Does first-trimester serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein A differ in pregnant women with sickle cell disease?

Objective: To assess whether levels of first-trimester pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) differ between women with and without sickle cell disease (SCD).

Methods: Retrospective study of 101 singleton pregnancies in women with SCD (including 55 with genotype HbSS, 37 with genotype HbSC, and nine with other genotypes). Measured levels of PAPP-A were converted to multiple of the median (MoM) values corrected for gestational age and maternal characteristics.

Endoscopic Placental Laser Coagulation in Dichorionic and Monochorionic Triplet Pregnancies.

Objective: To report the outcome of monochorionic (MC) and dichorionic (DC) triamniotic (TA) triplet pregnancies treated with endoscopic laser coagulation of the communicating placental vessels for severe feto-fetal transfusion syndrome (FFTS) and selective fetal growth restriction (sFGR).

Methods: Laser surgery was performed at 18 (15-24) weeks' gestation in 11 MCTA and 33 DCTA pregnancies complicated by FFTS and 14 DCTA pregnancies complicated by sFGR. Data from our study and previous reports were pooled using meta-analytic techniques.

Endoscopic Placental Laser Coagulation in Monochorionic Diamniotic Twins with Type II Selective Fetal Growth Restriction.

Objective: To determine predictors of survival in monochorionic diamniotic twins with selective fetal growth restriction type II (sFGR-II), with or without twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), treated by endoscopic placental laser coagulation.

Methods: Laser surgery was performed at 20 (15-27) weeks' gestation in 405 cases of sFGR-II with and 142 without coexisting TTTS. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine significant predictors of survival to discharge from hospital.

Competing risks model in screening for preeclampsia by serum placental growth factor and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 at 30-33 weeks' gestation.

Objective: To assess the risk for preeclampsia (PE) by maternal characteristics, serum placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) at 30-33 weeks' gestation.

Methods: This was a screening study in singleton pregnancies including 2,140 that subsequently developed PE and 83,615 that were unaffected by PE, gestational hypertension or delivery of small-for-gestational-age neonates (normal group). We developed a survival time model for the time of delivery for PE by combination of maternal characteristics and history with PlGF and sFlt-1 multiple of the median (MoM) values (biochemical test).

Improved outcome of facial nerve repair in rats is associated with enhanced regenerative response of motoneurons and augmented neocortical plasticity.

Within a recent study on the vibrissae motor performance after facial nerve repair in strains of blind (SD/RCS) and sighted (SD) rats we found that, despite persisting myotopic disorganization in the facial nucleus, the blind animals fully restored vibrissal whisking. Here we searched for morphological substrates of better recovery in the regenerating motoneurons and in the cerebral motor cortex. Expression analyses of the neurite growth-related proteins f-actin, neuronal class III beta-tubulin and plasticity-related gene-1, and stereological estimates of growth cone densities revealed a more vigorous regenerative response in the proximal nerve stump of blind SD/RCS rats compared with SD animals at 5-7 days after buccal nerve transection.