Screening for Down syndrome in dichorionic twin pregnancies conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF): a clinical pilot study to confirm the laboratory methods.

Purpose: The corrections necessary to estimate the risk for Down syndrome in twin pregnancies have been pointed out. We performed a nested controlled study to evaluate the validity of these corrections in dichorionic twins conceived by IVF.

Methods: Detailed clinical data was collected from the medical records.

Baseline TNFα operational capacity in fetal and maternal circulation prior to the onset of labor: "tuned for different purposes".

Objective: In this study, we sought to characterize the tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) baseline operational capacity in mature fetuses and their mothers prior to the onset of labor.

Materials And Methods: We used an experimental pregnant nonhuman primate model to measure the plasma concentration of TNFα, TNF transmembrane receptor I (TNFRI), and TNFRII with validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Coefficients of correlations between the maternal and the fetal values and the soluble TNFα, TNFRI, or TNFRII concentrations and ratios were calculated.

Transient supplementation of anabolic growth factors rapidly stimulates matrix synthesis in engineered cartilage.

The purpose of the presented work is to examine the response of engineered cartilage to a transient, 2-week application of anabolic growth factors compared to continuous exposure in in vitro culture. Immature bovine chondrocytes were suspended in agarose hydrogel and cultured for 28 days (Study 1) or 42 days (Study 2) in chondrogenic media with TGF-β1, TGF-β3, or IGF-I either added for only the first 14 days in culture or added to the media for the entire study period. In both studies, there were no statistical differences in tissue mechanical or biochemical properties between the growth factors on day 14.

Culture duration modulates collagen hydrolysate-induced tissue remodeling in chondrocyte-seeded agarose hydrogels.

Media supplementation with collagen hydrolysate was hypothesized to increase the collagen content in engineered cartilage. By d28, hydrolysate at 0.5 mg/mL increased type II collagen content and 1 mg/mL increased mechanical properties, total collagen content, and type II collagen content over controls.