Effects of Supervised Exercise on the Development of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are the most common medical complication in pregnancy, affecting approximately 10-15% of pregnancies worldwide. HDP are a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, and each year, worldwide, around 70,000 mothers and 500,000 babies die because of HDP. Up-to-date high-quality systematic reviews quantifying the role of exercise and the risks of developing HDP are currently lacking.

Early Pregnancy Biomarkers in Pre-Eclampsia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Pre-eclampsia (PE) complicates 2%-8% of all pregnancies and is an important cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. In order to reduce these complications and to develop possible treatment modalities, it is important to identify women at risk of developing PE. The use of biomarkers in early pregnancy would allow appropriate stratification into high and low risk pregnancies for the purpose of defining surveillance in pregnancy and to administer interventions.

Hair metabolomics: identification of fetal compromise provides proof of concept for biomarker discovery.

Analysis of the human metabolome has yielded valuable insights into health, disease and toxicity. However, the metabolic profile of complex biological fluids such as blood is highly dynamic and this has limited the discovery of robust biomarkers. Hair grows relatively slowly, and both endogenous compounds and environmental exposures are incorporated from blood into hair during growth, which reflects the average chemical composition over several months.

Gestational-dependent changes in the expression of signal transduction and contractile filament-associated proteins in mouse myometrium.

Objectives: The timely onset of powerful uterine contractions during parturition involves the integration of many signaling pathways, the protein components of which may be translationaly regulated throughout gestation. We have utilized the pregnant mouse model to examine gestational-dependent changes in the expression of several proteins implicated in the coordination of myometrial excitation-contraction coupling: caveolins 1-3, rho-associated kinases (ROKalpha and beta), alpha-actin, MLC(20), and h-caldesmon.

Methods: Protein expression was examined by Western blotting of myometrial homogenates from nonpregnant mice (NP) and compared to that from pregnant mice on gestational days 12, 15, 17, and 19 (term = day 19).