Association Between Maternal Fasting Glucose Levels Throughout Pregnancy and Preschoolers' Refractive Errors.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the association between maternal fasting plasma glucose (FPG) trajectories during pregnancy and children's refractive errors at 6 years of age.

Design: Based on the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort (MABC) in China, a total of 1987 mother-child pairs were included in this study.

Methods: Using the group-based trajectory model, trajectory fitting was performed on FPG levels during the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy.

Association between hyperglycemia during pregnancy and offspring's refractive error: A focused review.

This review article explores the relationship between hyperglycemia during pregnancy and the visual development of offspring, specifically focusing on refractive error. The authors conducted a comprehensive search for relevant articles in various databases and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. The findings consistently indicate that hyperglycemia during pregnancy can have a detrimental impact on the structural and functional aspects of visual development in offspring.

Sex-specific association between maternal mild anemia and children's behavioral development: a birth cohort study.

There has been limited research on maternal anemia affecting children's behavioral development, with a lack of studies focusing on sex differences in this association. Based on the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort, 2132 mother-child pairs were included. Maternal anemia was evaluated based on the hemoglobin concentration and children's behavioral development was assessed by Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist 1.

Are there bidirectional associations between maternal thyroid function and glucose metabolism in singleton live births? A birth cohort study.

(1) Aims: To examine the associations between maternal thyroid function and glucose metabolism during pregnancy. (2) Methods: This study was based on Ma' anshan Birth Cohort in China. Totally 2375 pregnant women were included in data analysis.

Association of gestational weight gain rate in pregnant women with children's cognitive and behavioral development: A birth cohort study.

Background: The evidences on the relationship between gestational weight gain rate (GWGR) and children's cognitive and behavioral development have been limited.

Methods: A total of 3273 singleton live birth mother-child pairs from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort in China were included in the study. Maternal GWGR was calculated based on the weights measured at multiple antenatal checkups.

Maternal anxiety during pregnancy and children's asthma in preschool age: The Ma'anshan birth cohort study.

Background: The fetal immune system and consequent elevated risk of asthma in childhood may be impacted by maternal anxiety during pregnancy. Limited studies have evaluated whether there was a sensitive period and cumulative effect of the relationship between prenatal anxiety and children's asthma.

Methods: 3131 mother-child pairs made up the study's sample from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort Study in China.

Peri-Conceptional Folic Acid Supplementation and Children's Physical Development: A Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Maternal lack of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy may increase the risk of low birth weight and preterm delivery. However, little is known about the relationship between folic acid supplementation during pregnancy and the physical development of offspring in the later stage.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the association between maternal folic acid supplementation status during pregnancy and the physical development of preschool children.

Maternal Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index, Gestational Weight Gain and Children's Cognitive Development: A Birth Cohort Study.

To investigate the joint effect of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) on children's cognitive development. We recruited 1685 mother-child pairs from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort in China. Pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG were calculated based on the height and weights measured at multiple antenatal checkups.

Non-Linear and Sex-Specific Effect of Maternal Pre-Pregnancy BMI on Emotional and Behavioral Development of Preschool Children: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

(1) Background: The aim was to examine the non-linear and sex-specific outcomes of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI on emotional and behavioral development of preschool children; (2) Methods: This study was based on the China-Anhui Birth Cohort (C-ABCS), including 3648 mother-child pairs. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was calculated from the maternal pre-pregnancy height and weight measured at the first antenatal checkup. Main caregivers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess children's preschool emotional and behavioral development.

TSPO ligand etifoxine attenuates LPS-induced cognitive dysfunction in mice.

The translocator protein (TSPO), once known as peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor, was reported to be related with several physiological functions. Etifoxine is a clinically available anxiolytic drug, and has recently shown neuroprotective effects as a TSPO ligand. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of etifoxine on LPS-induced neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction.

Robotic-assisted laparoscopic artery-sparing varicocelectomy using indocyanine green fluorescence angiography: Initial experience.

We reported our initial experience of robotic-assisted laparoscopic artery-sparing varicocelectomy using indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence angiography in treatment of varicocele. A total of 45 varicocelectomies in 27 patients were performed. The mean operation time was 49.

Laparoscopic Yang-Monti Ureteral Reconstruction in Children.

Objective: To investigate the clinical outcome of surgical treatment for long ureteral defect in children, we evaluated our experience of managing 6 children with the long defect utilizing laparoscopic ureteral reconstruction technique using Yang-Monti technique.

Materials And Methods: Six children with long ureteral defect who underwent laparoscopic Yang-Monti ureteral reconstruction between January 2013 and March 2016 were reviewed. The diagnosis and outcomes of long ureteral defects were reviewed based on clinical and imaging data.

Ca2+ cycling in heart cells from ground squirrels: adaptive strategies for intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis.

Heart tissues from hibernating mammals, such as ground squirrels, are able to endure hypothermia, hypoxia and other extreme insulting factors that are fatal for human and nonhibernating mammals. This study was designed to understand adaptive mechanisms involved in intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis in cardiomyocytes from the mammalian hibernator, ground squirrel, compared to rat. Electrophysiological and confocal imaging experiments showed that the voltage-dependence of L-type Ca(2+) current (I(Ca)) was shifted to higher potentials in ventricular myocytes from ground squirrels vs.

Beta-adrenergic signaling accelerates and synchronizes cardiac ryanodine receptor response to a single L-type Ca2+ channel.

