Myocardial Contractile Reserve Impairment in Patients with Kawasaki Disease During Convalescent Phase: A Study Based on Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Stress Echocardiography.

Persistent myocardial impairment proved by histopathologic studies universally existed in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD); however, the long-term effects on myocardial contractile reserve in KD patients, especially on patients without coronary artery lesions (CALs), is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate myocardial contractile reserve in KD patients during late convalescent stage by speckle-tracking adenosine triphosphate (AT) echocardiography. A total of 63 antecedent KD patients at least 4 years after the disease onset and 40 age- and gender-matched normal controls were prospectively enrolled.

Diagnostic value of serum human epididymal secretory protein 4 for endometrial cancer: a systematic review and meta analysis.

Objective: The diagnostic value of serum human epididymal secretory protein 4 (HE4) for endometrial cancer (EC) was assessed via evidence-based medicine (EBM) and systematic review (SR) methodologies.

Methods: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CBM, CNKI, and Wan Fang databases were searched up to April 1st, 2024, to identify relevant literature. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool was utilized to evaluate the quality of the selected studies.

Effects of thalassemia minor on umbilical artery blood flow and perinatal outcomes in pregnancy: A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to compare the fetal umbilical artery blood flow parameters in the third trimester and perinatal outcomes between pregnant women with and without thalassemia minor in South China.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Doppler ultrasound was used to detect fetal umbilical artery hemodynamics in pregnant women with or without thalassemia minor during the third trimester.

Construction of a pathway-level model for preeclampsia based on gene expression data.

Preeclampsia (PE) is a heterogeneous disease that seriously affects the health of mothers and fetuses. Lack of detection assays, its diagnosis and intervention are often delayed when the clinical symptoms are atypical. Using personalized pathway-based analysis and machine learning algorithms, we built a PE diagnosis model consisting of nine core pathways using multiple cohorts from the Gene Expression Omnibus database.

Overexpressed Trophoblast Glycoprotein Contributes to Preeclampsia Development by Inducing Abnormal Trophoblast Migration and Invasion Toward the Uterine Spiral Artery.

Background: Preeclampsia is a significant pregnancy disorder with an unknown cause, mainly attributed to impaired spiral arterial remodeling.

Methods: Using RNA sequencing, we identified key genes in placental tissues from healthy individuals and preeclampsia patients. Placenta and plasma samples from pregnant women were collected to detect the expression of TPBG (trophoblast glycoprotein).

Double-to-Single Umbilical Artery With a Low Pulsatility Index Leading to Fetal Death: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

Single umbilical artery (SUA) may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as fetal death, emergency cesarean section, premature delivery, small-for-gestational-age infants, and admission to neonatal intensive care unit, and some SUAs are transformed from originally double umbilical arteries (UA). The pulsatility index (PI) can reflect the resistance of UA, and clinicians attach importance to high PI but easily overlook low levels of it. We reported one case of a pregnant woman who underwent double to single UA accompanied by low UA-PI and finally had intrauterine fetal death.

The value of combined detailed first-trimester ultrasound-biochemical analysis for screening fetal aneuploidy in the era of non-invasive prenatal testing.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the performance, cost-effectiveness and additional findings of combined detailed ultrasound and biochemical screening for risks of major fetal trisomies in the first-trimester.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis study, we estimated the risk of trisomies 21, 18 and 13 based on maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency thickness, nasal bone, ductus venosus pulsatility index velocity, tricuspid regurgitation, fetal heart rate, free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin, and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A in singleton pregnant women, and performed non-invasive prenatal testing for women with risks of trisomy 21 between 1:500 and 1:300. Invasive diagnostic testing was performed for women with positive or failed non-invasive prenatal testing result and in the high-risk group of this screening method.

Association between serum iron and liver transaminases based on a large adult women population.

Background: Studies are being focused on the potential roles of iron in various diseases, but remain unclear for the association between serum iron and liver injury, especially in adult women.

Methods: Based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we investigated the relationship between serum iron and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) among 19,185 adult women.

Results: Using weighted multivariate regression analyses, subgroup analyses, and threshold effect analyses, we found that serum iron was independently and positively correlated with ALT and AST.

Application of SNPs with low minor allele frequencies in missing person identification (MPI) through kinship analysis of DNA mixtures.

The need to identify a missing person (MP) through kinship analysis of DNA samples found at a crime scene has become increasingly prevalent. DNA samples from MPs can be severely degraded, contain little DNA and mixed with other contributors, which often makes it difficult to apply conventional methods in practice. This study developed a massively parallel sequencing-based panel that contains 1661 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with low minor allele frequencies (MAFs) (averaged at 0.

Identification of complex and cryptic chromosomal rearrangements by optical genome mapping.

Background: Optical genome mapping (OGM) has developed into a highly promising method for detecting structural variants (SVs) in human genomes. Complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) and cryptic translocations are rare events that are considered difficult to detect by routine cytogenetic methods. In this study, OGM was applied to delineate the precise chromosomal rearrangements in three cases with uncertain or unconfirmed CCRs detected by conventional karyotyping and one case with a cryptic translocation suggested by fetal chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA).

Plasma Olink Proteomics Identifies CCL20 as a Novel Predictive and Diagnostic Inflammatory Marker for Preeclampsia.

