Background: Contemporary 0.55T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is promising for fetal MRI, due to the larger bore, reduced safety concerns, lower acoustic noise, and improved fast imaging capability. In this work, we explore improved fetal cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) without relying on any synchronizing devices, prospective, or retrospective gating, to determine the feasibility of real-time MRI evaluation of fetal cardiac function as well as cardiac and great vessel anatomies by using spiral balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) at 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNonhuman primate species currently face human-induced pressures and will continue to face them in the modern landscape. These pressures require conservation projects in primate habitat countries to aid in protection, preservation, and conservation. Though there are several examples of primate conservation projects, starting up an initiative can be a daunting task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrenatal diagnosis of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) has improved over time, and previous studies have identified CCHD subtype and socioeconomic status as factors influencing rates of prenatal diagnosis. Our objective of this single-center study was to compare prenatal diagnosis rates of newborns with CCHD admitted for cardiac intervention from the COVID-19 pandemic period (March 2020 to March 2021) to the pre-pandemic period and identify factors associated with the lack of CCHD prenatal diagnosis. The overall rate of CCHD and rates of the various CCHD diagnoses were calculated and compared with historical data collection periods (2009-2012 and 2013-2016).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Niokolo Koba National Park (NKNP) is the largest protected area in Senegal and lies at the northern limit of the chimpanzee's range in West Africa. Recent information on nesting behavior and factors influencing nesting behavior is available for several sites outside NKNP. However, the information available for NKNP is obsolete.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To understand the function of food sharing among our early hominin ancestors, we can turn to our nonhuman primate relatives for insight. Here, we examined the function of meat sharing by Fongoli chimpanzees, a community of western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in southeastern Sénégal.
Materials And Methods: We tested three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses that have been used to explain patterns of food sharing: kin selection, generalized reciprocity, and meat-for-mating opportunities.
Objective: We sought to identify associations between prenatal care coordination (PNC) and outcomes in hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).
Study Design: We hypothesized that suboptimal PNC is associated with worse pre-operative status. HLHS patients from 2016 through 2019 were identified using a multicenter registry.
Objective: To determine whether weight gain velocity (g/kg/day) 30 days after the initiation of feeds after cardiac surgery and other clinical outcomes improve in infants with single ventricle physiology fed an exclusive human milk diet compared with a mixed human and bovine diet.
Study Design: In this multicenter, randomized, single blinded, controlled trial, term neonates 7 days of age or younger with single ventricle physiology and anticipated cardiac surgical palliation within 30 days of birth were enrolled at 10 US centers. Both groups received human milk if fed preoperatively.
Adequate nutrition is essential for individual well-being, survival and reproductive fitness. Yet, in wild animals, including great apes, scoring nutrition or health comes with many challenges. Here, we have two aims: first, broadly review the scientific literature regarding nutritional data on wild chimpanzee foods to get a better understanding what nutrients foods comprise of, and second, highlight important findings on wild chimpanzee nutrition and welfare pertaining to diet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHumans' extensive use of fire is one behavior that sets us apart from all other animals. However, our ancestors' reliance on controlled forms of fire-i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCongenital complete heart block (CCHB) affects 1 in 20,000 newborns. This study evaluates fetal and neonatal risk factors predictive of neonatal pacemaker placement in antibody-mediated complete heart block. The Children's Hospital Los Angeles institutional fetal, pacemaker, and medical record databases were queried for confirmed SSA/SSB cases of CCHB between January 2004 and July 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntrinsic to several hypotheses explaining the evolution of foraging behavior complexity, such as proto-tool use, is the assumption that more complex ingestive behaviors are adaptations allowing individuals to access difficult to procure but nutritionally or energetically rewarding foods. However, nutritional approaches to understanding this complexity have been underutilized. The goal of this study was to evaluate potential nutritional determinants of two unusual foraging behaviors, fruit cracking with anvils and seed reingestion, by adult male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal during the baobab (Adansonia digitata) fruit season.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a recent exchange, Pareja et al. (Primates 61: 159-168, 2020a; Primates 61: 767-774, 2020b) and Urbani and Youlatos (Primates, https://doi.org/10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve is associated with high mortality, but it remains difficult to predict outcomes prenatally. We aimed to identify risk factors for mortality in a large multicenter cohort. Methods and Results Fetal echocardiograms and clinical data from 19 centers over a 10-year period were collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater conservation played a role in the evolutionary adaptation of humans to hot, dry environments, but until now the extent of such biological adaptability was unknown. A new study compares great apes and humans to illuminate the complexities of water balance in humans and the factors that influence it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chagas disease is a pathogenic parasitic infection with approximately 8 million cases worldwide and greater than 300,000 cases in the United States (U.S.).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Ebstein anomaly and tricuspid valve dysplasia (EA/TVD) carry high perinatal mortality. Past studies have focused on cardiac predictors of mortality; we sought to describe the fetal echo (FE) extracardiac Dopplers in this cohort and determine their association with perinatal mortality.
Method: Fetuses with EA/TVD at 23 centers from 2005-2011 were included for retrospective study.
Background In a recent multicenter study of perinatal outcome in fetuses with Ebstein anomaly or tricuspid valve dysplasia, we found that one third of live-born patients died before hospital discharge. We sought to further describe postnatal management strategies and to define risk factors for neonatal mortality and circulatory outcome at discharge. Methods and Results This 23-center, retrospective study from 2005 to 2011 included 243 fetuses with Ebstein anomaly or tricuspid valve dysplasia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This study was designed to evaluate ventricular size, shape, and function in recipient twins following laser therapy for twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), using novel speckle-tracking techniques.
Methods: This retrospective study enrolled patients that underwent fetal laser surgery for TTTS and had fetal echocardiograms (FE) performed pre- and post-operatively (op), with adequate resolution in the 4-chamber view for analysis, using a speckle-tracking software, to compute the size, shape, and function of both the right (RV) and left (LV) ventricles. Values were indexed to published normal values.
Catheter Cardiovasc Interv
September 2020
Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the effect of technical aspects of fetal aortic valvuloplasty (FAV) on procedural risks and pregnancy outcomes.
Background: FAV is performed in cases of severe mid-gestation aortic stenosis with the goal of preventing hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).
Methods: The International Fetal Cardiac Intervention Registry was queried for fetuses who underwent FAV from 2002 to 2018, excluding one high-volume center.
Semin Fetal Neonatal Med
December 2019
Transition from fetal to postnatal life is a complex process. Even in the absence of congenital heart disease, about 4-10% of newborns require some form of assistance in the delivery room. Neonates with complex congenital heart disease should be expected to require significant intervention and thus the resuscitation team must be well prepared for such a delivery.
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