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

This study aimed to investigate the role and regulatory mechanism of small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6), a long noncoding RNA, in the formation of ventricular septal defect (VSD). The expression of SNHG6 in fetal cardiac tissues with VSD, mouse heart embryo development and the differentiation of P19 cells into cardiomyocytes were determined. Moreover, the effect of aberrant expression of SNHG6 on P19 cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis and differentiation was further analyzed to explore the role of SNHG6 in affecting myocardial development.

[Surgical management of pregnancy-associated acute Stanford type A aortic dissection: analysis of 5 cases].

Objective: To explore the diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy-associated acute Stanford type A aortic dissection to improve the maternal and fetal outcomes.

Methods: We analyzed the perioperative data of 5 pregnant women with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection treated between June, 2009 and February, 2017.

Results: The median age of the women was 30 years (range, 22-34 years) with gestational weeks of 23-38 weeks upon diagnosis.

Perinatal and early postnatal outcomes for fetuses with prenatally diagnosed d-transposition of the great arteries: a prospective cohort study assessing the effect of standardised prenatal consultation.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore perinatal and early postnatal outcomes in fetuses with prenatally diagnosed d-transposition of the great arteries and impacts of standardised prenatal consultation.

Methods: All fetuses with prenatally diagnosed d-transposition of the great arteries prospectively enrolled at South China cardiac centre from 2011 to 2015. Standardised prenatal consultation was introduced in 2013 and comprehensive measures were implemented, such as establishing fetal CHD Outpatient Consultation Service, performing standard prenatal consultation according to specifications, and establishing a multidisciplinary team with senior specialists performing in-person consultations.

Associations between toxic and essential trace elements in maternal blood and fetal congenital heart defects.

Prenatal exposure to toxic trace elements, including heavy metals, is an important public health concern. Few studies have assessed if individual and multiple trace elements simultaneously affect cardiac development. The current study evaluated the association between maternal blood lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), and selenium (Se) levels and congenital heart defects (CHDs) in offspring.

[Neonatal lupus erythematosus: a report of 7 cases and review of 87 cases of China].

Objective: To acquire more knowledge about neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE).

Method: Seven cases with neonatal lupus erythematosus who were seen in this hospital from 1990 to 2009 are reported in this paper and 87 cases reported previously from 1980 to now in China were reviewed. The clinical manifestations, serum autoantibodies, treatment and results of long-term follow-up are analyzed and summarized.

[Application of intrapartum fetal oxygen saturation rate monitoring].

Objective: To study the accuracy of the application of the intrapartum fetal oxygen saturation (FSO2) monitoring in predicting fetal acidosis and diagnosing intrauterine fetal distress.

Methods: Continuous FSO2 monitoring as well as internal and external fetal heart rate monitoring were applied respectively in 60 women in labor during active phase of the first stage and the second stage. All the monitoring methods were validated with standard sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy on the bases of Apgar score and cord artery blood analysis.