Placental MFSD2A expression in fetal growth restriction and maternal and fetal DHA status.

Introduction: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) may affect placental transfer of key nutrients to the fetus, such as the fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Major facilitator superfamily domain containing 2A (MFSD2A) has been described as a specific DHA carrier in placenta, but its expression has not been studied in FGR. The aim of this study was to evaluate for the first time the placental MFSD2A levels in late-FGR pregnancies and the maternal and cord plasma DHA.

Cord blood cardiovascular biomarkers in tetralogy of fallot and D-transposition of great arteries.

Unlabelled: Previous reports suggest that cord blood biomarkers could serve as a prognostic tool for conotruncal congenital heart defects (CHD). We aimed to describe the cord blood profile of different cardiovascular biomarkers in a prospective series of fetuses with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) and D-transposition of great arteries (D-TGA) and to explore their correlation with fetal echocardiography and perinatal outcome.

Methods: A prospective cohort study (2014-2019), including fetuses with isolated ToF and D-TGA and healthy controls, was conducted at two tertiary referral centers for CHD in Barcelona.

Speech-Encoding Deficits in Neonates Born Large-for-Gestational Age as Revealed With the Envelope Frequency-Following Response.

Objectives: The present envelope frequency-following response (FFR ENV ) study aimed at characterizing the neural encoding of the fundamental frequency of speech sounds in neonates born at the higher end of the birth weight continuum (>90th percentile), known as large-for-gestational age (LGA).

Design: Twenty-five LGA newborns were recruited from the maternity unit of Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children's Hospital and paired by age and sex with 25 babies born adequate-for-gestational age (AGA), all from healthy mothers and normal pregnancies. FFR ENV s were elicited to the/da/ syllable and recorded while the baby was sleeping in its cradle after a successful universal hearing screening.

Brain Oxygen Perfusion and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Fetuses with Congenital Heart Disease-A Retrospective, Case-Control Pilot Study.

Fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD) have circulatory changes that may lead to predictable blood flow disturbances that may affect normal brain development. Hypoxemia and hypoperfusion may alter the redox balance leading to oxidative stress (OS), that can be assessed measuring stable end-products. OS biomarkers (OSB) were measured in amniotic fluid in fetuses with ( = 41) and without CHD ( = 44) and analyzed according to aortic flow, expected cyanosis after birth, and a CHD classification derived from this.

S100B Maternal Blood Levels in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Are Birthweight, Gender and Delivery Mode Dependent.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is one of the main causes of perinatal mortality/morbidity. Today, a parameter offering useful information on fetal central nervous system (CNS) development/damage is eagerly awaited. We investigated the role of brain-protein S100B in the maternal blood of GDM pregnancies by means of a prospective case-control study in 646 pregnancies (GDM: = 106; controls: = 530).

A UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of oxidative stress biomarkers in amniotic fluid.

Oxidative stress in the fetal period is associated with preterm birth as well as short and long-term adverse clinical outcomes. Here, an Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous quantification of biomarkers of oxidative stress-derived damage to proteins and DNA in amniotic fluid (AF) samples is presented. Appropriate accuracy and precision levels, as well as sensitivity with limits of detection in the low nanomolar (<2 nM) range were achieved.

Advancing tools for human early lifecourse exposome research and translation (ATHLETE): Project overview.

Early life stages are vulnerable to environmental hazards and present important windows of opportunity for lifelong disease prevention. This makes early life a relevant starting point for exposome studies. The Advancing Tools for Human Early Lifecourse Exposome Research and Translation (ATHLETE) project aims to develop a toolbox of exposome tools and a Europe-wide exposome cohort that will be used to systematically quantify the effects of a wide range of community- and individual-level environmental risk factors on mental, cardiometabolic, and respiratory health outcomes and associated biological pathways, longitudinally from early pregnancy through to adolescence.

Study of the fetal and maternal microbiota in pregnant women with intrauterine growth restriction and its relationship with inflammatory biomarkers: A case-control study protocol (SPIRIT compliant).

In general terms, fetal growth restriction (FGR) is considered the impossibility of achieving the genetically determined potential size. In the vast majority of cases, it is related to uteroplacental insufficiency. Although its origin remains unknown and causes are only known in 30% of cases, it is believed to be related to an interaction of environmental and genetic factors with either a fetal or maternal origin.

