Exporting Proteins Associated with Senescence Repair via Extracellular Vesicles May Be Associated with Early Pregnancy Loss.

Introduction: Dysfunction of placental development is involved in early pregnancy loss. Senescent changes have been seen in missed miscarriage, one type of pregnancy loss. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been widely implicated in the pathogenesis of diseases.

Placental extracellular vesicles retain biological activity after short-term storage (14 days) at 4 °C or room temperature.

Introduction: To investigate the role of placental extracellular vesicles (EVs), especially in pathological pregnancy, the use of freshly isolated EVs is often limited due to the sporadic and unpredictable availability of placental samples. Therefore, it is important to understand and use optimised storage conditions for placental EVs. In this study, we investigated different conditions for the short-term storage of placental micro- and nano-EVs and examined their biological activity.

Upregulation of pannexin-1 hemichannels explains the apparent death of the syncytiotrophoblast during human placental explant culture.

Background: It has been reported that during the culture of human placental explants, the syncytiotrophoblast dies between 3 and 24 h and is then replaced within 48 h by a new syncytiotrophoblast layer formed by the fusion of underlying cytotrophoblasts. Most frequently the death of the syncytiotrophoblast is indicated by the uptake of nuclear stains such as propidium iodide (PI). This process is reportedly similar in both early and late gestation placental explants.

Estimation of the burden of human placental micro- and nano-vesicles extruded into the maternal blood from 8 to 12 weeks of gestation.

Background: The human placenta extrudes a variety of extracellular vesicles (EVs) into the maternal blood daily. These vesicles may be crucial to the adaptation of the maternal cardiovascular and immune systems to pregnancy. Quantifying the EVs that are released in early gestation is important to our understanding of how placental EVs may contribute to the regulation of maternal physiology.

Karnofsky Performance Status Assessment: resident versus attending.

Background: Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) is a commonly used scale to assess a patient's functional status.

Methods: Between September 1999 and March 2000, 117 patients were independently evaluated and assigned KPS scores by both an attending physician and a resident physician at the time of radiation therapy simulation.

Results: Both attending and resident median assigned KPS score was 80.