As the most prototypical G protein-coupled receptor, beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) regulates the pace and strength of heart beating by enhancing and synchronizing L-type channel (LCC) Ca(2+) influx, which in turn elicits greater sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) release flux via ryanodine receptors (RyRs). However, whether and how betaAR-protein kinase A (PKA) signaling directly modulates RyR function remains elusive and highly controversial. By using unique single-channel Ca(2+) imaging technology, we measured the response of a single RyR Ca(2+) release unit, in the form of a Ca(2+) spark, to its native trigger, the Ca(2+) sparklet from a single LCC.

NAADP mobilizes calcium from acidic organelles through two-pore channels.

Ca(2+) mobilization from intracellular stores represents an important cell signalling process that is regulated, in mammalian cells, by inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP(3)), cyclic ADP ribose and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP). InsP(3) and cyclic ADP ribose cause the release of Ca(2+) from sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum stores by the activation of InsP(3) and ryanodine receptors (InsP(3)Rs and RyRs). In contrast, the nature of the intracellular stores targeted by NAADP and the molecular identity of the NAADP receptors remain controversial, although evidence indicates that NAADP mobilizes Ca(2+) from lysosome-related acidic compartments.

Beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in visceral smooth muscle.

Peripheral inhibitory nerves are physiological regulators of the contractile behavior of visceral smooth muscles. One of the transmitters responsible for inhibitory neurotransmission has been reputed to be a purine, possibly ATP. However, the exact identity of this substance has never been verified.

[Electrophysiology of two human hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channels expressed in HEK293 cells].

Objective: To express the human HCN2 and HCN4 genes in HEK293 cells and investigate the electrophysiology of the expressed channel protein.

Methods: cDNA encoding human HCN2 or HCN4 gene was ligated into a shuttle vector pAdTrack-CMV. Homologous recombination was performed in Escherichia coli of the line BJ5183.

Intermolecular failure of L-type Ca2+ channel and ryanodine receptor signaling in hypertrophy.

Pressure overload-induced hypertrophy is a key step leading to heart failure. The Ca(2+)-induced Ca(2+) release (CICR) process that governs cardiac contractility is defective in hypertrophy/heart failure, but the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. To examine the intermolecular aspects of CICR during hypertrophy, we utilized loose-patch confocal imaging to visualize the signaling between a single L-type Ca(2+) channel (LCC) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in aortic stenosis rat models of compensated (CHT) and decompensated (DHT) hypertrophy.

Temperature dependence and thermodynamic properties of Ca2+ sparks in rat cardiomyocytes.

To elucidate the temperature dependence and underlying thermodynamic determinants of the elementary Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, we characterized Ca2+ sparks originating from ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in rat cardiomyocytes over a wide range of temperature. From 35 degrees C to 10 degrees C, the normalized fluo-3 fluorescence of Ca2+ sparks decreased monotonically, but the Delta[Ca2+]i were relatively unchanged due to increased resting [Ca2+]i. The time-to-peak of Ca2+ sparks, which represents the RyR Ca2+ release duration, was prolonged by 37% from 35 degrees C to 10 degrees C.

Contribution of spontaneous L-type Ca2+ channel activation to the genesis of Ca2+ sparks in resting cardiac myocytes.

Ca2+ sparks are the elementary events of intracellular Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac myocytes. In order to investigate whether spontaneous L-type Ca2+ channel activation contributes to the genesis of spontaneous Ca2+ sparks, we used confocal laser scanning microscopy and fluo-4 to visualize local Ca2+ sparks in intact rat ventricular myocytes. In the presence of 0.

Blockade of L-type calcium channel in myocardium and calcium-induced contractions of vascular smooth muscle by CPU 86017.

Aim: To assess the blockade by CPU 86017 on the L-type calcium channels in the myocardium and on the Ca(2+)-related contractions of vascular smooth muscle.

Methods: The whole-cell patch-clamp was applied to investigate the blocking effect of CPU 86017 on the L-type calcium current in isolated guinea pig myocytes and contractions by KCl or phenylephrine (Phe) of the isolated rat tail arteries were measured.

Results: Suppression of the L-type current of the isolated myocytes by CPU 86017 was moderate, in time- and concentration-dependent manner and with no influence on the activation and inactivation curves.

Blockade of paeoniflorin on sodium current in mouse hippocampal CA1 neurons.

Aim: To study the blockade of paeoniflorin (Pae) on I(Na) in the acutely isolated hippocampus neurons of mice.

Methods: The whole-cell patch clamp technique was used.

Results: Pae inhibited I(Na) in frequency-dependent and concentration-dependent manners, with an IC50 of 271 micromol/L.

Puerarin blocks Na+ current in rat ventricular myocytes.

Aim: To study the effect of puerarin (Pue) on Na+ channel in rat ventricular myocytes.

Methods: Whole-cell patch-clamp technique was applied on isolated cardiomyocytes from rats.

Results: Pue inhibited cardiac INa in a positive rate-dependent and dose-dependent manner, with an IC(50) of 349 micromol/L.

Transgenic expression of a putative calcium transporter affects the time of Arabidopsis flowering.

PPF1 is a gibberellin-induced, vegetative growth-specific gene, first isolated from short-day (SD)-grown G2 pea plants. In the current work, we found that transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the PPF1 gene (PPF1 (+)) flowered much later and had a significantly longer lifespan compared to control plants, whereas suppression of this gene (PPF1 (-)) resulted in a very rapid reproductive cycle. Western blotting analyses of PPF1 (+) and (-) plant lines revealed a positive correlation between the amount of antibody-reactive protein and the time of flowering.