Prediction of Perinatal Mortality in Ebstein's Anomaly Diagnosed in the Second Trimester of Pregnancy.

Objectives: Firstly, to describe the outcome of a series of fetuses with Ebstein's anomaly (EA) and, secondly, to study the utility of different second-trimester echocardiographic parameters to predict fetal and neonatal mortality.

Methods: 39 fetuses with EA diagnosed between 18 and 28 weeks of gestation were included. Fetal echocardiography included the cardiothoracic ratio (CTR); right atrial (RA) area index; displacement of the tricuspid valve (TV); tricuspid regurgitation; pulmonary artery; and ductus arteriosus flow characteristics.

Nerve Growth Factor Levels in Term Human Infants: Relationship to Prenatal Growth and Early Postnatal Feeding.

Background: Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a key role in neuroprotection and developmental maturity. We assessed longitudinally the circulating concentrations of NGF in term healthy human newborns and infants as well as their association with prenatal growth and early postnatal feeding patterns.

Methods: Circulating NGF and anthropometric measures (weight, length, body mass index, and ponderal index) were assessed longitudinally-at birth and at age 4 months-in 86 term infants born appropriate (AGA), small (SGA), or large for gestational age (LGA).

Altered cortical development in fetuses with isolated nonsevere ventriculomegaly assessed by neurosonography.

Objectives: To perform a comprehensive assessment of cortical development in fetuses with isolated nonsevere ventriculomegaly (INSVM) by neurosonography.

Methods: We prospectively included 40 fetuses with INSVM and 40 controls. INSVM was defined as atrial width between 10.

Cord Blood Biomarkers of Cardiac Dysfunction and Damage in Term Growth-Restricted Fetuses Classified by Severity Criteria.

Objective: To assess cardiovascular function and damage in term small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) fetuses by echocardiography and biomarkers in cord blood.

Methods: This was a cohort study including 60 normal fetuses and 47 term small fetuses subclassified as small for gestational age (SGA) with estimated fetal weight (EFW) between the 3rd and 9th centiles and normal fetoplacental Doppler (n = 14) or intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR, n = 33) if EFW <3rd centile or EFW <10th centile together with cerebroplacental ratio <5th and/or mean uterine artery pulsatility index >95th centile. Fetal echocardiography included left myocardial performance index (MPI) and annular plane systolic excursion.

Cardiovascular adaptation to extrauterine life after intrauterine growth restriction.

Unlabelled: Introduction The adaptive changes of the foetal heart in intrauterine growth restriction can persist postnatally. Data regarding its consequences for early circulatory adaptation to extrauterine life are scarce. The aim of this study was to assess cardiac morphometry and function in newborns with late-onset intrauterine growth restriction to test the hypothesis that intrauterine growth restriction causes cardiac shape and functional changes at birth.

Large for Gestational Age Newborns from Mothers Without Diabetes Mellitus Tend to Become Tall and Lean Toddlers.

A longitudinal study with dual x-ray absorptiometry disclosed that infants born large for gestational age from mothers without diabetes mellitus and without excessive gestational weight gain tend to be long with increased adipose tissue as newborns and tall and lean as toddlers.

Mitochondrial DNA in placenta: associations with fetal growth and superoxide dismutase activity.

Background: Prenatal growth restraint is associated with increased oxidative stress--as judged by mitochondrial dysfunction--in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia or diabetes, but it is uncertain whether this is also the case in uncomplicated pregnancies. We assessed the link between fetal growth restraint and placental mitochondrial dysfunction, as reflected by changes in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity.

Methods: After uncomplicated pregnancies, placentas (n = 48) were collected at term delivery of singleton infants who were appropriate for gestational age (AGA) or small for gestational age (SGA) (n = 24 in each subgroup).

Less myostatin and more lean mass in large-born infants from nondiabetic mothers.

Context And Objective: Sexagenarians born large are at lower risk for type 2 diabetes than those born small, a key feature of their body composition being a higher muscle mass, which explains their higher body mass index and also their lower fat-to-lean-mass ratio. Myogenesis is completed in early infancy under the inhibitory control of myostatin. We tested whether large-born infants from nondiabetic mothers develop an early surplus of lean mass while having a lower myostatinemia.