Inflammation is generally thought to be involved in the occurrence and development of preeclampsia (PE), but its specific effect on PE remains unclear. In the present study, the expression levels of 92 inflammation-related proteins were measured in the late pregnancy maternal plasma from patients with PE ( = 15) and normal pregnant controls ( = 15) using the Olink inflammation panel based on the highly sensitive and specific proximity extension assay technology. A total of 28 inflammation-related markers differed between the PE and control groups.

Development of a prediction model on preeclampsia using machine learning-based method: a retrospective cohort study in China.

The aim of this study was to use machine learning methods to analyze all available clinical and laboratory data obtained during prenatal screening in early pregnancy to develop predictive models in preeclampsia (PE). Data were collected by retrospective medical records review. This study used 5 machine learning algorithms to predict the PE: deep neural network (DNN), logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF).

Machine learning-based prediction of postpartum hemorrhage after vaginal delivery: combining bleeding high risk factors and uterine contraction curve.

Purpose: This work used a machine learning model to improve the accuracy of predicting postpartum hemorrhage in vaginal delivery.

Methods: Among the 25,098 deliveries in the obstetrics department of the First Hospital of Jinan University recorded from 2016 to 2020, 10,520 were vaginal deliveries with complete study data. Further review selected 850 cases of postpartum hemorrhage (amount of bleeding > 500 mL) and 54 cases of severe postpartum hemorrhage (amount of bleeding > 1000 mL).

Selenium as a pleiotropic agent for medical discovery and drug delivery.

Selenium as a biologically active element lends much support to health maintenance and disease prevention. It is now presenting pleiotropic effects on therapy and drug delivery. In this study, a profiling on the physiological functions, therapeutic significances, clinical/preclinical performances, and biomedical and drug delivery applications of selenium in different modalities was carried out.

The clinical and prognostic value of CXCL8 in cervical carcinoma patients: immunohistochemical analysis.

Cysteine-X-cysteine ligand 8 (CXCL8) was originally discovered as a proinflammatory chemokine. Recently, CXCL8 has been shown to act as an oncogene in several types of human cancers. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of CXCL8 in cervical cancer is poorly understood.

[Improved identification for 5p deletion syndrome and partial trisomy 11q presented in a fetus by SNP array].

Objective: To investigate the prenatal application of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) in the identification of 5p deletion syndrome with partial trisomy 11q.

Methods: G-banded karyotyping and SNP array were performed using amniocytes on a fetus with multiple malformations for the identification of chromosome abnormality. Furthermore, karyotyping was carried out on the parental peripheral blood specimens to ascertain the origin of chromosome abnormalities and then fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was also utilized to confirm the results.

Using semi-quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging parameters to evaluate tumor hypoxia: a preclinical feasibility study in a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model.

Purpose: To test the feasibility of semi-quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters for evaluating tumor hypoxia in a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model.

Methods: Eight New Zealand rabbits were inoculated with VX2 cell solution to establish a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model. DCE-MRI were carried out using a 1.

IKKβ/NF-κB mediated the low doses of bisphenol A induced migration of cervical cancer cells.

Cervical cancer is considered as the second most common female malignant disease. There is an urgent need to illustrate risk factors which can trigger the motility of cervical cancer cells. Our present study revealed that nanomolar concentration of bisphenol A (BPA) significantly promoted the in vitro migration and invasion of cervical cancer HeLa, SiHa, and C-33A cells.

Clinical Significance of First-Trimester Screening of the Retronasal Triangle for Identification of Primary Cleft Palate.

Objective: To investigate the use of the retronasal triangle (RNT) for identification of orofacial cleft (OC) in the first trimester and the clinical application of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound techniques for confirming the diagnosis of OC.

Methods: A total of 5,054 women with singleton pregnancies underwent first-trimester screening for Down syndrome at 11-13(+6) weeks. The RNT was scanned in each fetus, and 3D volumetric images of cases with abnormal or indeterminate RNT were obtained.

Activation of G protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) promotes the migration of renal cell carcinoma via the PI3K/AKT/MMP-9 signals.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the third most frequent malignancy within urological oncology. However, the mechanisms responsible for RCC metastasis are still needed further illustration. Our present study revealed that a seven-transmembrane receptor G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) was highly detected in various RCC cell lines such as ACHN, OS-RC-2 and SW839.

Analysis of feasibility of in vitro nuclear magnetic resonance tracking human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells by Gd-DTPA labeled.

Objective: Three different kinds of transfection reagents were used to mediate the transfection of gadolinium-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA) into human umbilical-cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs). The efficacy of different transfection reagents and the feasibility of NMR tracer in vitro of magnetized stem cells were estimated.

Methods: After purification by tissue explants adherent method, the biological characteristics of hUCMSCs in vitro were identified by subculture and amplification.

XRCC1 polymorphisms are associated with cervical cancer risk and response to chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Functional single nucleotide polymorphisms of x-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) have been suspected to contribute to uterine cervical cancer risk for a long time; however, most previous case-control studies were small sized and biased. Additionally, recent studies suggested that XRCC1 polymorphisms could be a biomarker of response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted to retrieve eligible studies and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to measure association strength.

Biliary cystadenocarcinoma diagnosed with real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasonography: report of a case with diagnostic features.

Biliary cystadenocarcinoma is a very rare malignant cystic tumor of the liver, which is often misdiagnosed due to a poor recognition of it. We report a case of a 60-year-old man with biliary cystadenocarcinoma with his real time contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) characteristics compared to those of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which were correlated with the surgical and pathologic findings. Cystic wall enhancement, internal septations and intra-cystic solid portions in the arterial phase were observed on CEUS after contrast agent injection.